no more fingers
outstretched because
we can see our
only use is to please
some illusion of touch
arthritic entanglements
become slender thorns
pressed under tender
skin
entanglements
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entanglements
Episode 3: What Walks On, Part 4
Vengeance, My Heart is a work of serialized fiction. Jump to key story links to read earlier content.
As she made her way to where the crow perched, it was clear that Fallow was not the only equine casualty of the shootout. One other lay dead on the outrider’s side of the camp and the other two had panicked at the noise. The stranger could see the silhouette of one against the backdrop of the last of the failing light. It was looking back at camp, but seemed disinterested in returning. Of the other horse, there was no trace.
Dee was resting her back against the base of some mesquite once the stranger found her. She was pressing one hand firmly against her thigh, blood staining her fingers dark to match the growing shadows. Her other hand rested near the holster without quite reaching it. Her gun was not in the holster and it took the stranger a moment before she spotted the revolver in the gloaming, left almost under the wain.
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Episode 3: What Walks On, Part 4
VMH Progress Report — 18apr26
I’ve been steadily jabbing at the keyboard for Vengeance, My Heart, this serial gothic western (/not-western) fantasy bit of writing some of you have been kind enough to read. Thanks go out to you who have. Your readership and comments are much appreciated.
As of last night, I surpassed the wordcount of my recent return to writing serialized fiction, a bit of occult noir that is part of the Vivian Locke world, which I may or may not return to — I haven’t decided yet, as my head is entirely in this world right at the moment. The posts haven’t quite caught up with the written wordcount, but that’s by design. It gives me a chance to go back and fix continuity issues (usually only a sentence, maybe as little as a change in a single word), something I neglected to anticipate when I first started writing serial fiction in 2001, which resulted in an insurmountable hurdle at the time for a truly rotten story.
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VMH Progress Report — 18apr26
Episode 3: What Walks On, Part 3
Vengeance, My Heart is a work of serialized fiction. Jump to key story links to read earlier content.
Dee turned to the stranger and nodded to the gun at her hip.
“That’s a fine bit of hardware you’re carrying around,” she said. “Old. The kind that means something. They don’t make them like that anymore.” She tilted her head and took a sip from her flask. “Lone woman on the road, carrying a piece like that around… Eventually somebody’s gonna make you an offer on it.”
She took another nod at the flask, spit into the fire and watched the whiskey flare up into a darkening twilight as it kissed the flame.
“Might as well be me.”
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Episode 3: What Walks On, Part 3
casting runes — 16apr26
jera spinning, burning
dancing, turning
the catherine wheels
in ribbons & gold
come along
that may night
which has love
surrendered
in kissing
a goddess?
mead drunk,
&
a forgotten askA poem prompted by a randomly selected Elder Futhark rune.
Today’s rune is jera. Jera is translated as “year”, and has also been translated as “harvest”. This rune is representative of cycles, the “wheel of the year”, the union of opposites (implied by the summer half of the year ending, winter half of the year beginning), balance, as well as cause/effect relationships.
Please visit my Elder Futhark pages at sceadugenga.com for additional interpretations of the runes based on multiple references and personal reflection.
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casting runes — 16apr26
Gerald’s Game
With apologies to Stephen King for the title.
Another fiction prompt from my good friend, Jolene.
Here are your story line (+ can’t kill MC):
- Person who has broken something that cannot be replaced
- Person in professional disgrace
- Aquarium
- Forget to pass along the information
Gerald Hailstone had the necessary paperwork. What he didn’t have, as it turned out, was authorization to share that paperwork.
An oversight. Obviously.
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Gerald’s Game
Episode 3: What Walks On, Part 2
Vengeance, My Heart is a work of serialized fiction. Jump to key story links to read earlier content.
The man who had taken the hare from the stranger spit the carcass and seared it over the flames. The stranger noticed the woman who had poured the coffee was too close a resemblance to be anything but the man’s daughter and watched her cut up root vegetables and put them into a small kettle of boiling water. It would not amount to much, but it was luxurious fare for those used to the road and even a small tin cup of the stuff was better than hardtack and stale water sitting in a skin all day.
She was lean, but not a sinewy, spindly leanness. Her father did well enough doing whatever he did to keep her modestly fed.
A young man sat in the family’s wain, hat pulled low over his eyes, a long gun cradled in his arms. He seemed to be napping for a watch against the roaming desert nightgaunts that liked to nest near the mesas when true night decided to stop for a visit. Probably the older man’s son.
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Episode 3: What Walks On, Part 2
oh nameless
nameless oh nameless
nameless oh love
in the meadow
in the meadow, oh—
hey nonny none
blackwork & ebon
carved to your arm
nameless oh
nameless, oh
hey nonny none
closed eyed of window
in the nightfall you'll come
through the meadow
wraithing nameless, oh
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oh nameless
don’t dare
don't dare dream, said she,
everything ends up in unbelieve
when one dares dream
she drew down the sheets,
laid naked on the bed
and said:
hon', put away that dream
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don’t dare
casting runes — 14apr26
sowilo after this long
wræclāst of wander to
stone step ragged roads
marked in wrap and rag
and thorn
light thrusts through
eiderdown above
warming face and stoneA rune poem, based on an Elder Futhark rune selected at random.
Today’s rune is sowilo, the sun. Sowilo is the source of enlightenment, for lighting the way and illumination. It is also called the “icebreaker” and gives power to an “attack”, ensuring success and/or prosperity. This rune also represents hope, the light at the end of a long darkness.
Please visit my Elder Futhark pages at sceadugenga.com for additional interpretations of the runes based on multiple references and personal reflection.
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casting runes — 14apr26
