YEAR SIX

Portal Button. Elongated rectangle. Rings of colored light emanate from the center. Inset on the left, an embossed circle with the Storyfeather feather logo, a feather quill shaped like the letter "f" with a drop of ink hovering below its tip. The circle is bordered with dots and dashes and casts a shadow. To the right of the image, the word "Definitions." At top right, the word "Year." Below "Year," the numeral "6."

NOVEMBER 2018 TO OCTOBER 2019

Every year’s short stories (mostly) follow a theme. For Year Six, I aimed to write stories centered around dictionary words that were uncommon or at least unfamiliar to me.  Many of the words ended up in the title or as names of characters.  So many peculiar and delightful words…

Welcome to the sixth year of Storyfeather.


Below are the titles, primary genres, and taglines for each story.
Starting December 2022, the stories are being narrated for Season 6 of the podcast in a different order. Once the episode is released, a player will appear so you can listen right from this page.

  • READ button opens story post where you can read the story.
  • STORY TITLE button opens the story’s Explore page, where you can watch a podcast trailer, get background info, and listen to the podcast episode
  • GO TO THE END button jumps you to the bottom of the page. It’s a long way down, and depending on your device, important navigational links may be below the page or in the sidebar.


Digital drawing. At left, two people, facing front, looking at a large monitor with a glowing screen, seen from behind. Both of their mouths are drawn into an o-shape. Both have brows raised.  The tabletop that the monitor sits on extends across the bottom of the screen. Other items seen beside the monitor, from left to right, are a clipboard with loose pages atop it, one of them clipped; a rack with three test tubes, two partially full, one capped, one containing a scoop or stirrer; and an instrument, possibly a centrifuge, partially visible. The person at left is only seen from neck up, being obscured by the monitor, and is wearing a faux fur collar and glasses, with short bobbed hair. The person standing next to her is seen from waist up with left arm resting on the tabletop. He glances to the right of frame where a distorted monstrous yet humanoid shadow stretches from top to bottom. The shadowy figure appears to be wielding a wrench or similar tool. Above the person at left is an overhanging light with a single bulb and a string switch hanging down. The light is turned off.  A bar of dim light, maybe coming from a window out of frame, extends from top right to bottom left.

Two technicians working alone to maintain an Arctic monitoring station begin to see something they shouldn’t be seeing…a third resident of the station.

Digital drawing. Collage of four vertical images, described from left to right. Part of a planet seen at bottom, and above it, a ship emitting sparks and smoke.  A forearm with horns emerging from several spots extends down and places a clawed hand on a surface of cracked ice. A cloaked figure with a featureless face seen in right profile and waist up, partially visible, holds up the left hand, palm curled up as if to catch a snowflake just above it. A figure with a featureless face seen from knees up, facing forward, holding a dagger at their side in the right hand, and holding up a scythe with their bent left arm. Behind this figure stands a magnified version of the same figure. Behind that stands a still more magnified version of the same figure.  Snowflakes of different sizes are scattered across all the collage.

Four stories answer the question: “Why does there have to be winter?”

Digital drawing. A group of people at a party, all facing forward and seen from their upper halves. Upper left corner, a banner extends at an angle up from bottom left. It reads “Happy Solstice,” but the letters “H,” “C,” and “E” are only partially visible. The party-goers from left to right are a man in background holding a full champagne glass in his right hand, a woman in foreground holding up a full champagne glass as if in a toast, a humanoid with bulbous head and three fingers in background holding a champagne glass in the left hand, and another humanoid with pointed ears holding a bowl of snacks. Beside the woman in the foreground, the top half of another person’s head is seen, wearing a helmet, and looking at the woman. Behind the woman there extend several tentacles that curl around and in front of the others.

Two rival television shows set aside their differences to film their solstice holiday specials.

Digital drawing. A woman seen from behind, knees up, standing at a section of railing.  Her left hand rests on the railing to the side.  Her right arm is held up over her head. Her hair, the bottom of her long coat, and her skirt are all flared back from the force of something above her that’s casting down a bright light. A flower pot with two long-stemmed flowers is set on the floor beside her to her left in the corner where a cross bar meetings the railing.

Reporter Lily Landry has an extraordinary encounter one night after she investigates a bright light in the sky above her apartment.

