Mary Soon Lee
@marysoonlee.bsky.social
Author, cat owner, and book addict. Website: https://marysoonlee.com/
#TSOTD_note Inside the Tent
how they headed for Xau
laden with panniers, dragging carts;
how aging draft horses galloped like foals
in their eagerness
- accompanied by Gary McCluskey's art!
- my son provided the title and comments that improved the poem :-)
- which is among my favorites
✏️📖🐉
how they headed for Xau
laden with panniers, dragging carts;
how aging draft horses galloped like foals
in their eagerness
- accompanied by Gary McCluskey's art!
- my son provided the title and comments that improved the poem :-)
- which is among my favorites
✏️📖🐉
November 23, 2025 at 2:35 PM
#TSOTD_note Inside the Tent
how they headed for Xau
laden with panniers, dragging carts;
how aging draft horses galloped like foals
in their eagerness
- accompanied by Gary McCluskey's art!
- my son provided the title and comments that improved the poem :-)
- which is among my favorites
✏️📖🐉
how they headed for Xau
laden with panniers, dragging carts;
how aging draft horses galloped like foals
in their eagerness
- accompanied by Gary McCluskey's art!
- my son provided the title and comments that improved the poem :-)
- which is among my favorites
✏️📖🐉
#TSOTD_note Double Duty
- if you don't care for crudity, skip the following, which I deleted:
"This will hurt. Distract him."
"Ah--yes--what hurts more
than an arrow in your balls?"
"Leong removing an arrow
from your balls," said Li.
✏️📖🐉
- if you don't care for crudity, skip the following, which I deleted:
"This will hurt. Distract him."
"Ah--yes--what hurts more
than an arrow in your balls?"
"Leong removing an arrow
from your balls," said Li.
✏️📖🐉
November 22, 2025 at 3:05 PM
#TSOTD_note Double Duty
- if you don't care for crudity, skip the following, which I deleted:
"This will hurt. Distract him."
"Ah--yes--what hurts more
than an arrow in your balls?"
"Leong removing an arrow
from your balls," said Li.
✏️📖🐉
- if you don't care for crudity, skip the following, which I deleted:
"This will hurt. Distract him."
"Ah--yes--what hurts more
than an arrow in your balls?"
"Leong removing an arrow
from your balls," said Li.
✏️📖🐉
#TSOTD_note The Imperial War: Third Battle
- a grim poem
- for those keeping count of Xau's guards: seven not nine ride into battle with Xau, because 1. Atun is dead. 2. Leong, though this is not stated in the text, is working with Memnor's surgeons to triage and treat the wounded.
✏️📖🐉
- a grim poem
- for those keeping count of Xau's guards: seven not nine ride into battle with Xau, because 1. Atun is dead. 2. Leong, though this is not stated in the text, is working with Memnor's surgeons to triage and treat the wounded.
✏️📖🐉
November 21, 2025 at 2:31 PM
#TSOTD_note The Imperial War: Third Battle
- a grim poem
- for those keeping count of Xau's guards: seven not nine ride into battle with Xau, because 1. Atun is dead. 2. Leong, though this is not stated in the text, is working with Memnor's surgeons to triage and treat the wounded.
✏️📖🐉
- a grim poem
- for those keeping count of Xau's guards: seven not nine ride into battle with Xau, because 1. Atun is dead. 2. Leong, though this is not stated in the text, is working with Memnor's surgeons to triage and treat the wounded.
✏️📖🐉
#TSOTD_note Taunting Fate
Never his queen,
never the only one he bedded,
but the one he'd befriended, his Rose.
- this is the last time Rose is named
- but she's mentioned later in Convergence "both bringing a woman with them"
- just as the first time we met her, she's accompanying Donal to war
Never his queen,
never the only one he bedded,
but the one he'd befriended, his Rose.
- this is the last time Rose is named
- but she's mentioned later in Convergence "both bringing a woman with them"
- just as the first time we met her, she's accompanying Donal to war
November 20, 2025 at 11:37 PM
#TSOTD_note Taunting Fate
Never his queen,
never the only one he bedded,
but the one he'd befriended, his Rose.
