The First Alliance

This is a story I wrote several years ago, probably back in 2003 or 2004, as a submission for the Worcester State Short Fiction competition.  I rushed it though, and the final product was not fully edited, and the ending was still wishy-washy in my opinion.  That being said, I ended up wining 2nd place that year - so I always felt like I owed it to the story to go back and finish editing it for real ...

so here it is.  I dug it out of an old folder where it has been waiting patiently.  I'll try to keep the edits to a minimum- and it will definitely be in more than one 'part,' due to length   <- DO NOT PLAGIARIZE.


The First Alliance
Written by Jonathan Kelly

     The two of us crept through the tall, yellow grass, keeping our bellies low and our movements silent.  We had caught a new smell on the wind that morning.  Now our salvation lay just beyond a low ridge, only feet away.

The First Alliance pt.2

... When I next opened my eyes, the sun was gone, and night was fully upon me.  I rolled over and looked around.  All of the creatures I could see were asleep, grumbling quietly to themselves.  I tested my strength and found I could stand.  I walked on unsure feet, as quietly as I could, around the camp, searching for my father.  I came instead upon the slim male, crouching low next to the fire pit, as I had seen him before.  He had a long, charred stick in his hand which he poked listlessly into the glowing embers.  His head turned as I approached, despite my tries at silence.

Game of Thrones Season 5- Episode one Recap

I posted this over on the io9 review written by the extremely talented Charlie Jane Andrews... I figured I'd put it up here as well for posterity :)

Here we go...

I look at this episode from an architectural perspective - at the end of last season, we saw the completion of a massive, beautiful cathedral that was the House of Lannister.  We then saw it burned to the ground in a single, swift stroke.  

This felt very much like the foundations were being laid for the next several seasons worth of plots … and while watching foundations being forged isn’t as exciting as, say, the Hound and Brienne having the swordfight of the century - or watching the battle of the Blackwater - it makes all the difference in the end.  Let’s dive right in, spoilers ahead...

Affirmative Action problems onboard Galactica

     I only got to watch the second half of the Battlestar Galactica re-boot back when it aired on ACTUAL television, but I never saw the early episodes... so I was left to assume a lot of things about what had gone down in the early days of the Cylon attack.  Luckily for me though, Netflix is a thing, so over the last month-and-change I set about viewing all the episodes from Seasons one and two that I had previously missed... then for kicks, I just finishing the whole thing.  You know, for continuity sake. While this process was happening, I started to notice something very disturbing about Galactica that I never noticed before.

     There were a WHOLE LOT of white people on ALL those space ships ...

The time I almost died.

Everyone, I suppose, has a moment when their childhood ends.  We all share that moment, even if it takes a multitude of forms... that instant when we see death, and understand what it is, what it means, and that it is a simple and unavoidable truth of the human condition. Some people live that instant, and reject the idea immediately - and fight their entire lives against it ... others embrace the moment, and make their peace with it - and hopefully, afterwards, strive for something more than simply existing for ourselves.  After all, we're all united in our struggle against mortality - because it's a struggle we will all eventually lose.  It's just part of being an adult.