I’ve finished the first draft of a new poem provisionally titled Deep-Step and Twice-Mortal, and sent it out to a couple of kind friends for comments. It’s about 6,500 words long, and runs to 700 lines or so of terza rima (on which more soon).
I wrote Deep-Step and Twice-Mortal for a couple of reasons. First, I saw someone remark that they wanted a yuri version of a particular myth. And second, I wanted to revisit the underworld from Cosmic Warlord Kin-Bright.
That second point might make it sound like I’m resting on my laurels. At least I have some laurels, however few! But, also, Deep-Step and Twice-Mortal’s style differs from CWKB, and style matters far more than content.
Lexically, the poem much more willingly admits French- and Latin-derived words. It still archaises, but not so stridently.
In its narration, I aim for hints of fairy-tale and---this second aspect shared with Spearhand Faring---romance, in a premodern sense of the word.
Moreover, unlike both CWKB and SF, Deep-Step neither directly translates nor indirectly adapts some earlier model. It hangs on the skeleton of a myth, but it doesn't have passages closely following a source.
A short, partial list of influences might include:
- Orfeo--an influence I seem unable to escape!
- Angel’s Egg
- The Weathering Continent
- Dante’s Comedy--for the form, not the content
The form differs, too. My next post talks about that.
While my friends read Deep-Step, I’m cracking on with drafting a different poem, with more giant robots in it. More on that at some point, too.