Just because I had finally learned how to write short stories didn’t mean all my efforts were successful. A few months before I finished this piece, I tried to write a different story about Tirean -- one where she goes back to her teacher Decebhin and tries to persuade him that popular music is as valuable as the elite, courtly kind. It, uh, wasn’t very good, and I never sold it. (I gave up on submitting it pretty quickly.) But the effort wasn’t wasted, because it gave me the notion of writing a story about what happened before that.
As you can probably tell from this piece, I love music. I’m not a strings player, but I took piano lessons for years growing up, and played French horn from elementary school through college. I enjoyed both, but the best part of it for me was being part of an ensemble, feeling the energy that comes from your fellow players.
This story also hides a secret. Back when I was writing Nine Lands stories, I had the vague idea -- not even half-baked; more like half a percent baked -- of writing an epic fantasy series in the setting. It will probably never happen, but if it does . . . then Ennike, Andris’ sister, will be the main character.
“Lost Soul” was originally published in issue #7 of Intergalactic Medicine Show, in January 2008.