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The following ficlet is sort of exploratory noodling for a paranormal romance mystery/thriller story I will probably not ever write (on account of absolutely sucking at standard genre romance). That book, "Cobweb Maze," is set in Ithaca and is actually the second in a series of loosely connected stories I have semi-outlined. The idea is that some people in this world have 'paranormal' abilities of various types, known as 'touches.' These people are called the Touched, and are currently discriminated against in America, though their legal and social status has varied from culture to culture and era to era.
The basic abilities are shifters (shape-shifters), channelers (energy-manipulators: telekinetics, pyrokinetics, electrokinetics, etc.), doors (psychics and mediums), bounds (people linked to an aspect of their local environment), voids (can suppress touches), and magicians (can manipulate both their own and other people's touches). People without touches are called nulls. The strength of touches is ranked as follows: minor, magnus, and maximus aka force majeur. Sometimes 'minor' is split into three subcategories: minimus, minor, and medium. Touches are also classified as voluntary, semi-voluntary, and involuntary, depending on people's level of control.
"Cobweb Maze" deals with the relationship between Lia Reynard, a mysterious woman haunted by the ghosts of her two dead friends and pursued by a shadowy figure, who has opened an 'occult' shop on South Cayuga St., and Takeshi Fitzroy, a high school librarian who moonlights as a police consultant, since he's the most powerful magician in the Finger Lakes region. But this ficlet is just a conversation between Lia and one of her ghosts. (550 words)
( In the Still of the Night )
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Someday I should post the world-building I've done for this 'series,' since I think it's rather interesting and I highly doubt I'll ever get around to writing the books said world-building is supposedly in service of. (Maybe if I call them urban fantasy and mostly ignore the romance element? I think all the stories except the one about Takeshi's sister Hikaru could work as platonic friendships...)
The basic abilities are shifters (shape-shifters), channelers (energy-manipulators: telekinetics, pyrokinetics, electrokinetics, etc.), doors (psychics and mediums), bounds (people linked to an aspect of their local environment), voids (can suppress touches), and magicians (can manipulate both their own and other people's touches). People without touches are called nulls. The strength of touches is ranked as follows: minor, magnus, and maximus aka force majeur. Sometimes 'minor' is split into three subcategories: minimus, minor, and medium. Touches are also classified as voluntary, semi-voluntary, and involuntary, depending on people's level of control.
"Cobweb Maze" deals with the relationship between Lia Reynard, a mysterious woman haunted by the ghosts of her two dead friends and pursued by a shadowy figure, who has opened an 'occult' shop on South Cayuga St., and Takeshi Fitzroy, a high school librarian who moonlights as a police consultant, since he's the most powerful magician in the Finger Lakes region. But this ficlet is just a conversation between Lia and one of her ghosts. (550 words)
( In the Still of the Night )---------------------------------------------
Someday I should post the world-building I've done for this 'series,' since I think it's rather interesting and I highly doubt I'll ever get around to writing the books said world-building is supposedly in service of. (Maybe if I call them urban fantasy and mostly ignore the romance element? I think all the stories except the one about Takeshi's sister Hikaru could work as platonic friendships...)
