Third Round of Fics

Which I believe will be the last to show off old Elder Scrolls stories. Oh, I have more – but nothing that I’d feel comfortable posting without major revisions. I’m still far from catching up with everything I have written for Mass Effect, though, so there may be a few more of these ads in the weeks to come. But don’t worry: I’ll run out, eventually.

This week I present:

Can’t Stop Laughing – which is, strangely enough, one of the first Saren/Nihlus stories I’ve written. Also, one of the least popular, if the reviews on FFN are an indication. It’s supposed to be funny, and I had fun writing it, but let’s face it: humor was never my strong suit.

Unnerved and Unnerving – this is a short prequel to The Candidate, and, while being equally unpopular as the previous one, it happens to be one of my favorites. Saren and Nihlus, last days aboard the Virial, and a nasty clash of natures.

The Ephemeral Bride – an Elder Scrolls ficlet describing Breton myths on the origin of celestial bodies in the light of the worship of Mnemoli (god, I love that word so much).

The Bjoulsae River – a correspondent of the Imperial Geographical Society writes about the lands and peoples around the Bjoulsae River in High Rock.

That’s that.

A New Mass Effect Fic: Forgiven

My first commission. Well, not the paid kind, but close enough. An artist and a good friend asked me to write a scene to serve as the narrative foundation for a painting. The topic was: Garrus and his thoughts just after sparing Sidonis’ life.

The story is titled Forgiven.

Image: infiltrator-N7 @ deviantArt

A New Mass Effect Fic: I’m Watching You

I’m Watching You is another Saren/Nihlus story from the period of training, which is to say, the period before The Candidate, and as such, it deals with the theme of friendship slowly turning into something more, despite Saren’s efforts to keep it strictly professional. Posted on FFN and rated M for mild explicit content. Namely…

When Saren had set up the hidden cameras, he knew there would be things he didn’t want to see. Like Nihlus drinking on duty, or hiding drugs on the ship, or taking out dirty clothes from the washer and wearing them. But he wasn’t expecting… this.

Image: Anjian @ DeviantArt

A New Elder Scrolls Fic – Report No. 1772

Well, take “new” with a grain of salt. I think I wrote this during 2009, before the first Elder Scrolls novel – which pretty much kills the point of this story – was published. Back at the day, there was still room for speculation about the true nature of the Landfall, and Report No. 1772 was a way to present my theory about it in the most indirect way possible. I considered submitting it to Temple Zero, but simply couldn’t, perhaps on account of excessive technobabble that doesn’t fit well with the mythopoetic atmosphere of that place. So here it is now, made public for the first time.

Image: tarnvogL @ DeviantArt

Massive Retcons in Sight

Well, shit. It’s true: Valern is the name of the salarian councilor, and the turian councilor is named Sparatus. Never mind that abomination. Why, oh why didn’t Bioware tell us this before? Would it have been so damn difficult to just come out and say so on the forums or whatever? Bah. Massive retcons in sight. I think I mention the turian councilor in every goddamn story I have out there.

Ghost in the Machine Is Taking a Break

I know I said there would be weekly updates and breaking this promise is breaking my heart. But I’ve reached the point where I’m reduced to preparing chapters a day or two before posting, which puts my beloved beta readers and myself under too much pressure and is certainly doing no favors for the text. I chose to do this now because I’m hoping that most readers will be too absorbed in playing Mass Effect 3 to even notice. Yes, I will be playing it as well during the break. I will also try to finish and post at least two short stories that had been put on hold a long, long time ago in favor of this one.

The story continues on either the ~~next Sunday (March 18)~~, or the one after. To get a notification, subscribe to my rss, or my twitter, or add Ghost in the Machine to your story alerts at FFN.

Thank you for your time, interest and patience.