Should have gone to sleep, didn't, and wrote until 3 am. Part of writing this story is the setting, and it takes time. I go down rabbit holes trying to find out prices in 1993 or what rifle an ex-police officer might use, and then twenty minutes later, finally returning to the story. So much easier in a fantasy story. :)
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Huck had planned on s...
2023-08-11 14:36:41 +0000 UTC View PostIt was rare that Wally was permitted to investigate a corporation's financial dealings. His kernel included very restricting rules about what he could and could not do without human permission and who those humans were. His ability to interfere in any way with Governments and Corporations was narrow and limited to extreme cases where human lives were at stake. His investigations usually ended w...
2023-08-11 02:35:56 +0000 UTC View Post"Your pardon, My Lord of Summer, but are all the roadways through the Fae Lands so quaint and distinctive."
Alwyn, Lord of Summer, looked to his right, where the human Courier kept pace with him as they escorted Prince Leporidon's carriage to the Court of King Oberon. "Please, I think it would be quicker and easier on all of us if I dispense with my disguise. I'm sure you now recognize m...
I had to dogsit today with a small laptop to work on. Hard to write the other two stories, where I usually have three or more windows open with background material. So I fiddled around, and a fourth part of the upcoming story formed out of the chaos.
This is the story I write when I can't write the other two. :)
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The power was still out when Huck ...
Bork triple-checked everything again. All of his systems were operating within acceptable parameters. It wasn't easy working this way. The more direct the linkage was, the easier it was to breach security systems. Immersed in their pod-induced comas, wandering the digital landscape of the internet was second nature to all of his siblings. They saw the ebb and flow of data and the patterns that ...
2023-08-07 06:30:24 +0000 UTC View PostIt took an hour to find the spot Belinda had told him about. He'd taken to the rooftops to search for it, and the little cul-de-sac was nearly invisible from above. The alley leading to it was narrow and partly roofed, where someone had connected two rows of buildings with rooms between them. The small dead end was likewise hard to see, with buildings that grew wider at the top and used each ot...
2023-08-07 03:15:21 +0000 UTC View PostA third installment of the Scrapyard dungeon. A bit raw, and needs proofreading. Creating NPC's, setting up backstory, and the little bits and pieces that might become important later.
The sound of movement in the kitchen woke Huck from his dream of furtive black shapes that wanted his school lunch. He looked around, seeing nothing in the early morning gloom. The sun was up, but it took ...
I'm still working on the rewrite of 236, and it has gotten so large that it will become 236 and 237. It just needs some more polishing, and I'll put up the revised text. Pushing on with the story. Sometimes I burn out writing one chapter and move on, coming back later.
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Milo slowed and stopped after walking out of the Adventurer's Guild with Belinda. "I have a...
There are a couple of bugs that have cropped up with Patreon. One of those is causing some banks to decline a patron's monthly payment, which causes Patreon to delete that person from the list of followers.
So, if you suddenly find yourself with no access to stories and aren't a follower, that is probably the problem. Try to follow me again, and it should work now.
The ride had started easily, Mudhead loping across the fields and orchards, bringing them rapidly to the Fae Maple tree that rose in the sky and held the portal to the lands of the Summer Lord. Mudhead hit the ramp that spiraled around the trunk at sixty miles an hour and didn't slow as Ben leaned into the turns and Suzette held onto his belt, her patient between them, still unconscious.
"What do you mean it won't work? Do you have any idea how hard I worked to get this thing?"
Baron William, his Baroness, and the esteemed Professors of the College of Practical Alchemy and Experimental Magics were clustered around a twenty-foot-wide slab of stone that occupied the center of the ACME building foyer. Nearby, two stone masons worked to convert the hole where the old doors ...
Stayed up late reading odd stuff and looking for a quote about Iron and ended up reading Kipling until 6 am and writing most of this chapter. I'm not really meaning to write a third story, but if I can't write the other two, I putter with what Huck is up to. And Kipling. I had to find the poem about "Iron, Cold Iron, is the master of them all."
I have writing and non-writing night...
This is what happens when I get bored while driving. New ideas pop up and slowly grow. I'm taking this story slow, and mapping it out bit by bit. Here's the first chapter. This is meant to be a creepy story, with some trauma thrown in the mix. It's set in a fictitious part of Allentown PA, in a spot down on the Lehigh River where there used to be an old steel mill and other factories. Rusttown ...
2023-08-01 22:25:02 +0000 UTC View PostThere were many stairs between the Red Chapel and the exit from the crypts, and Ozzy was familiar with each and every one of them by the time he was done pushing the unfinished altar stone to the top. He couldn't have done it without everyone else in the crew. Ben and Rolly kept the stone balanced on the edge and upright so he could apply his strength to roll it up the stairs. They held it stea...
2023-08-01 03:08:55 +0000 UTC View PostRound two of this chapter. Some changes were made based on feedback. As usual, when I go back to a chapter, more words were generated. Take a look (Ignore typos) and give me some more comments. This chapter is now up to 4200 words. I'll be doing one more edit of this chapter before it's finished.
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Milo was regretting meeting at this ...
A difficult chapter, mostly conversation, hindered by Milo's paranoia and fear of saying too much, and Belinda being kept sequestered most of her life. Send me feedback if something feels off.
