Storyfeather

When rumors and gossip surround the newest resident of town, particularly about her mysterious habit of hiding her feet, one girl dares to seek the truth. Genre: Mystery   Excerpt : "Ah yes, Madam Pantoflae. She of the delicate foot. Have you heard? A witch placed a curse upon her feet, and the curse can only be counteracted by the wearing of enchanted boots." Katherine Lovelace sighed a long and...

Starling and Leveret investigate the sudden disappearance of the legendary Tortoise of the famed race between the Tortoise and the Hare. Genre: Fable, Fantasy   Excerpt : "Is it true that you once beat Hare in a foot race? It can't be true. But is it true?" Tortoise sighed. He continued walking along as the little black bird flapped around him. She landed on a nearby branch. "I've heard that you'v...

As penance for a recent crime, a thief is tasked with carrying a most precious and coveted treasure to a place where no mortal may tread. Genre: Fairy Tale, Mythology, Fantasy Excerpt : The thief fell from the tower's upper window. She had lost her precarious grip on the pitted brick. She remembered that she should roll herself up into a loose ball to protect her head and neck. But by the time she...

When her sister disappears into the fairy realm, a girl and her best friend mount a rescue.   But while it's quite easy to get into the fairy realm, almost no one gets out.   Genre: Fairy Tale   Excerpt : It's quite easy to get into the fairy realm, you see. They want you to come to them. They need you to come to them. So quite easy to get into the fairy realm. But almost no one gets out. There we...

Rare are the fantasticators, who can by their very presence bring about the emergence of the fantastic from the most common of things and the most mundane of people. Genre: Fable, Fairy Tale, Fantasy   Excerpt : Rare are they who can by their very presence bring about the emergence of the fantastic from the most common of things and the most mundane of people. So rare indeed, that most towns only...

Jaquery Tattery was born at sea, and he grew up in a town far from the sea, and all he wanted to do was return to the sea. Genre: Fantasy   Excerpt : The Tatterys were tailors who started working in town with a humble business of repairing and refreshing old clothes, and soon expanded to fine tailoring of clothes and tapestries. Jack learned the trade of sewing and tailoring from a young age, as h...

The mayor of a modest harbor town struggles to deal with the appearance of a whale in the sky above the ocean. Genre: Fantasy   Excerpt : "There's a whale, just…floating in the middle of the sky. That doesn't impress you?" "I never said I wasn't impressed." "I mean that doesn't move you to—I don't know—ponder about the big stuff in life?" The mayor crossed his arms. "Big stuff?" She shook her head...

An air of mystery surrounds a young lord who came to rule a province from a distant land, until those closest to him gather clues about his past. Genre: Fairy Tale, Fantasy   Excerpt : Lord Orgulous came to our province some time ago, and when he did, he inherited the rule of the province. As might be expected, he arrived with quite a flurry of rumor swirling about him, for he hailed from a distan...

A baker chosen for an honorable and prestigious assignment must contend with a rival who was not chosen. Genre: Mystery, Fantasy   Excerpt : Four nations warred. And they warred. And they warred. And some suppose that they might be war-ring still if not for the firm but humble interference of a fifth nation. Mensulamare was a lengthy name for such a small nation. "The Little Table in the Sea" it w...

A young woman receives a letter written by her future self about all the significant events to come in the next year of her life. Genre: Mystery, Fantasy   Excerpt : Three major things will happen to me over the course of the coming year. I'll meet someone. I'll think he's wonderful. He won't be. That's the first thing. Second, I'll break my arm in a cowardly attempt to flee from my own responsibi...

Reporter Lily Landry has an extraordinary encounter one night after she investigates a bright light in the sky above her apartment. Genre: Science Fiction   Excerpt : She gulped and tried to tell herself what she always told herself in such situations. There's a story here. A figure approached her and she gulped again. Come on, Landry. Put on your reporter's hat. No time to panic. No time to— The...

Two rival television shows set aside their differences to film their solstice holiday specials. Genre: Fantasy, Mystery, Science Fiction   Excerpt : "Lily Loquacious" and "Calling All Ships" were both filmed in the same giant building that housed the famed Stage 34. In fact, they were the reason that Stage 34 was famed. The building actually housed five stages, all originally occupied by the "Lily...

