When I finished penning Steelbound and Keeper’s Judgment, I turned my attention to this month’s Sebastian & Jimmy tale. After writing fourteen of these Abbott & Costello inspired comedies, I found myself eager to keep exploring the dynamic between these two characters. Much like the duo that inspired them, some of these stories lean fully into the absurd, but the characters themselves remain consistent, at least, that’s my goal. For this entry, I once again reached for my story cubes and gave them a toss. The results directed me to use an alien (at least I thought it was), a bonfire, and a bee. With that odd combination in hand, I started digging for a story that felt playful and fitting. A few days later, the first draft finally seeped through my fingers, and I couldn’t help but grin.

Some evenings are meant to be quiet. You light a fire, settle in, and let the world slow beneath a starlit sky...

After finishing Steelbound, I turned my attention to the second picture prompt for the month. When I encountered the image, my thoughts returned to a story I wrote in August of 2025 titled Keeper’s Flame. That memory arrived fully formed, carrying with it Kaelyn’s final line and the quiet weight it left behind. The moment it resurfaced, I knew this tale could not stand alone. It needed a return to the coast and a continuation of the story the Emberglass already began.

After her union with the Emberglass, dawn returns to the shore without hesitation. The sun rises as if nothing has changed, gilding the water and softening the sky, indifferent to the violence that came before it...

After publishing the initial entry to my newest Wattpad series, I turned my attention to the second Wattpad entry for the month, an installment in Mounting Tensions. While I possessed decent first passes for this arc, that phase had come to an end. Armed with only a one-sentence description, I sat down to sketch out what this scene needed to accomplish within the larger narrative. In the previous tale, Blind Signal, we witnessed the first pilot’s navigation of their assigned planet’s security. With one pilot’s fate determined, click here to get the full details, it was time to focus on the arrival of the next one.

Arthur Buckman’s assignment brings him to the Tergaran colony of Teanus, a world governed by layered systems designed to catalogue movement and correct deviation long before it escalates. Nothing on Teanus is truly unobserved, only briefly overlooked. Every arrival leaves behind a signature, and every decision contributes to patterns that will eventually be noticed...

Without leaving the area, I wandered around the shore and trail getting fresh insights depending on where your attention rests. A few steps in either direction changes the conversation entirely, be it water giving way to brush or open light folding into shadow. Just inland from the bay, near the Jamestown Glasshouse, the landscape feels layered rather than singular, as though land and water are quietly negotiating their boundaries rather than enforcing them.

From this vantage, the shoreline no longer reads as a simple edge. It becomes a meeting point, where erosion, growth, and seasonal change leave visible traces. Stones gather where they will, leaves settle where the wind steers them, and branches reach across the frame with no regard for an artist’s composition...

How This Came Together

In Assignments, the latest Larian mission retraces the path of the lost colonists, only to discover that careful planning and restraint may matter more than urgency. As a crew establishes base camp on a distant world, routine decisions give way to subtle uncertainty. This science fiction short explores discovery, leadership, and the uneasy realization that some worlds are already very much alive...

With the completion of Outshined Faces I turned my attention to the next story for my patrons, a fantasy. While I have a variable army of characters to utilize, one of my card drawn shorts, Nature’s Fury in Human Form, called to me. After watching the short several times, an idea bloomed within me. After some cultivation and care, a first draft sprouted. At first glance the story went in a different direction but that’s only a surface level distinction the core of the original two-sentence story remains intact.

Every sanctuary is built on promises. The stones are laid with the belief that mercy will always be offered inside the finished walls, laws will be honored, and those who arrive in need won’t be turned away...

After completing Inked Beginning, I turned my attention to the second piece of micro-fiction for the month, returning to my hunter, Solomon. While his larger story continues to unfold elsewhere, I find myself drawn to these smaller, quieter moments. They allow me to explore who he is when the hunt pauses just long enough for choice, reflection, and consequence to surface.

Some of Solomon’s hunts are measured in blood spilled and enemies slain. Others are defined by what remains after the violence has passed. This moment belongs to the latter. It is not about the clash itself, but about the space between pursuit and resolution, where meaning lingers in the smallest details...

When I started looking back through my Wattpad stories, I was reminded of Arcane Gears and my long-standing desire to tell a larger tale centered on Elara Finch. Earlier this month, I spent time sketching out the foundation for her first major narrated piece, Residuals of Wonder. This collection of flash fiction begins shortly after the events of Arcane Gears, giving me room to explore both Elara and the narrow world she inhabits, cramped between a tanner’s shop and an apothecary.

Elara Finch’s workshop was never meant to feel welcoming. It was built to function, wedged into a space where other trades bled their presence through stone and timber. The air carried traces of work done elsewhere, a constant reminder that nothing existed in isolation within her walls...

When the month began, I spent time browsing DeviantArt in search of images that spoke to me. It took some patience, but a few stood out, and the first appears below. At a glance, it may not seem as though the story was drawn directly from the image, especially when compared to the final cover. Yet the similarities outweigh the differences. They simply ask the viewer to look a little deeper, and it is within those shared elements that the strongest connections take shape.

Men were never meant to live encased in steel. Armour was designed to be forged, broken, and repaired. Yet in this world, there are kingdoms capable of binding it to flesh, and they call the result protection. Here, warriors walk encased in metal that listens, responds, and remembers...

Standing at the edge of the water in Jamestown, the shoreline carries more than the quiet rhythm of tide and wind. This stretch of land has watched centuries pass. Be it ships arriving, industries taking root, or hands shaping raw materials into something enduring. Just past the Jamestown Glasshouse, the oldest operating glassblowing company in Virginia, where fire, breath, and patience have been practiced without interruption for generations, you’ll find the shoreline. It’s a place where crafting is not rushed, and neither is time.

These images were taken from that shoreline looking upon the bay nestled beside a place that’s devoted to craft. The shore there feels observant rather than dramatic, as if it were shaped slowly by repetition rather than force...

How This Came Together

In Inaccessible, a newly established colony reaches the final stages of its work when a routine system check reveals an unsettling anomaly. As leaders attempt to verify the issue, long trusted connections fall silent, leaving the colony to navigate uncertainty without guidance or reassurance. This science fiction short story explores colonization, institutional leadership, and the fragile systems civilizations depend on when everything appears to be on schedule...

Despite getting a late start on the exclusive Patreon stories, as well as the announcement of the genres, the idea behind my Crime Caper arrived mostly fully formed. With a few adjustments to the initial outline, I sculpted that rough concept into a fun first draft. While I made sure to layer in the familiar elements that define Jessica’s stories, I also needed to weave in details that would firmly establish the genre. Finding the right words for that balance was a blast. From there, it became a matter of placing her in the right environment.

Some evenings are built to be admired rather than understood. From the lights pooling in deliberate places to the music humming just loudly enough to soften conversations, or the surfaces gleaming with intentions...