Storyfeather

Zia had a singular passion, and she believed, a destiny, to play guitar.  She began playing when she was twelve years old.  She'd asked for a guitar for her birthday, hoping for an electric.  Her father bought her a steel-stringed acoustic instead.  Seven years later, she bought herself a blue electric guitar and named it Duke.  Zia was a talented guitarist, but her talent didn't hold a candle to...

When Azzam was a young man, so many moons ago, he was working as an acquirer of valuable goods when he stumbled upon a small, unremarkable bottle that changed the course of his life thereafter… Young Azzam is an acquirer of valuable goods, and he has just acquired something powerful and dangerous.   Find out what he found and what happens next in this episode of Storyfeather. Genre: Fairy Tale, My...

She wandered through the halls of the empty manor, the portraits of the past gazing down at her, following her.  They were beautiful and ghastly, the women in the portraits.  And she avoided looking at them.  At their paleness.  It was not the soft paleness of life.  It was the unsettling paleness of dying.   A young woman who was raised in isolation learns a terrible secret about her identity and...

Since they were young, their father always set challenges before the three brothers, challenges for their minds and their bodies.  Challenges that tested their hearts and their spirits.  Challenges that tested their chosen discipline. While his brothers inherit their father's wealth, Mesos inherits a belt buckle and a challenge.  How will he face this challenge?   Find out in this episode of Story...

"My husband was one of you," the doctor said, smiling fondly.  But her smile faded.  "That's why my mother killed him." Is the doctor with the uncanny ability to heal a suspect, witness, or patsy in a crime against her husband?   Find out in this episode of Storyfeather. Genre: Fairy Tale, Mystery   CREDITS Story : " The Good Doctor's Tears " Copyright © 2015 by Nila L. Patel Music : " Mysterious...

I found it at a garage sale.  Someone was getting rid of their family heirlooms.  Not jewels or ancient scrolls or photo albums from bygone eras.  Just cookware and cutlery, end tables, mismatched dining sets, and the like.  I was supposed to be looking for something specific and practical.  A desk.  But something else caught my eye.  It looked exactly as I would imagine a witch's pot would look l...

The stick was about a half inch wide and seven inches long, a tan color with knots and streaks of a darker tan-brown.  It had three nodes where smaller branches had once grown in and then broken off.  One end was mostly flat.  The other had been broken off at a slant, so it looked like the top of new lipstick.   What happens when someone rediscovers a seemingly ordinary childhood souvenir? Find ou...

It had been lying on the concrete inside the white stripe of paint that delineated the parking spot he'd taken.  And when Rix opened the door to step out of his car, his left foot landed beside it.  It glinted in the noon sun as if newly minted.  It certainly looked newly minted, but it couldn't be.  He marked the year on the coin.  It was the year he was born.  Rix smiled a little and put the coi...

When the world was new, there was much chaos.  Wars between gods.  Wars between gods and those they were charged with guarding and guiding.  The birth of terrible monsters on sea and land and sky.  The birth of creatures who could cross between the realms of the living and the dead, who could haunt the dreams of all creatures who dreamed. In the midst of it all, there were those who, perhaps in va...

On the new grounds, the main museum occupied a gorgeous brick façade building with high windows that faced into welcoming hallways that then led into darkened interiors that housed all the light-sensitive treasures.  There were gems and jewelry and weapons and wardrobes and tablets and tomes and more, all of which was proudly displayed and painstakingly maintained. Then there was all the stuff in...

Till the day of the accident, the worst part of this job was that I couldn't tell my friends and family what I really did at the Institute.  They think I'm an intern or secretary.  I've been given a script of what I'm allowed to say and it purposely makes my job sound so mind-numbingly, eyelid-droopingly, attention-driftingly boring that no one will ask any follow up questions.  And that's the poi...

"A sapphire.  Not the largest, not the loveliest.  But unique.  For it is enchanted.  And it sings for in its heart is captured a most singular treasure, the voice, the song…of a siren."   What happens when a well-to-do adventurer sets out with his friends to find and acquire an ancient and mythical treasure? Find out in this episode of Storyfeather. Genre: Mythology, Fantasy   CREDITS Story : " S...

