I stumbled onto this poem and was surprised to find that I never posted it. For those that don’t know or remember, Ichabod Jones became Ichabod Brooks. This stems from his original incarnation. The title make work if I ever do a big collection of his stories. CLICK THE COVER ART FOR THE AMAZON SITE! SHORT STORY FOR 99 CENTS!
Ichabod Brooks & the City of Beasts (Cover by Nio Mendoza)
Ichabod Jones is a simple scruff
Living on the edge
Dangling his feet
Into the sickening fog
Peering up at the flying city
Humanity’s only home
Ichabod Jones remembers times
When man walking richest soil
Instead of echoing steel
Before the fog encompassed all
Forcing man into the sky
With nothing more than memories
Ichabod Jones breathes deep
Inhaling wisps of fog
Nothing more than a sour taste
Dancing on his gums
Instead of agonizing pain
For those that seek his services
Ichabod Jones is a diver
One of the lucky ones
Who can return to lands long lost
Charging all who wish to pay
For a scrap of forgotten time
Or a keepsake left behind
Ichabod Jones is a simple scruff
Content within his little life
Never wanting more than need
Or perhaps a flask of shine
Enjoying his adventures
Without wading in too deep
Legends of Windemere 
It’s great that you have this as a marker to Ichabod’s evolution. Now I can’t remember why you chose to name him Brooks over Jones. I remember voting on the cover though.
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Somebody (Nicholas Rossis) had pointed out that there was a comic called ‘Ichabod Jones Monster Hunter’ or something like that. So I had to change the last name. Brooks won the voting and has managed to stick in my head.
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Kind of cool. Seems like Ichabod evolved a bit before his story went out.
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He definitely isn’t even close to the man he used to be. A lot of improvement and I hope I can release another story of his next year. Funny thing is that he started as a science fiction character who wanted to be left alone and now he’s a fantasy hero with a family.
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Funny how they do that sometimes. I have one right now that can’t decide on a gender.
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I’ve had that a few times. Usually in stories where I have the kids of previous heroes. The answer switches time and time again. Maybe you could leave it blank until you start writing and see what comes up?
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Funny, that was the plan I came up with. I’ll write until that point and make a decision.
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Good luck. It’s surprising how much of a story ends up being gender neutral.
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True. Characters are characters. I’m not above setting up a character to elicit a certain emotion though.
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Same here and very well said. 🙂
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“Flask of shine,” and “not wading in too deep.” Ah heaven
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Sounds like it. Never did figure out what ‘shine’ was.
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Could be optimism or homemade booze. I just thought it an interesting word pair.
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Given the state of the world, it could even be that alcohol is hard to find and sometimes he gets paid in it. Like aged whiskey or something.
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