Digital drawing. A woman with short hair and wearing colorful business attire, seen from mid-thigh up, facing forward, turned to the left, holding a baby cradled in her right arm. Her left arm is in a sling. The baby is facing the woman and reaches up with the right hand to her nose. The two are translucent so that most of the words from a magnified view of a handwritten letter behind the woman and baby are visible. The visible writing on the letter reads as follows (the ellipsis representing obscured words): “Dear me of the future, I am hoping that…you read this, you’ve enjoyed a calm…year—with no broken bones to speak of, the opposite of the year I’ve had. You remember, don’t you? I hustled my butt off during pilot season. No luck there and nothing really happened until April when I [crossed out letters] Marvin. Then everything started happening at once. I want to start at the end…The Glorious.”  There is a hand holding a fountain pen whose edge is still forming the letter “s” on the word “glorious.” The letter is written in all capitals.

A young woman receives a letter written by her future self about all the significant events to come in the next year of her life.

Digital drawing. View down a table set with plates and platters of cakes with colorful patterns on the inside.  At the other end of the table sit five people. From left to right, a person with a simple head covering seeing profile; a person with face in three-quarters profile, smiling and folding hands upon the table; a person with a cowl neck tunic and gloves looking down at a cake and smiling, also with hands folded on the table; a person wearing a cloak and two high braids, pointing with left hand to a cake; and a person wearing a hair combs, earrings, an armband on the left arm that looks like a device, with hands folded on the lap.

A baker chosen for an honorable and prestigious assignment must contend with a rival who was not chosen.

Digital drawing. Three people sitting at a table. From left to right, they are as follows. In three-quarters profile, a bald man in a collared long sleeve shirt, holding a stein in both hands with his elbows on the table. A woman facing forward with her hair in a bun, wearing a double-breasted jacket, resting her left forearm on the table, and holding her right index finger to her mouth. She looks to the right at the third person, a woman with long curly hair, seen in left profile, smiling, and holding up her right hand with palm loosely facing upward.

An air of mystery surrounds a young lord who came to rule a province from a distant land, until those closest to him gather clues about his past.

Digital drawing. A right whale seen in left profile, floating in midair in a cloudy sky with sunset colors.

The mayor of a modest harbor town struggles to deal with the appearance of a whale in the sky above the ocean.

Digital drawing. Part of a sail whose braided border is being pierced by a needle. The sail sits on the lap of a person whose left hand grips a section of the braided border and whose right hand, equipped with a sailmaker’s sewing palm, directs the need through the braid of cloth. An image is stitched onto the sail and is partially visible, the body of a serpent entangled around a boat with one sail unfurled at bottom center and middle. At bottom right, the serpent’s head with mouth parted, looking at the ship.

Jaquery Tattery was born at sea, and he grew up in a town far from the sea, and all he wanted to do was return to the sea.

Digital drawing. Bottom left corner, a frog seen from behind, sitting on a rock, surrounded by blades of grass.  In front of the frog is a human looking down at the frog with her right hand on her chin, left hand propped on her hip. She wears boots, bloomers, a long coat, and a cap with a feather in it.  At right is a tree whose branches and leafy canopy extend over the head of the human and droop down to the ground line. Through the branches, in the distance, is a flying pig facing forward. At bottom right are bushes of unusual and bright colors. They curved around the base of the tree.

Rare are the fantasticators, 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.

Digital drawing. At right, two little girls standing next to each other, seen from waist up. The one at left stands facing forward, her long hair pinned to either side, arms at her side, looking and smiling down at the outstretched hands of the girl at right. The girl at right is seen from left profile, mouth parted, brows raised. Her upper arms are at her side, bent at the elbow with her cupped hands held out. In her palms, there stands a small human figure whose features are not visible, but whose face is raised up to the girl. Behind the girls is shrubbery. Along the left edge is a tree.

When her sister disappears into the fairy realm, a girl and her best friend mount a rescue. But while it’s quite easy to get into the fairy realm, almost no one gets out.

Digital drawing. Two figures facing forward seen from waist up. The figure at left, face in three-quarters profile facing left, has her arms raised, but bent, the left one in front of her and the right one with hand near her face, fingers loosely flourished. One of her brows is raised. She wears shoulder guards and elbow length gloves. The figure at right, standing slightly behind, bears a quiver of arrows on his back, has pointed ears, and has an arrow knocked and ready to fire. Behind them is the glowing silhouette of a bird with wings outstretched seen from above. This lies over an opening shaped like a three-pointed arch.  A haze of fog surrounds the figures up to their shoulders.

As penance for a recent crime, a thief is tasked with carrying a most precious and coveted treasure to a place where no mortal may tread.