No, not his dream.  His dreams hold no answers that make sense.  It's possible his dreams don't hold any answers at all.  Not the ones we need to find her. It's her dreams we need.   Dreams are not precise or discrete.  They cannot be measured or calculated…can they? Find out in this episode of the Storyfeather podcast. Genre: Mythology, Fantasy   CREDITS Story : " The Abacus of Dreams " Copyright...

He'd been seeking the artifact for almost five years.  The Shield of the Rainheralds. As he waited nervously, Ryne recalled the three-thousand-year-old legend that set him on the quest for the shield.   A magician once discovered a spell to capture a raincloud, and he became the salvation of his land…and its doom. Hearken, if you will, the tale in this episode of the Storyfeather podcast. Genre: M...

The first one was discovered when it bit a child.  Such a thing was not unheard of.  Children often tugged and poked and got themselves bitten or kicked or nipped at.  But when this little boy's mother came to pick him up and check his wound, she found something far more insidious than broken bleeding skin and a crying child.  The gash was deep, the flesh shredded, and it bubbled and festered with...

"Can you turn into anything?" the little girl asked. "Not anything.  A mouse.  A fly.  Nothing bigger than myself.  There are constraints to my powers. "   If a fairy with magical powers asked you what service he could render you, what would you ask for?  One little girl faces this very question when she accidentally saves a fairy's life, and he tells her that he owes her a great debt. Find out ho...

Had they listened to their father, the children would have been safe in their beds on that blustery night.  But as it was, they were shivering before a pitiful fire no bigger than a candle flame and just as delicate, while a pack of goblins stood by the cave mouth arguing over what to do with their prize of three healthy children. When three children are captured by a pack of greedy goblins, they...

An animal's would do in a pinch, but for real power, it would need to be human.  I still can't help but to find it curious.  What they give away, what is no longer of any use to them is a treasure to us.  Because we, of course, know how to use it. The roots.  The bone.  The blood that once pulsed within.  The essence of strength and health and prosperity. A tooth.   What happens when a people who...

There were five great mages from the House of Frogs who mastered magic that they used to serve their fellow humans.  Their House was named for the animal their founders chose as their totem. How does an unlikely ally help five mages from the House of Frogs battle an ancient evil? Find out in this episode of the Storyfeather podcast.  Genre: Mythology, Fantasy   CREDITS Story : " The House of Frogs...

The Cornucopia. The Horn of Plenty it is also called, for in ancient times, when gods walked the earth and magic was as common as pebbles are now, it provided a never-ending supply of fruit and grain.   It is a time of feast and a time of famine.  What happens when the Cornucopia finds its way to the earth? Find out in this episode of the Storyfeather podcast.   Genre: Mythology   CREDITS Story :...

I worry about making something that'll be toxic.  Or explosive.  I mean, the safety standards are there, and we tinker in increments, but still, I worry about making something dangerous.  Some substance that seems harmless but seeps into our daily lives and destroys humanity, maybe even decades after I'm dead.  So I'm vigilant. On the flip side, I dream about making something revolutionary.   What...

Welcome to the first episode of Season 2! "It is not your place to understand the will of the gods.  Only to accept it."  The gray god's voice was soft.  His tone gentle.  But the sword-smith would later remember that it was the first time he heard something else in a god's voice.  A tremor.  Of doubt. What happens when a grieving man seeks vengeance on the gods and forges a weapon that they canno...

Hello there.  I'm Nila, an Ordinary Citizen of Earth.  And I'm here to tell you that Season Two of the Storyfeather podcast is coming soon.  What is the Storyfeather podcast?  It's a narrative fiction podcast.  That means I read stories—stories that I've written in the genres of science fiction, fantasy, horror, fairy tale, mystery, and mythology.   And I read these stories against a backdrop of a...

I had an ulterior motive when I entered the Winsome household as an instructor for the five children.  They were wealthy, these Winsomes.  And I was in need of patronage.   Why do the five children of a recently arrived family in town believe that their new stepmother is up to no good? Their even newer tutor tries to find out, in this episode of the Storyfeather podcast.  Genre: Fairy Tale, Fantas...

The first time I really dared myself to say it—at least in my head—I was ten.  I had finally put all the pieces of the puzzle together.  The little things I'd noticed all my life, stuff that someone could say was in my imagination.  A plate of bacon sliding across the table by itself.  A jam jar floating in mid-air for a few seconds.  A feeling like pressure or pulling whenever something like that...