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 in the order it was originally posted.
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.
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.
What is the secret of Madam Pantoflae’s feet?
There is a door in the basement of my new house that leads to nowhere, or so I thought…
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?”
A modest town at the foot of the mountain holds a contest every summer with a powerful prize.
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.
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.
A guest at an extravagant hotel gets lost and stumbles upon a strange secret.
A baker chosen for an honorable and prestigious assignment must contend with a rival who was not chosen.
The greatest orator in the known worlds develops a condition that renders him speechless.
Starling and Leveret investigate the sudden disappearance of Starling’s prospective teacher, the legendary Tortoise.
A wealthy capitalist steals a rare and cutting-edge piece of technology in the hopes of developing it for public use.
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.
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.
Every year on her birthday, the daughter of a mage receives a key that unlocks a different world in her enchanted triptych.
What happens when two treasure-seekers cross a forbidden threshold and trespass within an ancient temple?
A woman unwittingly misses the start of daylight savings, falls one hour behind the rest of the world, and is unable to catch up.
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.
Strange happenings in one household trigger a police investigation that reveals a deeper mystery.
A researcher comes across a legendary text and is overwhelmed by the knowledge contained within.
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. 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 lone astronaut and a ship’s artificial intelligence spend two decades trapped in a spatial phenomenon from which there is no escape.
The mayor of a modest harbor town struggles to deal with the appearance of a whale in the sky above the ocean.
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.
The crew of a prospecting freighter on the edge of known space makes an unexpected discovery about their outdated and recently replaced engine.
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.
A woman seeking medical treatment for what seems to be a travel-related infection in her foot becomes involved in a grander mystery.
Andie Ogami is hired as a spy by a wealthy family because of her ability to astral project.
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.
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.
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.
A student seeking to learn the craft of enchantment is challenged to pass through a forest filled with strange obstacles.
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 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.
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.
Hijinks ensue when two caterpillar fairies who are close to death attend a grand fairy ball as a last hurrah.
After their realm is cursed to suffer absolute darkness, four companions are tasked with finding the secret of breaking the curse.
A dying wizard forges a pair of enchanted rings to help himself fulfill his last wish, to speak with his baby granddaughter.
A patient checks into the hospital for a simple procedure and experiences remarkable side effects.
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 private investigator’s newest case tests her awareness of things beyond the norm.
Evil is brewing in a forest where magic cannot abide, and there may be only one who can hold it at bay.
Six people get stuck on an elevator, but when the elevator starts moving again, their true ordeal begins.
A woman entreats a student of medicine for help with an extraordinary and destructive condition, she can conduct massive amounts of electricity.
A young reporter investigating a case of vanishing corpses interviews a town recluse, who may be trying to help him…or silence him.
A new homeowner must decide how to deal with the uncanny and uninvited inhabitants discovered in the attic.
To rescue her kidnapped infant sister, Parni and her pet rat enter the dream realm and pass through nightmare and illusion.
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.
An alchemist attempts to create a coat that will allow her to travel to other dimensions.
Per my tradition after finishing a year of stories, I drafted a “thank you” post for the Year of Definitions.