Digital drawing. Two figures facing forward.  A leveret, or rabbit at left, standing upright and holding out human-like hands in a clawed pose.  A starling, a black bird, standing with wings folded, body in left profile and extending off frame to the right so that the tail feathers are not visible. Both have eyebrows, which are drawn down. At left behind the figures is a doorway or opening with only darkness visible beyond.

Starling and Leveret investigate the sudden disappearance of Starling’s prospective teacher, the legendary Tortoise.

Digital drawing. Composite image. At bottom center, three children stand clustered together seen from waist up. From left to right, a boy with short hair holding a mug in his right hand at waist level, wearing a collared shirt. A girl with her hair pinned back holding a cup between her hands in front of her, wearing a dress. And another girl with her hair in a high braid, with left arm held across herself and her chin propped under her right fist, wearing a dress. Surrounding them at bottom of frame are flames. Behind them and above their heads is the oversized figure of a woman, seen from shoulders up, facing forward in three-quarters profile. She has short wavy hair and a cap-style hat with a sword-shaped pin. Four sets of four vertical lines pass diagonally behind the whole image.

When rumors and gossip surround the newest resident of town, particularly about her mysterious habit of hiding her feet, one girl dares to seek the truth.

A woman unwittingly misses the start of daylight savings, falls one hour behind the rest of the world, and is unable to catch up.

Digital drawing. Black silhouette of a figure seen from the back standing at the mouth of a cavern. The mouth has a rough trapezoidal shape. Light shines into the cavern from outside. The cavern has smooth walls. Some trees and shrubbery are visible outside. To the left of the silhouette is a translucent copy of the silhouette. The two figures are connected and overlap at one foot, below which is a glow.

A woman seeking medical treatment for what seems to be a travel-related infection in her foot becomes involved in a grander mystery.

Digital drawing. A street map with a few labeled elements and denser detail in the middle, which shows a grid of streets. At top center is a green area labeled “Exeter Park.” At bottom center is another green area, unlabeled. One of the streets curves down into a body of water labeled “Dragonfly Lake.” Just outside the grid, in each other cardinal directions is a circle. The circles are labeled “Circle North,” “Circle East,” Circle West,” and “Circle South,” according to their position. Radiating out from the center of the map is a web of cracks or tears. One of these cracks terminates at upper right on a house symbol on a side street labeled “Marigold.” Other parallel streets nearby are labeled “Olive” and “Park.”

Strange happenings in one household trigger a police investigation that reveals a deeper mystery.

Digital drawing. Partial slightly angled view of a wall of compartments, like safe deposit boxes, only these are ornate, bearing an art deco pattern of layered scales. One of the boxes is fully visible. It bears a plate at its bottom right corner that reads “1443.”  At bottom center is the handle to the box, also an art deco pattern of fanned out diamonds. Above the handle is the lock. A key sits in the lock and that key is being held by a hand whose bottom half is covered by a sleeve which extends out of frame to the right.

A guest at an extravagant hotel gets lost and stumbles upon a strange secret.

Digital drawing. A woman lying down on a cot near a window with closed blinds. The woman is seen from waist up. The view is angled so her head is at top right. She wears a long sleeve sweater over a collared shirt. Her short hair lies at her left side. Her right hand lies over her stomach. Her left hand at her waist. Her eyes are closed and her face is expressionless. A glowing waking version of her face with brows and mouth drawn down appears vertically above her neck as if the ghostly face has risen from the sleeping face.

Andie Ogami is hired as a spy by a wealthy family because of her ability to astral project.

Digital drawing. A face seen in left profile from chin to forehead vertically and nose to cheek horizontally. The face is looking upward, mouth parted and brows drawn in. Reflected in the iris are images of phenomena in space, like stars and nebulas.

A lone astronaut and a ship’s artificial intelligence spend two decades trapped in a spatial phenomenon from which there is no escape.

Digital drawing. View around two sides of a corner. On the left wall are two elevators with a person stepping away from the far elevator. The person holds a bouquet and a balloon. On the right wall is a painting and a floor vase containing a plant. The right wall is connected to another wall. At right foreground are two figures, one standing against a counter and one approaching the counter. Transposed over all this are the translucent distorted edges and outlines of the original image.

 A patient checks into the hospital for a simple procedure and experiences remarkable side effects.

