I’ve had several false starts with my short story of the week and now I’m facing tomorrow without even a story start that I want to write in. At times like this, I run back to my familiar worlds, Argosy and Thule.

This is what having a well-developed world does for me. It provides ready-made characters in a familiar setting for me to play with. These stories seem to please other people as well. Steve says the stories that are his favorites are set in Argosy and Thule. Stories set in Thule and Argosy are also the ones that won Honorable Mentions from Writers of the Future.

The story starts that didn’t work for me this week featured incredibly depressing contemporary worlds. Perhaps that’s why my inner writer balked. Today’s plan is to focus on a light frothy story, about 3,000 words set in Argosy, City of Ships, dealing with deadly mermaids and sea silk.

Argosy, the City of Ships, was founded by the refugees from Phocaea, an ancient Ionian Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia, in 460 BC after the Ionian fleet lost against the Persians at the decisive naval Battle of Lade in 494 BC. The ship city started with the three ships the Phocians contributed to that battle and the Phocian refugees.

By 230 BC (when the stories take place), Argosy consists of 46 individual hulls. Argosy residents are most closely related to the Greeks who settled Massalia, (present day Marseille), but there are also people who have joined from throughout the Mediterranean, including Punt, Carthage, Pompeii, Rome, and elsewhere.

That’s the world I’m writing in today. The stories are always light and filled with wonder. My favorite sort of story.

I hope your stories are going well and that any stress is good stress. Be well, friends!