Solemn Coyote

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since	: 04-23-06, id: 522038, Profile Updated: 08-16-09
country	: United States

Author has written 27 stories for Fantasy, General, Supernatural, Fable, Sci-Fi, and Horror.

I am awfully wordy. Feel free to skip ahead.

"Still tired, dreaming out against and overboard..." - Coheed & Cambria, "Hearshot Kid Disaster"

"I believe that we owe it to each other to tell stories," - Neil Gaiman, "Fragile Things"

So, you've stumbled across my account. I'd thank my muse if I could find her, but she's usually on hiatus. I guess this'll have to do.

Thanks for visiting my profile. Feel free to read the stories below, and to post whatever thoughts you might have about them. As a rule, I accept any form of critique. I write for a million, billion different reasons, but one of them is to improve my style. If you think I'm not doing that, drop me a review.

Still reading this? I don't have any more important information, but I'll give you some random data about me:

I'm a dude. On this site that makes me something of a minority, which is kinda nice. It's like being unique, only not nearly so isolating.

I write fantasy, along with 200,000 or so other fictionpress writers. This is sometimes disappointing. It's a goal of mine to stretch the boundaries of fantasy, and that's a little hard to do with so many other authors dedicated to the genre. I won't hold it against them. They write well. All the same, I'd like my writing to stand apart from the mass. Maybe this is why I play around with stereotypes so much. I think there's still a lot of unmapped space in some of the big ones.

My inspirations are everyone I've ever met, and everything I've ever seen, smelled, heard, or discussed. I don't pretend to be the disciple of any one writer or artist. I'd rather be a student of all of them. However, I will point a graceful nod towards a few specific people. Without them, I would be substantially less than who I am as a writer. Terry Pratchett, Charles DeLint, Orson Scott Card, China Meiville, Kelly Link, H.P. Lovecraft, and Douglas Adams are the big names, I suppose. Then there's Patricia C Wrede, Matthew L DeAndrea, Lloyd Alexander, and Phillip Pullman, whose writings inspired me to start this craziness in the first place. And finally there's David Wong, Twoflower, and Stealth Noodle. Little known, under-appreciated, and powerful influences all.

My contemporaries on this site are SteelKitsune, Sabraeal, Locus, Gathering Crows, and various others. Without them so many of my ideas would lie unshaped.

I'm a dedicated reviewer, and I love stories. If you leave me a review, I'll be more than happy to read your writing. Just don't expect me to be thrilled if you write angst. I'll review it, but I'll probably complain. Vociferously. That word isn't used nearly enough.

My pen name comes from Native American lore. I like contradictions, so I won't try and explain why a trickster figure would be serious. There is a reason, but I'll leave that for you to figure out.

Solemn Coyote's rules of literature:

1) This rule or the rule below it may be disregarded at any time.

2) Never assume that I know all the rules.

Current Projects:

-Queue is unoccupied at the moment.

Words Exchanged:

Ask me to write a story for you. Here's some proof I will.

-"The Rose of Whitekeep." Written by: Me. Status: Complete. Started as a tribute to my friend and fellow author, Sabraeal, this story eventually mutated into a 42 page beast. It even has a plot arc of sorts. Be forewarned, however. RoW is intended as a parody of fanfic and as such obeys many of the cliches of the genre. Elves, magical teenage girls, best friends forever, and dresses abound.

-"Stop the Press". Written by: Various awesome folks. Status: currently suspended, but still fourteen issues strong. I humbly implore you to check out 'Stop the Press'. It's a monthly newsletter for writers run by fictionpress' very own Burnt Bread. It offers facts, articles, writing tips, and such. It also welcomes submissions of all sorts. Or of the sorts mentioned above. If you're bored, go ahead and take a look. It's linked in my favorite author's list.

-"Getting Heated." Written by: Me. Status: complete. Let's just call this one a scratch-write, shall we? A lot of the concepts worked into this story were inspired or borrowed from a friend of mine. He's currently working on his own pen and paper RPG: Kallisti. The RPG itself is pretty spiffy. Any writing-glitches here are my own fault.

-"Reading Red." Written by: Me. Status: out of ambit. A marathon review of Burnt Bread's "Smoke and Mirrors" and an appalling lack of sleep swirled together to produce this aggregate. It's a pretty simple character study, and it's not posted anywhere at the moment. Perhaps if you prevail upon Bread's incredible carbohydrate-based magnanimity, it'll find its way onto ficpress.

-"Dig." Written by: Me. Status: Suspended. Not exactly a sequel to "Getting Heated", but it features a few of the same characters and is part of the same continuity.

And here's some stuff that awesome people have created for me.

-"Knight of Wands" Drawn by: Burnt Bread. Status: complete. Unimpeachable proof of the faculty that wheat-based life-forms have for art. I am unsure how the Bread in question drew it, but I would dearly like to know. 'cause it's amazing.

