Bringing you stories, book and game reviews, writing tips, and updates from author S.G. Baker.
Dug several levels into the earth, a double set of stairs twisted around and around each other in graceful spirals - spirals that put me in mind of the arms of a galaxy. Black wrought-iron railing echoed the emptiness of space. This and the marble flooring below suggested opulence and grandeur deep underground. Warm, inviting … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – An Inviting Stairwell
Sometimes you find a book that's just about you, about the things you love and the longing in your heart and the fears that consume you at night, and Ballad is of all that for me.
Perched upon a porous boulder at the toes of a fiery mountain, I regarded a distant but nearing lava flow. No flames breathed from the peak above, but smoke billowed moodily into the evening sky. The ground vibrated with constant rumbling and heat soaked my hair with sweat. This was no place for people, yet … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – Hungering Mountain
Upon a stone fence along a country road, a cat rested in the warm sunshine. It was doing that thing cats do where they stare into space at something invisible, perhaps at a lingering spirit, perhaps at a mere dust mote. This cat's eyes moved back and forth, like the perpetual swinging of a clock's … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – Cat Curiosity
At the top of the world, I approached a cloud that had come to rest on the tallest mountain peak. Though a rocky path indicated this as a thoroughfare, the cloud had remained for days and days, obscuring passage and worrying the locals, who asked me to climb up and negotiate. "The people need to … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – Concerned Cloud
The Darkest Part of the Forest seems brief as a stand-alone novel, but it's packed full of events, action, and twists, traipsing all over the fictional town of Fairfold, through the woods, and down below the Faerie hill.
There was a light shining from beneath the sand. I spied it while walking along the seashore late on a moonless night, chilly surf chuckling around my bare toes. Just a steady glow ringing a patch of emptiness. I guess I already knew what it was when I started digging there, because this had happened … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – A Waymarker
Pure white light blazed in my eyes. A moment before, it had been the kind of vast, empty night that only farmland can offer. Corn rows marching away into the distance. Stars blazing overhead, etched sharply against the shapes of distant trees and a cluster of silos on the horizon. No artificial light for miles … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – Catching Strays
I drew in several deep breaths and blew them out, preparing to hold as long as I could. By my count, the constant practice while traversing this twilit forest had me up to a solid two minutes, though I still struggled. I had a feeling two minutes wouldn't be long enough for what I wanted … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – Butterfly Breaths
High jinks rule the day throughout The Death of the Necromancer. The narrative comes packed with every aspect Victorian-era criminal life has to offer, plus necromancy.
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