Storyfeather

When a young man sees his reflection in a pool as he has never seen it before, he is both mesmerized and suspicious. Genre: Mythology     Excerpt : One day, he had an enticing thought. Then he chastised himself and told himself it was a silly and foolish thought. He shook his head as if shaking off the thought, but it was a sticky thought. It would not be forgotten. And so, he leaned down closer t...

Longtime lovers the ogre and the elf each recall the first few days of their honeymoon a bit differently. Genre: Fairy Tale   Excerpt : The ogre snapped her fingers and furrowed her warty brow. "What was the name of the place where we stayed…was it…the Twilight Twinklings Inn?" "No darling, that was for our first anniversary, when we went up north to see the lights." The ogre brought her fist down...

An urban legend about a haunting phenomenon occurring in a little beach town becomes a news story when escalating incidents lead to the beaching of what appears to be a telepathic whale. Genre: Science Mystery   Excerpt : "You're looking for a story."    "Yes." "My story." "That's right. What's your story? Where did you come from? How did you get inside that whale?"   What's the Writing Prompt tha...

The inventor of a working time machine takes her closest friend on what was meant to be a quick trip to the near future. Genre: Science Fantasy   Excerpt : I didn't panic right away when Violeta said she had succeeded in building a working time machine. All of her inventions worked. All of them. But all her other inventions were a lot less…ambitious. I mean, a time machine. That's the ultimate inv...

A fearful and captive servant, who tends a menagerie of unique and captive creatures, is dazzled by the arrival of a most magnificent creature known as a hippocampus. Genre: Fantasy   Excerpt : At the center of my memory is the image of a horse, a horse the color of orange cream, rearing up, and glancing at me, with an oceanic glint in her eye. She has wings. She has fins. She is fast. I remember....

In life and beyond, the elephant king seeks only one aim, to protect his people from despair. Genre: Fable   Excerpt : As the elephant king lay dying, struck silent by his pain, able only to breathe shattered breaths, his mind thought its last thoughts. He could forgive the ones who had killed him. But forgiveness would do his people no good. He could lay a curse upon the ones who had killed him,...

A nervous young job-seeker's interview is constantly interrupted by what seem to be personal phone calls to the interviewer, but from different callers. Genre: Fairy Tale   Excerpt : I was nervous. Okay…yes, obviously. Obviously I was nervous. This one, I really, really wanted. Based on the description. Field investigation and research. Constant travel, mostly domestic, but some international trav...

A man seeks the help of a psychic after he experiences an unusual haunting from an automated phone line. Genre: Mysterious Fantasy   Excerpt : "My life is still following the path he laid out for me." Madame Granya frowned. "Who?" I stared at her. I wasn't really struggling with whether or not I should tell her. I was just not telling her. I had nothing on my mind in that moment. I was…stuck, mayb...

Sammy receives an unusual birthday gift, a smart device with a face, a set life span, and an unrelenting imperative to help. Genre: Science Fiction   Excerpt : The figurine suddenly collapsed, then sprung up, wheeled her arms around, stretched them out, then up, then bopped up and down by bending at the knees. She gazed up at Sammy. "Hello there!" she said. "Are you the one who needs help?" Sammy...

A reporter and camera operator expect to uncover a hoax when they investigate sightings of flying pigs, but soon find themselves on the path of a much stranger story. Genre: Fantastic Mystery   Excerpt : "The boss wants us to relate it to the flying pigs story," Quentin said. They were driving out to another farm, within the county this time. And this time, it was a commercial farm where the worke...

When unexpectedly asked about their profession, a person accustomed to remaining unnoticed until needed debates about how to tell the truth—spectacularly, or mundanely. Genre: Science Fantasy   Excerpt : I noticed him seeming to notice me, and I found that so unlikely that I almost frowned. I was extremely skilled at remaining unnoticed. The Queen of the Hollow Yellow Moon had once proclaimed that...

When the once-inseparable children of the Rain and the Sun quarrel and go their separate ways, they set in motion dire consequences for their parents and for the world. Genre: Mythology   Excerpt : When they were young, the seven children of the Rain and the Sun were inseparable. They were magnificent, these children. When they were born, so too were colors born into the world. And the colors bore...

