Queen Niyami
Storyfeather
Troubled by the tragic tale of a queen, who suffered because of a quarrel between two gods, three children question and alter the story. Genre: Mythology Excerpt:For the thing that lurched from shadow to shadow had been summoned by godly powers and imbued with godly powers. As it passed, it left behind a trail of slime that smelled of sulfur and rot. So the guards had no trouble in finding it. What they could not do was stop it. The Wheel of Fiction Turns. What did it land on this time?Each Season 9 story follows a theme chosen by the Wheel of Fiction. Thirteen spokes. Eight are...
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The Last Night of Grief
Storyfeather
A philosopher, a mage, and a swordsman are sent on an impossible quest from which they know they will not return alive. Genre: Mythology Excerpt:The philosopher felt her heart go still. She felt the cold steel of the swordsman’s sword quivering by her right side. She felt the warm spark of the mage’s magic prickling by her left side. In that moment, and none other since, she had wished her friends would unleash their might and fury… The Wheel of Fiction Turns. What did it land on this time?Each Season 9 story follows a theme chosen by the Wheel of Fiction. Thirteen...
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Nine Gods in Masquerade
Storyfeather
The story is told of how nine little gods came to be honored at a feast where they dared not show their faces. Genre: Mythology Excerpt:The new mortal-made masks were so fantastical and magical that they could not easily be distinguished from the masks of the gods. A few called it blasphemy. (For we humans can be fools this way, don’t you agree? Seeking and seeking for wonder, and fearing it when we find it.) The Wheel of Fiction Turns. What did it land on this time?Each Season 9 story follows a theme chosen by the Wheel of Fiction. Thirteen spokes. Eight are the themes from...
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Through a Sky Gray
Storyfeather
In a realm cursed to lie under a gray veil, one man accepts a job patrolling a neighborhood to watch for unauthorized breaches. Genre: Fantasy Excerpt:He had given up on his childhood fantasy when he realized that people had already found ways to break the curse, and had tried those ways and failed. He had given up when he learned that some of the ways had never been tried and never would be, because the cost was too high. And over the generations, more and more people believed that the gray veil was a blessing, not a curse. A protection, not an oppression. The Wheel of Fiction...
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Kairos and the Phantom
Storyfeather
The terrifying night phantoms that haunt a once-forbidden wood are never seen by day, until one morning when an ordinary man encounters a phantom trapped in the sunlight. Genre: Fantasy, Mythology Excerpt:Something terrible had come into the world. Something evil. Invisible, intangible. Some corruption that could not be perceived. And therefore could not be fought. By the time it had a grip on someone, it was too late. The corruption seeped into every part of that person, defiling their heart, twisting their thoughts, draining the very life out of their body. No land was spared....
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Garden of the Peculiar
Storyfeather
A person struggling with heartbreak is drawn into the history of a garden filled with morbid beauty. Genre: Fantasy Excerpt:Branches terminating in skulls. Transparent petals whose vessels glow white as bleached bone in the dark. Bright yellow leaves whose soft serrated edges exude a dark red liquid that drips and pools and stains the ground like the signs of a crime scene. Such sights could I have seen in the greenhouse of gruesome growths. The courtyard of the maverick alchemist. The garden of the peculiar. The Wheel of Fiction Turns. What did it land on this time?Each Season...
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Outer City Magician
Storyfeather
An uncertified magician, who’s not allowed to cast enchantments in the city proper, finds odd jobs to do in the outer city. Genre: Fantasy Excerpt:I got into this business at the wrong time. Now that huge factories could crank out standardized magic components that anyone could use, without even a basic understanding of the primary forces and how to shape them, not too many people were interested in “hand-crafted artisan” magic. That’s what the kids called it now. In my grandpa’s day, it was just called…magic. The Wheel of Fiction Turns. What did it land on this...
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Angel at the Carnival
Storyfeather
A dog and a boy wander through a carnival. One of them is terrifying. One of them is sweet. Guess which is which. Genre: Fantasy Excerpt:“There’s a pit bull in the ball pit!” someone cried. The children saw Angel, and they began to flee. Angel opened his mouth enough to bare his teeth, but not enough to use those teeth. Children screamed and flapped their arms and were pulled up out of the pit by the scruff of their shirts. Little Sam was somehow oblivious to the mayhem. The Wheel of Fiction Turns. What did it land on this time?Each Season 9 story follows a theme chosen by...