"Why does there have to be winter?" Genre: Mythology, Fantasy   Excerpt : "Why does there have to be winter?" The asker was my little niece, all bundled up in black-and-silver fleece blankets. Her favorite colors. She didn't ask the question just out of curiosity. She was frowning slightly. Winter had swallowed up her favorite season, autumn. (The season to which her only objection was, "why does...

Two technicians working alone to maintain an Arctic monitoring station begin to see something they shouldn't be seeing…a third resident of the station. Genre: Mystery   Excerpt : Andrew saw it first. About a month into our six-month rotation maintaining the company's Arctic monitoring station. He was doing weekly maintenance on all the pumps on the north side when he thought he saw some motion. At...

Most people think the "double" in Mokkie's Double Diner means that the diner has two levels. That's…not what it means. Genre: Mystery, Science Fiction   Excerpt : Did you know that Mokkie's Double Diner is the only place in this sector that serves everything from Trilenkarian froth to Earthlingian burgers and fries? A sound machine sits beside a self-serve frozen cream fountain, and both are loade...

A pair of physicians observe the bizarre and dying practices of their profession's predecessor, the remedy man. Genre: Fantasy, Science Fiction   Excerpt : The wounded man, his wife, the vulnerary, and the two physicians made their way out of the kitchen and into the yard where the chickens were still pecking away at their breakfast. It was winter, but a mild one. The risen sun had already baked t...

Every evening, one woman undergoes an unfathomable transformation.  She turns into a cartoon. Genre: Fantasy, Mystery   Excerpt : I needed a mental health professional to contact the company with me, so that the company would take me seriously when I told them what their app was doing to me. "Eleanor," the therapist said. "Let's back up. Tell me about the app. What does it do? Why did you start us...

A cast and crew of middle school students put on an original play about cosmic heroes and deadly aliens. Genre: Fantasy, Science Fiction   Excerpt : "I am Exoplanetary Janet, Traveler of the Cosmos." She raised her arm and swept her hand slowly from left to right. There was whispering at the back of the class. Two girls, so thick-as-thieves that they were more like one two-headed girl, glanced at...

When the Lavendars sought to settle on new lands, they were warned that the surrounding moors were haunted by strange creatures. Genre: Horror, Mystery   Excerpt : Nisha knew what was in the basket though she could no longer see it and could barely hear it. The "allfeistus" they were called once. Strange creatures who were thought to have died out until someone rediscovered them. Uncle Nestor said...

A young investigator must spend a set number of nights in a haunted house to earn a hefty inheritance. Genre: Horror, Mystery   Excerpt : "You said it yourself. I'll keep it simple." Kay rose from her chair. "I will investigate thoroughly, find nothing paranormal, report my findings, and then…" She clapped her hands. "…I will collect that hefty inheritance, and perhaps even share a bit of it with...

After closing his latest case, a private investigator who specializes in finding missing persons starts experiencing strange changes. Genre: Horror, Mystery Excerpt : "Can you put that out?" I asked through clenched teeth. I was still hunched over the desk, but I could smell it. Her cigarette. It felt as if every particle of ash was boring its way up into my nose, past my eyes, into my skull. When...

A man overwhelmed by the good but stressful changes in his life wishes he could switch places with his reflection. Genre: Horror, Mystery   Excerpt : "If only I could take your place," he said to her. And I felt my gut drop. I banged against the mirror's inside surface and I kept my gaze from straying to the darkness that surrounded me. I would have given anything to keep my wife from feeling any...

Why and how are the world's bacterial species suddenly banding together? Genre: Science Fiction   Excerpt : "Ladies, gentlemen, rogues, and sundry, I implore you to focus," Greenfield said. Doctor Greenfield, a microbiologist, was the northwestern region's representative in the newly formed International Research Consortium on the Planetary Biofilm. She asked a simple question, a prompt really. "D...

An explorer gets lost in a spatiotemporal anomaly that was once the treasure vault of an alien pirate. Genre: Mystery, Science Fiction   Excerpt : It didn't seem like a fool's mission three months ago, this wandering into the deep unknown. Despite all our misgivings about plunging into a newly discovered spatiotemporal anomaly, the expedition seemed like it would be worth it. It seemed like an adv...

The passionate people involved with making movies at Plotz Hole Studios hail from all the many corners of the universe, and beyond. Genre: Science Fiction It's the 250th episode . Yay!   Excerpt : Martin Plotz glanced down at the photographs that Trudy had placed on his desk. He took a magnifying lens to one of them and bent over it. He frowned and glanced up at Trudy with the expression that she...