Dearest Squad,
A new chapter is now live! Chapter 27: Magnificent Sister of Ice, Snow, and Sky
You can blame this chapter on Casey.
Or, rather, you can blame this chapter on the fact that Casey had just taught “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” in one of her classes right around the same time I wrote this.
We read “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” in high school. English Honors. Of course, I loved it – it’s a gonzo poem about curses and ghosts and—at the heart of it all—storytelling. Most of you know “water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink” (yup, that comes from this), but did you remember the albatross?
When we were filming Blood Oath back in Tennessee, we went through a period of having one setback after another. I remember our director (Dave Buchert) bemoaning how cursed the whole production felt.
“It’s like the albatross on my back,” he said.
“Don’t you mean around your neck?” I asked (as I, you know, actually still remembered the poem)
“It’s both!” he screamed.
He and Bob ended up calling the production company Albatross Films.
It had been a while since I’d read the poem, so Casey inspired me to look it up again. And as I read it, I suddenly realized so many things I’d forgotten to put in my story, and so many things I still needed to address.
I was also inspired to write the Snow Gulls’ Report.
Did you know, there are quite a few arctic birds? I had no idea. That was another rabbit-hole I had to go down for a bit. But when I came across various gulls, I knew I had to have Snow Gulls. I knew they had to communicate with Crow and Magpie so that our crew could find out what was going on, because any resident would be scared to death of anyone arriving by ship—or by sky—at that point.
And I knew—without a doubt—like a salty old sailor at a wedding party—they needed to be utterly ridiculous.
Have fun with this one!
I did.
xox
Princess Alethea
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This Patreon has been keeping me alive. You can either subscribe to the Thursday Chapter level and read everything so far or just pay-per-post. Thank you for your continued support!
