fantasy Archives - Chris Henderson-Bauer

10 Apr

The Were-Chihuahua & the Hospitality Squid

This story is a part of a blog-hop anthology all taking place within the WFGC Hotel. You can find more stories in this anthology here.

Phil walked through the airlock into a lobby straight out of late twentieth-century Earth: white marble floor dotted with diamonds of gold-veined black, a ten-meter ceiling arched over crystal chandeliers, and colorful rugs that smelled like actual sheep’s wool. The impression of antiquity was so strong, it took a moment to spot the telltale distortion around the WFGC Hotel sign and the discreet interfaces in the deep-brown multispecies seating.

After a decade as a Guardian, entering a place designed by humans felt strange. A quick mental command adjusted the clings on his legs to local gravity. He still crossed the lobby too quickly, but many humans had minor mods beyond the standard neural-network implant. Nothing to alarm anyone.

Human noses couldn’t smell the truth. Human ears couldn’t hear his heart racing. His network profile didn’t show what hid in his cells. His cycle was ticking down, and he needed to get hidden and safe.

The white-haired human receptionist peered up at him with large brown eyes, and he felt the ping on his profile a moment before her public persona flicked from “permanent contract” to “widowed.” She set her knitting aside and smiled broadly just as his nanobots detected the frequency coming off the needles.

Getting hit on by a septuagenarian with military-grade tactical knitting needles was just what today needed.

Coming Soon: WFGC Hotel Blog-Hop Anthology

A boisterous cabal of writers. Many genres. One strange hotel.

The infamous #WriteFightGIFClub has written an online anthology! Our wonderful, absurd, hilarious compilation of free short stories is coming to blogs near you on April 10.

My contribution is “The Were-Chihuahua & the Hospitality Squid.” Check back here next Wednesday to read all about Kiki the mega squid, Fluffy the chihuahua, their human halves—who can’t decide whether to flirt or flee—and the shady merchant who could destroy them.

02 May

Snippet from Chapter 1

I’m writing a novel. It’s a contemporary fantasy featuring angels, vampires, salmon, miniature red robots, mutilated corpses, and other things a newly minted Seattleite stumbles across as she pretends to be human—and tries to avoid one tenacious angel detective.

Here is an excerpt from the current beginning of chapter 1. Read More →

01 May

Discontinuing SFF Seattle Events Lists

It was fun while it lasted.

I’m discontinuing my monthly science fiction and fantasy events lists. While it was neat to see just how many different SFF events happen in Seattle each month, finding the events and creating the lists took a lot of time. I’ve decided to devote that time to writing fiction.

The good news is that I’m finally making progress in my novel. I’m excited about the scenes I’ve been writing. It feels fantastic to enjoy writing instead of just enduring it (or avoiding it altogether). I even read my work out loud in front of an audience for the first time last month, which was both terrifying and awesome.

I’ll post a snippet from the novel tomorrow. If you’re curious about what I’m working on, come back and check it out!

01 Apr

SFF Seattle Events List: April 2016

It’s April, and what better way to celebrate than to ride a motorcycle through the tulip fields with science fiction & fantasy stars Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica) and Karl Urban (Star Trek, Lord of the Rings)? Or, if that’s way too much pollen and daystar exposure for you, there’s always Emerald City Comicon and the parallel local artist event, Hometown Heroes. UFOs, edible books, BDSM, and more below.

SFF Seattle Events List: March 2016

I apologize for the delay in this month’s list; I’ve been having some health issues that have knocked the stuffing out of my work schedule. Even with this late start, we have plenty of neat science fiction and fantasy events in Seattle this month, including a live soundtrack for The Dark Crystal and two very different versions of Alice in Wonderland—not to mention Norwescon, Sakura-Con, and the Science Fiction + Fantasy Short Film Festival.

One quick admin note before we get to the good stuff. Last month’s list was absurdly long, so I decided to exclude regular meetings for smaller groups—things like book clubs and crafting groups. If you’re curious, you can find a lot of these meetings on last month’s list.

As always, please check each event’s website to confirm the details. If you’d like to get future events lists, subscribe using the link to the right or follow me on Twitter.

Know of a SFF event that’s not on this list? Want to go to an event? Tell us about it in the comments!

SFF Seattle Events List: February 2016

Seattle is full of geeks and nerds. So many of us love science fiction and fantasy, but it can be difficult to find SFF events. Listings on the Stranger and elsewhere are overwhelming, and some of the major events (like conventions) don’t show up there at all.

So, I made a SFF Seattle Events List for February. I’m an editor and a writer, I like research, and lists are my friends. This one wound up being a wee bit longer than I thought it would, and I may shorten it next month. But I plan on making these lists once a month for the next little while. If you’d like to get future events lists, subscribe using the link to the right or follow me on Twitter. I’m a terrible blogger, so unless I kiss the Blogging Blarney Stone, it’s likely that these lists are most of what you’ll see from me. Read More →

21 Feb

Creative Compliments

I know how it is. It’s been a long week, you’ve worked hard, and you are so spent. Need a pick-me-up to get through the rest of the day?

Well, pull up a seat and tell me something about yourself in the comments, and I will give you a creative compliment. Read More →