The Book - A short Story

The Book

“Darn it!”

Of all the days to lose something important today was definitely not the day. Chara hastened frantically from bookshelf, to table, to cupboard and the stupid book was nowhere to be found. The Master would be expecting her any minute for her first instruction and she was going to be late. It was a bad start to one of the most important days of her life. She was going to be the apprentice of the great Master Korrin, grand master of the royal citadel. She had been chosen amongst a dozen candidates, alone, she had been deemed worthy of the honor, and now she was going to be late because she could not find her tome! 

   Chara was sweating profusely, and her heart was beating frantically in her chest. What was she going to do? Could she show up without the book? Surely not! “You stupid, no-good, daft….idiot!” She chided herself. She had already looked under the pillow in her bed, in all the drawers of her nightstand, but she felt compelled to search through them again. Once again, they revealed no book. She looked out through her tiny bedroom window, looked at the blue sky and felt the fresh breeze pouring into the stuffy room. It was always warm in here. “Good thing, I used that book to prop the window open with”, she thought. Then it dawned on her, the book! It was in the window, jammed between the sill and the windowpane. She was so relieved that she almost burst into tears. She swiped the book from the window and ran from the room. She hurried towards the Masters chambers. Before knocking on the door, she straightened herself, took a deep breath, and prepared to begin her new life as an apprentice mage.

Written by Anita K. Olsen Støbakk
Winner of the Desucon Fantasy 2015 Short Story Competition.

Dripping, drowning - Original poem and illustration

After writing Sanatorium of the dead I didn't quite feel finished with the whole blood and gore scenario, I'm in a grim mood these days. I don't mind  though because at least it makes me creative. I have no idea why that is, but there it is...could I be more of an artistic cliché?

Anyway I made a bloody/vampire illustration inspired by "Sanatorium of the dead", and the illustration in turn inspired me to write a poem. Don't you just love that artistic snowball effect when one piece of art inspires another? I know I do!

So here it is, the poem and the illustration!

N.B.
I do have to mention that most of my poems are not autobiographical, they are more like short stories, really short flash fiction if you will, or musical songs.

Words and artwork (c) Anita K. Olsen Støbakk

Dripping, Drowning

My lips they drip,but is it bile or is it blood?

I cannot close them
cannot stop the flood.
I'm spilling over on the floor

there are pools at my feet

does my body truly contain more?

I'm drowning in myself

drowning in myself

My heart still beats,

every beat is one step closer to killing me!

I want to stop it
want the gods to hear my plea.

but it's too late to ask for salvation

I'm a lost and wayward girl,

the architect of my own damnation

I'm loosing against myself

loosing against myself

I need help

help...

Cheers Mateys!

Anita, the literary pirate

Broken Glass - original poem

This is a poem I think I wrote in 2009, I have troubles remembering why I wrote it. Knowing myself I was probably going through one of my depressed periods. They come and go all the time. In any case I still kind of like it, it has a ring of truth to it I think.


Broken Glass

I tread on pieces of broken dreams
They cut me like pieces of broken glass
Every cut leaves a mark
in my soul and in my heart

Through all the cuts and bruises
at least you stuck around
Now help me put together all the shattered pieces
I have found

I used to have more faith in me
but faith seems to be in short supply these days
will you have faith in me,

and see what I no longer see.

by: Anita K. Olsen Stoebakk


Cheers Mateys,
Anita, the literary pirate.

New anthology in the works - a publishing opportunity!

If you are a budding writer like myself then an anthology might be a good place to start your writing career. Well, at least thats my current theory. Honestly I have no clue as to what might be the best way to get into the publishing business, but I figure one has to start somewhere and why not with an anthology.

That's why I decided to enter a short story I recently wrote into the Sword and Laser anthology! If you haven't heard of it before it's because it's a brand new anthology hosted by the Sword and Laser community. The Sword and Laser is a Podcast and a web show about Fantasy and Sicence fiction literature that is part of the Geek and Sundry channel on Youtube. They also have a book club on Goodreads.com with a bustling community forum.

The very first Sword and Laser anthology is basically going to be a collection of original Fantasy and Sci-Fi stories. You can write about anything as long as it is within the bounds of Fantasy or Sci-Fi, entry is free and if your story is selected they will not only publish your story but you will also receive 200$. Best of all it is still open to submission and you can submit more than one story in total.

If you have a short story you think might be suitable for the anthology and you think you might be interested in participating then you can learn all about the submission process and the rules and regulations right here:

The Sword and Laser Anthology!

Hopefully this will inspire my readers to participate and begin their journey towards realizing their dreams as it has most definitely inspired me.

Cheers Mateys!
Anita, the literary pirate.

In bed with a higlander by Maya Banks - Book review

Last year I joined the Vaginal Fantasy Book club, which is a book club hosted by Felicia Day, Veronica Belmont, Bonnie Burton and Kiala Kazebee. It is a book club that focuses on reading fantasy and Sci-Fi books with smutty bits in them like sex and romance. I joined it because I felt like I needed to broaden my horizon and by Davy Jones' Locker I have.

So if you were wondering, yes, "In bed with a higlander" is what I like to call housewife's porn. It is a book with loads of sex and glistening muscles and throbbing limbs...you get my drift. Usually this isn't my cup of tea or bottle of rum for that matter, though I do like a little romance mixed in with my fantasy now and then and some sex, yes sex too. The thing is I don't like it when sex and romance becomes the main plot. It's not interesting to me, I crave more content than that.

There were a lot of "smutty" bits in this book, which is one of the reasons why I started reading it
The sex was quite detailed, but not to the point where I felt it was too much information. The main character Mairin was entertaining at first, but quickly became an element of irritation. I couldn't relate to her as a real person. She had an annoying habit of speaking her thoughts out loud without even noticing it. I kept wondering if she was constantly drunk or something, since the only people I have ever met who are able to speak their thoughts without realizing it have been drunk to some extent.
She didn't seem to be properly traumatized by any of the horrible things going on around her either, and apparently if you kiss her she loses all notion of personal principles and control which is not consistent with someone who has been brought u in a frickin' convent!
The overall story was really easy to predict and I felt like parts of the book were very lack-luster. I wanted more detailing of the era, the environment and the characters populating it. Beyond the main characters I wasn't able to form much of an opinion about any of the other characters.

Towards the end of the story there is a build up of tension, Mairin is stolen away from her husband by the main bad guy and something heroic needs to be done. I kept waiting for things to properly explode, for some real excitement, but it just got glossed over like the author was in a hurry or had to keep a word count or something (one more chapter wouldn't have killed me). The whole thing just ended up feeling anticlimactic, like I got riled up over nothing.

Oh yes on a final note, be prepared to read the word "lass" a lot..That word really pissed me of by the end of this book.

I personally prefer a nice blend of a well made plot and a bit of smut, and this book just didn't have that. I wouldn't really recommend the book, but if you like historical fantasy and romance and you aren't looking for something serious or historically correct maybe you would like this..

If I had a beard I would be tearing it out by now...

(c) Anita K. Olsen Støbakk

Cheers Mateys!
Anita, the literary pirate.