For International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day: "Parting Gifts"

[dianeduane]

I thought that for my offering to this noble group effort, I would bring along something that people have been asking about on and off for a while: something of a rarity, one of the very few extant short works set in the Middle Kingdoms universe.

"Parting Gifts" is, now that I think of it, the first piece of short work (i.e., shorter than novel-length) that I had published. It came out in 1981, in FLASHING SWORDS #5: Demons and Daggers, which was edited by Lin Carter and published by Dell -- under the aegis of editor Jim Frenkel, if I remember correctly.

The company in the anthology was exhilarating: C.J. Cherryh, Tanith Lee, Roger Zelazny, Craig Shaw Gardner. I got even more excited to learn that the cover of the anthology was going to be based on my story. But I became just slightly less excited when I found out that Richard Corben, of "Den" fame, was going to be the artist.

Don't get me wrong: I liked Den. But Corben was well known for, to be blunt, hanging mammaries -- and ample ones -- on anything that could possibly be made to take them. When I found out about the cover assignment, I remember thinking, Okay, buster. Here are the characters: a grandmother, a young guy, and a kitten. Let's see you hang bazongas on those. And what the heck: he did. (Click on the image for a larger version. At least the kitten and the guy are bazonga-free.) But in the process Corben also created a terrific cover that (for the time anyway) was quite unusual for him, a complete break with his usual palette of hot tones.

The story was written between The Door into Fire and So You Want to Be a Wizard. Some tropes which were later transplanted to the YW universe can be found in here: the Shadow is plainly being played very much as the Middle Kingdoms' version of the Lone Power (though the backstories of these two embodiments of Entropy are far different). The word "errantry" is even mentioned once. Otherwise, though, the tale is one of an average Rodmistress -- if there is such a thing -- in her sunset years. In Middle Kingdoms time, Sirronde is apparently working in a period well after the Door Into... novels: the doings of the Five are mentioned, briefly, as events of a past time, if not quite the remote past.

It seemed a nice thought to turn this story loose right now because I've been thinking about republishing it with its two prequel stories: "The Span", which came out in Dragon Magazine a couple/few years ago, and a third untitled Sirronde story, presently in the works for a UK publisher. I may also add to that collection the only other Middle Kingdoms short work, "Lior and the Sea", which appeared in the tribute anthology for Andre Norton, Moonsinger's Friends. Those who're interested in seeing such a compilation volume should keep an eye on the blog during late spring / early summer of '07.

Meanwhile, hope you enjoy this!

Unfortunately it's too long to post under the cut: please go over here to the WordPress version of the blog to read the story. And vivat technopeasantry!

(By the way, if you'd prefer a non-locked / printable .PDF version of this story, please use this link.)

EDIT: My brains aren't that much good late at night. I completely forgot to mention: I have a whole novel online right now available for free download -- Raetian Tales 1: A Wind from the South. Hit the link for info on formats (.LIT, .PDF, .PDB) and the download URLs.)

Comments

Thank you!

[dakiwiboid.livejournal.com]

I especially liked the cat!

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

Woot! Thank you!

Um, speaking of stories, did you ever get that last installment of TBM uploaded? I remember you had some kind of technical issue.

[spacelogic.livejournal.com]

Splendid! Now whose book should I not buy because of your e-scabbery?

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

I loved that story so much; I've kept the anthologies all these years because of it.

[elliemurasaki.livejournal.com]

I've been reading through everything posted for IPSTP Day, which is how I found this. I think I may need to go find your books.

[alessandriana.livejournal.com]

That was lovely. Thanks for posting it!

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough I bought that book, back in the day (and I'm pretty sure it's on the shelf still) and all I thought was, 'Yeah, dumpy figure, that's what happens after fifty, go these guys for not having a slender young thing on the cover.' The slender young thing-like waist didn't even register, proving once again that visually I'm a dork.

[anton-p-nym.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the story! I haven't read through it yet; I'm saving that PDF on my portable for gobbling down during travel time tomorrow.

A friend of mine had the pleasure of commissioning a cover by Corben for a game he and I worked on. Yes, we got some "helium boobs" on there, but it's a heck of a cover that both reflects the art style in the game and still looks like his work. Still have the promo t-shirt around here somewhere... amazing stuff. Great work with shadowing, too.

-- Steve's looking forward to a great read tomorrow.

[tortoises.livejournal.com]

Books sure looked different back then! I can't imagine seeing that cover on display in a bookshop these days. :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/inkista_/]

That was a Corben cover? OMG. My jaw drops.

Particle_person: Chapter 7 of TBM has not been posted.

And for those interested in "The Span", if you can't wait for the anthology, it's in issue #256 of Dragon magazine. Happy e-baying. :)

[moonreviews]

"Wizard Magazine"
What is this? A magazine about the YW series?

I'll read the linked stories from this entry tomorrow and the days after :)
Tonight I listened to your recording of "Uptown Local" (I found the mp3 somewhere on the internet last week... probably through wikipedia) . Nice story (^_^) . Your voice sounded different than I expected, a bit lower.