A spaceship built for short-range research is re-tasked with the mission of traversing a vast and mysterious anomaly. Genre: Mystery, Science Fiction   Excerpt : The Shifting Night Anomaly was so called at first be-cause its margins seemed to change every so often, making it difficult, if not impossible, to map. We had sent probe after probe inside for three generations. Out of the near thousand p...

A woman entreats a student of medicine for help with an extraordinary and destructive condition, she can conduct massive amounts of electricity. Genre: Mystery, Science Fiction   Excerpt : I am only a student. That's why she came to me, trusting that I would have a sufficient balance of knowledge and naiveté to serve her desperate need. And I am woman. That's why she came to me, trusting that I wo...

High jinks ensue when two caterpillar fairies who are close to death attend a grand fairy ball as a last hurrah. Genre: Fable, Fairy Tale, Fantasy   Excerpt : "Alas! We are doomed to die as caterpillars, never having become butterflies." Lickspittle shook hishead. He gazed up and shook several fists at the sky. Sobersides sighed gravely. "Perhaps tomorrow morning." The two caterpillar fairies had...

The crew of a prospecting freighter on the edge of known space makes an unexpected discovery about their outdated and recently replaced engine. Genre: Science Fiction   Excerpt : Cruising along at the edges of known space, the Vesta was among the last ships to receive the engine upgrade. But it wasn't just distance that caused the delay. The t-drives were expensive. And unlike large organizations...

Six people get stuck on an elevator, but when the elevator starts moving again, their true ordeal begins. Genre: Horror, Mystery Excerpt : It wasn't where any of us wanted to go, but we all stepped off the elevator as if by some instinct to escape the place where we'd been trapped, even if it had just been less than an hour. At a glance, we could see that the sixth floor was empty. No one was ther...

A new homeowner must decide how to deal with the uncanny and uninvited inhabitants discovered in the attic. Genre: Horror, Mystery Content Warning : Animals in supernatural danger.   Excerpt : One of my friends told me a terrifying story she'd read about. This guy was living in a house where a family lived, without their knowledge, for the longest time. He hid in some hidden closet they didn't kno...

What happens when two treasure-seekers cross a forbidden threshold and trespass within an ancient temple? Genre: Horror, Mystery, Mythology   Excerpt : "Greetings, travelers," the temple guardian said. "Give me your names." The two treasure-seekers gave her their names freely. She did not return their offer of names, nor did she return their smiles. "Turn back, travelers," the temple guardian said...

A young reporter investigating a case of vanishing corpses interviews a town recluse, who may be trying to help him…or silence him. Genre: Horror, Mystery   Excerpt : …he realized she was one of the missing corpses. He couldn't recall her name, only her face. He watched from outside as she appeared to be making small talk with the cashier. He decided he would catch her on the way out of the conven...

For two friends, watching the new season of their favorite show may have to wait while one of them contends with a potentially life-changing event. Genre: Fantasy   Excerpt : "Sometimes I think it's kind of nice that vampires are accepted in this fictional society," Glo said. My attention perked up.  That was different. But the response from the rest of our friends was not. "That would be like chi...

An alchemist attempts to create a coat that will allow her to travel to other dimensions. Genre: Fantasy   Excerpt : Aunt Mariya was certain that she had solved the mystery of the many dimensions. All of us could do it, but our minds and bodies prevented us from going, be-cause the environments in these other dimensions were different. Some were slightly different. Some more drastically so. One wo...

When a country suffers a curse that extinguishes all but the tiniest of flames, its people strive in spectacular ways to endure, to elude, and to break the curse. Genre: Fantasy, Mystery   Excerpt : "Let it be as you claim," the warlock said. "That there is 'not enough fire' in your country." And then he spoke the words of his spell, his curse. And from thenceforth, only candle flames could abide...

When a new father searches through his childhood books for stories to tell his daughter, he learns that some of those books are linked to a hundred-year-old mystery. Genre: Mystery, Fantasy   Excerpt : For generations, for nearly a century, the Rofotou family had been gathering the pieces of a puzzle that they believed would unlock some grand secret of the universe, or some extravagant treasure, o...

After their realm is cursed to suffer absolute darkness, four companions are tasked with finding the secret of breaking the curse. Genre: Mythology, Fantasy   Excerpt : In those days, all people had the power to send their shadows off to explore the world around them, but those shadows could only travel in one direction, the direction in which they were cast by the sun. But these people with two s...