Enhaduanna in Flight: Song of the Body Cartographer

This is the novel-length work from which I extracted Siren and Inyanna’s story. Read Siren and Inyanna’s Story here.

I also wrote a short that was set in the Body Cartographer’s world for the Clarion West Write-a-thon. It’s free to read here.

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Banawor’s Dragons (working title)

Inspired by the history of the fighting Babaylan, infused with Ifugao culture and setting, this novella-length work has fierce women, a revolution, and dragons inspired by a carving made for me by one of the Ifugao’s wood artists. It’s second-world, tribal inspired sf/fantasy.

excerpt:

Twenty-nine days after the harvest month, the dragons came for me in Resha. I was with the workers in the fields when the portal opened and from where we were, I could see the doglike shape of their faces and the stiff ruby-red comb that graced each dragon head.

Ten years had passed since I’d escaped from the Manongs and found asylum in Resha.

We had lost the war, I had lost my mother, and only the gods knew if I would see Banawor or my beloved dragons again.

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I watched them now as they flowed out into Resha’s sky. The sun reflected off of the plates that lined their sinuous bodies. Hewn from the heart of the iron tree, those scales had deflected numerous arrows and spears in battle.

For a moment the sky was awash with emeralds, purples and magentas. Then, they flew onwards to Er-Resha where the high elder dwelt. Their tail feathers flowed behind them like brilliant banners spread out for show.

I felt a sting in my heart as I watched them go. I knew of only one other who had the power to wake my dragon and I wondered if their arrival meant good or ill for me.

Ten years is a long time, I thought.

I bent down to pick up my bundle of rice.

Even if they had come for me, even if this was my final day, I would finish the job I had set out to do.

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Neh: Map of the World (working title)

The mountains that are their home and their heritage have been given over into the hands of the Compassionate. While some of the Ipugo have elected to move to the city, Neh and his tribe have chosen to retreat into the veils and the places granted to them by the Nahipan.

But Neh’s heritage calls to him and as he prepares for the transition from childhood into manhood, he begins to rebel against the constraints that keep them from what is rightfully theirs.

Excerpt:

There was once a man who loved us

“Tell me what it was like again.”

“From Banwe, you had to climb for three days. Up, and up, and up. Sometimes the path was embraced in clouds, but everyone who was born in Payay could find their way even without seeing.”

“Tell me more.”

“It was paradise. The weather was always temperate. We planted rice, sweet potatoes, eggplants, and tomatoes. Sayote grew wild. You could just go to the nearest patch and pluck them. We ate the shoots raw, or marinated in vinegar and salt. In the summer, the air smelled of rice. We would take out mortar and wooden pestle and we would pound the rice and thresh it. We would bring rice wine, a white leghorn, the fatted pig, and then we would dance.”

“Why?”

“It was Baki. To appease the spirits, child. To ensure a rich harvest. To beg for wisdom and favor from the gods.”

“But I thought Maknongan loved us.”

“Yes, he did. But the nahipan are fickle. Ignore them, and your harvest would fail, sickness would visit your household, and you would be cast out.”

“Is that why we can’t go back?”

“No. We were exiled for another reason.”