Harper Kingsley

1 comment on "FIC: “FML,” by Harper Kingsley – 01"

Title: FML
Author: Harper Kingsley
Character: Dantea Gasswell
Genre: urban fantasy, drama
Summary: A quick stop for milk results in a wacky and wild adventure.

I’m the stereotypical Asian girl with bad teeth. Fuck my life.

The irreverent thought popped in her head while waiting in line at CVS. She’d caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirrored shelf-back of a jewelry display.

At some point she’d begun to let her appearance go. There was no one that she felt a need to impress, and keeping up her appearance was a lot of work if the only time she left the house was to pick up a gallon of milk and some Ibuprofen. There were some days–today–when it didn’t seem worth it to wash her hair or put in her contacts. She kept her face and hands washed at all times and tried to keep her appearance somewhat neat and tidy, but she didn’t bother with fancy clothes or makeup. It was just easier to throw on her glasses and an unmarked black ball cap as she headed out the door.

I’m a wreck, Dantea thought.

She’d been in a rush and hadn’t bothered to check her reflection before leaving home, which meant she hadn’t realized that she was looking worse than usual. Less hot mess and more of just a mess-mess.

There was a gob of whitening gel firming up like gelatin on her eyetooth.

Screams for milk before school had ruined her morning bathroom routine.

The Iron Man tee shirt she’d pulled on was looking a bit dingy and dirty. She hoped it didn’t smell.

Her ponytail stuck out lopsidedly from the hole in her cap, the ends looking frazzled and maybe a bit dry. She hadn’t remembered to grab her headband, so her bangs … Read the rest “FIC: “FML,” by Harper Kingsley – 01”

I’ve started Turking it.

What’s that? you ask. Well, it’s a microjob program run by Amazon called the Mechanical Turk. It’s basically our incentive to see ourselves as single processes in an otherwise cosmic-level machine. It’s humbling, yet soothing at the same time.

We are a solid state entity. We breathe together and move together as one single will.

Yet when you draw close, there are a million tiny universes being born and dying in the blink of an eye. And in that brief flash of light, there’s a whole life spooling out untethered, a lashing photocosm of ecstatic living done by a being that doesn’t realize quite how small it is. It lives, breathes, and dies; and somewhere in there, amongst all of the pain and joy and mindless wondering, a job is performed and a change ripples outward, adding to the outcome, the Plan. Everything we do is somewhat preordained, it’s only the getting there that’s considered free will.

I like to tell myself that what I do has some meaning.

I hate to think that I waste my time performing largely mindless tasks for $0.50 a pop.

To be honest, I’m not that enthused about being in the freelance job market. I don’t mind working and I don’t mind being paid money, but there’s some part of me that will always like having some idea of what to do. Work isn’t something I want to think about. It’s a task I want to perform as quick and clean as possible, with no one yelling at me and none of the sense of guilt that screwing up on the job brings.

I hate to disappoint anyone.

There’s something nice about Turking. It’s soothing and monotonous. It quiets something inside me that I’ve never been able to … Read the rest “Is it weird to treat mTurk like it’s a reverse-freemium game?”

1 comment on "Black Friday [Vereint Georges, pre-Darkstar]"

Title: Black Friday
Author: Harper Kingsley
Setting: Universe B
Framework: Heroes & Villains
Characters: Vereint Georges, Sandra Georges, Patrick Georges
Genre: superhero, sci-fi

There were times when young Vereint Georges thought his family was weird. Thanksgiving was one of those times.

They bundled up in their winter coats and climbed into the station wagon at ten in the morning and headed to Willsbury, the next town over. Shining Star Grove wasn’t big enough for its own movie theater, so they had to make the 45 minute drive in the snow to make the 11:15 matinee showing of Mr. Garbello’s Balloon.

Vereint wasn’t very enthused about the academy Award nominated movie, but he was happy to be out of the house. Plus they were going to Chang’s Chinese Buffet afterward, which was always a treat. His mom didn’t believe in wasting money on restaurants and always said things tasted better when they were made at home. Except her version of egg rolls had been really terrible–he’d seen her scrape most of them into the garbage and wished she’d done that before making him eat one.

Dad switched on the radio as soon as they were in the car. He was the driver and he had control of what they listened to. Considering the radio only caught four stations and one was religious and two others were country western, it wasn’t like there was much to choose from. They always listened to the tinny sounding rock and roll station, and Mom would sing along and she sounded better than the people on the radio.

Vereint sat or laid in the backseat shivering until the car heated up. The orangey-brown vinyl always took forever to warm up in the winter and his bare legs stuck to it in the summer. Dad said … Read the rest “Black Friday [Vereint Georges, pre-Darkstar]”

1 comment on "ORIGINAL FIC: Faizel II: Chapter One"

Title: Faizel II
Author: Harper Kingsley
World: Faizel
Characters: Faizel/Charlemagne, Ewing, Isadore, Ives, Jenny Deacon
Genre: vampires, mm, slash
Rating: mature
Summary: Picks up where Faizel left off. Faizel is fitting into his new world like a shark with lasers on its head. There’s blood in the water. He’s closing in.

CHAPTER ONE

Sometimes Ewing wondered if they had invited a devil into their midst. Because there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that Charlemagne was possessed. And the devil was named Faizel. Charlemagne’s darling love. The mysterious vampire that had appeared from nowhere to steal Charlemagne’s heart and rearrange the natural order of the world.

Ewing personally thought of Faizel as a booty call gone wrong, though he would never say it aloud. He valued his life too much.

Charlemagne wanted to keep Faizel secret, and Ewing was willing to go along with it. Because honestly, how could he even explain someone like Faizel? The guy scared the ever living fuck out of him, and that was no lie.

I make wishes on the stars all the time. It doesn't seem like a waste to me. Because in the forming of a wish--an idea--a concept of what can be is created. And until a wish is formulated, it's nothing but stardust and fantasy.