Hey everybody,

I know, I know. Long time, no hear, and it’s the same story as last time: that life thing gets in the way. (There is story coming though!)

In the meantime I just wanted to put a plug out there for a new site called The Fireplace, which while primarily being an RPG resource is looking to include and promote fiction blogs as well as well as other online material.

Even if it’s just to lurk come and join us! And you can find out where Randi actually is a lot of the time she SHOULD be writing Shimmer! Heh.

“Are you sure it’s her?”

“It’s her.”

“I don’t know, man. Last time we crossed this bastard he stole her body. How do we know he hasn’t pulled the same trick again?”

“It’s her,” the second one said with finality. “I’m empathic, and I know what Laser Lass brand of pissed off feels like.”

Prying herself from the ground the costumed girl swatted away the hands offered to her. She didn’t need their pity to add to the shame of defeat. Satan, did her head hurt.

Read the rest of this entry »

It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.

Tanya launched herself to the nearest cover she could find even though the beetle stood exactly zero chance of protecting her against those… those… things! Machines, like out of the Matrix or Transformers or something, with hissing pneumatic frames, nerves of ribbed steel cable and layers of heavy, stained black plate from head to toe. She trembled at the sight of them but couldn’t resist having another peak. She didn’t know whether a shape closer to human would be more or less intimidating.

And Kaira! What had they done with her!? The first robot had already disappeared back through the doorway with two sentries guarding its exit. Now would have been the time to do something or risk losing her forever to what was definitely not a perfect life on the other side: but that was Jason/Justin’s job to take care of, wasn’t it? I mean, he was Starbolt: a hero! He was supposed to eat mecha for breakfast!

Instead the boy lay crouched in the grass barely visible from the portals light while tinkering with another strange device. Tanya barked at him to do something only to be told “I am doing something!”

Read the rest of this entry »

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times: I hate fighting speedsters. Sure, I can chase after them at the speed of light, but can I react that fast? No way.

Her name was Super Sonic Woman and her taste for nostalgia was just as obvious in her costume: v-striped silver one piece, large collar, winged boots and so much glitter even I had to turn away from the glare. She was also covering a lot of ground and the next thing I knew we were three counties away leaving local sheriffs with impossible numbers on their radars.

Something else you also find in the d-grade villain pile: a lot of them are in it for the chase. Victory? Dominion? That’s for the big baddies. Super Sonic Woman, she just liked to stir the pot. Hell, she wasn’t even close to winning and couldn’t keep from bragging.

“Hey hey! Can’t stop me! Can’t stop m-!”

THWACK!

Read the rest of this entry »

Hey guys!

Just received something today that is very much worth sharing: namely a piece of fan art featuring Glimmer Girl from a guy named Richard Fawke. See below:

It’s a recoloring of another piece, but I’m impressed particularly with how he incorporated the Glimmer Girl logo into his design. What say the rest of you?

Thank you, Rick. It was just the random ego boost I needed.

[EDIT: The piece is also now part of the fan gallery on The Shimmerverse Facebook Page, bringing our grand total of works to one!]

Even under three layers of clothing I shivered. Northern winters were never kind, especially to people who were living rough. The days weren’t so bad, especially if you were resourceful enough to not look homeless, at least then you could find a public area with heating, but the nights were frigid and unforgiving and scarce for refuge.

I looked to Chantal. “Maybe we should try one of the shelters,” she suggested blandly. Gods, even she didn’t want to entertain the thought, but as much as the scars and living nightmares haunted her they were preferable to starving and freezing to death.

Still, I shook my head to tell her that we weren’t that desperate: or rather I wasn’t that desperate. Even when all other options had run dry the shelter was the last place I’d ever go. When you’re homeless everything you have is public property, including your body. As the most vulnerable of the vulnerable the last thing we needed was to offer ours up in a packed house of potential predators.

Read the rest of this entry »

Hey guys,

Yeah, I know, it’s been a while, and some of you have been worried about me which is actually very sweet of you, and I’ve been very slack in letting you all know that right now I’m perfectly fine. I feel bad for taking so long in getting back to people, but there’s a myriad of reasons for that which I’m probably going to touch on in my little ramble here.

First thing is that I was recently caught up in a natural disaster. January was not a good time to live in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia with torrential rains and an overflowing dam flooding the entire city and putting entire suburbs underwater. I am very lucky to say that I was unaffected initially, mostly because I live on top of a very tall (and painful to walk) hill, but the areas geographically beneath me were utterly destroyed. No shops, no transport, and roads blocked for days. Couple that with a loss of power and clean water for a week and it was no picnic.

