A Wintry Tale
This is something of a special blog entry for me. I've just added something to www.red-stevie.com that I think you'll enjoy. Let me tell you about it.
I think it was in the summer of 2005 that I visited Kawasaki City Museum for a special exhibition called Nihon no Genjuu. The title roughly equates to Strange Creatures of Japan, and the museum promised to take visitors into the mysterious world of the country's legendary beasts like never before. How? With the weirdest and creepiest exhibits I have ever seen.
I'm damned glad I went along. What an inspiration! From temples and museums around Japan, the exhibition brought together such eerie treasures as the mummified remains of diminutive mer-people - half humanoid, half fish. There was the severed, three-clawed hand of an oni (ogre). There were the skeletal remains of a karasu-tengu - a dangerous being somewhere between man and crow. There was all this and much, much more.
But it was one particular piece that defined the whole experience for me. It was another mummified body. I must've looked at it for at least an hour, and it was my exposure to that particular exhibit which prompted me to write the first short story I ever sold - a dark fantasy piece called Stray Dog Swordsman on Redemption Road.
Set in rural Japan in the mid-1400s, the story was published in Talebones #31 in the winter of 2005. And now, with that particular issue of Talebones almost impossible to find, I have decided to offer the story for free as a downloadable PDF on this website.
I hope you'll enjoy Stray Dog Swordsman on Redemption Road. Simply click here to open the file, or right click on the picture below and select 'Save Link As...' to save it.
And if you're passing through the woods in winter, and you hear something you shouldn't, grip the handle of your sword, keep your head down and hurry your pace. There are some things it is better not to stop for!
I think it was in the summer of 2005 that I visited Kawasaki City Museum for a special exhibition called Nihon no Genjuu. The title roughly equates to Strange Creatures of Japan, and the museum promised to take visitors into the mysterious world of the country's legendary beasts like never before. How? With the weirdest and creepiest exhibits I have ever seen.
I'm damned glad I went along. What an inspiration! From temples and museums around Japan, the exhibition brought together such eerie treasures as the mummified remains of diminutive mer-people - half humanoid, half fish. There was the severed, three-clawed hand of an oni (ogre). There were the skeletal remains of a karasu-tengu - a dangerous being somewhere between man and crow. There was all this and much, much more.
But it was one particular piece that defined the whole experience for me. It was another mummified body. I must've looked at it for at least an hour, and it was my exposure to that particular exhibit which prompted me to write the first short story I ever sold - a dark fantasy piece called Stray Dog Swordsman on Redemption Road.
Set in rural Japan in the mid-1400s, the story was published in Talebones #31 in the winter of 2005. And now, with that particular issue of Talebones almost impossible to find, I have decided to offer the story for free as a downloadable PDF on this website.
I hope you'll enjoy Stray Dog Swordsman on Redemption Road. Simply click here to open the file, or right click on the picture below and select 'Save Link As...' to save it.
And if you're passing through the woods in winter, and you hear something you shouldn't, grip the handle of your sword, keep your head down and hurry your pace. There are some things it is better not to stop for!
Labels: Stray Dog Swordsman
posted by Steve Parker at
7:37 PM
4 Comments:
Excellent! Loved the eerie atmosphere and creeping sense of dread the story generated.... Too bad I missed the museum exhibition:( That kind of thing is right up my street!
Thanks for the kind comments, Thomas. Glad you enjoyed the story.
Christ! At last! I finally got this to save and then open with the right click Save As Link function.
I'll let you know what I think as soon as I've had a chance to read it.
Hallelujah, brother! Praise the Save Link As... funtion.
Looking forward to your reaction. :)
Post a Comment
<< Home