Minotaurs and Rings

Hiya, folks!

I wrote a short story, entitled “The Soareseum.” That’s Colosseum + Lord Soares, the proprietor of the place…

So some years ago, I was part of a small writing circle. We had occasional Skype calls to read out stuff we’d written, and would offer constructive criticism.

Once, there came someone’s idea, possibly the group’s organizer, to pull together a collaborative effort. The collective theme was “Rings,” as in the story must contain a significant element to it that takes, in some way, the form of a ring.

I think there were probably eight or ten of us who drafted short stories, and I want to say 80% of them had a wedding ring as their special unique plot element. But, there was one guy among us – with whom I’m still in touch after all these years, as it happens – who showed more imagination than most, instead writing about an extraterrestrial mining colony, digging at the rings of a Saturn-esque planet.

My take on the idea was a coin toss between two elements ~ either the nose-ring of a bull, or the slightly more metaphorical ring of an arena or Colosseum. So, I combined them, and wrote a short story about enslaved minotaurs forced to fight in gladiatorial games.

It went through a number of iterations and of course changed quite a bit. My records show it was revamped at least six times, following the critique of my peers back then, and the story stands as one of the few shorts I not only have completed, but also up live for people to read.

You can find it over at Medium, which labels it as a 27-minute read.

If for whatever reason you can’t/prefer not to read a story at Medium, let me know in the comments and I’ll see about straight-up posting it here at Saigon Geeks!

In any case, I enjoyed writing that piece and I won’t claim it’s awesome, but it’s one of my most polished and one of the few ever published bits by me. There must be some pride in that, yes?

Hope you like it.

Text by Blankard