Storyfeather Gazette: Giants, a dragon, and a punk rock zebra girl...a new year of stories has begun!

Published almost 2 years ago • 3 min read

December 2024 Issue 1

In this issue: A weird but warm welcome to my twelfth year of storytelling, a round-up of the November 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.

BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS

We've now entered the end of calendar year 2024. But as the calendar ends...

Year 12, the Year of Praxis, has begun!

If this is your first (Storyfeather) rodeo, hello! I'm Nila. And I don't think I've ever been to a rodeo actually. If you've been here a while, hello again! 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.

🧭 🪶 🤓

Picking themes gives me some direction for my stories. The overarching theme of this year's stories will be about my purposeful attempt to explore various aspects of storytelling from dialogue to genre tropes. But each month will have it's own theme on top of the yearly one.

What was November's theme? Let's get into it.

I've got stories to tell you.

November celebrated the Arcane 🔮 and another farewell 🎩.

The theme for the short stories was the Arcane, and I took inspiration or ideas from books on my bookshelf that I haven't cracked open in a long while. The podcast episodes didn't really share a clear theme, though I could argue the theme was Creativity. Titles and taglines below.

Short Stories

Digital drawing. A winged dragon at right, sits on the ground inside of a cavern lit with torches, one of which is visible at upper left. The dragon is partially raised up on his bent forelimbs. He looks down at a little girl at left who stands before him offering a bowl full of flames with outstretched arms. The dragon has manacles around his neck and forelimbs, with chains extending from the manacles to the left. The girl wears loose sandy colored tunic, trousers, and boots. Watermark of “Storyfeather” along the dragon’s back at right. Copyright notice at center left reads, Copyright © 2024 Nila L. Patel.

The links below lead directly to the story post.

THE GIANTS WERE MADE FIRST ☀️
When darkness fell upon our world, the gods created a being who could restore the light, a bright and mighty being.

A SPECK AGAINST THE STAR FIELD ✨
Rogue researchers struggle to free an ancient tome from the rock of an asteroid before authorities arrive to stop them from uncovering what might be the ultimate truth about the origin of their civilization.

PUNK ROCK ZEBRA GIRL 🦓
You have everything figured out, and then…

THE DRAGON AND SALVIA 🐲
A girl enters a cavern to offer a drink of water to the prisoner within, who just happens to be a dragon.

Podcast Episodes

Digital drawing. A girl sitting behind a full drum set, facing forward. The girl’s eyes are closed and her body is tilted to the left, both bent arms raised and holding drumsticks above cymbals. The sticks glow with sparkles. The girl’s long dark hair is whipping to the right. The tops of the three drums in front of her emit glowing threads of light. The drum at bottom bears a symbol. Translucent text at the bottom of the frame reads “The Drummer for Discordance.” Watermark of “Storyfeather” along edge of cymbol near top right.

The text links below lead directly to the episode page, hosted at Libsyn. Pressing on the Spotify embed image leads to the episode's Spotify page.

THE DRUMMER FOR DISCORDANCE

After a young drummer commits the crime of “creativity without a license,” her bandmate discovers a way to protect her and all other unlicensed artists.

The Drummer for Discordance

Nov 8 · Storyfeather

33:59

THE REPTILIAN VAUDEVILLIANS

Every ninth full moon, the Reptilian Vaudevillians put on a spectacular show that for one audience member is a once-in-a-lifetime event.

The Reptilian Vaudevillians

Nov 15 · Storyfeather

31:11

THE RENEGADE D.O.R.K.S.

An inexperienced crew of administrators aspiring to be field operators are assigned to a distant star system, where they encounter a sentient nebula.

The Renegade D.O.R.K.S.

Nov 22 · Storyfeather

40:22

And that's it for Season 7!

I went right into Season 8 without a break (apologies to anyone who was planning on catching up.) More on the new season next time. For now, there's one episode out already. And here it is.

POCKET PIES FROM THE POCKET DIMENSION

A young journalist who thinks she's about to write a quick food truck review, observes something unusual about the truck, giant bugs that only she seems to see.

Pocket Pies From the Pocket...

Nov 29 · Storyfeather

30:05

Parting words🪶

In the next issue, coming out two weeks from now, I'll highlight a few cozy holiday-themed stories from years past. Like say, a story about why gingerbread men are so very important to this one particular town. Oh, and I'm working on putting out some new merch, so you might see a quick announcement about that as a separate message.

If you've got feedback on this issue, please reply and let me know.

Long live stories!
—Nila

💡 🧠 🌩️ ☠️ 🦖 🦀 🐉

P.S. Have you ever wanted to write fiction? Short stories are a great way to start your journey.

Allow me to be your guide, through my fun and practical how-to book on writing short stories, using the very method I've used to write hundreds of my own stories. ✒️

Makes a great gift too: Fictioneer's Field Guide: A Game Plan for Writing Short Stories

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I have stories to tell you!