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Isle of the Fairy Ring
Storyfeather
A folklorist is swept up in a journey to find the proof that supports her seemingly preposterous notion about porcupines and fairy tales. Genre: Fairy Tale Excerpt:Tommie’s conjecture concerned the many fairy tales where a sudden growth of thorny vines encompassed a tower or a castle to protect, or more likely imprison, a young woman possessing some degree of power—a princess of surpassing beauty, say, or a sorceress. That growth was typically attributed to a magic spell cast by an evil witch or jealous warlock. Tommie allowed that magic and wickedness may have been involved, or...
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The Last Magnificent Seahorse
Storyfeather
A humble seahorse reconstructs his form by studying his fellow fish, and emerges as the most magnificent creature to grace the sea. Genre: Mythology, Fable Excerpt:“We are only one of many different kinds of horses,” his mother said. “And all of us, the ones who fly through storm, the ones who canter on land, the ones who wander in dreams, we all came from one place, the sea. We all came from the first horses, who dwelt in the sea, and dwell there still, though they haven’t been seen in many ages.” The Wheel of Fiction Turns. What did it land on this time?Each Season 9 story...
info_outlineTo rescue her brother, a woman jumps into what she believes is a dimensional rift generated by a device that he has invented.
Genre: Science Fantasy
Excerpt:
“You come from within the margins. Where there are well-defined boundaries... Reality.”
"Isn’t this also real?”
“It is for now.”
What story or stories am I revisiting in this episode?
Each Season 8 episode is a standalone story, but it’s connected to or inspired by a previous story through a character, a place, an object, a concept, a continuation of events (ahem, sequel), and so on.
I’ve written a lot of stories about inventors inventing things. This week’s story was inspired by a weird dream I had, and by a the episode called “Jukebox Time Portal.”
MY FIRST BOOK (yay)
Ever wonder how I’ve gotten all these hundreds of stories written? I have a method. And I talk all about it in my book called Fictioneer’s Field Guide: A Game Plan for Writing Short Stories.
It’s now available from Amazon as an eBook, paperback, and hardcover.
You can also get there from my Store page: STORYFEATHER STORE
The Store page also has sign-up forms for my two email newsletters:
Storyfeather Gazette (if you’d like to keep up with the fiction I create)
Fictioneer’s Field Guide (if you’d like writing tips and guidance from me)
Choose what you want. (Either way, you're choosing high jinks.)
MERCH!
Interested in merch, like mugs and notebooks, featuring my artwork?
Please visit my Store page for info on where you can buy: STORYFEATHER STORE
CREDITS
Story: “The Margin Alien” Copyright © 2019 by Nila L. Patel
Narration, Episode Art, Editing, and Production: Nila L. Patel
Music:
“Puzzle Pieces” by LEE ROSEVERE (Intro)
“Start the Day” by LEE ROSEVERE (Outro)
“Abstract Vision #5” by ANDREW SITKOV (Outro)
Music by LEE ROSEVERE
“Awkward Silences (version b)”
“All the Answers”
“Introducing the Pre-roll”
“The Secret to Growing Up”
“Puzzle Pieces”
“Here’s the Thing”
“Everywhere”
“Start the Day”
“Snakes”
“Under Suspicion”
“Knowing the Truth”
“Decompress”
“Not My Problem”
Tracks by Andrew Sitkov are part of music and sound effects bundles I purchased from Humble Bundle and sourced from GameDev Market.
Music by Andrew Sitkov is licensed from GameDev Market
Music by Lee Rosevere is licensed under CC BY 4.0
Sound effects from AudioJungle, and GameDevMarket, and Soundly (through Hindenburg)
Changes made to the musical tracks? Just cropping of some to align with my narration.
Find more music by Andrew Sitkov at gamedevmarket.net
Find more music by Lee Rosevere at freemusicarchive.org/music/lee-rosevere and leerosevere.bandcamp.com
Find more stories by Nila at storyfeather.com
Episode Art Description:
Digital drawing. Left half bottom, a woman in a plaid shirt and wearing a parachute harness seen from the waist-up, glances up and over her left shoulder. Right half, a translucent tree with two branches. An eagle with rainbow-colored feathers perches on one branch, wings partly extended, gazing down at the woman. Bars of light cross around the woman and the eagle. The ground is a hazy. Sparks and hazy bubbles are dispersed everywhere. Watermark of “Storyfeather” along bar of light at center left.