The Temple of Thorns
Written by John Lambshead
Illustrated by Chantelle Thorne
Illustrated by Chantelle Thorne
She sat cross legged on a wool sack in the small cult room and prayed. To her left a flight of stone stairs led up to the ground floor of the palace and, on her right, a break in a low wall opened onto a shorter flight that ran down into the sacred bath, where priestesses anointed themselves with sweet smelling unguents in honour of the Gods. She faced a low stone ledge that was covered in a thin sheet of gold on which stood small painted ceramic statuettes of the Gods, surrounded by token sacred offerings of flowers and berries that were fashioned in faience.
This story can be read for free on the Baen site at the momen. Try this, or click the link top right and then the link for 'Sample Chapters'.
My story is Chapter 5.
My story is Chapter 5.
Well done, John! I liked it a lot - just the right length to read while waiting for a report to run at work here. I'll have to give the earlier stories a go as well.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the great work!
Dear 7th
ReplyDeleteThank you. The Mycaenean setting glanced off the sword and sorcery people so I never wrote a sequel.
But I liked it.
J
That's a shame - I rather liked how you approached the setting, and I'd definitely be interested in reading more! Having read your story first out of the five, it was a bit jarring to find that the other four stories were of the sci-fi genre. Guess that's par for the course for Baen though - It does tend to ping-pong between Belisarius and Bolos! :)
ReplyDelete(Not the greatest example of genre variance I suppose, but it makes for decent alliteration, heh.)
Dear 7th
ReplyDeleteYes, Universe was primarily an SF magazne but not by design. The editor actively solicited fantasy stories.
I planned out an entire novel around the Perseus/Andromeda characters set in the frontier zone on the coast of Asia Minor - the buffer zone of client states between the Mycaeneans and the Hittites.
Not sure it will ever get written but you never know.
:)
J.
Dear Igi
ReplyDeleteSorry, I deleted your comment by mistake while I was trying to get rid of a spammer.
John
Dear John
ReplyDeleteNo problem. :)