Storyfeather

"Our agency specializes in unusual cases, but the initial reports coming out of your township has us wondering and worried.  We have a lot of work to do, Sheriff." The sheriff nodded and held out his hand.  "Welcome to Chainmaker."   A wolf-like creature is savaging the residents of a quiet township, and no one knows how to catch or kill it. Could the answer lie in the town's past?   Find out in t...

As someone who believed in the unbelievable, Jeremy was constantly monitoring radio and television channels, particularly abandoned and unused frequencies, searching for alien transmissions and the like.  On average, about once a month, he would find something he thought worthy of reporting to the town's ultimate authority, Sheriff Irene Starr.   A small town awakens to a big problem: they've all...

It wasn't the rats that caught my imagination when I first heard the tale as a child.  It wasn't all the lost children.  It wasn't the man in the pied coat that haunted me. It was the pipe.   A group of explorers search for the Pied Piper of Hamelin's pipe, for it may contain the secret to defeating a monstrous enemy. Find out if they are right in this episode of Storyfeather. Genres: Fantasy, Hor...

"Destiny?  That is a fanciful thought, Godmother.  And a foolish one.  Much is expected of me.  I cannot stop to fix every small problem when I must tend to the large ones." "Your people will not love you if you think of them as small."   High Princess Leonora is certain of her path until her fairy godmother casts a spell on her that changes the course of her destiny. Find out what happens in this...

He was tossed overboard the breaking ship.  It was night.  The torches from the ship were drowned.  The stars and the moon were blocked by storm clouds.  The only light to see by was lightning.  It was by chance that he surfaced that first time.  He struggled to tread and to see anything he might hang on to.  Lightning flashed and he saw nothing but waves.  They pushed him up and pulled him down. ...

The gods were fallen.  It took many generations for humankind to learn of this.  Many prophecies and visions.  Many failed quests by heroes and explorers who sought to find the truth of those prophecies and visions.  It was not known how or when it had happened, and perhaps a few gods still lived, but it was well-known by Damario's time that the gods had fallen. And they left chaos in their wake,...

In those days, there was a magician who could cast a spell on a candle and link that candle to the life of a single person.  So long as the candle burned, there was hope. Those families who had the means engaged the magician to cast this spell when husbands and sons went off to battle.  So long as the candle burned, their loved one was still alive.  The highest winds would not snuff out the flame....

I knew all about how houses, even new ones, made creepy sounds in the middle of the night just because of wind and other reasons that had nothing to do with ghosts or monsters. But I could tell, I knew, that the sound I heard that night in my room was not normal. I knew it was something bad.  Real bad.   A little girl is terrorized by the monster in her closet, until she makes a special friend.  W...

Please don't let us end up on some uncharted island.  The only thing I know how to make with a coconut is a bowl.  Please let there be coconuts if we do find an island.  Coconuts and mangoes and big fat chickens.    Jane chewed on her ration of bread and gave a pitying smile to the naïve girl who had written those words only a week before. They were her words, written in her notebook.  It was mean...

Finden was a young man who wanted to go out into the world, to travel, find adventure, see spectacular sights, and meet all manner of people (especially lovely girls and heroic men).  He worked at his father's shop until he had saved up enough money to take his first trip beyond his province.  Perhaps even beyond the borders of the kingdom.  He told his father of his plans one day, and he respectf...

Everything went dark.  And for just a heartbeat, Frank was strangely soothed by the luxury of pretending he was just sitting in a closet above ground on a muggy day.  And then the emergency lights came on and all the instruments were beeping and blaring and the commanding officer was giving orders that Frank could not hear as he took his station and stared at the dials and readings that made no se...

It had a name, but everyone simply called it the Company.  The Company was prosperous, prestigious, and pervasive.  Dominating all industries from sea to sea.  Exploring and founding even beyond the sea.  It was a coveted position to be a worker in the Company.  Those who attained the highest ranks were envied and revered all the more.  For in those ranks, one was not a mere "worker."  One was a H...

"According to the lore we've been able to dig up, a person only has to wear the necklace once, and for only a few hours, before the effects take hold.  The science supports this." The necklace at the center of Agent Mars Dietrich's newest case carries an ancient curse.  What is the curse?  And can it be broken?   Find out in this episode of Storyfeather. Genres: Fantasy, Mythology, Science Fiction...

