kirabug's idea files

Two years ago, my story “The Smell of Home,” about an old dog who turned out to be more than he seemed, was published in the 2018 Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide. Last year, my story “The Ground Shifted”, about a teen with a vestibular disorder discovering the source of her problems, was accepted for publication in the Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide Volume 5.

This year, “Three Minutes Ahead” about a young girl who gets premonitions of the future, can see into multiple universes, and lost her service dog, was accepted for publication in the Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide Volume 6.

The Young Explorers Adventure Guide series is middle-grade/young adult science fiction aimed to represent a diverse range of characters and situations. I’ve enjoyed writing for it, and as far as I know all the kids who’ve read it have enjoyed reading from it.

The kickstarter for this year’s volume launched recently and you can preorder/pledge for a copy now.

(OMG that cover is gorgeous!)

August 14, 2019August 12, 2019

Day 635: still ranting

One Among the Dead

Sometimes you need a project that’s just for, y’know, goofing around. This is the ongoing saga of my Minecraft character. For lack of a better title, we’re going with “One Among the Dead”.

Day 635:

And another thing: I don’t care that I’m on a rock with no good metal core in the middle of nowhere: when i dig into the side of a cliff, I expect the dirt that’s over my head to collapse like any good honest dirt would do. None of this floating in the air because it hasn’t realized it’s supposed to be falling garbage.

Seriously, why is it that a skeleton can fall right down on my head without so much as a “look out below” but entire vegetable gardens worth of soil can just hang up in the sky like freaking clouds?

I hate this place.

August 13, 2019August 12, 2019

Day 634: falling skeletons

One Among the Dead

Sometimes you need a project that’s just for, y’know, goofing around. This is the ongoing saga of my Minecraft character. For lack of a better title, we’re going with “One Among the Dead”.

Day 634:

How many times have skeletons been on the roof of a cave I’ve been digging out now? I’m not sure. But regardless of the number I don’t enjoy falling skeletons. And for that matter I’m incredibly annoyed that they don’t immediately fall apart, what with the lack of tendons and muscles and such.

I mean, they don’t even have cartilage or I assume they would also have noses.

Zombies I can chalk up as some kind of horrible virus or mutation. But skeletons insult my sense of physics.

August 12, 2019August 12, 2019

Day 633: falling skeletons

One Among the Dead

Sometimes you need a project that’s just for, y’know, goofing around. This is the ongoing saga of my Minecraft character. For lack of a better title, we’re going with “One Among the Dead”.

Day 633:

Still trying to clear the space around this pond lake thing. I got all the ore out of it, but then had to deal with water that, well.

Water doesn’t flow quite the same way here as at home. And by at home I mean on any reasonably sized planet with standard gravity. There, water always flows down and fills everything. Here, sometimes it just decides not to. Like, I get waterfalls where there should just be “sea level”.

So sometimes just to get water to behave like water should, I end up filling holes and leveling the water. Which is the weirdest thing to say short of “I am being hunted by zombies on an unknown asteroid.”

August 11, 2019August 6, 2019

Day 632: all wet all the time

One Among the Dead

Sometimes you need a project that’s just for, y’know, goofing around. This is the ongoing saga of my Minecraft character. For lack of a better title, we’re going with “One Among the Dead”.

Day 632:

There was a seam of diorite at the bottom of this lake. So you know I spent the entire day diving and bringing up diorite instead of the things I said I would do.

I’m soaked to the bone and sitting as close to the fire as I can without burning myself.