Scan of ink drawing, digitally colored. A person at right and facing left, partially seen from waist for forehead, holds the handle of a Y-shaped slingshot in the extended left arm. The right hand stretches back the sling portion, which contains a stone, and small human figure lying with their back on the stone. In the background is a sunny blue sky, with a light scattering of rain, and to the left, rocky terrain obscured by fog that extends to bottom edge.

Two cousins decide to visit the mysterious isle of giants, and to steal portions of treasure small enough to escape a giant’s notice, but large enough to make their fortunes.

A student seeking to learn the craft of enchantment is challenged to pass through a forest filled with strange obstacles.

Digital drawing. A collage made of three panels, the center one being square and bigger than the two rectangles that flank it, which are of equal size to each other. From left to right, a long stem flower with six petals and two long leaves running alongside the stem; the front half of a turtle swimming at right, and strands of seaweed and fish swimming behind the turtle; and the bright silhouette of a tall tower with several openings and protruding sections, and the silhouettes of trees on either side.

Every year on her birthday, the daughter of a mage receives a key that unlocks a different world in her enchanted triptych.

Digital drawing. A person seen from the left side, crouching and picking up a shard of glass. The person wears a knee-length coat which flares down from the waist. More shards of glass lie on the floor. The person holds some object in the left hand, and there is ring with a stone on one of the fingers of the right hand. At top left, glass shatters outward from left to right above the person’s head. On the wall or surface behind are faint elemental symbols.

A private investigator realizes her newest case may be linked to her own uncanny past, and a truth she may not be ready to face.

A mortal apprentice to an immortal being is tempted to steal the great powers contained within the Cosmic Hourglass to tilt the balance of the cosmos toward good.


Digital drawing. A portal that looks like an iris. The center is dark, save for one small bright spot like a star. Surrounding this center is a toroidal or donut shape. This is surrounded by circular layers of lightning sparks and ripples of different colors.

A researcher comes across a legendary text and is overwhelmed by the knowledge contained within.



Below this section are Year 6 stories that have not been narrated into a podcast episode yet. They are in the order of intended episode release.




Digital drawing. Center bottom third, a figure facing forward, seen from shoulders up, wearing a scarf around the neck and a fitted coat. Her head is tilted up and her left hand is extended up, index finger pointing up, and other fingers held loosely. She has no hair, but a set of spiraling horns emerge from the top of her head and extend up through the top two-thirds of the image.  A second set shorter spiraling horns extend from the back of her head. She stands beneath a starry sky.  A falling star streaks across that sky from upper right to lower left, just between the span of her horns.

A modest town at the foot of the mountain holds a contest every summer with a powerful prize.


Digital drawing. At left, an older man seen from waist up, wearing a long sleeved tunic with a piled collar and an upside down pentagon pendant. He smiles and points left index finger at a curly-haired young toddler in left profile sitting with outstretched legs on a soft surface, a pillow or bed.  The man’s right hand rests on the toddler’s feet. Both of the man’s hands are adorned with rings. The toddler wears a ring around the neck. A butterfly is perched behind the toddler’s shoulder.

A dying wizard forges a pair of enchanted rings to help himself fulfill his last wish, to speak with his baby granddaughter.


Digital drawing. At center bottom, two figures in silhouette and in profile hold their bent arms out toward each other. The figure at left has shaggy hair and is seen from shoulders up. The figure at right is taller, seen from chest up. Both their palms are held loosely up.  Above their hands is a bright orb of light, surrounded by dark, which itself is surrounded by a ring of light, which encompasses the two figures.  This ring of light is then surrounded by patches of darkness.  Just visible above the left figure’s hand is the translucent light silhouette of a moth or butterfly.

A starry-eyed youth seeks to entreat the man in the moon to stop the lunar fairies from causing terrible storms in the earthen realm.


Digital drawing. Silhouette of a hummingbird in flight seen from the right side. The sun shines behind the bird’s head, illuminating the feathers with an iridescent rainbow glow. Framing the bottom and sides of the image are leafy bushes in gray shadows.

Evil is brewing in a forest where magic cannot abide, and there may be only one who can hold it at bay.


Digital drawing. Person facing forward seen from top of shoulders to bridge of nose, wearing a long sleeve tunic with sun symbols at the center of the neck.  Both hands are held overlapping and over the mouth.

The greatest orator in the known worlds develops a condition that renders him speechless.


Digital drawing. At bottom, the body of a man lying on his back in a chamber whose top is open. The man is seen from knees up and in left profile. His eyes are closed and his arm lays at his side. Behind him at the level of his chest is a device with a colorful kaleidoscope pattern on its back. Standing behind the device is a person, seen from chest to nose whose left arm is extended toward and obscured by the device.

