Star Tower is a science-fiction-light short story I wrote after experimenting in dream recording and the effect substances had on dream retention and involvement. From these experiments and their corresponding journal writings and drawings I pieced together a story dying to get out. I wrote Star Tower over the course of a winter where all of my friends went away to college. I wrote often to keep my sanity, late through the night and into the early morning.
Synopsis
Within a wilderness of snow, Icarus recounts his vicious struggle for purpose. Being the last of the humans as he knows it, he carries a life burden alone. In his mind are the memories of Father’s stories and teachings passed down to him about an older age. Icarus fights for his life each week when completing hunts against The Metals. He upholds a mysterious deal with The Wall, a silent object in the forest which gives him gifts for completing the deliveries of Metals. All is shaken when Icarus questions the stories told to him by Father, and fails in the duties passed down to him.
Common Love was inspired by a rabbit hole story that led me to a strange book of poetry called Encounters With Cold Mountain. This poetry book is a collection of poems translated from the works of a Chinese Tang Dynasty monk named Han Shan and possibly his friend Shide. I collected old poems I had never intended to share, and began adding new ones. For a time I tried writing one each day, oftentimes when they sprung to me by surprise in my ever-working mind. This is the second interation of my poetry book.