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...

The first weeks of the year moved faster than I expected. Between the usual start-of-January chaos and a few distractions I hadn’t planned for, this piece arrived a little later than intended. Still, I carved out the time to shape and refine it, returning to the Tattoos series to continue a storyline I’ve been sketching out for a while now, adding another careful stroke where it felt right.

Some lessons aren’t taught all at once. They surface slowly, when the moment allows for them and the questions are finally ready to be answered...

How This Came Together

In Awaiting Confirmation, a reconnaissance crew retraces the path of a vanished colony ship more than a century after its world was abandoned. As their vessel enters orbit, initial scans raise unsettling questions about what survived below and whether the planet was ever truly empty. This science fiction short story explores uncertainty, restrained tension, and the uneasy moment before history repeats...

How This Came Together

In Unlucky Voyager, a simple cruise becomes a lesson in superstition, denial, and escalating misfortune when Sebastian and Jimmy set sail with very different outlooks on luck. What begins as friendly banter over a relaxing trip quickly spirals as one small detail refuses to stay harmless. This comedic short story blends character-driven humor, absurd timing, and classic misadventure for listeners who enjoy lighthearted storytelling with a chaotic edge...

Once I finished Last Call and Silent Repairs, my attention turned to the final genre for the year, a Romance. Without a clear story in mind, I turned to ChatGPT for a starting point, which offered a simple idea about an unsent letter resurfacing years later. Sometimes an idea that’s too broad can be just as challenging as one weighed down by detail. One leaves you nowhere to begin, the other nowhere to move. That was where I sat for a couple of days, until stepping back from the prompt allowed the heart of the story to emerge and wrap around me like a comforting blanket.

Some stories arrive loudly, demanding attention from the first line. Others wait patiently, tucked out of sight for years. They only ask for attention when you slow down long enough to notice them...

The moment I finished Circling Cold and Measured Inspiration I turned my attention to my comedic duo, Sebastian & Jimmy. When I sat down to create this story, I tossed my story cubes and stared down at a house, an abacus, and a child with an attached nightmare. It took me a while to work through the trio of images and come up with the first concept for this story. Once that seed was done, the full story tumbled out from the depths of my mind.

Some nights feel wrong before anything actually goes wrong. A streetlamp flickers too long. A house creaks when it shouldn’t...

After finishing Circling Cold, another image lingered in my thoughts and refused to let go, see the inspiration below. It stirred two very different memories. The first was my own childhood experience with piano lessons. There was ample frustration and a demand for discipline in those early lessons, and yet, in hindsight, they formed the foundation for my limited musical knowledge. The second was far less personal, but no less vivid. It was the life-draining machine from The Princess Bride, a device designed not to kill outright, but to take only what was needed.

Those ideas fused into multiple questions...

How This Came Together

In Return, a governing council is forced to confront a century-old failure when the fate of a lost colony resurfaces. What begins as routine political procedure turns into a quiet reckoning, where duty, fear, and buried history collide. This science fiction short story explores leadership under pressure, moral responsibility, and the cost of choosing comfort over truth.

Set within a vast council chamber, Return follows a tense debate over whether a forgotten world deserves answers or continued silence. As voices clash and motives unravel, a single vote determines whether the past remains buried or finally acknowledged. This is a story about restraint, legacy, and the quiet weight of decisions made far from the consequences they unleash...

After finishing Last Call, my attention turned to the next genre chosen in the poll, a Fantasy. During that process, a recent character flooded back into my mind, Elara Finch. Rather than forgetting about her, something I have done far too recently, I wanted to pause and explore a quieter, more personal moment from her life as a tinker. While I intend to explore her life in more detail later, I wanted to create something more intimate for my patrons.

Some fantasy stories begin with clashing steel or spells hurled across a battlefield. This one begins elsewhere...