My story Placa del Fuego is now available to read at Clarkesworld at Tobias Buckell Online

Journal Entry

My story Placa del Fuego is now available to read at Clarkesworld

The July issue of Clarkesworld Magazine has gone live, and it includes the story Placa del Fuego. For those of you who are fans of the novels Crystal Rain, Ragamuffin, and Sly Mongoose, this story is very much aimed at you. You can also hear the story in audio form via Clarkesworld.

Tiago would normally have taken his cut of the picked pockets and stopped right here at the Seaside Plaza. On the very edge, past the vendors on the cobblestone sea walk, Tiago would sit with his legs over the rocky sea wall and look out over the harbor.

Today he only detoured through the plaza to throw the crowd in between him and the woman chasing him.

He’d gotten a brief glimpse of her before the running started: tall, dark eyes, dark skin, dark leather jacket and microfibre pants, careful dreadlocks pulled back into a pony tail.

She was fast in the crowd. She wasn’t dodging around legs, using the ebb and flow of the masses to see open routes like Tiago. No, people who got in her way were just… thrown out of the way.

Too strong. She was some sort of soldier, Tiago thought, refocusing ahead.

He might have gotten himself into a bit of a situation.

Filed under the topic My Writing on July 2nd 2009 at 7:00 am. You can subscribe to the RSS feed for this entry to keep track of comments. You can also use to trackback.

Comment policy: this is Tobias' blog and space. Like a guest in his house, accord other guests and your host respect and polite discourse while feeling free to engage in debate or comment. Failure to do so results in comment ban or deletion.

11 Responses so far

1. Philip Brewer on Jul 2nd, 2009 at 8:05 am

Very nice work. I always enjoy your Pepper stories, whether Pepper’s actually in them or not. The two boys you introduce have long-term potential as well.
2. Tobias Buckell on Jul 2nd, 2009 at 2:25 pm

Thanks Philip!
3. dawn on Jul 3rd, 2009 at 7:08 pm

Congrats. I loved being able to listen to it in audio and read along.
4. Steven Klotz on Jul 3rd, 2009 at 11:50 pm

I love pretty much every aspect of this story, but in particular I find the boats fascinating. I’d read somewhere about giant parasails being used to improve the efficiency of large cargo ships, but I’d never thought about that as a primary mode of propulsion. Are these hydrofoil/parasail boats pure extrapolation or does such a thing actually exist? Notice how I don’t ask a similar question about the Doacq
5. Tobias Buckell on Jul 5th, 2009 at 7:13 pm

Steven, I don’t know if any exist, but I’ve seen hydrofoil windsurfers and small boats that have foils. Nothing as big as what I talked about.
6. Wyman Cooke on Jul 7th, 2009 at 10:00 am

There’s a potential difficulty with a parasail system. You would have to have a cable both light enough to be lifted by the parasail, yet strong enough to pull a cargo vessel.
7. Tobias Buckell on Jul 7th, 2009 at 10:11 am

Wyman, they’re already doing it. It’s not a problem.
8. Wyman Cooke on Jul 8th, 2009 at 9:14 am

How large a scale ship?
9. Tobias Buckell on Jul 8th, 2009 at 9:22 am

http://www.skysails.info/english/information-center/news/news/article/skysails-update-kopie-1/472/f27a2fc09c/
10. Chris on Jul 14th, 2009 at 11:43 am

Nice to see more and more stuff available in audio format. I think it’s really useful. I find I have way more time to enjoy audio compared to reading paper.
11. Chris on Jul 14th, 2009 at 11:45 am

Just also thinking about this cable weight vs strength issue. I would not think that’s an issue. The lift of a parasail is tremendous, and the weight of a high quality steel cable would not be insurmountable at all. Very cool.

Your host:

Tobias is a Caribbean-born SF/F novelist who lives in Ohio.

Contact me:

tobias@tobiasbuckell.com
AIM: tobiasbuckell

Latest Comments

Jon Hansen on Ain’t nothing but a gangsta baby (2)
Catherine Shaffer on Sick days! (2)
Greg on The finances of freelancing: some gritty systems details for the geeky (15)
Steve Buchheit on It’s a big world out there, but screaming in all caps makes it feel safer for some (3)
Joe Monti on Kyle Cassidy braves the corn to visit Buckell HQ (3)

Popular this month

In the ER
Repeat
Introducing...
Caption contest: Pat Rothfuss in cat ears
Diversity in science fiction markets

Twitter feed

RT @michaelcanfield:365 consecutive writing days: Done. [Well done Mike! That's incredible and inspiring!] 6 hrs ago

Explains complex contracts. Explains double taxation treaties and paperwork. Knows who's buying what. #thingsmyagentdoesforme 7 hrs ago

Increases my advance, keeps subrights I didn't know existed, sells foreign editions to double my advance #thingsmyagentdoesforme 7 hrs ago

RT @mlvalentine:I know how to save journalism. How about turning off the 24-7 b.s. and get back to reporting actual NEWS? 7 hrs ago

So who all is getting L4D 2 on Tuesday? :-) 7 hrs ago