Storyfeather

The man in the long dark maroon coat swept toward Mick.  The visit was expected, but not at that hour.  Mick thought the man would show up the next day.  That was, in fact, why he was in the lab at that late hour in the first place.  He wanted to get some things done so he would have time for the new project that his boss had dropped on him that day.  Said new project being the man in the dark mar...

Once, there was a fisherman who was dissatisfied with his wife because she was always complaining and frowning. The fisherman's miserable wife never smiled, but once she began, her smile hid a fantastic secret.   Find out what that secret is in this episode. Genre: Fairy Tale   CREDITS Story : " The Smiling Fishwife " Copyright © 2016 by Nila L. Patel Narration, Editing, Episode Art: Nila L. Patel...

It happened like this. On the first morn, the children who typically woke first anyway, began their day without knowing anything was amiss. As the morning hours passed, more and more children woke to a strangely quiet town.  More and more children found their grown guardians still slumbering: mothers, fathers, grand-folks, aunts, uncles, teachers, trade masters, even the town leaders. Even some of...

His best friend insisted that he go see a therapist.  Jorge was surprised and disappointed because his buddy was a believer in unusual phenomena, and if there was anyone who wouldn't think he was off his rocker, it would be Bradley.  But he said they had to be sure it wasn't all in Jorge's head.  They had to be sure, despite the demonstration Jorge had provided, that there really was something oth...

After death, some souls go to reward and some to punishment.  Then there are the ones who just need to do some "community service" to atone for minor wrongs.   Joe is a spirit tasked with counting the breaths of the living, but his new apprentice isn't content with just counting.   Genre: Fantasy     CREDITS Story : " The Accountant of Breaths " Copyright © 2016 by Nila L. Patel Narration, Editing...

"We're fascinated by cats, aren't we?  Cats on the internet.  Pictures, videos, memes.  Cats in our homes.  Ancient civilizations shaped statues of cats out of gold, ebony, and bronze.  They have been associated with magic, with evil.  They sometimes seem aloof and uncaring.  Sometimes charming and playful.  Sexy.  Dangerous.  Mysterious."   The man in the cerulean blue suit at the front of the le...

I wasn't afraid it would hurt me on purpose. But I was afraid of it in that way that one is afraid of a mountain or a dark forest, or any force of nature that is immense and unknowable.   Mira is a contract field investigator, and her job is to investigate the strange and the otherworldly.  When planning her vacation, she stumbles upon something even stranger than a ghost, alien, or fairy.  What i...

Ever since humanity has taken to the sky, there have been forces at play that seek to bring us back down to the earth.  And forces at play that aim to keep us airborne.   The Chief Engineer of a ship on a mission of exploration discovers deliberate malfunctions and a surprising source of sabotage.  Find out what the engineer discovers and what it means in this episode. Genre: Fantasy, Science Fict...

She was never seen.  Neither face nor form.  Some say it was because she was so beautiful that the queen and king feared she would inspire terrible and unrelenting envy.  Others said the opposite was true.  She was hideous, deformed.  She was never heard.  Neither wit nor word.  Some said there was no princess, and therefore, no suitable heir.  For the queen and king had had another child, but he...

I was tired.  My eyelids felt heavy and they burned a little.  I hadn't slept well again.  I wanted nothing more than to lie down.  But I couldn't sleep and maybe wouldn't unless I started making progress, real progress, in making sense of my senses.   A patient recovering from brain surgery experiences extraordinary aftereffects to his sensory perception.  What are these aftereffects?  And can he...

The king was cruel, both to his daughter and to her suitors.  For he was not content for her to be wooed by gifts or by lineage.  He devised a contest, a deadly contest, for all who wished to try and win the princess's hand.  She would one day be queen of a rich and prosperous realm by the sea.  And the one who stood by her side would share in those riches and that prosperity   A humble wood-carve...

The lady was born with fingernails the color of blood. All the men wore beards in the far, far south where the town lay covered in snow for half the year.   A highborn lady's unusual birthmark and a young lord's unacceptable facial grooming habits form the basis for common practices.  Red nail polish and mustaches.  How did they come to be?  Find out in this episode. Genre: Fantasy   CREDITS Story...

