January 2025 Issue 1

In this issue: A round-up of the December stories and podcast episodes, and something different for the next issue.

AS THE YEAR TURNS...

Happy New Year ☺️! I hope 2025 has been treating you well. Now that it's January, I feel like I'm out in the open. Does that make sense? If you're still transitioning from holiday mode into new year mode, allow me to offer a selection of tales that feature winter, danger, enchantment, and hope. Whether you're in the mood to read or listen, I've got stories to tell you.

📜🪶📜

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.

Let's get into it!

What adventures did December deliver? ❄️

I rolled the dice 🎲 and told tales of wintry magic.

The theme for the short stories was Roll-the-Dice December. I used various sets of the Story Cubes that I have and wrote stories prompted or inspired by the images that came up in the roll. When it made sense to, I aimed to focus on either dialogue or description. The podcast episodes were themed around winter and whimsy.

Titles and taglines below.

Short Stories

The links below lead directly to the story post.

​PASSENGER PILOT SHUTTLE AND POD
A transport pilot is taking a passenger home when their shuttle is struck...by an escape pod that seems to have come out of nowhere.

​SPRING CAME FORTH WITH A TONIC​
A monkey posing as a witch's familiar makes tonics for humans, until one day, she is challenged to make a special tonic for a fellow monkey.

​THE TERRIBLE TYRANNICAL RECEIVER OF GIFTS​
How far will one determined man go to give his picky friend the perfect gift?
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​SHADOW OF THE RADIANT SCHOLAR​
When Nayra was a child, she brought her shadow to life.

​A CROWN, A CRAB, AND AN AXE​
There once was a pirate king who wished to be a real king.

Podcast Episodes

We're now in season 8, the Year of Revisitation. Each episode is a standalone story, but it's inspired by a previous episode.

The text links below lead directly to the Explore page on Storyfeather where you can listen to the episode, and find more info about it, including links to the episode(s) that inspired it.

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

​THE GINGERBREAD GUARD​

A town targeted by a warlord is defended by an unexpected army of...well, I’m sure you can guess.

The Gingerbread Guard Dec 7 · Storyfeather 28:36   ​

​A CROWN OF MOONBEAMS​

A little girl longs for the heroic queen of their realm to visit her dreams and help her face a nightmarish monster.

A Crown of Moonbeams Dec 13 · Storyfeather 25:11   ​

​CASTLE, CAVE, OR CLOUD​

Spark has been wandering all her life. But her wandering had no purpose, until she began searching for a home.

Castle, Cave, or Cloud Dec 20 · Storyfeather 22:41   ​

​THE WHEREVERWALKER​

To rescue her child, Florisse places all her hopes upon a dangerous and alluring enchantment that may be broken.

The Whereverwalker Dec 27 · Storyfeather 42:29   ​

Parting words🪶

If you've got feedback on this issue, please reply and let me know. The next one comes out in two weeks. I'm not sure what I'll put in it. I haven't talked about anyone else's stories in a while. Maybe I'll highlight some stories and authors I enjoyed in 2024, and share what I aim to read in the new year. I'll also share some of the images I've drawn for a January art challenge I'm doing.

Some are sweet, and some are gruesome.​
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​Long live stories!
—Nila

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