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    Once Upon A Cloud
    Once Upon A Cloud
    Once Upon A Cloud
    Ebook39 pages35 minutes

    Once Upon A Cloud

    By K. L. Schaefer

    ()

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    About this ebook

    High in the atmosphere of a gas giant planet, strange creatures live out their lives in the sky.
    An alien perspective on youth, old age, life, the universe, and everything.

    I write what I call Anthropological Science Fiction, for lack of a better term. No hard science, no space ships or galactic empires, and definitely no humans.
    Instead, I try to imagine what other sorts of sentient beings on distant planets might be like, especially ones who reproduce in ways very unlike we do.
    If you enjoy reading stories about life on other worlds told from the point of view of beings who differ from us in various ways, this book, along with my other books, is for you.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherK. L. Schaefer
    Release dateAug 5, 2014
    ISBN9781310867781
    Once Upon A Cloud
    Author

    K. L. Schaefer

    I've been an amateur writer ever since I was in my teens, but it was mostly fan fiction, which, though usually well received, was not something I put before the public for sale. Now, with the introduction of ebooks, self-publishing is finally available to aspiring writers without tons of money, so I decided to give it my best shot with some of my original stories. I write what I call Anthropological Science Fiction: no hard science, no space ships or galactic empires, and definitely no humans. I prefer to imagine what other sorts of sentient beings on faraway planets might be like, especially ones who reproduce in ways very unlike we do, and then figure out what their societal arrangements might be like as a result. Of course, truly alien creatures on a very different planet would very likely be so different that we would barely be able to understand them in our own terms. As a result, most Science Fiction "aliens" are really humans in disguise. Mine are no exception to that rule. But instead of the typical "humans land on strange planet and learn about the aliens" plot, I always write from the point of view of my invented creatures and there are no humans involved. My first two ebooks are rather short, but I now have a full-length novel about yet another type of creature with unusual methods of reproduction. "Walls of Ancient Stone" tells the story of a Rillenu named Daveeka, a childless male of a race of marsupials, where only females and Fathers are of any consequence. He starts out wanting nothing more than the child that will bring him honor and respect, but ends up undermining the walls of tradition and assumption that form the basis of his society. As for me personally, I live in the Sunny South, not too far from the hurricane-ridden shores of North Carolina, along with my partner, my cat, and a longtime friend. KLSchaefer@suddenlink.net

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      Book preview

      Once Upon A Cloud - K. L. Schaefer

      ONCE UPON A CLOUD

      By K. L. Schaefer

      Copyright 2014 K. L. Schaefer

      Smashwords Edition

      License Notes

      Thank you for downloading this free ebook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form. If you enjoyed this book, please return to Smashwords.com to discover other works by this author.

      Thank you for your support.

      Part One: CLOUDSCAPE

      R’hyledd drifted in the breeze, fully unfolded and nearly transparent. While skimming above the cloudfields, dropping down occasionally to absorb a choicer fleck of moisture-coated dust, he watched the roiling top of a fresh bulge of greenish cloud as it poked its way ominously through the opaque gray haze below. Such an upwelling could mean danger, storms brewing in the lower levels. And sometimes darters hid in such places, their denser bodies less likely to be damaged by the turbulence. A darter could be a threat, even to a full grown adult like R’hyledd.

      Thinking with resigned irony that the best grazing always seemed to be in the most dangerous spots, R’hyledd settled down on the ridge of atmospheric density defining the top of the misty blue-gray cloud pasture.

      Trying to judge how much flexibility remained in his aging body, he stretched.

      Yes, with a little more moisture to act as ballast, it might be possible to swoop down again, joyously cleaving through the rich atmosphere of the lower clouds to return coated with nutritious particles of all kinds.

      The youngsters would flock around him then, anxious to partake of the harvest brought up by their elder. Their approval would be warm and pleasant to feel, and their bodies, fragile almost to the point of invisibility, would sparkle brightly against his as they fed.

      For just a little longer, R’hyledd might be able to believe there was still something to look forward to in life.

      Foolish, foolish, he told himself sternly. Attempt to dive again, and you may well have no more life to look forward to at all. Do not invite your death before its time.

      A long ripple of resignation fluttered through his outstretched drifting veils. Wiser by far to dismiss all thoughts of diving again. Oh yes, far wiser.

      Better to cling to what remained of life. Let some other more robust adult feed the young. The segments he had ruptured in his last dive had only now healed and begun to function properly. He chided himself yet again for having taken such a chance.

      Keeping at a safe distance from the bulging green cloudtop, R’hyledd fed swiftly, not so much hungry as thirsty for the moisture condensed around the individual solid particles. The blue-gray cloudfield stretched endlessly around him in all directions, here and there rising in contorted configurations that slowly changed their shape as pressures and

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