Marcel the gravedigger brought the green man to me. It was late in March, and the snows around Ste-Gasmorlé were just starting to recede, making it necessary to collect the winter’s corpses from the village’s rooftops. Read the rest of this entry »
Igxkyal the glass gatherer was the first to see it. He was out on the plains just before sunrise, his carapace already half filled with sheets and shards that he could sell in the morning market, when he felt the familiar tingle up his spine.
“The Glass Scarab” was inspired by a National Geographic special on glass in the Egyptian desert that appears to have been formed by a prehistoric meteor strike. The story imagines a Mars that is constantly pummeled by meteors, the adaptations that life would have to make in such an environment, and the uses to which those life forms might put the by-products of meteor strikes.
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Announcing Fifty Two Encounters
Coming Tuesday, January 1, 2008: “The Glass Scarab”, the first installment of Fifty Two Encounters, the weekly journal of interplanetary meetngs.
About the Project
Fifty Two Encounters presents a short story each week that imagines an encounter between the inhabitants of Venus, Earth, and Mars. Each tale stands alone: though some themes and ideas might resurface over the course of the project, don’t expect a “foolish consistency†to spoil the fun. The relationship between the planets will be imagined anew with each story.
Visit each Tuesday morning, beginning on January 1, 2008, for the latest addition.
About the Author
Michael Hartford is a writer and photographer living in Minneapolis with his wife and twin sons. A list of his publications can be found here; his daily photoblog (which relies on such ancient technologies as black-and-white film, smelly chemicals, and cameras full of springs and gears) is From a Farther Room.