As I receive contracts and final edits from authors, I’ll post a teaser from their story here and on our Facebook page. You know where to get the rest, right? Comments are welcome.
City of Bones
By
Deborah Walker
Edmonda’s jaunt is designed in three acts. First is the orgy. We gather in the square of the derelict town. We five avatars, decanted into flesh.
“Loretta and the twins shall go first,” says Edmonda. She’s a white-robed priestess. Her hair is braided into an elaborate confection. A bronze torc encircles her throat
Arice and Prophecy step forward wearing identical skin-suits and identical bodies. They were born as twins and have retained that identity in the simusphere. They squeal and giggle as they touch me. Youth is their second conceit: these two old minds in child-sized bodies. Knowing hands push me to the broken stone pavement. The twins work my body in tandem.
The illusions of the simusphere do not work in this city. The constraints of our flesh bodies limit us. Light is something for the mind to perceive. As I make love to the twins, I feel the cracked stones under my back, and the caress of the encroaching cold, wet grass. The sex is unsatisfactory. In the simusphere Arice and Prophecy speak and move in perfect accord. Here their movements are clumsy delayed reflections, mirrors out of step with intention.
So, why did we take this story? It was a tricky call. We all liked the world building, but most of us felt there was too much confusion in the opening scene and some sag through the escalation. We suggested some rearrangement of scenes and Deborah took it from there, delivering a strong rewrite. The original was 2300 words; the rewrite came in at 2700 words; final edit is 2600 words.
Tune in tomorrow for our next tease. The full Table of Contents is here.
Have you checked out our Kickstarter project yet? 5 days left to get your name listed in the acknowledgments.
