Joseph Carrabis, Author Blog – Page 153 – Quite the Life (and all in Times New Roman 10pt!)

Shaman Story Chapter X – DeathSong

This is the last of the “Childhood” section of Shaman Story. The next section, Adolescence, tracks Gio through elementary school to college. But that’s for later. Now, “DeathSong”.

Read Shaman Story Chapter X – Council of All Beings.

Shaman Story Chapter X – DeathSong

“You promised.”

“Gio.”

“You said you’d never leave me.”

“Gio.”

“I won’t do it.”

“Gio.”

I turn my back. I won’t face him. I won’t I won’t I won’t.

I feel his arms encircle me, hear his voice inside me. “Do you feel me, Gio?”

I don’t answer.

“Gio.”

“No, I don’t feel you. Alright?”

He withdraws. The energy that cradled me, rescued me, taught me, pulls back.

I spin, reach out, fall into his arms. “No, Buppa. No. Don’t go, Buppa. Don’t die. I need you. I don’t want to go home.”

He holds me against him. I feel his heart, not strong. His arms are weak. Still he holds me. I hear his breath, smell his clove aftershave. He rubs his beard stubble against my forehead, he sings an old Sicilian song.

Inside I hear. “Am I with you now, Gio?”

“Yes, Buppa. Yes.”

“As long as you keep me there, I’ll never leave you. Do you understand, Gio?”

I don’t want to understand. I don’t want to know.

“I’ve done all I can here, Gio. I’ve learned all I can learn. Is it right for me to stay here when The Universe needs me somewhere else?”

“Yes.”

He chuckles. His chest rattles. “Gio.”

“No.”

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Amazing Experience Today

My gym recently reopened (limited) and I made a dash to start my workouts (usually an hour on the stairs, an hour with weights).

So there I am, doing the stairs, listening to my music, reading my book (always read while doing the stairs. Some of my best reading is done there. Also work out plots, figure out characters, scenes, come up with new ideas, …), and sweating.

And this fellow comes up and stands off to the side.

“Joe?”

Yes.

“Joe Carrabis?”

I nodded. He was talking through a mask so I pulled out one earbud to hear him clearly.

“I bought your book.”

The other earbud came out. I stopped the stairclimber. What book?

“The Augmented Man.”

What did you think?

“I haven’t finished it yet but it’s amazing so far.”

How come you didn’t finish it?

“I had to read another book for class. But my mother picked it up and read it in one night. She said it’s incredible.”

(blush) Thanks. I hope you get back to it soon. And tell your mom to leave a review. You, too, please.

“I’ll let her know. It’s an amazing book. I really love what I’ve read so far.”

Thanks. (blush) I’m glad you’re enjoying it. Bring it in and I’ll sign it for you.

“That’d be super. Will do. Thanks.”

Yeah, it made my day.

This Year’s Kits (okay, Kit. Singular)

As happens, things continue.

Case in point, the next generation of raccoons. Here we see one kit, sometimes referred to as a raccoonlit, and briefly. Future videos reveal Hyacinthe’s proclivity.

But for now, a bold one.

Who quickly shies away.

I remember Rocky telling her kits, “It’s a Two-Legger. He’s okay, but don’t let him touch you. No idea where his hands have been.”

Enjoy.

Lunarian Press Interviews Me!

I always rejoice when my peers think well of me. Being interviewed is (to me) and indication someone appreciates me and what I do.

Or doesn’t and wants to keep me away from the keyboard so none will suffer.

One must consider all possibilities, you know.

In any case, Lunarian Press interviewed me and it’s up and live.

Please take a look, leave a comment, have a go, have at it, and let us know what you think.

Thanks!

World-Building – Miscellaneous

Something is crucial to your world-building if your story is dramatically changed when you remove that thing.

Not everything tied to world-building is major. Except when it’s a central element to a story, meaning removing it dramatically changes your story.

That noted, here are some miscellaneous world-building items to be aware of.

Fun (Sports, Leisure, Music, Free Time Activities)
“Fun” is based on culture and language. A funny joke in English bombs in Mandarin and is completely flat in Hopi. All “leisure” time activities will be culture based, and much of that will be predicated on climate/weather.

However, leisure time concepts may translate well. Fishing is both a vocation and avocation on Earth. Imagine a water planet or a planet where the dominate life is aquatic in nature. They may go mammaling. Transpose everything from this world’s fishing to that world’s mammaling and you could have a fascinating first-contact story.

A telekinetic culture may have sports like ours but players will be heavily penalized if they use telekinetics. They may be allowed to bludgeon opposing team members with their hands and feet (if they have them) but hurling rocks at them telekinetically results in a 3-game penalty.

Music is heavily culture based, but beyond that we have “music” because our environment supports the transmission of longitudinal (compression) waves. Western music is based on the thirteen notes but non-western music systems vary on the number of notes and variation is reflected in the difference in tunings and instruments themselves. Other worlds may support lifeforms with hearing vastly different from ours, hence their music will be vastly different. If those cultures developed in environments that don’t support longitudinal waves, is there music at all? Or what would they have that we’d consider “music”?

Leisure time activities tend to be sensory-dependent as a rule (hence music would be different if the other culture’s ears weren’t designed to detect longitudinal waves). A Jovian would “paint” using radium-based “paints” as their “vision” developed on a planet where our visible spectrum couldn’t penetrate the clouds and the planet radiates like a sun-in-the-making; they wouldn’t have eyes like ours, or what served as eyes would be radiation detectors (perhaps Geiger counter like stalks?).

Life forms