Storyfeather Gazette: Eerie particles, a waystation in a wormhole, and ads that invade the most personal of spaces...skin

Published about 2 years ago • 2 min read

August 2024 Issue 1

In this issue: August story survey results, a round-up of the July stories and podcast episodes, and what's coming up next issue.

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

DRAWGUST HAS BEGUN!

New month, new theme. I've decided that for August, I'll be drawing the images for each story first. I'm not going off any public Drawgust art challenge prompts (if there are any this year). I put up a survey on somewhat of a whim. I posted it on 8/1, much later than I probably should have. And I maybe should have announced it more effectively, eh? 🤔

So I ended up choosing the prompt for the first August story: Child finds lampshade painted with winged frogs.

But I got enough votes to have a clear plan for the remaining three stories in the month.

Here are the results for the August stories survey. Thanks to all who voted!

The survey is now closed. Press the image to see the post.

Screenshot of survey choices for the August stories. White text against black background, teal border. A photograph of a smiling Nila from shoulders up in circle format at left. At right of photo, text reads, "Results of the survey. Crosses mean this choice got a vote. Green crosses got the most votes." The nine text choices read as followings: Lone explorer stands at edge of forest beside flag painted with huge eyeball. Artifact on a newly surveyed planet is shaped like a cluster of grapes. Detective examines strange singing map. Hero finds mysterious keycard that leads….? Child finds lampshade painted with winged frogs. Confused fox stands at crossroads holding a wind chime. A loud yawn comes from a haunted house. Inventor’s flying contraption uses balloons and springs. Scientist falls asleep while results of a critical analysis come through. Check boxes appear to the left of each choice. The text boxes for the first, third, and sixth choices are marked with a bright green cross. The check boxes for the last three choices are marked with a blue cross.

Did you miss the survey? I released it as a post on my site. If you didn't hear about it, and you'd like to participate in future, you can press on the link that follows to receive notifications each time I release a post: Storyfeather Post Notifications

If you ever change your mind, no worries, you can go to the Update Your Profile link at the bottom of any email you receive from me, and uncheck "New Short Story Alert (weekly)." Most of my posts are short stories. But I do on occasion send announcement posts.

But what came out in July?

See below for the July 2024 stories and podcast episodes. For the stories, the theme for the month was science fiction. So it was Sci-Fi July. No theme for the podcast episodes.

Short Stories

The links below lead directly to the story post.

What is a Clean Canvas Worth?

On the Excitation of Eerie Particles

The Hemopatrol

A Vacation on Lytuwei Station

Podcast Episodes

Digital drawing. A zinnia flower in bloom atop a bed of leaves. From the flower’s center emerges the top half of a humanoid woman with her head and shoulders thrown back and her arms stretched out to her side. From her back there emerge two diaphanous wings. Bright beams of light burst out behind her. Watermark of “Storyfeather” along top edge of her left wing. Image is made square with borders at top and bottom that contain streaks of color matching the drawing at center.

The links below lead directly to the episode page, hosted at Libsyn.

The Mystery of Washing Machine Three

When Sun and Moon Fled the Sky

When Serendipity Met the Flower

The Waking of J

Coming up next issue, I'll highlight a few of the stories I'm including as examples in my upcoming non-fiction book, Fictioneer's Field Guide. (When the book launches, I'll send the big announcement in a separate email).

By the way, is there a theme for the August podcast episodes? There is...it's Creatures. Do you like just getting the story titles? Or do you want me to go back to including each story's tagline? If you've got feedback about that or anything else that's in this issue, please feel free to reply.

Till next time.
—Nila