Deirdre M. Murphy

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Excerpt

From Dance to Fend Off the Sky

...

The silence was intense, the mists curling around her as she danced, and drifting after her like an extra garment, grey and white slowly deepening into gold and purple and orange—all the colors of the sunset. Kunabei felt her spirit soar, and wondered what it would be like to fly high and free, like a wraith.

She shook her head. How could the wraiths be so angry at the physical world, when they could fly higher than anyone else—human, goat, or bird—could hope to safely go?

The silence was broken by a loud crack, and then the tumbling of rocks. Quickly, Kunabei reached for the primary ball-whistles tucked into her belt, carefully slipping two fingers on each hand through the soft leather handles and twisting to allow the long strap to move freely outside the fists that held the handles tight. Automatically, with skills born of years of practice, she kept the straps untangled, and sent the heavy metal balls whirling around her head and body.

Once she was safely surrounded by the sound of the whistles, she looked around. Where was the wraith? She wouldn’t see it, of course—no one could see wraiths. But she had been trained to watch for the effects of wraiths on the physical things of the world.

She held back her urge to run and check on the goats. The crack she’d heard had come from her north, but it was low—almost as low as where she stood.

There—she spotted the sharp bright line of unweathered stone. It was close—too close. Just one hill over. Worse, there was a gap in the mist, coming toward her. Her heart raced as she spun the whistles faster, their shriek rising in pitch, keeping them carefully between her and the wraith. She had to be very careful—hitting herself right now, or tangling the straps, or doing anything else that could slow their spin would probably mean her death.

Bio

I grew up reading all sorts of books, but mostly mythology, mysteries, and speculative fiction. My love of the far, strange places of the imagination influences my creative work. I have won a ribbon for humorous 3-D art at WisCon, two ribbons for my Worldcon masquerade costume when I appeared as Scraps, the Patchwork Girl of Oz, and I won the first Torn World Short Story Contest. Torn World, a shared interstitial world that includes fiction, poetry, art, and metafiction can be found at www.tornworld.net and in print. This year, along with the other Torn World poets, I won the Rose and Bay Award for Excellence in Crowdfunding Projects in the Poetry Category. You can find my occasional musings about life, creativity, and publishing at wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com. At conventions, look for me on panels or in the filk room.

Publications

Fiction:

"DEMM Wizard" in Crossed Genres

"Scrapheap Angel," in Subversion: Science Fiction & Fantasy Tales of Challenging the Norm, 2011, from Crossed Genres Publications

"Sometimes They Do," in Re-Vamp, 2011, from Mad Doctors of Literature

Flash fiction published in Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Presents Flush Fiction and in Best of Friday Flash: Volume One.

Shared world works:

Pieces at Torn World and in Family Ties & Torn Skies

Poetry:

Chatter of a White Scaly-Gull in With Painted Words

Writing Description

I dream big, and try to make my dreams reality. I also can't resist trying new things, from drabbles to pantoums. I loves fantasy (who can resist the mysteries of magic?) and also write science fiction. Other stories fall in the interstices. Who knows? I might even write horror some day.

Writing Goals

For writing:

I'd love to do a story a week, but I'm afraid that would be over-reaching given other things happening in my life right now. So, my dream goal is to finish a story a week, whether it's one that I have already started or something new. The firm goal that I will push to achieve is an average of 500 new words a day. Maybe I'll even drag the incipient chocolate filk that's been hovering at the edge of my dreams into reality and see if my smart-phone can record me singing it.

Fundraising Goals

For fundraising:

I hope that my work will help to support Clarion West. I will share at least one snippet of a work in progress every week, and am willing to privately share something cool and unpublished with supporters. If people collectively donate more than $100 to cheer on my efforts and support Clarion West, I'll do a random drawing and give away an anthology that contains my work.

Website

http://wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com/


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