After a very long absence, “I’m back in the saddle again,” as Aerosmith is famous for singing. I’ve posted a short and very silly short story for you to read, entitled “Bow to Your Sensei.” This piece has a bit of a storied history (no pun intended).

The initial idea came to me my senior year at Taylor University Fort Wayne when I took a literature class on C.S. Lewis and George McDonald. One of the books we read was Phantastes by McDonald, a fantasy that featured talking trees in several scenes. Ben Armstrong, one of my classmates told me before class that he thought the middle sections of the books were slow, and he jokingly said they would’ve been more exciting if ninjas were in it (because, as we all know, ninjas always make things more exciting). I don’t know why, but he also brought this up in class. In less than a week, it became our class’ running joke that all good stories require two things: ninjas and talking trees. Our professor, Dr. Pam Jordan-Long, even put it on the final exam!

Since then, I have been telling her I would one day write a story that had ninjas and talking trees because I had yet to find one that did.

This short story came about when a blogger on Xanga held an impromptu writing contest for her readers, telling them to write a story using as many of the sayings on the “Minis” as possible. So, I threw this story together at the last minute and submitted it. I didn’t win, but it was fun to write. That is, however, why the piece is pretty random.

(BIG OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT COMING…)

Regardless, it has served as the inspiration for the novel I am currently writing: Ninjas and Talking Trees. It is a fantasy/comedy about a young accountant who is transported to an eccentric fantasy world ruled by an equally eccentric tyrant. In order to get home, he must learn “the Ways of Hero-dom” and overthrow the villain. While it isn’t a parody, per se, it does poke fun at some fantasy story stereotypes (and a few from anime/manga), and  it uses many of the genre’s archetypes for comedic effect.

I’ve been working on it much longer than I should have, but I hope to have a rough draft finished inside a month. Feel free to harp on me about it.

Until then, please enjoy “Bow to Your Sensei.” I promise the new book won’t be quite as random (but still just as silly).