A wealthy capitalist steals a rare and cutting-edge piece of technology in the hopes of developing it for public use.


Digital drawing. On a surface, standing on a folded up newspaper is a creature with familiar features. The creature, in three-quarters profile facing left, has the body of a frog and frog-like eyes except that they extend to the sides on stalks. The fore limbs looks like a frogs and are wrapped around a corner of the newspaper. Instead of one set of hind limbs, the creature has a set of four crab legs or spider legs on the left side. Two legs are visible on the right side. Six glowing translucent feathers protrude from the creature’s backside. Under the legs, part of a headline is visible under and through the creature’s legs. The visible part reads “Freak storm hits.” The dim silhouettes of four human figures surround the creature.

A group of friends recruits one of their dads, a biology teacher, to help them identify a strange creature they discovered after a freak storm hits their town.


Digital drawing. Three people seen from chest up standing in front of a console with buttons made of simple geometric shapes, below a window that looks into a room or chamber.  At left, a person facing forward in three-quarters profile is looking towards the room. The person in the middle is seen from right profile, but with the head turned to the console, so only the side of the cheek and a bit of the nose is visible. This person has their right index finger poised over one of the controls. The person at right is seen from the back. They seem to be wearing uniforms each in a different color. A structured hood or helmet is seen at the back of the person at middle and at right. The hazy image of an examination table surrounded by some apparatus or device can be seen through the window.

Researchers on the verge of a medical breakthrough must investigate why their advanced surgical machine works perfectly on some patients, and not at all on others.


Digital drawing. Four figures, all facing forward, one in the foreground and three behind. The figure in the foreground holds a candle in front of the chest with the left hand, the flame at the level of the neck. The background figures from left to right are as follows: a figure looking at a small golden object held in the right hand and holding the left arm across the waist; a hooded figure with face hidden and right hand raised; and a large figure looking forward and holding hands at the side, the right hand curled into a fist.

After their realm is cursed to suffer absolute darkness, four companions are tasked with finding the secret of breaking the curse.


A sixteen-year-old decides that her first journey alone will be into a forbidden valley of flowers that lies just beyond her town.


Digital drawing. At left, lying on a surface, a top hat with a slim feather sticking out from the band. At right, hanging in front of the hat, obscuring part of the hat’s rim, is a pocket watch with an ornate cover and in colors matching the hat. The pendant and bow parts are visible at the top of the clock.

A young boy seeks to make his mother proud by picking the pocket of a man whose fortunes no one has ever managed to steal.


There is a door in the basement of my new house that leads to nowhere, or so I thought…


To rescue her kidnapped infant sister, Parni and her pet rat enter the dream realm and pass through nightmare and illusion.


Digital drawing. Eleven books of approximately equal size but differently colored covers sit on a shelf. The book at far right is angled so that its cover is visible. The title reads “Mrs. Highweather Charming Adventures.” Below the title is the image of a woman whose face is obscured under a floppy hat with a band whose ribbon edges float up into the title. She is seen from shoulders up wearing a coat. The titles of the other books and the number indicating their order in the sequence are readable from the spines. From left to right they are as follows. Mrs. Highweather Meets the Four-leggers (1). Mrs. Highweather’s Haunted Hat (8). Mrs. Highweather Finds the Farthest Star (2). Mrs. Highweather and the Key to Existence (7). Mrs. Highweather Sails the Suddenly Sea (5). Mrs. Highweather and the Queen of Questions (3). Mrs. Highweather and the Villainous Vine (10). Mrs. Highweather in the Dream Realm (6). Mrs. Highweather and the Forest of Feathers (11). Mrs. Highweather and the Perilous Painting (4). The book at far right is number 9.

When a new father searches through his childhood books for stories to tell his daughter, he learns that some of those books are linked to a hundred-year-old mystery.


Digital drawing. A red chili pepper lying on a surface, stem side to left and bottom to the right. The pepper is slightly curved at the bottom. The pepper is surrounded by a bright yellow glow, and that same glow appears in patches over the pepper’s surface.

When a country suffers a curse that extinguishes all but the tiniest of flames, its people strive in spectacular ways to endure, to elude, and to break the curse.


Scan of ink drawing, digitally colored. A person seen from knees up and from the back. The person has short hair ending at the base of the skull and is wearing a coat that is gathered at the back and flares down in folds from the waist down. Trees with scarce bare branches surround the person, their tops looming above. Through them can be seen the glowing disc of the moon casting out dim light on the gray and foggy atmosphere below.