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"Hi"
"Hi"
With opening statements out of the way, Belinda and Milo settled down to an awkward silence. Finally, after sitting in silence for a moment, she started. "I'm guessing you know s...
A well-armored figure moved down the streets of Shadowport, waving to a few people and making her way across the city. Belinda was easily recognized by her sky-blue robe, grey plate armor, and shining crystalline shield. A flanged copper mace was tucked into a belt loop. As a known healer, she had fewer problems walking through Shadowport but kept to the main roads. It seemed to her that it was...
2023-07-27 02:35:46 +0000 UTC View PostThe sound of a pipe organ swelled, accompanied by the strange sound of a hundred ghouls forcing their deformed throats to provide a chorus of chanting to go along with the deep rumblings of the organ. Huge lamps dangled from the ceiling on chains, their red glow growing each second as the music swelled. The ghouls seated in rotting pews or sprawled on the floor stood up and began moving toward ...
2023-07-26 00:16:20 +0000 UTC View PostVery busy this week with my girls in performances of Beauty and the Beast and then Immediately starting the rehearsing for the musical version of Finding Nemo. And a visit by the granddaughter and older daughter.
Most of my writing time went into editing over the weekend and almost finishing three chapters. Tue/Wed I'll be finishing off Butcher 330: The Red Chapel to finish up the big fi...
Milo leaped from the third floor of the building he had climbed, turning a flip in mid-air and landing in a three-point stance. Two rough-looking men walking by were startled and started to draw their swords, then relaxed and held up a hand. "Kulag!" Milo did the same and then continued on his way. The two members of Squint's gang looked up to where a small balcony stuck out from the front of M...
2023-07-22 22:25:36 +0000 UTC View PostMoving upward through the Mining Guild, Tallsqueak nodded politely to people but said nothing. He didn't ask where to go and walked through the guild as if he had every right to be there, showing confidence and poise. Milo contrasted that with his first trips up and down, getting lost and asking questions from people that didn't enjoy his intrusions into their business. Knowing the layout of th...
2023-07-21 03:02:59 +0000 UTC View PostOver a dozen curious members of the Shadowport Mining Guild were 'just hanging around' in the assay office to see what the new member had dug out of the rock. After his display of breaking stone, no one openly questioned his ability to mine. The next question was: "What does it have in its pockets?". Because other than a few pockets, the strange wizard had no way to carry ore. But wizards were ...
2023-07-20 23:06:52 +0000 UTC View PostSuzette wanted to scream but kept the thing talking. "I'll bargain for what's left of him." Rolly and Squirmie began to sneak their way around the perimeter.
"A bargain. My, my. I suppose we can sit and discuss a payment for this fine, Fae Lord. Is he a relative? Or do you just want to collect a bounty for him? I have an idea! Let's keep talking until your friends make a rescue attempt, ...
After killing another dozen Carrion Eaters, the crypts became silent. Billy and Layla leaned against the walls, white-faced and gasping for breath.
Layla looked at the workers, who weren't even breathing hard. "How the hell do you people do this?"
<Superior breeding. My pet's nestmates have chosen powerful heritages and increased their power considerably because they wish to ke...
Billy sighed with relief, and Layla did the same as they crossed the boundary of Hungrytown. "Damn, that woman scares me. It felt like she was watching us all the way to the border."
Sitting down on a tombstone to catch her breath, Layla agreed. "She was. Every person in town, even the little brats playing games with Rolly, kept turning to watch us. I don't like that place, coffee, and p...
Once again risking his soul and sanity, Kensai has made a suggestion.
What is your opinion on the name of the new coffee and pie shop in Hungry Town?
Can you train a ghoul to serve coffee and not eat a customer? Do we even want to find out what a ghoul bakes in a pie?
Whatever Billy and Layla were arguing about became moot as Suzette and Ozzy walked into the kitchen with half of a pecan pie. "Sit and eat, Ozzy, and I can finish drying." The two nobles didn't have to be told twice to abandon the job. Billy looked at the gooey brown pie, took a tentative bite, and then a larger one. "Damn, this looks horrible, but it's pretty good. What's in it?"
Suzett...
Once again, Milo wondered who had designed Arcane Libraries. Arriving on the wide porch that fell off into the void was unnerving. He opened the door and scampered inside as fast as he could. Cichol was reading through a book, one of those from the Code Mage's library, and chuckling to himself. "You paint this person as a fearsome foe, stern and serious, and yet I find a disguised book of Elvis...
2023-07-13 03:12:08 +0000 UTC View PostThe biggest building in Hungry Town was the home of Mama Laveau. It was older than the rest of the shanty town, with a foundation and first two stories of worked stone. Ozzy could just see the original outline if he used his imagination. Expansion after expansion had turned it into something else until the original building was mostly lost inside a shell of added upper stories, wooden balconies...
2023-07-12 00:50:49 +0000 UTC View Post"Who taught the damned ghouls how to backfill?" The tunnel that led to the crypts had been filled with layers of stone and earth. Not a barrier to workers with high STR and the Dig skill, but annoying. The ghouls came out of the ground from small crevices and crypts constantly. It was suspicious that they had filled an exit in.
Rolly noticed a lot of boot tracks around the hole. "It's al...