Blood is a key and blood is a clue to strange beings and strange worlds that lie eerily close to home. Storyfeather Gazette.

Published 18 days ago • 2 min read

May 2026 Issue 1

In this issue: Short stories & podcast episodes from the first half of May, and how to explore even more wild-card stories.

Circle format, a three-quarters view of Nila's smiling face from a photo with an oil paint filter applied.

EXPLORE MORE AT STORYFEATHER 🪶

Did you know? You can explore all of this year's stories by monthly theme. So far, we've got Janu-scary, Fairy Tale February, March of Technology, and Fae-pril. (Oops, too many fairy tales. I didn't catch that.)

GIF. Screen recording of Storyfeather website, Year Thirteen page from top to about middle. Banner at top reads "Year Thirteen," with brief introduction text, a button depicting the theme of the year, "Wild Cards." Further down, container boxes for each month, containing cards with the image for each story overlaid with the story title and a navigation button with a link to the story post. Below each card is a text box with a tagline and genre category for the story. Scrolls from October 2025 to February 2026.

GIF. Screen recording of Storyfeather website, Year Thirteen page from about middle to bottom. Container boxes for each month, containing cards with the image for each story overlaid with the story title and a navigation button with a link to the story post. Below each card is a text box with a tagline and genre category for the story. Scrolls from February 2026 to May 2026.

My story year doesn't follow the calendar. Year 13 actually started at the end of October with Hauntober. Then we had Neurovember and Keycember.

And this month is Myth-stery May. Check out the first two stories below.

✒️ 🪶 🎙

Greetings! I'm Nila. Every week, I release a new short story and a new podcast episode spanning the genres of science fiction, fantasy, mystery, mythology, fairy tale, fable, and horror.

Whether you're in the mood to read or listen, I've got stories to tell you.

🏛 MYTH-STERY MAY 🪙
Myths & Mysteries in May

✒️ For this month's theme, mysterious myths and mythological mysteries.

🎙 The podcast episodes are about two people trapped in places that are eerily identical to their home.

Titles and taglines below. Enjoy!

Short Stories

Digital drawing. View of a surgery. Partial view of patient lying on surgical bed with opening to chest showing a red haze. Three people on surgery team, wearing scrubs, masks, and head coverings surround the patient, standing under two bright overhead lights. Two people react to yellow-gold vessels extending up from the open chest cavity, surrounded by a golden glow. Bottom right, a table with a silver tray on it. Watermark of “Storyfeather” along left edge of surgical bed. Copyright notice along bottom right reads “Copyright © 2026 Nila L. Patel.”

Year 13. This year's theme is WildCards. Cards pulled from games. Maybe characters who are wild cards? I'll figure it out as I go.

Each link below leads directly to the story post.

THE PERSON WHOSE PARTS YOU FOUND

Gruesome remains. No body. A guy found in an alley, covered in blood and bruises.🫀

Genre: Mystery, Mythology

MY NEIGHBOR IS A GARDEN NYMPH

A woman doing some overdue pruning in her back yard pricks her finger on a thorn, and starts seeing things, whimsical unexpected things. 🌸

Genre: Mystery, Mythology, Fantasy

Find more Year 13 stories at the button below.

Podcast Episodes

The Wheel of Fiction turns and decides each story's theme. Thirteen spokes, with eight occupied by the themes of prior seasons. There's a Wild Card, and a "Turn Again" spoke. And three mystery spokes.

The text links below go to the Explore page on Storyfeather, where you can listen to the episode and find more info about the story

Pressing on the Spotify embed image leads to the episode's Spotify page.

CITIZEN FORSAKEN

A tourist is stranded after a mysterious incident destroys all the paths leading to the tourist's home, a seemingly identical city that once existed just beyond the surface of a mirror. 🪞

Genre: Fantastical Mystery

Citizen Forsaken

May 1 · Storyfeather

35:09

STRANDED IN SHADOW

When two friends hear a commotion in their new neighbor's apartment, they go to check, only to find the door open, and the apartment completely empty...well, almost empty. 👥

Genre: Mystery

Stranded in Shadow

May 8 · Storyfeather

37:29

Find more episodes at the button below.

🩸

“The person whose parts you found is not dead.”

“Then where are they?” I asked. “Let us check on them, make sure they’re okay, get them medical care if needed. That’s all we need from you, and we could let you go.”

He hesitated, pulled gently at the cuffs. “Where I come from, family matters are handled internally.”

Family?

“Then you must not come from here, sir,” my partner said, “because any matter that includes murder, becomes a matter of public interest.”

“Whose blood are you covered in?” I asked.

“My own.”

—From "The Person Whose Parts You Found"

Attention Fiction Writers ✒️

I have another newsletter, one for fictioneers. Every month, I pick a topic or theme to cover. I send out a short weekly email to introduce the topic, cover a technique, talk troubleshooting, then use one of my stories to demonstrate some aspect of the topic. If you're a Gazette subscriber, you can get the fiction-writing newsletter by simply pressing the title here: Fictioneer's Field Guide.