Sally had been blindfolded and brought to a few different "undisclosed locations" because the sites that held the instrumentation needed to study him needed to remain confidential.  So he didn't even ask where they were.  She wished he had.  She would have told him, even though she'd been instructed not to. He deserved the truth about his condition.  And he deserved to hear it from the person who...

People hire me to find things for them.  I have a special skill that may not seem like a big deal at first blush, but if you think about, you'd realize just how useful it can be.  Like now.  I don't have a gun.  I don't know how to fight.  But I'm on the run from guys who seem to have more firepower than the army.  And so far, I'm staying a step ahead of them.  And it's all because of the nose.  ...

They say the city that sits on the horizon at sunset is nothing but cosmic dust.  I say otherwise.  I've been there.  For some reason I left.  I can't remember the reason.  I can't remember anything about it.  I seek answers.  I have to return.  So last night, or maybe it was five days ago, I set out to find it.  I'm on the right path, one of many I think, each of them hidden and easy to fall from...

As far as we know, those who claim to hear voices other than their own have something wrong with them. That's what I once believed.   A man stumbles upon a mysterious box that seems to fall from the sky.  Goaded on by the reckless voice in his head and ignoring the cautious voice in his head, he decides to open the box… Find out what happens next in this episode. Genre: Fantasy   CREDITS Story : "...

My name is Felix.  I want to tell you about the time my brother, my sister, and I came down with the pox.  Not just the chicken pox, but the other one too.  The one we caught from a runaway sprite.  The rose pox.   Three siblings are recovering from the chicken pox at home when they catch a rarer kid of pox that leads them on an adventure into another realm. Join them on their adventure in this ep...

Demons.  The sorceress held a most precious treasure, which the demons' master desired.  She had it in her arms, even as they surrounded her on the high hill behind her home.  She spotted Hector.  She held aloft the tome. "Swallow it!" she cried, and as she tossed the book to him, it shrank until it was the size of his thumbnail.   An apprentice magic-maker loses his master and absorbs all her kno...

There is a potion that can be made from the bright yellow mushroom that grows in the vales beyond the blue grasses.  The potion must be made in a certain way or it would contain no power at all.  The potion had to be made twice, once at sunrise and once at sunset, of the same day.  So in truth, it was two potions.  Whatever the potion made at sunrise did, the potion made at sunset could undo.    A...

I am Nova. I have the heart of a star beating inside me. I am not long for this world. I would prefer to live.   After learning the truth about the stars, Nova believes she has been chosen to carry one in her heart, but she will do much more than carry a star. Hear her story in this episode. Genre: Fantasy, Mythology   CREDITS Story : " Glorianova " Copyright © 2016 by Nila L. Patel Music : " Trip...

It figures , she thought. One of the containers was full of sand. A kind of pretty black glittery sand. And not the crispy savory steamy dumplings that Alora had dreamt of since leaving work that evening with the smallest of coffee stains on her collar.   One of the containers from Alora's favorite take-out place has the power to change her fortune. How will she use that power? Find out in this ep...

My name is Dolores Potterson.  But everyone calls me Dotty Potsy.  It's a long story.  It's a doozy.  And almost no one believes it, which is why they say I'm dotty.   With no experience or expertise, Dolores Potterson builds a device that she hopes will serve as a new power source, by harnessing dark energy. What could go wrong? Find out in this episode. Genre: Fantasy, Science Fiction   CREDITS...

She was poor, so poor.  And she was weak from hunger.  Almost too weak to beg.  Her mother was sick, her father gone to war, his fate unknown, and her two younger brothers were starving.  Despite all this, when a traveling circus came through the nearby town, Irina went to visit, hoping to see wonders.    A desperate mother cannot escape a bargain she made when she was a child, to sacrifice her fi...

When Mynah was born, there was great fanfare, for she was the fifth daughter of a family whose first four daughters had gained great renown with their natural gifts, even in a land full of gifted folk.  Mynah's four older sisters were born with extraordinary gifts.  When she tries to discover if she too is gifted, she sets herself down a path from which she cannot turn back. Hear her story in this...

Her mother wrung her hands and her father released a deep and miserable breath, and Tazara knew that the news they had for her was not good. "A curse with fall upon you, daughter," her father said, "on the first day of your thirteenth year." Tazara looked between her mother and father.  "But that's tomorrow!"   A slighted sorcerer curses a girl, then dies.  Now the girl's only hope to break the cu...