Between the first entry into this year’s NYC Midnight and my 3D printers, this month’s Patreon flash fiction has been extremely tight. But I’m dedicated to delivering the unique content to my Patrons. So while I drafted this Fantasy early in the month, I had to search for the time needed to finish the Fantasy. With that said, I returned to Tainted, Darren Gilbert’s previous story, and continued the story...

“Didn’t you learn your lesson last time?”

The man peering down the chasm smiled, waving his arms over his head. He glanced down at a collection of stones, and knocked them off the ledge, watching them plummet toward the lake. When the rocks plunged into the tranquil water, ripples spread across the surface. He turned around and scampered to his friend, resting his cast on the guy’s back. “Ethan, why are you worried?”

“Daniel, you broke your arm the last time you tried making that jump!”

Daniel pulled Ethan closer, smirking as he nudged his friend’s shoulder. “You make it sound so unpleasant.”..

When I collected the results from July’s poll, I was excited to delve into the Fairy Tale, though I didn’t have a single idea what to write about. I thumbed through a search of DeviantArt and found an interesting picture of a woman dressed in white with a shadowy figure behind her left shoulder. By itself, there isn’t a lot to do with that, but I’d recently watched The Emperor’s New Groove, and Kronk’s devil and angel were fresh in my mind. So, despite this inspirational picture not having the moral creature behind the other shoulder, my mind latched upon that concept, and the story unfurled in my mind...

Sorry for the rant, but I’ve been a little preoccupied this month with my 3D Printers. I’ve been fascinated with these marvels of technology ever since I first discovered them. I mean, think about the reality of these devices. A machine melts a string of plastic and then deposits the molten material onto a surface in a specific pattern. The contraption does this layer after layer until the object that existed solely on your computer has taken physical form. This means anything anyone can create in a digital space can be manufactured in the actual world, without requiring a mold or a substantial loan, and it’s fantastic...

As Colonization‘s story comes to a close, I’m taking a step back and examining this story’s journey. Long before I wrote the first entry in this narrative, Landing on Morven, I crafted a history for another project. In the notebook dedicated to that world, I had a pair of throwaway lines about a colonization attempt. From those simple lines, I built a rough storyline that laid the foundation of this series. From that initial draft, the story grew, taking on a life of its own, and with several careful nudges, I explored the characters of this expedition...

After disrupting Nathaniel’s meeting with Kethra, Marcus returns to his family and resumes his work on his farm. But the interruption caused headaches for Nathaniel, spurring the leader of the new government to visit his old friend. Though Marcus believes that Nathaniel wouldn’t have traveled all the way to his home just to complain about a rough day...

With the inertial world already folded into the fledgling federation, Isaac and Jasmine are piloting the newly redesigned world ship to the next colony. Though Isaac is dissatisfied with the level of automation, the engineers stuffed into the newest vessel. The updated systems have relegated the pilot to a glorified chaperon...

Ever since I started writing, I have been building worlds and their characters. And while I love each of the ones I’ve created, it’s been the happy accidents that excite me the most. The first time I ran into this was when I crafted exclusive flash fiction stories for my patrons on Patreon. Early on, I pulled a prompt for a fantasy taking place in a shoe store and featuring pancakes. Initially, I didn’t know what kind of narrative I could string together and fulfill those requirements. Thankfully, the tale I developed resulted with a protagonist who quickly became one of my favorites...

While writing Fortunes, I came to enjoy learning about Rylan during his trials and journey to Laria. The character grew and stuck with me, and I knew that Rylan’s story was incomplete. Thankfully, with my various notes presented me with another opportunity to further delve into Rylan’s life. Towards the end of Fortunes, the crew of the ship had a fundamental split in ideology, and that split would take seed back on their homeworld and continue to grow. While I’m eager to delve into Rylan’s life, this new narrative picks up fifteen years after the events of Final Plans...

Fresh after giving Samantha her permanent home, Lucas heads out to collect more of the ingredient required to craft homes for his apparitions. While I’ve only introduced a pair of Lucas’s ghosts in Tattooed Home, with this installment I’m going to hint at the collection of shades and how they’re able to assist Lucas...

Thankfully, work has settled down to a regular workload, and I have enjoyed getting back into a normal groove with my blog. So far, I’ve published Enticing Vision and Cost of Living when I planned, and I could focus on my last piece of flash fiction for the month, a Thriller. Just like I did for my fairy tale, I searched DeviantArt for pictures that inspired a story the moment I found it. And on Saturday, I came across 348/365 The Ritual By snatti89 and my mind launched into motion, fleshing out the narrative...

The moment I published Enticing Vision, I started looking through the headlines to come up with the basis for the Political Satire for June. This time I pushed past the big topics, diving deeper into the news, searching for a headline that spoke to me. During the search, I stumbled upon one that mentioned states were suing twenty-six drug makers for generic prescription price fixing, and I latched onto it.

With the political side of the tale locked in, I started thinking about the storyline that would frame the topic...

Wayne’s first lesson with Volodar arrives, and Maxwell and Roland are present. Darren initially hopes that Volodar tapped him to progress to the more advanced martial arts lessons. But Maxwell reminds him that Volodar is unlikely to promote Darren to those classes. The two advanced students quickly comment that they are present only to assist in Wayne’s assessment...

My first take on Micro fiction was a comedy entitled Apartment’s Tree, and when I finished, I read through the story and was proud of the two hundred and fifty word story. Fresh off that spin-off tale, I raced to create a couple more of these mini narratives. The first centered on a new character and his unique magical abilities. But for the second one, I wanted to explore the past of the Academy, the school where Darren Gilbert is learning to wield magic. And since I fled to this institution’s past, I had a blank canvass to work with...

Lucas is an interesting character. I’ve dropped him into the same world as Darren Gilbert, and roughly the same timeframe. Fortunately, that world is massive, and there are plenty of places where he can fit and not interact with Darren unless I want him to. I developed the character as a response to a Micro Fiction prompt for a Ghost Story. As the mini story developed, I was excited to delve into the history and unique skill set for my main character...