Storyfeather

"Boss, we got a weird signal."   "From where?"   "Suburbia."   A couple of agents who investigate unusual phenomena track down what seems to be a distress signal and find (as expected) the unexpected. Join them on their investigation in this episode. Genre: Mystery, Science Fiction   CREDITS Story : " The Adventure of the Goliath " Copyright © 2015 by Nila L. Patel Music : " Trip-Hop Lounge Abstra...

Her hand flicked to her collar and suddenly there was something in her hand.  It was only the size of her longest finger.  A fine bit of parchment, it seemed.  Nothing special.  But that was it.  She was the one, the Only Honorable Thief.  And that bit of parchment was it.   The Protean Scroll.   A thief with honor uses her magic scroll to help a villager from a lost village defeat a terrible enem...

On the canvas of the world, all we who inhabit it have been painted by the hand and the skill of some great and unseen painter.  Our forms are sketched, our colors chosen, and even a bit of our talents and favors are swirled into our beings.  While the painter is busy marking the subtle and the transparent differences between us, there is another who is busy filling us with the elements that are t...

His name was Tantalus, but he had forgotten that name.  He had forgotten what he had done to earn the eternal torment he suffered in the place of punishment, the realm known as Tartarus. Trapped in the underworld, a man believes he can escape if he collects the blood of a tormented soul, blood that is both blessed and cursed by the gods.    What could go wrong?   Find out in this episode.   Genre:...

Tortoise trundled to the front of the assembly, bowed before the king and queen, and spoke. "Lightning." Gasps and whispers passed through the assembly of animals. Suddenly, Cheetah appeared before them all. She bowed before the king and queen.   "That cannot be," Cheetah said. "For Lightning is my mother."   Tortoise and Cheetah both claim to be the only child of Lightning.  To prove who is the t...

"There is something living in the forest. It is neither good nor evil. There is something lurking in the forest. It is neither human nor animal. There is something dying in the forest. He was called to save it. She was called to free it. Neither ever returned." There is something living in the forest.  It is neither good nor evil.  There is something lurking in the forest.  It is neither human nor...

All the amoeba ever wanted was to be more than what she was.  To be more than one.  To be many.  Many as one.  To be multicellular.    Amorphous…single-celled…all the amoeba ever wanted was to be more than what she was. Follow her journey in this episode.   Genre: Fable   CREDITS Story : " Amoeba: A Modern Fable " Copyright © 2016 by Nila L. Patel Music : " Trip-Hop Lounge Abstract Background " by...

I have seen the tears of a unicorn.  I have squinted through shielded lenses to watch bright white stars spinning out plasma.  I have seen the battle of mouse armies.  I have seen the glowing green heart of the oldest oak in my home realm. A map led me to all of these and more.   Three not-so-intrepid explorers are beta-testing a map application when they challenge the map to send them somewhere t...

Sometimes you have a dream that can't come true because what you want isn't a part of reality. Example. Say you're a ten-year-old girl, and you love unicorns, and your dream in life is to see one, maybe touch one. But at least see one. A real unicorn. Your dream can't come true, because there is no such thing as a real unicorn. You realize that eventually. You are saddened, or maybe not. Maybe you...

I need for you to be real.  I need for you to be who I think you are.  If you're not real, then today is the day I die. Once upon a time, the Lovelocke family gained great wealth, and then they found great fortune.  What was their true fortune? Find out in this episode.   Genre: Fantasy, Mythology   CREDITS Story : " The Lovelocke Fortune " Copyright © 2016 by Nila L. Patel Music : " Trip-Hop Loun...

I snapped awake at the sound of subdued screaming music spilling from the headphones of the teen who had just settled down on the seat next to me.  I glanced over at her, and she flicked her gaze in my direction, as if daring me to say something.  But I was preoccupied by the feeling that something was wrong.  I shook off the disorientation and saw that I was several stops away from where I needed...

The single drop of blood from a being that we call a god abides in the Temple of the Gentle.  It abides there and must abide for all time, or until the end of time.  For if anything were to happen to that one drop of blood, my kingdom and every single living and un-living thing in my kingdom would fall.   An initiate has just discovered a secret about his Temple's holiest relic, a secret that migh...

