Space for Snacks - Issue #1
Hello, theoretical reader! This is Space for Snacks, a space for all the small oddments of thoughts and words that don't quite fit in my usual outlets. So, instead, I'm writing them to you!
Why Space for Snacks?
I love board games. Especially the kind that come in tantalising boxes with beautiful artwork. But I'm also a writer (notoriously low pay) living in London (notoriously high rents), so space is a luxury product for me. I know boxes that take up more space on the shelf sell more board games, I get it. But it annoys me personally when I open a big box and see it's 50% bigger than needed for the components. I've taken to calling the empty bits of the box 'space for snacks' to put a more positive spin on it (and have been known to hide a twix or crisps in there, as a treat for future me), so that's what this is - a space that's not technically needed, but where I can hide small thoughts and bits of writing for you to snack upon.*
The snacks might be ideas in their early stages, experiments with different genres or forms, my current fixations or the occasional soapbox rant.
*like the oversized boxes, I'm also not averse to using it for a bit of self-promotion from time to time, but that's not really the point.
The Emperor
I want to get better at writing short stories (my natural inclination as a fiction writer is more-is-more, which I'm working on), so I've been challenging myself to try flash and micro-fiction. I'm trying to write one very short thing per major arcana card, because that's 22 prompts right there!
The Emperor sits upon her throne. Her robe is red and gold and thick, covering the ground at her feet like moss. How long has she sat here, on this stone chair, in this forest? Has it been decades? Centuries? More?
They said she could not withstand the coming tides of war and time, but here she is. Enduring.
Her advisers told her she must abandon her seat of power. Snakes. Her family begged her to follow them abroad. Cowards. Her people fled, or fought and fell. They were nothing.
Not one of them still lives, yet she remains. She has seen her enemies raze her lands and ruin her home and, when they stood before her, she has met their eyes and dared them to strike. They did not. Instead, they fled, abandoning their spoils, and she alone has stayed to watch the stones of her great castle crumble to dust, and seen these mighty trees grow to take their place. The questing roots have snaked around her toes where her shoes decayed but her cloak, her crown and her throne have lasted with her.
She rules this land as she always has. She will not desert it, though it pays her no heed. The trees may grow till they block out the sun and here she will linger in darkness, unceasing.
What I'm Enjoying...
I spent one of my days off last week in an armchair, with my cat on my lap, drinking tea and reading straight through The Beautiful Ones by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia and it was wonderful. Recommended if you like magical realist period romances with beautifully vivid settings.
Did you know you can look at art on Instagram?! Who would have thought! I've recently learned I can just...follow my favourite museums from around the world on social media, which is pretty good. Right now, my favourite is the Horta Museum in Brussels because they post a lot of really beautiful art nouveau architectural details from their building.
I saw The Green Knight and it was, as expected, excellent.
Thanks for letting me share my snacks with you! You can find more of me on Twitter, on Twitch and through my games design company MacGuffin & Co.