Storyfeather Gazette: A microscopic detective learns about love and a stranded alien finds help from an unlikely source, humans.

Published 5 months ago • 2 min read

November 2025 Issue 2

In this issue: Short stories and podcast episodes from the second half of November, and some fiction I've loved lately.

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

A RETURN TO READING FICTION 📖

I hadn't been reading much fiction this year. So, I decided it was time to treat myself. And since October, I've been reading lot!

Recent favorites include A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Catthrall, We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix, and The Will of the Many by James Islington. (Nerd alert 🤓. I took Latin classes as a youth and had my Latin-English dictionary next to me as a I read that last book. Not necessary at all. I just...for fun.)

Sylvie Catthrall's lovely story was definitely an inspiration for one of my stories, about a place I've never been to, the depths of the sea. For that story and more, go 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.

Neurovember 🧠

✒️ For this month's theme, stories about nerves and the nervous system.

🎙 The podcast episodes are about a singular detective and three siblings who make up a solstice game.

Titles and taglines below. Enjoy!

Short Stories

Digital drawing. A human-looking brain with eyes and brain stem attached floats in a jar-like container. The pink brain glows with blue and purple hues in patches. Round colored lights line the bottom of the container. Tiny legs are folded at the sides. Circuits or small panels are visible behind the side of the jar facing the viewer. At top is a small dome arrayed with four oval lights. A wire extends from top to bottom at right. Watermark of “Storyfeather” along top lid of container. Copyright notice along right side reads, “Copyright © 2025 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.

EINAR FEATHERSTAR

An amateur diver on a practice dive lands on the bottom of the seafloor and encounters an unexpected, and surely hallucinatory, character. 🦑

Genre: Science Fantasy

BRAIN ALIEN ALLEN

An alien resembling a human brain with the eyes attached seeks help from a couple, after his spaceship is destroyed by a cat. 🧠

Genre: Science Fiction

Podcast Episodes

Digital image. Cartoon depictions of anthropomorphized unicellular organisms in a line. From left to right, three filaments of cyanobacteria, a Stentor, a paramecium with flagella who’s wearing a fedora, a slime mold, and a dinoflagellate with glasses. The rectangular image is made square with top and bottom borders that extend the background texture. Watermark of “Storyfeather” along inner side of the Stentor.

Behold, the last episode of season 8, the Year of Revisitation. Each episode is a standalone story, but it's inspired by an earlier story.

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.

THE UNICELLULAR DETECTIVE

While investigating a murder, a single-celled detective encounters bacterial filaments, proto-multicellular colonies, and a new concept called "love." 🦠

Genre: Mystery, Science Fiction

The Unicellular Detective

Nov 21 · Storyfeather

51:40

And we roll straight into Season 9.

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 spoke, and a "Turn Again" spoke. And three mystery spokes.

A CARNIVAL OF CAKES

Three siblings created their own game to play each year at winter solstice, a game that has grown and changed as they have, sometimes in unexpected ways. 🎂

Genre: Fantasy

A Carnival of Cakes

Nov 28 · Storyfeather

30:00

🛸

Desperation led me to him. His mind was the only one within range of my escape pod that was radiating at a favorable frequency. My pod was undamaged, but it could only sustain me for so long. Using the sound generator was draining energy. I had to quickly convince him I was a friend.

And friends communicated telepathically.

Tiresome as it would be, I had to answer his most pressing questions first.

He blinked. That was how he kept his eyes wet. I must admit, I was curious about that. But now was not the time.

—From "Brain Alien Allen"

Parting words🪶

Coming soon, December dazzles with podcast episodes about feasts, sea serpents, and escaped prisoners. And stories about the wild and wonderful things that keys can unlock.

Happy reading and listening! 📚
—Nila

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