- this is the last time Rose is named
- but she's mentioned later in Convergence "both bringing a woman with them"
- just as the first time we met her, she's accompanying Donal to war
Never his queen,
never the only one he bedded,
but the one he'd befriended, his Rose.
- this is the last time Rose is named
- but she's mentioned later in Convergence "both bringing a woman with them"
- just as the first time we met her, she's accompanying Donal to war
#TSOTD_note When King Xau Was Gone
- first published in Uppagus
- drew on a poem of mine, "I Will Not," published in Ship of Fools in 2005, which begins:
I will not think of you fondly
when you are far away.
I will not burn my breakfast toast
because I saw your photo on the wall
✏️📖🐉
- first published in Uppagus
- drew on a poem of mine, "I Will Not," published in Ship of Fools in 2005, which begins:
I will not think of you fondly
when you are far away.
I will not burn my breakfast toast
because I saw your photo on the wall
✏️📖🐉
November 19, 2025 at 11:14 PM
#TSOTD_note When King Xau Was Gone
- first published in Uppagus
- drew on a poem of mine, "I Will Not," published in Ship of Fools in 2005, which begins:
I will not think of you fondly
when you are far away.
I will not burn my breakfast toast
because I saw your photo on the wall
✏️📖🐉
- first published in Uppagus
- drew on a poem of mine, "I Will Not," published in Ship of Fools in 2005, which begins:
I will not think of you fondly
when you are far away.
I will not burn my breakfast toast
because I saw your photo on the wall
✏️📖🐉
#TSOTD_note Between Battles
- first published in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly
New griefs layered
over old ones.
- life, if you live long enough
- but there are also new joys layered over old ones, e.g. seeing parenthood from the other side
- also, this poem shows that Feng became a king's guard
✏️📖
- first published in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly
New griefs layered
over old ones.
- life, if you live long enough
- but there are also new joys layered over old ones, e.g. seeing parenthood from the other side
- also, this poem shows that Feng became a king's guard
✏️📖
November 18, 2025 at 9:15 PM
#TSOTD_note Between Battles
- first published in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly
New griefs layered
over old ones.
- life, if you live long enough
- but there are also new joys layered over old ones, e.g. seeing parenthood from the other side
- also, this poem shows that Feng became a king's guard
✏️📖
- first published in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly
New griefs layered
over old ones.
- life, if you live long enough
- but there are also new joys layered over old ones, e.g. seeing parenthood from the other side
- also, this poem shows that Feng became a king's guard
✏️📖
#TSOTD_note Tenth Lesson
- the second of Keng's lessons with the dragon that we see. The reader is left to imagine the missing lessons
- this one is meant partly as light relief between darker poems
- but, also, dragon! I am fond of this dragon
✏️📖🐉
- the second of Keng's lessons with the dragon that we see. The reader is left to imagine the missing lessons
- this one is meant partly as light relief between darker poems
- but, also, dragon! I am fond of this dragon
✏️📖🐉
November 17, 2025 at 3:43 PM
#TSOTD_note Tenth Lesson
- the second of Keng's lessons with the dragon that we see. The reader is left to imagine the missing lessons
- this one is meant partly as light relief between darker poems
- but, also, dragon! I am fond of this dragon
✏️📖🐉
- the second of Keng's lessons with the dragon that we see. The reader is left to imagine the missing lessons
- this one is meant partly as light relief between darker poems
- but, also, dragon! I am fond of this dragon
✏️📖🐉
Yay!!! Many congratulations on your lovely glasswork! Amazing! It very much does NOT look like the work of a beginner. Lovely.
November 17, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Yay!!! Many congratulations on your lovely glasswork! Amazing! It very much does NOT look like the work of a beginner. Lovely.
#TSOTD_note Pyre
- the much longer first draft began:
Later,
a bard would add a coda
to his battle song:
The flames' high leap,
smoke rising toward stars.
The dead arrayed in armored glory
on the funeral pyre.