An alchemist attempts to create a coat that will allow her to travel to other dimensions.


Digital drawing. A student with chin length hair seen from waist to bottom of nose standing in front of a bank of lockers. The student holds a backpack slung over the right shoulder and holds folders against the chest with the left arm. The student is smiling, showing two elongated incisors. Across the student’s chest are the words “The Last Honest Vampire.” At bottom right are the words “Season 2 Premiere” and below it, “Coming This Fall.” At bottom left is an oval decal with the letters “TDN.”

For two friends, watching the new season of their favorite show may have to wait while one of them contends with a potentially life-changing event.


Digital drawing. A person visible from right shoulder up to bottom edge of the nose, head turned toward a hand resting on the shoulder. The hand appears decaying with the tip of the index finger cut off, fingernails appearing broke and pointed and gray. The hand belongs to someone in dark clothing standing behind the main figure.

A young reporter investigating a case of vanishing corpses interviews a town recluse, who may be trying to help him…or silence him.


Digital drawing. Two figures facing forward standing in a corridor that stretches back to a vanishing point behind them. Both are holding flashlights up in their right hands. They both have bands stretching across their chests and hung over their left shoulders attached to pouches at their right hips. Recesses are seen at intervals on both walls. The wall at left also bears a torch, and at bottom left corner, a stick figure depiction of two figures, one with one raised hand, and the other with both hands raised. The wall at right has a mosaic depiction of a woman in left profile, in a dress with bent right arm raised. In one recess is a rough-made statue of a sitting figure.  At bottom right is a mosaic depiction of two figures with arms raised toward each other.

What happens when two treasure-seekers cross a forbidden threshold and trespass within an ancient temple?


Digital drawing. View of an attic showing an open trap door with the top of a ladder propped against one edge. In front of the angled attic wall, a glowing red portal appears at right, with the dark silhouette of a small humanoid figure stepping forward. At bottom right, a shadow falls on the floor, showing the vague shape of a head, torso, and right arm.

A new homeowner must decide how to deal with the uncanny and uninvited inhabitants discovered in the attic.


Six people get stuck on an elevator, but when the elevator starts moving again, their true ordeal begins.


Digital drawing. View from the inside of a rectangular spaceship engine compartment to the opening at which there stand four crew members facing forward looking into the compartment. Two of them have their mouths open and brows raised. Three are wearing the same uniform. The fourth wears clothing of a different color and a cap or hat. The wall at right is hung with a plaque labeled “Junction 43” at top. At bottom right corner is printed “Primary: 329.029” and below that, “Secondary:” At right lying on the bottom surface is some capsule with a tapered end that points toward the compartment’s opening. At left is a cylindrical component held in place by a clawed arm at bottom left. The component is hollow and the back is open showing smaller cylindrical tubes set inside and two large cylinders glowing with energy. Along the visible side is a panel. At bottom center is another opening. Sparks of light are rising out of that bottom opening and are scattered through the compartment.

The crew of a prospecting freighter on the edge of known space makes an unexpected discovery about their outdated and recently replaced engine.


Digital drawing. Two caterpillars, their raised top sections and heads facing forward next to each other at center. The rest of their bodies extend and curve down and out to either side of the frame. The caterpillar at left wears a vest and is smiling. The caterpillar at right wears a scarf that blows out to the right, has many arms crossed and is a frowning. Discs of glowing spirals float above and lie below them.

Hijinks ensue when two caterpillar fairies who are close to death attend a grand fairy ball as a last hurrah.


Digital drawing. A woman in a Victorian era dress sits on a bench, facing and looking forward, her legs bent slightly to the right. Her arms are outstretched and her hands rest on the metallic ends of the bench. A bronze panel is bolted to the bottom front of the bench at left. The panel bears four visible dials: a row of three dials at bottom, and one at top right corner of the panel. To the left of the single dial is written, “Electrical,” and below that “40 Amperes” and below that “No. 87.” Electric bolts spray out from a central point, the woman’s neck and neck.

A woman entreats a student of medicine for help with an extraordinary and destructive condition, she can conduct massive amounts of electricity.


When a new opportunity arises, a spaceship built for short-range research is re-tasked with the mission of traversing a vast and mysterious anomaly.


Per my tradition after finishing a year of stories, I drafted a “thank you” post for the Year of Definitions.