2024 U : Unearthing #mfrwhooks

 

"U" is for "unearthing." In writing, unearthing a future event can be done by foreshadowing. Unearthing a character's past can be the use of backstory. In the real world , if lucky enough to participate in an archaeological dig, you can literally unearth the past in the form of fossils, lost artifacts, and abandoned structures.

Since the official theme for the challenge is "books, writing craft, and the writing life with some personal thoughts sprinkled in," this post is a diversion from books to a more personal insight. I have been fortunate enough over the years to be part of several archaeological digs.

Hunting in the cool waters of a tree-shaded creek on a hot day rewarded you with fossilized shark teeth. Items found on a Revolutionary War battlefield using the Bag-tag-and-flag techniques contributed to the history of the site. Horseshoes and hard-forged hinges were unearthed on my family's farm. Finding and recovering coins of the various ages may not be of high financial value due to their decades buried beneath the grass, but the memory was as precious as the antique buttons found.

If you have followed my blog for any period of time, you might remember I have also visited the dark side and written non-fiction. As part of my work in the museum field, besides the above, I have been involved in traditional trowel and sift archaeological research including a survey dig at a colonial-era home. Now to set the stage, a survey dig does not uncover the entire site. Open squares are separated by untouched earth to allow future researchers access to undisturbed ground. The reason for this is important because sticking out of the wall of one of the areas being dug was a decorated piece of porcelain. The urge to remove it was strong so there would be a displayable artifact. "No one will know."

Various excuses swirled in our mind. "It is sticking out so we are not really removing it." As to whether just the handle and side of the cup was photographed in situ, or whether a more computer image taken and the piece then returned to its hiding spot? "No comment." I will say if you dig in the backyard, three squares down, six squares over, using the tree as the starting point the item is still there.

~till next time, Helen

 

 

If you're following other blogs in the challenge, here's the master list of the other participants.

Since it's Wednesday, this post is doing double duty. The rest of the Book Hooks hop is at http://mfrwbookhooks.blogspot.com

 

2024 T : Tagachim

 

Writing the challenge posts is not necessarily done in alphabetical order. V : Volcano's I've Known gave the inspiration for featuring Tagachim, pushing aside the original topic of Trelleir. But the story of the rust-colored dragon who lived amongst humans is detailed in a meet the character post.

There were two sides to the volcano that is Mt. Tagachim. A narrow trail leads up one side to a thick ice field. The other branch of the trail winds through a forest of stunted trees to end at a rocky ledge overlooking a volcano's lava pool. 

The main inspiration for the mountain home of the mountain god, Tagachim, was the magnificent, snow-capped Mount Fuji in Japan. You can see the inspiration. Although I made a visit to Japan, I didn't do the pilgrimage.

Mount Fuji, Japan
Courtesy of Pixabay

Mount Tagachim appears in two the Dragshi Chronicles. It is where the Empress Mirabesh finds her destiny in the tale, "Fire and Ice" in the companion book, First Change. The legend is re-enacted in Hatchlings Curse when Lord Branin takes on the dragon form of his soul-twin and in the 300-year ritual presents the dragon law.

~till next time, Helen

 

Sales Sites:

First Change

Hatchlings Curse

 

 

If you're following other blogs in the challenge, here's the master list of the other participants.

 

2024 S : The Price of Surrender

 

It was a toss-up as to what battle to use to illustrate surrender. It could be one of the reenactments I covered as a correspondent or as a volunateer. The most logical examples should have come from one of the fights or battle scenes in one of the fantasy series. However, the villains didn't surrender, didn't ritually surrender their sword. Instead, they slunk away beneath a clown of invisibility. So, a different tact was taken. Not surrendering.

One of the stories in the military tribute collection, Hearth and Sand, filled the need.

To set the scene, in a tale of a near-future, a pilot with no future fights an errant artificial intelligence in control on a civilian air transport. While he hid given up and stopped fighting his incurable disease, a sense of duty instilled by decades of service rises and he refuses to surrender his and the other passengers fates to a short-circuited computer.

Courtesy of Pixabay.

The aircraft reached cruising altitude and the last of Chippi’s strength deserted him. After a final pull on his seat belt, he dropped off into a sleep that was neither restful nor deep. From a habit born of years in the cockpit, one part of his mind retained an awareness of his surroundings. The bustle of flight attendants taking food orders and dispensing drinks served as a connection to the life around him.

The plane’s tilt as it entered a steep bank pulled Chippi to alertness. With flights now computer controlled to avoid weather fronts, he knew the steep turn indicated a major problem. Before he could summon an attendant, a computer voice, one almost indistinguishable from a true human’s, came over the aircraft’s message system...

Chippi looked out the window. However, instead of storm clouds, he was greeted by a clear blue sky. The view below disturbed him even more. This isn’t right, he thought. The NorPac dike follows the coastline from MexCal to Puget Sound. It should be just off our starboard wing. But the massive structure that held the Pacific Ocean at bay and served as the foundation for the desalination plants was not visible from either side of the craft. Only a vast unbroken expanse of water appeared in the viewports.

After the aircraft performs erratic maneuvers,  tossing people around, a piece of logic code buried deep within the plane’s complex artificial intelligence triggered a relay and the aircraft pulled out of the spin to level off just above the crashing waves. The brief respite allowed Chippin the chance to move. Crawling from seat to seat, the sick, bruised and battered man reached the locked door that gave access to the cockpit.

Amidst the plane’s erratic actions, he tried to punch in the universal emergency crew code. Twice the number was rejected. He thrust his fingers at the keypad in frustration. A loud snick sounded as the cockpit controller recognized the code and released the lock. Tumbling through the swinging hatch, Chippi ended up on his back against a panel of blinking warning lights. “AI ERROR — AI ERROR” scrolled across a panel on the opposite side of the cockpit.

"Thank God,” was his unconscious comment, seeing an old-fashioned pilot’s chair. The passengers and crew would have had no chance for survival if the aircraft had been the latest model Douglas Orbiter 301. Unlike craft designed after the age of AI control, this cockpit retained control stick and rudder pedals just as those once used by the men who pioneered flight.

To find out who wins the competition, human experience or technology, read  "Live or Surrender To Technology" in Hearth and Sand.

~till next time, Helen

An author's note:  "Live or Surrender To Technology" was written as a tribute to a family member who after years in the sky took his last flight westward just days before 9-11.

Hearth and Sand: Stories from the Front Lines and the Homefront

Buy Links:   One Click Link to major book sellers.

 

If you're following other blogs in the challenge, here's the master list of the other participants.