Things have mostly picked up since then. Actually I really am surprised by how fast a lot of the community is bouncing back. Some places you can’t even tell had been drowned out, but there they are now. Still, recovery has been going strong for a while and it doesn’t feel totally like a valid excuse to not return to writing.

The other thing which I’ve found myself focusing on is getting healthy mentally. It’s a hard thing to talk about, but at the same time it’s a profound thing to be able to express that I am not a well woman. A few of you that have done things like add me on Facebook and the like have gotten a glimpse at some of the issues I face, but here where I archive my stories there’s not really been a forum for it to come up.

I don’t want to sell this as a sob story, because that’s how a lot of people frame it when I put it out there. It’s just the truth. It’s what I’ve been focusing on the last two/three months. Still, here it goes.

For the past three years, roughly since the beginning of my transition, I’ve been dealing with social anxiety and panic disorder. Neither are very pleasant things. Not being able to walk outside ten feet without looking over your shoulder and feeling like your heart is literally going to explode in your chest with fear is not pleasant. At one point it was so bad that I couldn’t leave the confines of my home for six months. (Amazing what you can get done with the internet handy.)

It’s a terrible way to have to live, and I’m honestly ashamed of it, especially in light of the idiots who come up and say I didn’t go anywhere or do anything because I’m just lazy or lack the determination to do something. It’s a lonely way to live, even for someone like me who is blessed with an amazing, loving partner. It also leads to depression and eventually you become convinced that you’re the lesser of other people because you can’t do things everyone else can like go and get a slurpee from the 711 just around the corner. For a while it even lead to self-harm, and for anyone who has lived through it or watched someone live through you will know that’s a pretty dark road to go down.

That’s the not so pretty story. However I’m very fortunate to say that 2011 is looking like my year. This year I’ve finally found the help I need (medication also helps, despite some of the lectures I’ve received), and I’m well on the road to recovery. I’m more active, social and balanced, have started exercising, and have even applied for a number of jobs: the first I’ll have had in years. My sense of value as a human being has risen exponentially, and unfortunately the cost of that has been footed by some of my creative endeavors.

Shimmer will be back soon. It’s my baby, after all, and I’m probably going to be writing about Glimmer Girl forever (or at least until the elusive chapter 300 which is how far I’ve got things planned. No joke.) In the meantime I ask for your patience. Feel free to hate me a little bit (gods know I get impatient with me too), but it’s for a good cause.

For those of you who stick around, thanks for letting me know you care. It means something to me that even when I’m gone you still keep coming back. It makes this all feel worth it.

In the meantime I hope you’re well, and I’ll try get something out soon. No promises when, but soon.

Thanks,

Miranda Sparks

Some of you who’ve been following for a long time might remember this. Honestly it’s one of my favorites and it’s too good not to re-post.

For everyone who celebrates Christmas have a good one. For everyone else having an awesome holiday and enjoy the cookies while they last.

* * * *

Read the rest of this entry »

I had to get away. Vortex wasn’t going to waste any time. If I didn’t evade his grasp then he could easily… suddenly I lost my train of thought. What was I supposed to be doing?

Something was very, very wrong. Actually a lot of things were very, very wrong. For some reason my clothes were gone, replaced by soft, white Egyptian cotton sheets: the carpet was gone too, replaced by a large bed in a wide, empty room I hardly recognized. Where was I? Could it have been… my bedroom?

“Oh my gods,” I sighed, for a moment completely oblivious to the other naked form occupying the space beside me.

He turned, rolled onto one arm and reluctantly opened a single hazy eye to greet me. “Good morning,” he moaned cheerily. He was definitely a lot happier to see me than I was to see him. Part of me wondered if I should scream or not. I didn’t think so: he didn’t seem out of place even though I couldn’t for the life of me remember his name.

“Uh… who are you again?”

Read the rest of this entry »

“Call it what it is,” she roared. “This is outright discrimination, and if you think we’re going to stand for it you’ve got another thing coming!”

Assistant Principal Ferguson urged her to be calm, but that was probably because he was new. Little did he realize that he’d started a war and that telling the scary woman with throbbing neck veins to cool her jets was the last thing that was going to help, not that I felt much sympathy: it was oddly satisfying to see him squirm, especially after the smug talk he’d given me when we were alone.

“Mrs. Cade,” he began again, “I can understand you’re upset,” (bull$#@%), “but there’s a specific code of conduct here at Andrew Jackson that all students are expected to adhere to. One of those expectations is to follow the basic dress code, which I am sad to say Justin is not.”

Read the rest of this entry »