Andrew Johnston
Bio
Educator, writer and documentarian based out of central China. Catch the full story at www.findthefabulist.com.
Stories (73/0)
A Pleasant Night on Ichorous Waves
There was no question that the blade resting in Cosette's hands was a genuinely unique artifact, a custom weapon from a far-removed time. Most swords sold by the antique dealers of the Maghreb were made from common iron that vanished beneath centuries of rust and rot, hastily ornamented and sold to unwary Europeans for fifty times their actual worth. This piece, on the other hand, was authentic Damascus steel – Cosette could tell that much as she ran her knowledgeable fingers along the distinctive patterns that ran the length of the blade. Authentic, too, was the ruby-eyed silver sea serpent that twined around the hilt, its hungry jaws eternally clamped around the tang. Each detail, each tiny etching and delicate feature, was the work of a master who had toiled at the ornament for untold hundreds of hours.
By Andrew Johnston3 years ago in Horror
The Ego Collector
The morning greeted me as it always does, in a strange room surrounded by strange things and a strange face staring back at me in the mirror. I know that I am now Heather, and by the end of the day I will know much more about Heather, and tomorrow it will no longer matter. I learned a great deal about Tyler, whom I was yesterday, and plenty about Cassandra, the self I was before that. But what I know about them doesn't matter at all to Heather, the me of today, and it will matter less to the me of tomorrow - whomever that will be.
By Andrew Johnston3 years ago in Futurism
The Roots of Spec: "There Will Come Soft Rains"
There are a lot of people out there who write analyses of speculative fiction, but most of them focus on novels and films - the glamorous side of spec. There's less attention paid to short stories, the workaday side of the field. That's a shame, because spec - and science fiction in particular - has deep roots in short fiction. Even today, if you have dreams of being an author on par with an Asimov or Clarke, you're probably doing a lot of work in short fiction before you get to novels.
By Andrew Johnston3 years ago in Futurism
Please Steal My Book
Within the tilted world of would-be authors, there are a few people who don't have a good grasp on their circumstances. There are, of course, those who are convinced that literally everyone wants to steal their book, but there is another group that is much more jaded while remaining no more realistic in their outlook.
By Andrew Johnston3 years ago in Journal
Kill Screen
She walked up to the front door of Adelardo's Pizza just as the men were unloading the new addition. It had been years since she'd seen an authentic arcade cabinet, let alone a vintage one like this – original panels judging by the decades of scuffs and whacks by impatient brats. They moved the machine into a corner between the big window facing the street and a row of booths and returned it to life with a snap of sparks.
By Andrew Johnston3 years ago in Horror
The Fabulist
~Date Unknown~ There was a corpse lying in the center of the footpath, frozen eyes glaring up through the phantom haze that enveloped the sun, a dead hand pointing to a redeemed sign that read "Madison Encampment" in faltering letters. Even here, at the fringe of stability, this was an unusual sight - the fallen, even those disreputable types who had been slain while committing an act of violence or thievery, were typically buried in haste lest their presence draw scavengers of some sort. This man, though, was allowed to lie exposed in the heat, untouched, without even a handful of dust to conceal his earthly remains. The traveler knelt beside the corpse, studying the remnants of this poor soul at arm's length. His was a brutal death, his emaciated body marred with slashing wounds - struck down either by a true sadist or a terrified amateur. He carried nothing of any particular value, yet he had not been robbed - he still wore his boots, worn nearly through at the heels but still the most useful thing most wanderers would ever possess.
By Andrew Johnston3 years ago in Futurism
Lost on Yellow Mountain: On the Merits of Wandering
While little known in the West, Huangshan is a culturally significant site that is a strong draw for Chinese tourists. Located in Anhui province in central China, it is a "small city" by Chinese standards with 1.4 million people. While there are many attractions in the city, the major draw is the Yellow Mountain itself, made famous by thousands of years of depictions in art and poetry. Countless people per year come to the city with tourist groups that lead them right up the mountain in hopes of seeing the "sea of clouds" that forms if the weather is just right.
By Andrew Johnston3 years ago in Wander
My Brief Career in Music Photography
Lawrence, KS is one of those towns where everyone's an artist, where people greet each other by discussing their latest projects. There are workshops and maker spaces everywhere, every house and business is a potential venue, and the library houses a pro-level recording studio. Whatever your creative passion, you'll find a place for it.
By Andrew Johnston3 years ago in Beat
The Path in the Dragon's Wake
Entry 1 Grandfather always told us that the people living in the mountains were closer to the dragon and that's why they were spared the horrors of the Burning. They never surrendered that sense of fate and awe and majesty that we shed when we reached the apex of civilization and strove, in our arrogance, to kill the dragon. We decided that we had no need of such a being and decreed that it had passed to its grave; then, on realizing our error, we tried to build a new dragon, recreating its powers without any understanding of its place in the natural order, and this mindless copy turned on us. That was what he said, and for years people brushed aside such sentiments as the muddled superstitions of the old, until that day when the elders began ordering the expeditions. My day is soon, which means my death is soon.
By Andrew Johnston3 years ago in Futurism
The Big World of Short Stories: A Primer
Aspiring fiction writers really fixate on the big prize. Everyone wants to publish a novel, claim a part of that fame, wealth and prestige that they perceive as a part of that. Such is their tunnel vision that they don't even consider that they might up their odds in the novel game if they have some smaller publishing credits.
By Andrew Johnston3 years ago in Journal
Information is Treachery
A computer can not read - that's simply not one of its gifts. It can't see a picture, either, or listen to a song or watch a film. What a computer sees - insofar as it can be said to "see" anything - is an endless world of switches, some on, some off. Yet within those switches are patterns, some of which correspond to stories, pictures, songs or films. At command, a computer can take those switches and perfectly recreate these things, telling stories it hasn't the means to understand.
By Andrew Johnston3 years ago in The Swamp