A trader selling herbal medicine, her beautiful children, and a trail of empty cribs. +++ A DAY FROM TOWN, BY A MUDDY BANK Auntie Sa is breaking camp. Her four daughters douse the fire pit; her two sons load fist-sized jars and child-sized urns onto handcarts. Her youngest boy sits on a log. Auntie Sa towels his head dry. He sits hunched, staring into space, arms pressed to his chest like a rat, like an insect. + AUNTIE SA’S MIRACLE MIX Auntie Sa sells medicine, not pottery—jars of paste ...| Zedeck Siew's Writing Hours
LIFE CYCLE A seed from a divine source, the tree it grows into, and the demon that follows. +++ THIRTY YEARS AGO, AS THE SUN SET Prau Sa Pritiya danced. Her chest shivered, her hips swayed—she so stirred the god of hunters that he shook his house of sky. That night there was a meteor shower: the stars fell, and set the forest afire. That night the god of hunters fell in love with Prau Sa Pritiya. + STAR SEED Divine milt. Freshly spilt, it burns hot as a furnace. Any tool forged in its heat ...| Zedeck Siew's Writing Hours
(Photo by Shuyi) A CROCODILE, EATING is an installation work, ritual performance, and shrine. It is part of WEIRD HOPE ENGINES, a contemporary visual art exhibition about tabletop roleplaying games, running at Bonington Gallery, Nottingham, UK from now until 10 May 2025. If you ask me to build a world, I will build a crocodile. On linoleum flooring, stones are arranged into the shape of a saltwater crocodile. Embedded in the stones, on the crocodile’s back, are bowls, jars and platters of a...| Zedeck Siew's Writing Hours
JUDGEMENT IS A BLADE She is a good sorcerer, but a poor disciple. She finds it difficult to concentrate. When she arrives the bell has been struck—the lesson has already started. The teacher looks at her sideways. The teacher sighs, closes his eyes, and continues. “Judgement is a blade,” he says. “When you judge another,” the teacher says, “you thrust a dagger at their chest. It may be that you cause a wound.” She sits on her meditation cushion, and tries to settle. “When you ...| Zedeck Siew's Writing Hours
A PERFECT WIFE (It is Vampire Weekend! Have a pontianak-themed urban-horror investigative adventure. I wrote it with Kuala Lumpur in mind, but it should work for any big city just fine.) +++ DISAPPEARANCES An inner-city neighbourhood, too ugly for gentrification. Refugees have settled here. They fled war in their own country. But they have not escaped violence. People work basement sweatshops, or clean toilets in nightclubs. They stumble home in the morning dark. At dawn, their neighbours fin...| Zedeck Siew's Writing Hours
At her funeral Silver’s children did not cry. Their grief was dry as pyre kindling. They said: “We will sail east past the border. We will search for our mother in the shoals of the dead. We will bring her home to the warmth of the sun. We will see her smile again.” They were Samry the brother, older and bolder; and Sellie his sister, smaller and smarter. They spoke such words, such oaths against nature. Their kinfolk shushed them quick. “Fool children! Do not blaspheme,” their kinf...| Zedeck Siew's Writing Hours
The opening of my soon-to-be-real Cairn RPG adventure, The Tide Returning, is a crime scene. The king of Zum and his sceptre has gone missing in the night. Hired to find him, you are allowed a tour of the royal bedchambers, to find clues to where he’s gone. Design objectives for this opening: Give players an idea of who and where their quarry is. Who did the king prefer spending time with? Why did he write a letter to the governor of a nearby town? Why was he swimming the span of the canal?...| Zedeck Siew's Writing Hours
David Blandy + Daniel Locke’s post-apocalyptic hopepunk TTRPG ECO MOFOS is back from the printers. Meaning it will soon be in our hands. Am fairly hyped for it, because I wrote an adventure! To Put Away A Sword is about the woes of building a home on poisoned earth. The terrible powers that hurtled us to the end of the world continue to bear bitter fruit in your garden. You are villagers living under the shadow of a fallen giant mecha. Its reactors and warheads leak into your groundwater, p...| Zedeck Siew's Writing Hours
Ngeng ap Ten was no grandaunt then—her breasts stood high, her arms were masts, her hair flowed like the night breeze freely. And like all young chieftesses she was quick to folly. She would not flee from a fight. She looked at the Zum King, saw his soft belly, his pale lips. She judged that she could not lose. She would have been right. She kissed her spear and said: “I accept your challenge, o king. Should I win you will never seek me again, and live in peace always.” He pointed his s...| Zedeck Siew's Writing Hours