Warriors ringed round,
raising an anthem
to fallen heroes.
Lies. They did not sing....
- the much longer first draft began:
Later,
a bard would add a coda
to his battle song:
The flames' high leap,
smoke rising toward stars.
The dead arrayed in armored glory
on the funeral pyre.
Warriors ringed round,
raising an anthem
to fallen heroes.
Lies. They did not sing....
November 16, 2025 at 2:45 PM
#TSOTD_note Pyre
- the much longer first draft began:
Later,
a bard would add a coda
to his battle song:
The flames' high leap,
smoke rising toward stars.
The dead arrayed in armored glory
on the funeral pyre.
Warriors ringed round,
raising an anthem
to fallen heroes.
Lies. They did not sing....
- the much longer first draft began:
Later,
a bard would add a coda
to his battle song:
The flames' high leap,
smoke rising toward stars.
The dead arrayed in armored glory
on the funeral pyre.
Warriors ringed round,
raising an anthem
to fallen heroes.
Lies. They did not sing....
I've picked All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy to read next, but let it be noted that I was enjoying Mouse and Dragon (Sharon Lee + Steve Miller) more. I am saving it to read when my daughter is home. McCarthy for now. I love the way he writes, which is hardly an original thought.
November 16, 2025 at 3:12 AM
I've picked All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy to read next, but let it be noted that I was enjoying Mouse and Dragon (Sharon Lee + Steve Miller) more. I am saving it to read when my daughter is home. McCarthy for now. I love the way he writes, which is hardly an original thought.
Round 1 complete. Round 2 will be delayed by dinner and other such frivolities. The four entries for round 2 are:
November 15, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Round 1 complete. Round 2 will be delayed by dinner and other such frivolities. The four entries for round 2 are:
P.S. These are a midquel, taking place in the middle of the existing work :-)
November 15, 2025 at 9:55 PM
P.S. These are a midquel, taking place in the middle of the existing work :-)
#TSOTD_note Gul
- from the point of view of Gul, the Imperial Envoy's "pretty boy" mentioned in the previous poem
- another very dark poem, this one with light mixed in
A tenderness, a gentleness,
certain as daybreak,
sure as an anchor,
calling Gul home.
- echoes "The Demon's Crew" from earlier
- from the point of view of Gul, the Imperial Envoy's "pretty boy" mentioned in the previous poem
- another very dark poem, this one with light mixed in
A tenderness, a gentleness,
certain as daybreak,
sure as an anchor,
calling Gul home.
- echoes "The Demon's Crew" from earlier
November 15, 2025 at 8:06 PM
#TSOTD_note Gul
- from the point of view of Gul, the Imperial Envoy's "pretty boy" mentioned in the previous poem
- another very dark poem, this one with light mixed in
A tenderness, a gentleness,
certain as daybreak,
sure as an anchor,
calling Gul home.
- echoes "The Demon's Crew" from earlier
- from the point of view of Gul, the Imperial Envoy's "pretty boy" mentioned in the previous poem
- another very dark poem, this one with light mixed in
A tenderness, a gentleness,
certain as daybreak,
sure as an anchor,
calling Gul home.
- echoes "The Demon's Crew" from earlier
Sounds like the cats did a fine job this morning in their capacity as sleep assistants.
All well here. It's a Saturday and therefore not a writing day, but I wrote because I wanted to and had a Good Time (left to some nebulous future point, the question of whether it will be fun for readers).
All well here. It's a Saturday and therefore not a writing day, but I wrote because I wanted to and had a Good Time (left to some nebulous future point, the question of whether it will be fun for readers).
November 15, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Sounds like the cats did a fine job this morning in their capacity as sleep assistants.
All well here. It's a Saturday and therefore not a writing day, but I wrote because I wanted to and had a Good Time (left to some nebulous future point, the question of whether it will be fun for readers).
All well here. It's a Saturday and therefore not a writing day, but I wrote because I wanted to and had a Good Time (left to some nebulous future point, the question of whether it will be fun for readers).