Tim had been instructed only to acquire and deliver, whatever the state of the items might be.  He was never to clean or repair or change the items in any way.  Over the course of almost a decade, he had acquired many a coat for his employer, the very private Mr. Galner.  Tim had never been told why or to what end, but it was obvious that Mr. Galner was looking for a particular coat, one he desire...

When Cantor was a child, it was said that he was descended from Orpheus, who made flowers bloom with his song, who inspired trees to bend toward the playing of his lyre, who soothed the hearts of beast so well, they forgot to hunt their prey.  Even Cantor's crying was so sweet to hear that his mother had to stuff wax and cloth in her ears and watch his expression to know he was in misery.   When C...

I never found it.  I never found the magus node.  But I leave behind all my notes and the story of my quest in the hopes that you can put the puzzle pieces we found together and make an image that you can recognize.  Maybe you can find it.  Because the one thing I'm sure of is that without the node, we can go no further.  Without the node, humanity will end and it will end badly. The mystery of ma...

Did Alfred MacAlastair truly discover a flying plantman? Step right up ladies, gents, creatures, and beings of a celestial nature!  Come one, come all, and see what wonders the intrepid adventurers of our carnival of delights have brought to you from the farthest of our world, and beyond…and now, Mister MacAlastair presents his Marvelous Photosynthesizing Hominid.   Genre: Science Fiction, Mystery...

Myths and legends of old speak of a golden fleece that was shorn from a mighty ram belonging to the gods. This fleece became a symbol of power and kingship. In the possession of legends, it became a legend itself. But this story is not about the famous fleece of the ancient world. It is about another fleece, not as well-known, though just as mighty in its own way. Rare and much-disputed is the tal...

"Who is he?" Father chuckled, but I knew I must say something, for Ida had asked the question in earnest. "He isn't anybody," I said. "He's just a snowman."   After making a snowman together, a father tells his children the story about the origins and customs of making snowmen, a story that warns of the mysteries and dangers of snow. Find out what those mysteries and dangers are in this episode. G...

I was once a wanderer, but I truly am a guard now. This is the tale of how and when my watch began. For I have set myself the task of watching over a child, my sister's child, a strange child. My hope is that hers will be a good strangeness.   A little girl asks her aunt for a peculiar gift: the soul of a fairy.  But fairies don't have souls… What will her aunt do? Find out in this episode.   Genr...

We think of them as separate.  We learn of their natures when we are but small children.  Fire burns.  Water flows.  Earth turns.  Air blows. But as we grow older, we learn that the natures of the great elements are not so separate.   The great Elementals—Fire Air, Water, and Earth—weary of their own natures, wonder what it would be like to trade places… Find out what happens when they do in this...

The bear bore down on a wide-eyed little girl who swept a cloak of feathers over her shoulder and seemed to vanish.  She didn't really vanish.  The little girl, whose named was Turtle, had transformed into a little blue bird that darted out from under the massive girth of the lunging beast.  She swooped around and flapped and rose up into the air.  On one side, the bird saw the silver harper playi...

"There are unnatural things that feed on every part of a vibrant living natural creature," Lady Umbersmith said.  "Blood.  Bone.  Fat.  Salt.  But only one type of being in the world is known to possess a soul.  Humans.  And there is one type of being who feeds on human souls.  I suppose in this country, the closest word for it would be 'ghoul.'"   A medical examiner is in the midst of investigati...

When the people covered head to toe in hazard suits and sporting their own oxygen tanks showed up in her room, Zel was clear-headed enough to realize that she might have been exposed to something.  She put together a scenario.  She must have been exposed while she was out in the backyard.  She couldn't remember yet why she was out there.  She'd been meaning to clean up a bit back there and maybe t...

It had been a nervous jest for them not to give each other their names when they first met.  The wolf had claimed that giving his name would give her power over him.  She was the granddaughter of an alchemist.  And was to be an alchemist herself.  She, for her part, refused to give her name because she had been afraid of him.  He could have and probably had learned it long ago, for even as he watc...

The diplomat beside Ursa was a last-minute addition to the crew.  He was king of Earth's only moon, Luna.  He was assigned to be the mission's ambassador, should they have need of one.  To his credit, he had made his intentions clear to the captain.  A successful mission would catapult him into a position of much greater power and prestige.  He would become a historical figure.  So would Ursa.  So...