The Ace of Pumpkins is invited as the guest of honor to a peculiar dinner at the High House of Clovers.
Music: “Lullaby” by Nicholas Jeudy
[Video Description: “The Ace of Pumpkins” Trailer. Duration, 34 seconds. “Lullaby” by Nicholas Jeudy. Digital drawing. At center, a woman facing forward, seen from waist up, sitting at a table. Her face is in three-quarters profile facing right. She looks forward with right brow and the right corner of her mouth raised. Her bent right arm rests on the table in front of her. Her left hand is raised beside her, holding a fork with a piece of food on the tines. On the table in front of her is a plate full of food. In front of the food is a name card with partially visible letters that read “Ace of Pumpkins.” At left is a small hourglass and two wine glasses. At right is a folded napkin wrapped in a band and a bowl filled with liquid, and with flowers, flower petals, and a bundle of herbs floating within. Title card with the words “Short Story” and “Genre: Fairy Tale,” is displayed at middle. Tagline is displayed at bottom. It reads: “The Ace of Pumpkins is invited as the guest of honor to a peculiar dinner at the High House of Clovers.” Title card and tagline fade. A watermark of the word “storyfeather” appears over the image. Lines from the story appear in sequence: “It was the first course. She of course expected it to be small. But the objects placed upon her plate would not have sated a mouse. From the whisperings of her nearest fellow guests, she was not the only one who was perplexed by the course. But no one remarked on the other strange element of their table. The Ace peered at the tiny hourglass placed beside her plate…” Site URL appears at bottom center throughout and fades at end. As the last line disappears, the image blurs, the edges of the image darken, 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 Wildcard. Among the various card decks I own, I found a Halloween-themed one called “Festival of Frights” (probably purchased from Target, though no copyright info is visible). Per the instructions it’s a pairs matching game. I shuffled and pulled a few cards until I came upon the Ace of Clovers (or Clubs), with a picture of a jack o’ lantern pumpkin on it. The fall season is one of feasting, so I pictured a dinner attended by a person whose humble house is named for a common gourd. What if the host belonged to a ruling house, like one of the four suits of the card deck? Surely, someone must have something up their sleeve.
[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: 7/12/22,” and a label at right, “Story: 7/31/22.” 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 WILDCARD. As the wheel stops spinning, the a playing card, the Ace, appears at center, and in front of it, a cartoon jack o’ lantern.]
Genre: Fairy Tale
Tags: ACE, BLACK, CLOVERS, DINNER, GAME, KING, ORANGE, PUMPKINS
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