Works in Progress
Works in Progress
Works in Progress Works in Progress
Pretender
Desiderum
Trickster
Pretender - What began as a story two friends told each other as kids, has turned into a fully fledged High Fantasy novel inspired by Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi Culture. Follow the story of Riza Dakh and Sazia Ashunka as they navigate a war torn world and try to make sense of their place in a flawed system.
“The Mission”
There was a woman staring at Riza, not a real one made of flesh and bone but the kind created on canvas with exaggerated features. The woman stretched thin, pulled farther apart than humanly possible, the colors inside her swirling together in a cacophony of screams. Her mouth hung loose, allowing for all sorts of madness to escape. Her eyes were hollow and sunken in. Pieces of her forehead cracked and fell in red clumps at the golden hem of her shalwar.
Whenever Riza saw a painting, her first instinct was always to reach out and touch it, to feel the lumps of overlapping brush strokes, the oils or acrylics or even the unregistered sensation of watercolors. She didn’t dare to touch this one. This was no place to make a fool of herself.
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Image courtesy of Umma Desai: https://unsplash.com/@unmadesai
Desiderium - A Troubled Young man must face a macabre, strange, and fantastical world all while coming to terms with the death of a loved one. He must survive this odd tale and avoid the path laid out for him because he knows if he follows the narrative as it unfolds, he will die.
“Prologue: Baba Yaga Looking Ass”
Sage burns in every corner of the cabin while the old woman sits by the fire. She’s in a giant armchair that makes her seem smaller than she is. Her back is hunched, shrimp-like, and her eyes are closed.
She looks dead.
She’s probably dead.
Probably died after she wrote that note:
The story’s changed. Come to my cabin now, alone.
I crumple it in my pocket, letting my sweat soak through the flimsy paper. The ink is going to stain my hand. The place is so small that it makes studios in Manhattan look roomy. Everything she owns must be in this crumpling hut. There’s a huge hole in the ceiling, like someone fell through and she decided to cover it up with a tarp. The woman herself is dressed in rags on rags on rags, a patchwork of clothes that she keeps fixing instead of throwing away. It’s like her cocoon, maybe they’ll bury her in it, no coffin needed.
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Image courtesy of Savannah B. https://unsplash.com/@savannahlynneb
Trickster of Ur - The Ancient city-state of Sumer has fallen to ruin, abandoned by their god and ruled by cruel tyrants. That is until one day a stranger comes to the long ruined gates of the once great kingdom.
“A Stranger, A Trickster”
The Trickster was a thief and a nomad who traveled from city to city. They took great pride in fooling the average man with a game of loaded dice or tricking a woman under the guise of a fair game of checkers.
It didn’t matter if you were a man, a woman, or neither, the Trickster would come for you all the same. They were fair in that way, for it wasn’t just the money they were after. No, they enjoyed the thrill of the game, the thrill of not getting caught, and sometimes, very rarely, the thrill of getting caught and escaping by the skin of their teeth.
The Trickster arrived late to some, early to others, when Nanna’s moon was setting and Utu’s sun was rising. A chill traveled with them, muted only by the stray rays of Utu’s domain.
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Image courtesy of Corbin Mathias https://unsplash.com/@cdm