Fable

Starling and Leveret

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“Is it true that you once beat Hare in a foot race?  It can’t be true.  But is it true?”

Tortoise sighed.

He continued walking along as the little black bird flapped around him.  She landed on a nearby branch.

“I’ve heard that you’ve seen the world from above as a bird does when she’s flying.  Is that true?  How did you do it?  It can’t be true.  But is it true?”

Tortoise sighed again.  But he also smiled.

Starling was young and eager.  But she was also persistent.  And she was also perceptive.   She noted the smile on Tortoise’s face.  She understood what it meant.  He had expected her to grow tired of asking him the same questions day after day.  But she had done so for five days now.  Perhaps he would deem her worthy enough to deserve some answers to her questions. Continue reading

The Moonbroch

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The starry-eyed youth named Carson cast his gaze at the full moon.  His father had just cursed it, or rather, he had cursed those who dwelt upon it.

“A storm is coming,” his father said, gazing up at the low and looming clouds.  “A storm with high winds.”

Yet another storm, the fourth one in as many days.

“Soon it will storm day and night,” his father said.  And then he raised a fist to the full bright moon and shook it.  Continue reading

The Frog Who Foiled the Fantasticator

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Rare are they who can by their very presence bring about the emergence of the fantastic from the most common of things and the most mundane of people.

So rare indeed, that most towns only had one such person, only one whose speech inspired the emergence of energy from lethargy, whose gaze transformed ugliness to beauty, and whose touch could change a blunder into a wonder.

Feodora was one such person.

A person known throughout the realm as a fantasticator.

*** Continue reading

Storyfeather Year Five

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This week’s story will be posted soon. This is the anniversary post for Storyfeather’s fifth year!

The Year of S.T.E.A.M. is done! That was the theme for Storyfeather Year Five.  Science.  Technology. Engineering.  Arts.  Mathematics.   Year Five’s stories aimed to center around one of the aforementioned elements.  It was quite the challenge.

Also a challenge, keeping the bar for the artwork as high as I could manage after the visual upgrade the site received in Year Four.

Thank you to everyone who read even a single story. And if you liked or commented, thank you again. Thank you for your time and interest, and for being a part of Storyfeather, especially Year Five.

A lot happened in the fifth year stories. A cast and crew of middle school students put on an original play about cosmic heroes and deadly aliens.  A malfunctioning beauty product gave whole new meaning to the term “vanishing cream.”  An explorer got lost in a spatiotemporal anomaly that was once the treasure vault of an alien pirate.  And a woman started turning into a cartoon…

I’ve written over 250 stories now. And I’ve produced 52 podcast episodes (one for each story from Year One).  Year Five was a (sometimes delirious) struggle, but well worth it.  Storytelling is still my true love, still my destiny, still my path.

Year Six is on the horizon.  Here’s to seeing what stories will brew.  I hope you’ll come along.

I have stories to tell you.
Nila

The Blinding of the Mice

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I could not see the edge of the knife, but I felt the promised bite of the blade at the base of my tail.  Courage is a strange thing.  For when you think you have it, you are wrong.  And when you think you don’t have it…you are wrong.

When I stepped ever-so-carefully onto that dais where the Ritual was to begin, I thought I had all the courage I would need.

I was wrong.

*** Continue reading

An Aphid Named Quintillion

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“How can we know for certain what the truth is, unless we seek to find it?” an aphid named Quintillion argued.

She kept her wings respectfully folded as she stood before the Council of Grand Numerators.  But she dared to sweep aside the train of glittering white filaments that plumed from her back, a particular characteristic of her tribe.

“They came out of the primordium, just as we did,” she said.  “They are not beasts.  They are an intelligent species.  They are potential companions.” Continue reading

The Flight of Flea

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When he was young and heard the stories of the mythical birds and flying beasts of legend, he imagined himself as one of them.  Powerful, ferocious, graceful, wise, and heroic.  He imagined that one day, he would grow up to be like Phoenix, with its flaming wings and healing tears.  He dreamed of being like Quetzlcóatl, worshipped by the two-leggers who otherwise ruled over all other beasts.  When he heard the stories of Garuda, he was Garuda, flying the ancient gods to and fro on their quests.  The thunderbird.  The trickster raven.  The creator heron known as Benu.

He was in awe of them all.  And he wanted to learn to acquire their qualities.  Cleverness, strength, knowledge.  And wings so magnificent that all creatures great and small were gripped with awe at their sight.

But whenever he would voice such longings, he was always ridiculed, for he was so small that all who knew him called him the flea bird, and soon that became his name, “Flea.” Continue reading

Storyfeather Year Four

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This week’s story will be posted soon. This is the anniversary post for Storyfeather’s fourth year.

The Year of Creatures is done! That was the theme for Storyfeather Year Four (except for some straggler stories where I might have forgotten).

A huge and hearty thank you to Sanjay Patel for providing the artwork for every single story in Year Four. It was a true collaboration of storytelling. He sent me the art, then I wrote the story around it. It was challenging to write stories on topics I might not otherwise have written. It was humbling to try and write a story that did the art justice. And it was exciting to see the site looking so vibrant and badass.

Displayed above are some of my favorite images.

Thank you to everyone who read even a single story. And if you liked or commented, thank you again. Thank you for your time and interest, and for being a part of Storyfeather, especially Year Four.

I’ve written over 200 stories now. And I launched the Storyfeather podcast in October.

No one asked for these stories. No one assigned me to write them. And though I hoped to earn rewards someday if I kept at it, no one promised me any great reward (or even any small reward). I started because I have believed since I was very young that writing is my destiny. And every time I put pen to paper, or fingertips to keyboard, I feel, from within, the truth of that sentiment. Regardless of however a story comes out, each one proves to me that writing is part of who I am. And I’ve come to realize something else.

I’ve been doing this for four years, and I will keep doing it. That’s not just destiny. That’s love. And it’s not just any love.

That’s true love.

A lot happened in the fourth year stories. Researchers discovered something huge, ancient, and possibly mythical stirring under the Arctic permafrost. An astronaut opened a mysterious pod from an alien race that had been sending messages to humanity for centuries. An ordinary man gathered extraordinary allies to face a dragon and save his beloved. And a troubadour sang the fantastical story of how his kind came to be…

Here’s to seeing what Year Five brings.  I hope you’ll come along.

I have stories to tell you.
Nila