Storyfeather Gazette: A dog who meets Martians, humans struggling in space, and a fantastical particle collider

Published over 2 years ago • 3 min read

May 2024: Issue 1

Greetings!

In this issue: a prelude to an announcement, a roundup of my podcast episodes around the theme of flight, and short stories about aliens. These were all released in April 2024.

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

TURNS OUT...I LOVE TRAILERS

I'm not supposed to call attention to the flaws and the ugly underbelly of newsletters, but I must! This issue is ridiculously late. And of course I have an excuse. I'm human, after all. 😏

Actually, wait, it's not an excuse, it's a reason. I'm working on a book! No, not a fiction book (yet). This book is based on my online short story writing course. I'll go into a bit more detail in the next issue, which will come out next week.

Another reason for the late issue is that I changed my mind about sending it out before I've posted all the trailers I've created. Creating the trailers is fun and doesn't take me all that long. Posting them is time-consuming. (I'm taking measures to address this.) But I do want to link to those trailers, because I think they're fun. I have fun making them, and I hope they're fun to watch. I also hope they can help you decide which of my stories and podcast episodes you want to spend more time with. (And they are not spoiler-y, for the most part.)

Here is a GIF of my favorite trailer from the April 2024 stories.

GIF: Digital drawing. A brown dog that looks like a collie, from chest up with head tilted to the left (his right), and triangle shaped ears raised but still partly floppy, looks down at the partially visible arm of a lawn chair. A small glowing orb sits on the arm. A wispy ring encircles the center of the orb. To its right stands a tiny figure that appears like an upright beetle with one arm raised. Along right edge is a partial view of the chair’s back. At upper right is a source of yellow light shining down. The background is dark. Watermark of “Storyfeather” along dog’s left side. Copyright notice along left edge reads, “Copyright © 2024 Nila L. Patel.” Animation: a saucer-shaped ship with glowing windows bobs up and down next to Rocket’s head at end. The story title appears, “Rocket Meets the Martians,” and text at bottom that reads “Available to Read Now storyfeather.com.”

(You can press on the GIF to go see the trailer.)

And now, on to the stories. Enjoy!

SHORT STORIES

(Pssst, if you want to watch a trailer of the story, a progression video of the artwork, and learn some background info, press the image.)

Digital drawing. A shuttle tumbles through space. At foreground is a small simple shuttle with a barrel-like body, two wings, and various thrusters. Receding behind the shuttle are three afterimages of the shuttle’s winding and tumbling path. Glowing gases surround and trail the shuttle. Watermark of “Storyfeather” along one of the thrusters. Copyright notice at bottom right reads, “Copyright © 2024 Nila L. Patel.” Text from the story displayed: “Where are we pilot? I don’t know.” Site URL appears at bottom center.

THREE ALIENS IN A SHUTTLE

When a shuttle transporting a diplomat malfunctions and is thrown off course, the pilot and the diplomat's bodyguard try to figure out if it was an accident…or sabotage.

READ

ROCKET MEETS THE MARTIANS

Intelligent life from a neighboring planet lands on Earth, but the only one who's aware of their arrival is a dog named Rocket.

READ

Digital drawing. Composite of multiple drawings layered atop each other, tilted at various angles, each partially visible, with the translucent image of a right hand holding a paintbrush over all. Background image displays hints of branches and leafy shapes in shades of pink and purple. Atop this at left a bird on a branch with green background. Atop this in the middle is bubbles in various shades of pink. Atop this at right is a snail with a multi-colored shell and butterfly wings. The tip of the paintbrush lies at middle left over the bird. Watermark of “Storyfeather” along palm below pinky finger. Copyright notice angled at left reads, “Copyright © 2021, 2022, and 2024 Nila L. Patel” Text from the story displayed: “I can’t sleep. I need to go somewhere.” Site URL appears at bottom center.

A HOMESICK HUMAN ON SIVUFRINH

Leaving home seems like an exciting adventure, until the exciting becomes strange, too strange to bear.

READ

Digital drawing. Dark hazy shape of the front half of a unicorn, a horse with a single horn emerging from the front of the head, steps out from a glowing circle. Wide wavy bands of color emerge from behind the unicorn, corresponding to the seven colors of the rainbow, counterclockwise from top left: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Tiny sparkles are scattered all around. Watermark of “Storyfeather” along top of blue band at middle right. Copyright notice at bottom right reads, “Copyright © 2024 Nila L. Patel.” Text from the story displayed: “Our instrument isn’t capable of ripping the so-called fabric of spacetime.” Site URL appears at bottom center.

THE FREMDERING COLLIDER

A group of college students aim to resurrect a long-abandoned project: construction of a machine that could see into other worlds.

READ

I'm in my 11th year of storytelling. The overarching theme for the Year Eleven stories is Frontiers. To explore even more press the button below:

~MAY STORIES~

The monthly theme for the May short stories is Mayhem—it's May-hem. I thought mayhem was a bunch of wild stuff happening all at once with elements of danger, maybe. When I looked up the definition in a few places, I learned that it could mean something far more serious, purposeful bodily harm. I'll be focusing on the less gruesome definition.

What are the frontiers of mayhem? Or how to people deal with mayhem in a frontier situation? And what do peas have to do with it?

