A folklorist is swept up in a journey to find the proof that supports her seemingly preposterous notion about porcupines and fairy tales.
Music: “Mystical Town” by Chris Logsdon
Video description
[Video Description: “Isle of the Fairy Ring” Trailer. Duration, 31 seconds. “Mystical Town” by Chris Logsdon. Digital drawing. A porcupine with an array of glowing greenish quills, facing and looking forward, seen from the right flank. The wispy shapes of yellow and purple mushrooms surround the porcupine, suggesting the shape of a ring. At top right, there floats a bright glow, surrounded by hazy pink light. Title card with the words “Short Story” and “Genre: Fairy Tale,” is displayed at top. Tagline is displayed at bottom. It reads: “A folklorist is swept up in a journey to find the proof that supports her seemingly preposterous notion about porcupines and fairy tales.” Title card and tagline fade. A watermark of the word “storyfeather” appears over the image. Lines from the story appear in sequence: “The fairy ring is one way. There’s a good number of dangerous things from folklore and fairy tale that we might run into here. And I have no idea what to expect.” Site URL appears at bottom left throughout and fades at end. As the last line disappears, the image blurs, the story title appears at center, and a text card appears at top that reads “Available to Read Now storyfeather.com.”]
Welcome to Year 9 of Storyfeather
Every year’s short stories (mostly) follow a theme. This year, I will turn the Wheel of Fiction to help me decide what to write. There are thirteen spokes on this wheel. Eight are occupied by the eight themes from the previous years of stories. One is a prompt to turn the wheel again. One is a wildcard (hmm…curious). And three are covered only in question marks. I suppose I’ll find out what’s beneath those questions as we go along.
Welcome to the WHEEL OF FICTION
The Wheel of Fiction landed on Creatures. I wondered what would happen if I started with the old trope of an academic who is shaking up their field by giving a presentation that proposes something really wild. In this case, it’s someone claiming that there’s a creature responsible for some of the most impressive enchantments in well-known fairy tales, those magical vines that grow at the bases of towers and castles. Furthermore, she claims this creature may have been real. And still furthermore that this creature may have been a very special kind of porcupine.
[Video Description: Duration, 7 seconds. Choice wheel made on the Spin the Wheel application. Thirteen spokes or slices in various colors, labeled as follows, clockwise from the top: Objects of Power (the “of Power” is not visible), Prompts, Definitions, Turn Again, Elements, Creatures, S.T.E.A.M., Wildcard, Revisitation, Music, Challenge, Draw!!!, Traveler. The title at top reads “The Wheel of Fiction V4” and below that the words “Spin the wheel.” Below that is a label on left, “Spin date: 8/3/22,” and a label at right, “Story: 8/21/22.” At top left corner is a flag icon labeled with the letter “F.” This represents a function of the application which interferes with true randomness by reducing the probability of receiving the same choice twice in a row. The wheel turns and lands on CREATURES. As the wheel stops spinning, a cartoon porcupine zooms into view from bottom right to center. Then two leafy vines grow from the porcupine’s back.]
Genre: Fairy Tale
Tags: FAIRY RING, ISLE, LUPE, MUSHROOM, PLUMERIUS, PORCUPINE, TOMMIE, VINE, WOLF
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