Harbor

As the month winds down, I turned my attention to the month’s last stories for all my supporters. While I’m almost done with the next piece for my patrons, I needed a little more time to wrap it up, so I grabbed the final bit of micro-fiction. When I first sat down in front of the keyboard, I didn’t know how I was going to blend the story cube prompts into a finished story. Thankfully, after staring at my screen for several painfully unproductive seconds, a thought thundered through my mind. A simple way to inject drama into any tale is to play on familial ties...

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Micro Fiction

Art Roundup, week of March 26th

As I conclude the collection of photos from my scuba trip, I searched through my collected proof of others. After a brief examination of photos, I’d settled on my jaunt to Niagara Falls. Thankfully, after the trip, I was quick to organize them so I could focus on each segment of the trip. Up first, I’ll be highlighting the campground we used while we were exploring the falls...

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News

Relentless Will

While I’ve done better with the stories this month, I haven’t quite kept up with my schedule for my patrons. Despite the delay, my patrons will get their stories. With Ramas’ recent tales swirling about my mind, it didn’t take long for this narrative’s skeleton to emerge from the depths of my imagination. While the rough idea was ready to explore, my fingers refused to work on it while I was down in Roanoke...

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Flash Fiction

Dubious Toss

I’ve only played craps on a couple of occasions, and both were with play money during a holiday party. Despite the lack of risk to my wallet, the people working the tables ran them like we were at a casino. As a result, winning all the tickets was a fun and educational experience. With that experience firmly entrenched in my mind, when I saw the picture of a die on the cube, the connection with the craps table was established...

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Micro Fiction

Art Roundup, week of March 19th

Over the last week, I’ve been bringing highlights of my last dive from my Blackbeard’s Cruise back in 2005. The site was a partially submerged wreck, and on the surface, it appeared rather simple. However, once I delved into the shallow waters, the teeming life bloomed. While I’d encountered plenty of fish during the weeklong trip, it paled compared to the sea life that was whipping about the coral reef encrusted hull...

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News

Retribution

There is something special about meandering along a forest trail. The way the branches sway in the wind, how the sunlight pierces through the canopy, and to the rocks protruding from the ground. The simple beauty of those landscapes is a remarkable thing. In fact, I’ve recently grabbed my camera and marched through a couple of trails near my house to catalogue the beauty despite the season. With each picture captured, the connection between nature and Tiatha coalesced...

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Micro Fiction

Creeping Shadows

Typically I seek to see the beauty everywhere, my mind took that challenge and ran with it. While I fundamentally understand that there are stretches of the world that truly are inhospitable and lack the beauty I envision to be had everywhere. However, my stubborn streak prevents me from accepting it. Unfortunately, the inner workings of my imagination created an image of a wasteland that contained zero beauty in any aspect. With that ugly slice of earth tucked away in my mind and the Rory’s story cube thrown, the skeleton of a story flooded into my mind...

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Micro Fiction

Art Roundup, week of March 12th

Unfortunately, when I was scheduling my last batch of images on DeviantArt, I accidentally published Sapona’s Ribs in early February. If I hadn’t made that mistake, it would have been added to this post. As it is, I only published three pieces to my Natural Desygns gallery. While all of them are from my scuba diving cruise, they span two different dives. Please enjoy these snapshots from my past...

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News

First Recruit

What do you think of when you hear new beginnings? Whenever it flows though my ears, my mind presents me with an alternate term, fresh start. Whatever term you cling to, the important thing is how and why you’re seeking that clean slate. For me, I wanted to get back on a schedule for publishing my stories to my supporters. And while I’ve already missed the publication cadence I’d defined, I’m still on pace to perform better than the last couple of months...

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Micro Fiction

Art Roundup, week of March 5th

Last week I brought the first couple of images from the shark dive, from my 2005 Blackbeard’s Cruise, and this week I’m presenting all but one of the remaining images from this series. Even though it’s been almost seventeen years since I took that trip, I vividly remember ever second of the dive, with or without my photos. I would definitely like to revisit every dive site again in the future...

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News

Misty Invaders

With Safe Haven and Stratagems completed, my focus snapped onto the final tale for February, A Science Fiction tale. Instantly, the Drifter II’s crew flooded into my mind. Just like with Stratagems, this tale is tangentially connected with a piece of micro fiction that centered on Selina and her magical capabilities, specifically brewing potions...

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Flash Fiction

Slumbering Master

With the last piece of micro fiction looming over my head, my mind steadfastly refused to work. However, I needed to come up with a fourth entry, so I pulled out my Story Cubes and tossed them onto my desk. Once they stopped settled down, I thumbed through the symbols and three leapt up, gripping my face. There was a castle tower, a question mark, and someone sawing some logs. Despite how rapidly these images called out to me, the only thing that emerged from my jumbled mind was how similar it looked to a rook...

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Micro Fiction

Art Roundup, week of February 26th

I’m hoping to get these art round-up posts on a regular cadence, but with the hectic month I’ve had, this contains more than normal. One hiccup I had with some of my images was publishing Sapona’s Ribs early. The rest of that brief series will come along later, so pay for future updates. If you see any images here that aren’t available on Natural Desygns or SM Desygns reach out to me through the Etsy store and I’ll add the image to the correct store...

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News

Tinctures & Tonics

One of my favorite TV shows from my youth was Farscape. While there are episodes whose central plot was less than engrossing, the characters driving the storyline were able to captivating my imagination. Despite the show focusing on science fiction, there were a couple characters who blurred the line pulling in mysticism and magic. That juxtaposition is something I wanted to pull into the crew of the Drifter II. Fortunately, I’ve laid that groundwork with Selina...

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Micro Fiction

Stratagems

With Safe Haven finish, I turned my attention to the next genre on the list, a Fantasy. With an array of characters to choose from, it took me a while to figure out who I wanted for this tale. However, as the days ticked by, I completed a micro fiction story for Ramas Caldwell. Instantly, the structure of the story thundered into my mind, capturing a swath of my focus...

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Flash Fiction