-"Four Women Jarod Has Kissed." Written by: Sabraeal. Status: complete. When I first read this, I had no words. Even now, I'm not sure I can properly describe it. It takes everything that my "Ashes to Emily" was supposed to be and makes it beautiful. And it has a Lazarus-hamster. You owe it to yourself to read this.

Stuff people have published:

-"Scheherazade": For serious. It's in the 2009 spring edition of the Short Cuts literary magazine from UMASS. Pick it up if you're in the area and feel like being irrationally awesome.

-"Prometheus Misplaced": This will be showing up in the December '09 edition of Kasma magazine, which has me all kinds of psyched. Definitely check them out if you feel so inclined. Their site is at http://www.kasmamagazine.com/

Sort: Category . Published . Updated . Title . Words . Chapters . Reviews . Status .

1. Drifter
This is actually classical fantasy. Can you tell?
Complete - Fantasy - Fiction Rated: T - English - Drama/Humor - Chapters: 1 - Words: 3,352 - Reviews: 0 - Updated: 8-21-09 - Published: 8-21-09

2. Hoard » reviews
Dragons and offshore casinos. Sorcerers and suburbia. Tragedy and jackalopes. Opposites attract.
Fantasy - Fiction Rated: T - English - Fantasy/Humor - Chapters: 11 - Words: 20,898 - Reviews: 2 - Updated: 7-26-09 - Published: 4-28-09

3. Prometheus misplaced reviews
Giving the average human time travel is a lot like dropping a small kid in a candy store with explicit orders not to touch anything.
Complete - Sci-Fi - Fiction Rated: T - English - Sci-Fi/Humor - Chapters: 1 - Words: 1,916 - Reviews: 2 - Updated: 6-15-09 - Published: 6-15-09

4. Opera » reviews
A Frankenstein story about robotics and free will. Mary Shelley probably wouldn't approve, but Capcom might.
Complete - Sci-Fi - Fiction Rated: T - English - Sci-Fi/Drama - Chapters: 2 - Words: 5,055 - Reviews: 1 - Updated: 4-23-09 - Published: 4-21-09

5. Railways reviews
The proposal to run a subway line through hell was first introduced in January by a tastefully dressed man with a clipboard, horn-rimmed glasses, and a triangular tail.
Complete - Sci-Fi - Fiction Rated: T - English - Sci-Fi/Fantasy - Chapters: 1 - Words: 1,072 - Reviews: 9 - Updated: 4-21-09 - Published: 12-4-08

6. NDOGS »
Who says you can't force a vision quest?
Complete - Fantasy - Fiction Rated: T - English - Fantasy/Supernatural - Chapters: 2 - Words: 2,962 - Reviews: 0 - Updated: 4-2-09 - Published: 4-2-09

7. Winterbrake » reviews
She bought the cabin on an impulse during the summer, back when she truly believed that all she wanted to do was get away from the world and paint. Unfortunately, elves don't care much for artistic retreats and they have no respect at all for privacy.
Complete - Fantasy - Fiction Rated: T - English - Supernatural/Humor - Chapters: 4 - Words: 8,000 - Reviews: 4 - Updated: 2-7-09 - Published: 2-2-09

8. Healing Hands reviews
An investigation into whether immortality and compassion are mutually exclusive. Also an exorcism of sorts. That title has been fluttering around the dusty corners of my brain for far too long.
Complete - Fantasy - Fiction Rated: T - English - Supernatural/Romance - Chapters: 1 - Words: 2,329 - Reviews: 1 - Updated: 2-1-09 - Published: 2-1-09

9. Lilly and the Troll » reviews
There is a 50% chance that this story contains a cross-dressing troll.
Complete - Fantasy - Fiction Rated: K+ - English - Supernatural/Fantasy - Chapters: 4 - Words: 7,705 - Reviews: 6 - Updated: 12-18-08 - Published: 12-15-08

10. Beneath Smoked Glass reviews
They say the jar is full of voices...
Complete - Supernatural - Fiction Rated: T - English - Supernatural/Mystery - Chapters: 1 - Words: 2,266 - Reviews: 6 - Updated: 12-11-08 - Published: 12-11-08

11. Dig » reviews
An archaeological expedition departs from New Walpole University to study the ruins of Wheaton. It finds a little more than just dust and echoes. This is a post-apocalyptic Canterbury tale, with a cast of vampires, mutants, and timberwolf professors.
Fantasy - Fiction Rated: T - English - Fantasy/Sci-Fi - Chapters: 5 - Words: 14,224 - Reviews: 10 - Updated: 6-28-08 - Published: 6-23-08

12. Adelaide and the Ghosts reviews
The afterlife is a hassle.
Complete - Fantasy - Fiction Rated: T - English - Supernatural/Humor - Chapters: 1 - Words: 1,513 - Reviews: 9 - Updated: 6-22-08 - Published: 6-22-08

13. Opening Winter's Box » reviews
Pandora and I exchange Christmas presents sometimes. She sent me an apple of discord last year, and I gave her these.
Complete - General - Fiction Rated: T - English - General/Romance - Chapters: 21 - Words: 5,068 - Reviews: 21 - Updated: 6-13-08 - Published: 2-5-08

