Never honour men
too weak to suppress the urge
to create new worlds
By David Edwards
Jon Carver of Barzoon, You Misunderstood
By Graham J. Darling
Jon Carver of Barzoon, you misunderstood.
The True Love whom you met in dreams was the goddess of this planet: pluripotent relict of a vanished race, marooned here eons before you ever were (do not doubt her love; she was made for love). Your crash-landing awakened her to purpose. The honeyed tongue she thrust between your lips divided to sample your every cell; while she cradled your broken body, you and she populated an empty world.
Its seas were modelled on your tears, and its bogs on your bile. The waving jungles you hacked through came from your hair; the vitreous plains you traversed, from your fingernails; the sluggoths you battled, from your own lymphocytes; the steeds you rode, from your heart. The warriors you led to blood and glory were your sons, working out their destiny; the princesses you rescued, your daughters; the Transfederation you built by the seat of your pants, already your family (have you not wondered why they all speak your tongue?).
The caecal dungeons in bone citadels you regularly woke in and escaped from, were hospital wards, where your eyes or limbs sliced in ivory swordplay were switched out; here they all are, mounted and healed, looking and waving at you, in the Museum of the Man.
The Darkened Lord against whom you strove is yourself, enthroned. We surrendered Brain-Priests are your own. Here is your crown. Please be seated. She’ll be with you in a minute.
Ends
Originally published in Sword & Mythos
(eds. Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R. Stiles, Innsmouth Free Press, 2014)
Website fiction.GrahamJDarling.com
Twitter twitter.com/GrahamJDarling
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an earlier world
dwells within the present one
two melding as one.
By David Edwards
Newer World
By Harris Coverley
I thought it was bad, very bad
To leave me here in the darkness
Where no one can see or hear me
Where the wind bites at my side
And now you come to take me out
Remove me to some newer world
A world I could not get used to
The future a scary place to be taken…
I guess it won’t be so bad after all
After so many years of solitude
To leave and never come back
And to see the light of day again
I will hear the birds sing in their trees
And see the children playing and crying
And be able to wrap my arms around
Some beautiful woman in a quiet room
Yes, please, break my chains off this rock!
And lift me out of this foul black pit!
I shall feel the salt water on my face
As I rush ahead in this newer world…
To Build Anew
By DS Davidson
Abandon old world, start over
To build anew, no timidity
Embrace the best of humanity
Amassed knowledge, preserved skills
And those rediscovered through research
Each one necessary to success
Refuse to let past failures deter
Infinite possibilities in their new home
Careful not to repeat old mistakes
That doomed their birthplace, disaster
No, will not make those same mistakes again
Pray, no new mistakes waiting to be made…
Terra
By K. A. Williams
Terraform complete
Cryosleep is over now
Welcome to Terra
Humans unpack ship
History files corrupted
No blueprints for guide
Colonists build homes
Fossil fuels used for heating
And to power cars
Science facts report
Environment is hurting
Solar energy
Colony
By DJ Tyrer
Red sands riding wind
Scouring prefab plastic domes
Housing human life
Little piece of Earth off-world
New life on this long-dead world
Originally published in Red Planet magazine
The old world in the new,
for nothing ‘new’ exists.
Old tropes they will persist…
bloom from seed always grew.
No ‘tomorrows’ per se,
just extended ‘todays’.
By David Edwards
Discover new worlds
Seemingly unique – and yet
Echoes of old Earth
By Aeronwy Dafies
A New Egypt
By DJ Tyrer
On a distant world orbiting a distant sun
Humanity settles and shapes a destiny
Crafting a new life, civilisation
In partial mimicry of what has gone before
With them, their constant companions
Cats and dogs, utilitarian
But, as ever, the cats remain aloof
Unfazed by their new homeworld
Wandering the new-built cities
With all the dignity of elder lords
Adopted as emblems of that colony
Aping the architecture and ritual of ancient Khem
A New Egypt built amongst the stars
Renewed glory to the name of Bastet
Crafted in the image, desire of the cat
Humanity subordinated to their whimsical will
An experiment in survival
By exiles from a dying Earth
…And Not To Yield
By Harris Coverley
Come my boy
And we shall sail the solar wind
Upon the transfer orbits
With the littlest push of rocket fire
Amongst the Apollo asteroids
And onto the Great Belt
We shall seek our riches far and wide
We shall hold Ceres on the edge of our thumbs
And dance around the torus
Tap Vesta, tap Pallas, and Hygiea too!
And all the rocks in-between!
And should the Belt not be that kind to us
We shall sail further on
Month after month
Year after year
Giving the engine some welly if need be
Past the outermost settlements
Through the Kuiper Belt
And breaking the Heliopause—
(Never be afraid of the interstellar!)
And there shall be that most beautiful realm:
The great crystal cloud of Oort’s discovery
An infinite plane of wonders and wealth
We may even swing around Nemesis
The forgotten dwarf twin of Old Sol
To see what we can find
Beating against the galactic tide!
The storm of comets!
The thunder of star dust!
The approaching glimmer of Great Centauri!
Come my boy, come!
The journey will be long and cold
As hard as the ceramics of the old girl’s hull
But by God, to punch beyond the sun’s reach…
What a time to be alive!
Virgin territ’ry
Humanity starts over
Repeat same old mistakes
By DS Davidson
View From Atlantis 