Stories

Here, you can find information about the stories I'm currently writing or have been writing, including details about the worlds they're set in and themes I like to explore using them. To me, storytelling in fantasy is a way to develop and investigate allegories about the real world. While the settings may be fantastical, the conflicts that drive them are fundamentally grounded.

A World in a Bottle

A World in a Bottle is a cross-world low fantasy story that follows a pre-industrial, supernatural world, The Inner World, roughly the size of Australia that is enclosed by The Firmament, an invisible structure that prevents people from escaping. If they try, they're sent to the Middle World, an endless field of wheat where space loops in all directions. The only way to escape is to find the Lens, a glass structure that is actually The Firmament itself in miniature.

Characters in this world come together and bring wisdom from all different cultures to piece together the mystery of the world as they try to figure out how to become free.

The story explores themes of diversity, multiculturalism, education, social mobility, collaboration, and freedom.

Celestial Bodies

Celestial Bodies is a fantasy world that derives magic from its seven celestial bodies: Amber magic from the Earth, Argent magic from the Moon, Vibrant magic from the Sun, Verdigris magic from the Satellite, Violet magic from the Stars, and Velvet magic from Space.

Each type of magic is acquired by meeting different emotional extremes - Verdigris mages, for instance, need to experience extreme abandonment to be able to channel their magic, by 'empathizing' with the abandonment of the Satellite.

Characters explore their dark histories with magic and guide themselves into peril as they try to recover the magic they or their families once had, involving themes of generational trauma, love, loss, and drama.

Karavan Boys

Karavan Boys is a medieval action fantasy webcomic produced by Screembob. It's set in a ancient India-inspired island called Markata. Throughout history, several stories unfold involving the religions built around several magical features of the world. The first is Oom, a mystical energy that flows through nature and can be channeled through the art of Santai-Oom. The second are arraksha, terrifying beasts made of pure energy that form out of rifts to another realm. Arraksha can fuse with people to form rakshabis, rare hybrids that merge magical abilities with physical form and animal instinct. They can also be bound to masks that can be worn to project the powers of arraksha in battle.

Stories focus around ideas of environmental and cultural preservation, inheriting the past, meritocracy, and free will.

Ichor

Ichor is a discontinued story about magical bloodlines. Specifically, the four main characters inherited the abilities to see the future, read minds, generate illusions, and reanimate the dead. They all had one thing in common, though, which was their broken homes and disintegrating families. Though they derived their magic from their family lines, they were unable to connect with their family on any level more than their inheritance. The story involved themes of broken families, generational trauma, and homes away from home.