Eight Days Done (Sort of)

Well, I got my rewrite of “Lester Young” finalized today, and sent off. I also finished my first (well, actually, second attempted) draft of my Sado Seja story, “Eight Days,” about the eight days Prince Sado spent dying in a rice chest, and how he ended up in one in the first place.  Someone asked me whether it was SF, and I replied that it’s more of a dark fantasy/horror thing. Historical dark-fantasy/horror, set in a Korean palace. But definitely there’s magic: you got your reincarnation, a magic Taoist text, a bit of necromantic assassination (not in Sado’s life, in — I think it is — his grandfather’s), a horrible demoniacal god, and a lot of ghostly haunting — by someone who isn’t yet dead. Only the latter bit, the ghost of the living, was made up by me!

Of course, personally, I think the whole story — the historical events involved, I mean — are much more sensibly explained by referring to modern psychiatry, but anyway, it does make for a spooky tale. I’m giving myself a little over a week to get it really, truly done: I can send my submission in early in the second week of December, and just make sure it arrives by the 15th. That means a monster polishing session next weekend, as well as a little tinkering this week. But I had to print it out — the tale is highly episodic, with a bunch of flashbacks punctuating the main narrative, and  I need to figure out the best order for the flashbacks before I show it to anyone!  I’ve got all the episodes printed up on separate pages, and I’ll fiddle with reordering them tonight and tomorrow.

Tonight, late — this evening there’s a departmental event, and an after-party following. We’ll see how much partying I do, though. Busy busy busy, right? But the students do appreciate it, and I could do with a beer or two, to be honest.