Knights in Tarnished Armor: Missive 1
29th April 2009 by Darwin No Comments
A Letter to Sir Richard Amesbury, from Sir Anthony Grimston.
My dear friend,
It should come as no surprise to you that the kingdom in an intolerable state. In all my years as a professional scoundrel and despoiler of maidens, I have never seen anything to equal this. I simply cannot do business.
The dearth of maidens is appalling, Richard, utterly appalling. How can I abduct a woman and threaten her with a Fate Worse Than Death if such a fate as already befallen her - and worse, she enjoyed it!
Worse, no self-respecting Knight in Shining Armor will rescue a besmirched maiden. I do not even get the somewhat dubious pleasure of besmirching them myself. They come to me pre-besmirched, as it were. My dragon is starving and my estate is on the brink of bankruptcy.
Can you see any solution to this problem?
Your friend,
Anthony.
Written by Kate Paulk
Illustrated by B.C. Hailes
The collection of missives will be compiled here.



The sound of the clay jug breaking disturbed the silence of the mountainside. The arrow had severed the red cord, and only the red one. The five others remained intact, their suspended jugs swinging in the wind that swirled up from the gorge. Jong Huan lowered his bow.
Okay, we all know that there are no new ideas in fiction, right? Especially when it comes to manga. The Japanese are absolute masters of running over the same opossum to the point that they’ll vary the positions of the entry and exit of the tire treads by millimeters just to see what changes on the carcass.

Just in case you, like me, managed to miss it, the Maximum Ride series of YA (young adult) novels by James Patterson are best sellers. Bona fide best sellers. As in, the kind of success that every author dreams of best sellers, not just “good for YA” best sellers, i.e. movie-coming-out-soon-with-hordes-of-expectant-fans-already-looking-forward-to-seeing-it-because-they’ve-read-the-book best seller.