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.
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.
Four stories answer the question: “Why does there have to be winter?”
Two rival television shows set aside their differences to film their solstice holiday specials.
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.](https://i0.wp.com/storyfeather.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/quill-sf-06-24-letter-from-self-final1.jpg?resize=1000%2C519&ssl=1)
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.
A baker chosen for an honorable and prestigious assignment must contend with a rival who was not chosen.
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.
The mayor of a modest harbor town struggles to deal with the appearance of a whale in the sky above the ocean.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Starling and Leveret investigate the sudden disappearance of Starling’s prospective teacher, the legendary Tortoise.
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.
A woman seeking medical treatment for what seems to be a travel-related infection in her foot becomes involved in a grander mystery.
Strange happenings in one household trigger a police investigation that reveals a deeper mystery.
A guest at an extravagant hotel gets lost and stumbles upon a strange secret.
Andie Ogami is hired as a spy by a wealthy family because of her ability to astral project.
A lone astronaut and a ship’s artificial intelligence spend two decades trapped in a spatial phenomenon from which there is no escape.
A patient checks into the hospital for a simple procedure and experiences remarkable side effects.
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.
Every year on her birthday, the daughter of a mage receives a key that unlocks a different world in her enchanted triptych.
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.
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.
A modest town at the foot of the mountain holds a contest every summer with a powerful prize.
A dying wizard forges a pair of enchanted rings to help himself fulfill his last wish, to speak with his baby granddaughter.
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.
Evil is brewing in a forest where magic cannot abide, and there may be only one who can hold it at bay.
The greatest orator in the known worlds develops a condition that renders him speechless.
A wealthy capitalist steals a rare and cutting-edge piece of technology in the hopes of developing it for public use.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
An alchemist attempts to create a coat that will allow her to travel to other dimensions.
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.
A young reporter investigating a case of vanishing corpses interviews a town recluse, who may be trying to help him…or silence him.
What happens when two treasure-seekers cross a forbidden threshold and trespass within an ancient temple?
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.
The crew of a prospecting freighter on the edge of known space makes an unexpected discovery about their outdated and recently replaced engine.
Hijinks ensue when two caterpillar fairies who are close to death attend a grand fairy ball as a last hurrah.
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.