Seedcorn 1: A Planet Called Patience

Seedcorn is now posted.

One of Four.

I have written more than one story in the background of favorite authors, such as Jack Vance and A.E. van Vogt, and, with the permission of their estates, had them published. As ever, my aim is to mimic the voice and vocabulary, capture the mood and message of the original author as best I may, intruding nothing of myself.

Some authors are more difficult to mimic that others. This was my attempt to pay homage to Ursula K LeGuin, by setting a story in the background of her Hainish Cycle, which includes such works as Rocannon’s World (1966) The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), The Word for World Is Forest (1972), The Dispossessed (1974), as well as Four Ways to Forgiveness (1994).

As an interesting side-note, one of the four short stories comprising Four Ways to Forgiveness called ‘A Man of the People’ was first published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, April 1995, alongside my first professionally published short story, ‘Farthest Man from Earth.’

Quite an honor it is to be seated in such company, believe you me.

However, unlike my other fan-fictions, I never found the courage to send this particular tale to Ursula K LeGuin for her approval, and now it is too late. So I have never offered it for sale anywhere. It is available here only, for the private use of fellow fans of her great works.