There was a proclamation sent out on the day of the prince's birth.  The king and queen wanted no harm to come to him and challenged their subjects, noble and commoner, merchant and beggar and royal alike, to find a way to make their son invincible to all harm.  No sword or arrow should pierce him.  No illness befall him.  For the king and queen had already lost twelve children before him. The kin...

"We're not looking for a fountain or waters, ladies and gentlemen," Taryn said, clicking to the last slide in her presentation.  She felt the nervous excitement caught between her stomach and her chest.  She took a quick breath and took a dramatic half turn toward the image on the screen before she spoke again. "We're looking for a cup."   Professor Taryn Langley studies myths and legends about th...

When the thunder and lightning started, he set his camera to continuous shooting mode, in the hopes of catching a breath-taking shot of a lightning bolt.  He did, but his camera caught a glimpse of something else as well.  There appeared to be, in one particular shot, a ladder.  A lean-to ladder that wasn't leaning on anything.  It just stood on its own and it reached up into the rainclouds.    Wh...

The spoon was created by a mage who took the quintessence of creativity from the legendary bard, raconteur, and wit known as Glyfarien, at the moment of his death, and transferred it into a silver spoon.  Glyfarien was said to have the proverbial silver tongue (some say the mage made the spoon from the bard's tongue, which is a more likely story, though such a thought is unsavory to most).   What...

I'm no scientist, but I ended up learning a lot about blood when I was young.  I have—or had—an inherited condition called thalassemia major.  My medical charts have all the details.  I don't need to go over it.  Suffice it to say, I had a fairly serious version of the condition and had to get regular blood transfusions.  And because the transfusions raised my iron levels, I had to get something c...

The island was uninhabited.  It had been on the maps for decades, lying somewhere in the South Pacific Ocean below the Pitcairn Islands, but having no name, no accessible valuable resources, or signs of previous habitation, or even signs of pirate visitation.   On a remote island, a researcher finds a strange link between two animals and an even stranger link between myth and reality.  What is tha...

"Will a ring do?  It's small enough.  It won't be a hindrance." "No," said the queen of the northern kingdom.  "It must be something that won't fall off in battle."  Her maidservant had brought a great many fine things into the chamber for consideration.  Rings, diadems, collars.  She did not know the queen's purpose and therefore could not judge what article would be best suited for that purpose....

One day as a heavy rain fell outside and as my candles flickered, I read the word that my family tried to hide from me.  The word that told me what I am. Witch.   What happens when a privileged girl locks herself away in a tower to escape the expectations of others and discovers her true power? Find out in this episode of Storyfeather. Genre: Fairy Tale   CREDITS Story : " The Witch Rampion " Copy...

"They were known as the Queens of Time," Gramps said.  "There were three of them, one for each of the keys." Ryne looked forward and up to where his grandfather pointed.  On the wall was a small glass case and mounted inside were three ornate keys.  They looked similar, though the designs were slightly different.  Each key was made of metal with a polished oval stone set in the middle.  One stone...

My mother named me Felicia, after her favorite flower, the blue daisy.   Felicia, named for her mother's favorite flower, learns there is more to every flower than its pretty petals. Find out what she learns in this episode of Storyfeather. Genre: Mythology, Fable   Notable Detail: This episode has a call-back to the subject of the Season One episode called "Imberflos."   CREDITS Story : " Felicia...

Dietrich stepped toward the tank and peered at the creature, the being, inside.  Dietrich was told the being was most certainly male and he resembled a squid.  A torpedo-shaped body sat atop a mass of waving arms and tentacles.  He was twice the size of Dietrich.  His eyes were bigger than Dietrich's hands.  He was a vivid shade of indigo blue with streaks of violet and lavender and some green fre...

Born in the midst of war and change, my grandmother was a dreamer.  She went to college to study astronomy.  Before she finished school, she'd visited five of the seven continents of the world.  (This is a feat I have yet to accomplish, even though as a young woman in the modern age, I have far more autonomy.)  And yet she dreamt of traveling farther.  Of going to the moon and beyond.  Of travelin...