2017 Faulkner Competition

Just sent my entries for the 2017 Faulkner competition off. 1. YA novel--Ain't No Mountain, 2. short story--Butt Shot 3. Poem--Hats.

1.  

Ain't no Mountain

Gods and Children

Book I

Synopsis

Salmyra is a world in ruin. For centuries, the factions fought, until they all but destroyed one another. Still, they fight. They fight for food. They fight for fire. They fight for fun. But none fight for, or with, honor.

Teenage triplets, Tornabolt (Tor) Taekeyla (Tae), and Terkoyze (Terk) in a post-apocalyptic world are told they are Elementals reborn and embark on a quest to find and free their father—a deity that sired them. Their search takes them to other worlds and puts their very existence in mortal danger; and once their powers do manifest, they realize that alone they are nothing. Only together can they overcome the evil that almost destroyed their world.

They are the hope for the future of Salmyra, but can they withstand the darkness that shrouds their home and threatens all they hold dear?

Once they meet their father, their powers begin to gain strength. They learn that their father, Yarwhin Ignis, is a supernatural being, just short of an actual god. Their mother, Illuminet, is the missing Elemental, but she cannot use her powers until Yarwhin is free, and maybe not then, since her power lies in the wings that were removed when she retrieved the first item Yarwhin needs.

Yarwhin tells his children he has been imprisoned in an obsidian cavern, which siphons his power. Once a decade he is allowed one world rotation to find a proper mate to bear his children. Only they can travel to the distant worlds to find the enchanted artifacts that hold his powers. Once all four mystical items are in his possession, he can break free of the cell somewhere in oblivion and track down his own brother, Leviaddan, who imprisoned him and caused their world, Salmyra, cataclysmic upheaval.

Once Yarwhin is re-empowered, he, Illuminet, and the triplets will need to raise an army and regain the upper hand and restore Salmyra.

The entire story will take place over four books, three in which the triplets fulfill their roles of finding relics and a final book for the war and restoration.

2. A fictionalized account of a story I was told dealing with good-old-boy, Mississippi politics.

3. A poem about the metaphorical hats that women wear.