Siren's Song

By Andy Nordvall and Don Nguyen

Won by a pirate captain in a hand of cards, Pip struggles to survive as a lowly cabin boy aboard The Mottled Swift.

Eido is the youngest of an ancient race called many things by mankind: siren, mermaid, witch, demigod.  Yearning to escape from their island prison, Eido investigates a mysterious ship in the harbor and winds up rescuing

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zoo Magnet Inc.
• Release date: Mar 5, 2018
• ISBN: 9781732047310

Andy Nordvall

Andy Nordvall is a graduate of the super-prestigious graduate screenwriting program at UCLA, where he won a UCLA Professional Program Screenwriting Award, UCLA Showcase, Screenwriting Expo Award, 3 Carl Sautter awards (for feature, TV drama, and sitcom), and was a finalist for the Humanitas and Slamdance. He started his writing career as a journalist/critic for FLAGPOLE MAGAZINE, which published his series of essays on living and working in Chengdu, China. He has also produced original web content featured in Entertainment Weekly, BBC News, Variety, and FunnyOrDie, and currently writes the webcomic MY ROOMMATE, THE INTERNET.

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Inktober created by Jake Parker. Inktober and its logo are trademarks of JP Creative LLC & are used with permission. For more information go to inktober.com

Siren’s Song © 2018, 2017 by Don Nguyen and Andy Nordvall. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owners except for the use of quotations in a book review. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s and artist’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

To my wife, the proverbial wind in my sails: thank you for all of your support. I’ve been lucky to have a great network of family and friends to guide me. I appreciate all of your nuggets of wisdom (especially the chicken nuggets). Andy, it’s been a pleasure working with you on this endeavor!

-Don

For Zoe and Athena, who bring magic to my world, and Sally, who keeps me down to Earth. Don, thanks for keeping me afloat during our shared journey.

-Andy

Siren’s Song

written by

Andy Nordvall

illustrated by

Don Nguyen

Introduction

As a creators, I think we strive to do something special or meaningful, and that desire can bog down the process of actually creating work. When you collaborate, there is often an even greater pressure to produce and to not let your partner down. When you meet the right collaborator, these thoughts and fears should not even come into play. There should be an enthusiasm that is just about making something: anything. When you converse, an excitement blossoms; ideas form and things get done.

I was lucky enough to meet Andy Nordvall at San Diego Comic-Con’s creator connection last year, in 2017. The event is like speed dating for creators. Artists and writers have a few minutes to meet: artists show their wares while writers give the infamous elevator pitch. Andy’s pitch had me cracking up. It was something special and I hope to see its fruition, even if I’m not the artist on it. I feel like the idea Andy is brewing offers something this world needs. I know I’m not saying much about it, but I think my sentiments convey how I feel about working with Andy and the work he’s doing.

My schedule did not allow me to do Andy’s longer term project. However, he had an intriguing proposal. He asked if I participated in Inktober, Jake Parker’s hashtag art phenomenon. I joined in on it a couple years ago. The movement is fun, challenging and the level of work you see from it inspires. I told Andy I’d be doing it again and he suggested we collaborate: tackle the prompts with an image and a short story tailored to it. I looked at the prompts and thought, This all seems nautical. What if we complete the entire month as one cohesive story? A pirate story!

A pirate story would be putting it simply. Andy finished something much more complex in some very subtle storytelling. I would call this an Inktober ballad: a song in prose. Accomplishment provides its own meaning and when you make something, that thing is special because it is your own. We hope you enjoy Siren’s Song.

-Don

1. Swift

Pip shouted out the latest order from the captain, trying to imbue his voice with a confidence that he did not, in fact, feel. The men of the Mottled Swift stared back at him in shock. None dared to be the first to obey.

Luckily, the first officer, sensing his crew’s reluctance, came to Pip’s aid. You heard the lad! Commander Fairley bellowed, breaking the silence. Captain says hard to starboard, then we go hard to starboard!

The crew had been well trained. Moving as one interlocking mechanism, they steered the ship straight into the wall of inky black clouds, intermittently illuminated from within by a flash of lightning. At the moment, each flash was followed by distant thunder, faint like the sound of far-off gunfire. But the sound would not remain far off for long—not if they followed their new course.

After the crew busied themselves, Fairley leaned close to Pip and said in a voice low enough to prevent eavesdropping, You sure the captain said ‘starboard,’ boy?

Yes... starboard’s the left, isn’t it?

Fairley’s eyes flashed anger. He snapped at Pip, Left or right changes depending on where you face. That’s how come sailors have no truck with it. Why the captain had to pick some gutter rat who’d never been in water deeper than a bowl of porridge is beyond me.

He won me in a card game, remember? He had a straight—beat my dad with a pair of jacks. Pip was sure Fairley did remember, but Pip thought it would help to quell the commander’s temper if he was reminded that Pip wasn’t part of the crew by choice.

Fairley grabbed Pip by the shoulder and wheeled him around so they were both facing the Swift’s bow. If you’re looking front, then yes, he gestured straight into the storm. That is starboard. So no more of this right/left claptrap, you savvy? Shows you as a lubber.

Pip nodded vigorously and said, Aye aye. It was the first nautical term Pip had picked up and the one he still used the most, because everyone on the ship tended to bark orders at him. 

Fairley grimly scanned the horizon.  I guess the captain thinks we have better odds in the storm than facing Spanish guns, he said.

As if on cue, one of the galleon’s chase guns boomed behind them, but the shot went wide, and Pip could not even hear the high-pitched whine a ball made as it cut through the air.

The ship’s sail caught the wind, turning the prow toward the storm. Fairley looked over his shoulder at the two galleons closing in on the Swift.

They should break off soon, once they figure out where we’re headed. Fairley let out a small laugh without smiling. After all, why waste the gunpowder when that storm will do the job for them?

2. Divided

Eido sat atop of a crag, gazing out into the ocean. The view never changed, but, oddly, neither did Eido ever tire of it. Black, opaque storm clouds extended in every direction, encircling their island like a shell encasing an oyster. Yet the sky above was always blue, the weather always mild. Eido knew it was foolish to expect the