Two tumultuous parties, one gallant guest, and a monster in need of a mystical key. Storyfeather Gazette.

Published 4 months ago • 2 min read

December 2025 Issue 2

In this issue: Short stories and podcast episodes from the second half of December, and did you know I have a fiction-writing newsletter?

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

I'M PRACTICALLY READY 🤓

It's the last day of the year, and I still haven't finished reflecting, or solidifying plans for the coming one. The word that comes to mind for how I feel about the transition? Practical. I feel practical.

Strange, huh?

I think I dig it. I'm tired of going into a new year feeling overwhelmed.

Half the stories below are about a longing for quiet night at home.

✒️ 🪶 🎙

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.

Keycember 🔑

✒️ For this month's theme, turning, finding, maybe even making keys. Or being a key?

🎙 The podcast episodes are about a wildcard guest at a tense party and a gentle giant.

Titles and taglines below. Enjoy!

Short Stories

Digital drawing. Black silhouettes of two human figures at center right standing in front of a large window. The figure at right has his arm around the figure at left. The bottom half of the window looks out at the glowing curved shape of a planet, and the top shows five colorful rings encircling the planet at different angles. At left is another arched window displaying a continuation of the planet and rings, with space and a starfield behind all. Watermark of “Storyfeather” along the bottom edge of the window. Copyright notice along left 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.

THE KEY TO RING HARMONY

A man just wants to spend a quiet night at home after making an appearance at a sparkling party attended by guests from across the star system. 🪐

Genre: Science Fiction

KEY OF THE SUN CYCLE

A weary monster pulls a planet through its orbit, forgetting that it holds the key to a door behind which its sleeping twin waits to take the harness. 🌍

Genre: Mythology, Fable

Find more stories at the button below.

Podcast Episodes

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

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 ACE OF PUMPKINS

The Ace of Pumpkins is invited as the guest of honor to a peculiar dinner at the High House of Clovers. 🎃

Genre: Fairy Tale

The Ace of Pumpkins

Dec 19 · Storyfeather

37:04

SILENT SERPENT UNDER SEA

On the verge of death, a penultimate god leaves behind a terrible enemy and an unexpected legacy. 🐉

Genre: Mythology

Silent Serpent Under Sea

Dec 26 · Storyfeather

38:27

Serpent Merch 👕

I've got merch featuring the serpent design (a cleaned up version). You can find it here: Coiled Green Sea Serpent merch.

(It's the t-shirt page, but if you scroll down, you'll find mugs, hoodies, and more.)

Find more episodes at the button below.

🐝

He'd only ever been an ambassador for humanoid cultures. The vaporous entities started making him queasy. The tentacled beings made him uneasy. And the sentient swarm of "wasps" seemed to be angry with him for some remark he made when he first approached them.

Max knew this was highly unlikely. They somewhat resembled Earth wasps, especially to a human Earthling. It was more likely that the swarm had developed a romantic interest in the ambassador, and the "angry" buzzing was a series of flirations and invitations.

—From "The Key to Ring Harmony"

Attention Fiction Writers ✒️

Did you know that I have another newsletter? Every month, I pick a topic or theme to cover about fiction-writing. I send out a short weekly email. The first introduces the topic, the second covers a technique, the third covers troubleshooting, and in the last email, I typically use one of my stories to demonstrate some aspect of the topic.

If you're curious, you can subscribe by pressing the newsletter's title here: Fictioneer's Field Guide.

The next topic starts in the first full week of January.