In this season of the podcast, I sometimes have episodes grouped by theme. In May that theme is...wishes.

PODCAST EPISODES

Press the buttons below to watch a trailer, listen to the episode, and read the story.

GIF. Title card with the words “Storyfeather Podcast” and “A Science Mystery Episode” is displayed at top. Text displayed: “I looked around. I was alone.” The title card and text fade. Digital drawing. Two women seen from behind fly through a green and yellow substance, leaving streaming wakes behind them, toward an airplane seen from behind at upper right. The woman at left and slightly ahead looks back at and stretches one arm out toward the other figure. The other woman has both arms held to the side and close to the body. Watermark of “Storyfeather” at bottom center. Borders at top and bottom to make the image square contain faint stamps of the figures, plane, and substance. Subtitles appear at the bottom: “Day 7” Website URL appears at bottom center.

STRANDED IN THE GREEN AND GOLD

Two passengers find themselves alone just after takeoff, on a plane that seems to be floating in some substance that the passengers can only define as being green and gold.

LISTEN

Title card with the words “Storyfeather Podcast” and “A Mystery Episode” is displayed at top. Text displayed: “John sighed and wished he had more space in his row.” Digital drawing. Diagram. Partial view of an airplane, from nose to just behind the wings, displaying the configuration of seats. At top left are two fields. Top field reads, “Welcome, John. D.” Field below it reads, “Time remaining: 1:34.” A key to the right of the nose displays four boxes with text to the right: a purple box labeled “Available: First Class,” an orange box labeled “Available: Business Class,” a green box labeled “Available: Frugal Class,” and a clear box with a slash from top left to bottom right labeled: “Unavailable Reserved.” There is one center aisle. At the front of the plane are three rows of first class seats with four seats to a row. Behind this are five rows of business class seats with six seats to a row. Behind this are frugal class seats at six seats to a row, with rows more closely spaced than business class. The rows of frugal class seats continue to the bottom of image, separated into three visible clusters. One of the seats, third row down, second seat over is highlighted in red, and a line extends from it to a text box at left labeled “11B.” Above this box is a field labeled, “Your seat selection.” Below the seat number is a field with three buttons labeled, “Upgrade $29.99,” “Confirm,” and “Cancel.” Borders at right and left make the original vertical rectangular image into a square. The borders contain faded close-up insets of the main image. Watermark of “Storyfeather” along the side where the right wing connects to the body. Website URL appears at bottom center.

JOHN'S FELLOW PASSENGERS

After a man stuck in the middle seat of a long flight wishes he had more room in his row, his wish comes true: his seatmates start vanishing.

LISTEN

Title card with the words “Storyfeather Podcast” and “A Fable Episode” is displayed at top. Text displayed: “The swallow was a happy bird, but also somewhat superior.” Digital drawing. At center a tree that splits off to two main branches close to the base, and splits further out into gnarled bare branches that extend across the top half of the image. Under the right side of the tree is a swallow in flight, seen from the top. The shadowy silhouette of another swallow appears in the background on the left side. Patterned and color-matched borders added at top and bottom to make the rectangular image a square. Watermark of “Storyfeather” at bottom right. Website URL appears at bottom right.

THE SWALLOW WHO WAS A WILLOW

A prideful swallow is cursed and changed into the form that she finds most abhorrent, a tree.

LISTEN

Title card with the words “Storyfeather Podcast” and “A Mythology Episode” is displayed at top. Text displayed: “This little red-winged moth…declared that she would go to the moon.” Digital drawing. Top center, the glowing disc of the moon under a dark sky. The bottom part of the disc is obscured by a Luna moth seen from the top, wings outstretched. A thin string connects the moth to another moth beneath, a small Cinnabar moth, also seen from the top with wings outstretched. Watermark of “Storyfeather” along inner curve of moon at top right. Website URL appears at bottom center.

THE MOTHS IN THE MOON

A moth dreams of visiting the Moon, but is too small to fly all the way.

LISTEN

I'm in my 7th season of podcasting. The overarching theme for the Year Seven episodes of Storyfeather is Prompts. (I used writing prompts to inspire most of the stories). To explore even more press the button below:

Think you might have missed a previous issue? You can read most back issues of the Storyfeather Gazette right here:

STORYFEATHER GAZETTE ARCHIVES

The second issue of May will come out next week. I’d like to briefly tell you about the book I’m working on. Even if you’re not interested in writing fiction, you might want to check out the issue. Because working on the book has given me some ideas about Storyfeather merch. And maybe you’re interested in merch. I can only hope and dream that you are!

If you’ve got any feedback on this (or any) issue of the Gazette, you can reply to this email.

Till next time.
—Nila

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I have stories to tell you!

Storyfeather Gazette: A dog who meets Martians, humans struggling in space, and a fantastical particle collider

THREE ALIENS IN A SHUTTLE

ROCKET MEETS THE MARTIANS

A HOMESICK HUMAN ON SIVUFRINH

THE FREMDERING COLLIDER

~MAY STORIES~

STRANDED IN THE GREEN AND GOLD

JOHN'S FELLOW PASSENGERS

THE SWALLOW WHO WAS A WILLOW

THE MOTHS IN THE MOON

I have stories to tell you!