Martha.net

1. Work is a balm for pain.

2. The tapestry is woven from the clothes of the dead, the rust of dried blood offset by black mud and the faded remains of heraldry.

3. He thinks of swords and Gordon’s knots and Occam’s Razor and how the only way to keep them safe is to make sure there’s nothing left to save.

4. The massive cities are wrought in latticework, delicate only to the eye, carving out the skies in fractal patterns that mesmerize.

5. There’s a light in the darkness and this time she thinks it might not be a hallucination.

1. Knights never speak, relying on their squires to act as go-betweens. Hidden away in armor they never remove, they are nameless, faceless forces incapable of mercy or regret.

2. Juggling four programs at once is easy, once she spawns the needed subroutines. It’s still unnerving, the ability to manipulate code reflexively, but the trainers insist the longer she spends in the net the easier it will become.

3. Cold iron hates elves as much as they hate it and each drop of blood that falls burns deeper until he can shatter the brittle metal. Continue reading →

1. George never wanted an exciting job, just a reliable paycheck to build his life around. He’s quiet and methodical and the very last person his coworkers would’ve turned to in a crisis– at least until last Tuesday.

2. Space was the first frontier where mankind brought rats on purpose.

3. Justifying his execution is easy, she doubts anyone will even ask, but she gets the story straight in her head just in case. Continue reading →

1. There’s a lot more to climbing a mountain than putting one foot in front of the other, but don’t try telling that to tourists.

2. Queens were born for this, the quiet manipulation of the court and nobility– she settles into the web her mother wove and begins to overlay lacework of her own.

3. He rose from the ashes, slowly rebuilding himself from the scraps of his nest-mates. Continue reading →