Mission Statement

            I am a fan of vast, sprawling, and detailed fantasy settings.  But I have a problem with them.  The kingdoms one thousand years ago, technologically, linguistically, and sociologically resemble the kingdoms the characters live in now.  Why?  The medieval period in our own history only covered about half a millennium or so and even that period was turbulent with changes to society, culture, and technology.  Even steampunk settings like China Mieville’s Bas-lag are stuck in a sort of Victorian stasis, and that period was even shorter (lasting roughly a century or so) with even more social, cultural, and technological turbulence.

            I have written my own steampunk tales, and I decided I wasn’t going to fall prey to medieval stasis.  Technology and society will not be static, but changing.  Hand-in-hand with that, magic is something that anyone in the world can learn.  And unlike in some settings, magic and technology go hand-in-hand, explaining how the technology can defy the laws of physics.

            I will be featuring micro-fiction, very short, action-packed stories set in these different eras to illustrate fantasy in clockpunk (late Renaissance era), steampunk (ubiquitous, now), dieselpunk (first half of the twentieth century or so), atompunk (roughly the Cold War era), and possibly even cyberpunk (also quite ubiquitous) modes.  I also plan to share background information from time to time.

            You can find the first story featuring this setting, “Shaft 413,” in Tales of the Talisman Volume IX Issue 2.

            And last but not least, no elves.  They suck and they know it.


Pick your favorite story series and visit its index:

Codex Entries

Church and State

Seven Goblins Mine