14. Getting Heated » reviews
Professor Edward Rasta is a wolf. He also teaches anthropology. These are the least of his problems.
Complete - Sci-Fi - Fiction Rated: M - English - Sci-Fi/Fantasy - Chapters: 5 - Words: 6,889 - Reviews: 9 - Updated: 5-3-08 - Published: 4-12-08

15. Boggelmann reviews
A shape in the closet. An arm under the bed. Some childish things are hard to leave behind.
Complete - Horror - Fiction Rated: T - English - Horror/Supernatural - Chapters: 1 - Words: 4,938 - Reviews: 4 - Updated: 4-27-08 - Published: 4-27-08

16. The Beast In Ellison reviews
Appropriately, this is a story about fear.
Complete - Horror - Fiction Rated: M - English - Horror/Supernatural - Chapters: 1 - Words: 2,248 - Reviews: 4 - Updated: 4-15-08 - Published: 4-15-08

17. The Rose of Whitekeep » reviews
A very romantical story about elves and magic and teenage girls and dresses and castles and bandits and pastries and more elves. Also a satire. Penned with the express permission and encouragement of Sabrael. Nine out of ten fangirls approve.
Complete - Fantasy - Fiction Rated: T - English - Romance/Fantasy - Chapters: 10 - Words: 23,017 - Reviews: 27 - Updated: 3-31-08 - Published: 10-15-07

18. Project: Bestiary » reviews
This is a story about monsters, and the dark beyond the campfire. It's also an account of hope, desperation, and impossible odds. It tells of humans being who they are, and who circumstance forces them to be. Mostly, though, it's about monsters.
Fantasy - Fiction Rated: T - English - Fantasy/Adventure - Chapters: 6 - Words: 13,264 - Reviews: 37 - Updated: 3-31-08 - Published: 4-26-06

19. Faustus: Well, Not Exactly » reviews
A harmless little divine comedy about a king, a demon, and the strangeness of afterlives.
Complete - Fantasy - Fiction Rated: T - English - Fantasy/Humor - Chapters: 10 - Words: 13,649 - Reviews: 50 - Updated: 3-31-08 - Published: 1-13-07

20. Ashes to Emily reviews
This is the story of a warm, heartfelt apocalypse.
Complete - Fantasy - Fiction Rated: T - English - Fantasy/Supernatural - Chapters: 1 - Words: 2,602 - Reviews: 10 - Updated: 3-31-08 - Published: 2-3-08

21. A Scrapbook of Autumn » reviews
30% poetry by volume. Natural and artificial flavors. Sodium benzoate added to preserve freshness.
Complete - General - Fiction Rated: T - English - General - Chapters: 42 - Words: 8,113 - Reviews: 108 - Updated: 3-27-08 - Published: 5-17-06

22. Scheherazade reviews
She's her own work in progress.
Complete - Fable - Fiction Rated: T - English - Fantasy/Romance - Chapters: 1 - Words: 2,417 - Reviews: 14 - Updated: 3-14-08 - Published: 3-14-08

23. I Do Believe In Faeries » reviews
This is a story about faeries, but without the usual wings, fluff, and sparkles. In fact, it's downright mundane. Perhaps this is an antifairytale.
Complete - Supernatural - Fiction Rated: T - English - Supernatural/Fantasy - Chapters: 5 - Words: 7,815 - Reviews: 24 - Updated: 1-12-07 - Published: 1-8-07

24. Older Than Dead » reviews
This is a story about the parts of people that stick around. Ghosts, you might call them.
Complete - Supernatural - Fiction Rated: T - English - Supernatural/Spiritual - Chapters: 5 - Words: 3,831 - Reviews: 14 - Updated: 11-16-06 - Published: 11-13-06

25. Hatchling » reviews
For children, magic is a simple. Where adults need starstitched robes and glittery staves, all any child needs is a trip to the ocean. This is a story about that, and maybe a few other things.
Complete - Supernatural - Fiction Rated: T - English - Fantasy/Supernatural - Chapters: 4 - Words: 2,495 - Reviews: 20 - Updated: 11-12-06 - Published: 11-9-06

26. The Only God on the Windowsill » reviews
There are stranger things than the intersection between man and myth. Fiction is one of them. This is a story - short, but not brief - about a lost girl, a homeless trickster God, and the boundary between reality and fantasy.
Fantasy - Fiction Rated: T - English - Fantasy/Supernatural - Chapters: 6 - Words: 7,405 - Reviews: 40 - Updated: 6-13-06 - Published: 5-2-06

27. A Dustbin of the Soul » reviews
Every writer has a wastebasket tucked in a corner of their mind. It contains the thoughts that never make it and the words that never manage to be spoken. Here are a few of my older poems, drawn from that wastebasket.
Complete - General - Fiction Rated: T - English - General - Chapters: 5 - Words: 363 - Reviews: 26 - Updated: 6-7-06 - Published: 6-7-06