Encounter With Ship 47
Storyfeather
A cartography vessel mapping a sector of space that’s expected to contain nothing of interest encounters…something of interest. Genre: Science Fiction, Mystery Excerpt:“This thing is changing by the hour. We may not have time for Vessel 86 to arrive before something even more intense happens.” I walked on a few steps before I realized that my crew mate had stopped short. I turned and walked back to him. “More intense than that?” he asked, pointing out of the nearest porthole. I gaped. The fluttering spirals that we’d become accustomed to had shifted color, darkening in a...
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Transdimensional Top Hat
Storyfeather
Hoping to find some inspiration and direction in life, an aimless young woman buys a top hat at the estate sale of a magician. Genre: Mystery, Mythology, Science Fiction Excerpt:Ro checked the bookcases and found some intriguing titles. Animating Your Crafts Finding the Right Writer to Type on Your Haunted Typewriter Philosophy and Alchemy: A Foundation Illusions to Fool the Physical Senses: A Foundation Illusions to Fool the Psychic Senses: A Foundation Love Potions, Snake Oils, and Other Tonic Myths In fact, they all looked intriguing. “Where do I begin?”...
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Stranded in Shadow
Storyfeather
When two friends hear a commotion in their mysterious new neighbor's apartment, they go to check, only to find the door open, and the apartment completely empty...well, almost empty. Genre: Mystery, Fantasy Excerpt:The only object in the entire apartment was lying on the tiled kitchen floor. Broken into several pieces. A mug. I could make out a design on one of the larger shards. An eye. A wide open eye, just staring. I felt the hairs on my neck rise. I blinked. A liquid that looked like pink-orange milk was spattered across the tile, as if it spilled from the mug as the mug fell. Had...
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Citizen Forsaken
Storyfeather
A tourist is stranded after a mysterious incident destroys all the paths leading to the tourist’s home, a seemingly identical city that once existed just beyond the surface of a mirror. Genre: Fantastical Mystery Excerpt:“I’ll be damned,” I heard a voice say. My roommate’s voice. And she…saw me. She saw me vanish. She saw me reappear. She saw me without stripes on. She saw my fluted ears peaking from under my indigo hair. She saw the copper shimmer and the green gleam of my skin. She saw my irises, round but spinning slowly, almost imperceptibly, like the minute hand of a...
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King Midian and His Glove of Gold
Storyfeather
An elven traveler grants a king a priceless power in return for an equally priceless treasure. Genre: Fairy Tale Excerpt:The elven traveler leaned closer and whispered to the girl. “What kind of life can he give you? Closed off and cloistered? Stuffed into corsets? I can give you a life of mischief and adventure.” 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 previous seasons. One is “Turn Again.” One is a wild card. And three are covered in question...
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Diamond Dreamt of Rose
Storyfeather
A cursed young woman seeks the aid of a queen who walks through dreams to reach a sister trapped in eternal sleep. Genre: Fairy Tale Excerpt:“Turn back,” the queen said. “I want no curses in my kingdom.” Clara explained as quickly as she could. “I am not the only one who is cursed. My sister. My husband…” “And it was one who cursed you all?” “He taunted me. He told me that what I love would be come what he loves. And what he loves best is treasure.” The Wheel of Fiction Turns. What did it land on this time?Each Season 9 story follows a theme chosen by the...
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Only Fools Prevail
Storyfeather
In a realm where the learned are held at the highest esteem, a fool is called upon to challenge a trickster. Genre: Fairy Tale Excerpt:“I visit you because I am curious.” “I think it’s because you want to be the first trickster who understands a fool.” The trickster laughed. “My dear Sovereign, no one amuses me as you do. But I must tell you. To a trickster, everyone is a fool.” 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 previous...
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A Realm Without Rain
Storyfeather
A visitor from another realm encounters an overwhelming and mysterious phenomenon that bears further investigation, rain. Genre: Fairy Tale Excerpt:“When I was young, my mother told me a story about the rain. I was afraid of it, you see. And what she told me didn’t help much with that.” He winked an eye at me. “My mother was quick to embrace and kiss her children, but she wasn’t one to coddle or lie to us.” I found myself leaning forward. “What did she say?” “There are great beings who live in the sky. When enough of these beings weep, their tears fall to the earth as...
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Forge of the Forsaker
Storyfeather
Even before the mountain began to rumble, one mortal had begun to doubt his decadent gods. Genre: Mythology Excerpt:We are descended from a powerful people. So it is said. The most powerful our world has ever known. Their might unmatched. Their domain unending. Their eyes all-seeing. I am nothing next to them. I am a blade of grass underfoot. A mayfly blinking in and out of existence. A mortal. But today I will discover if there are forces in the world mightier than the gods. For today is the day I bring them down. The Wheel of Fiction Turns. What did it land on this time?Each...
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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...
info_outlineWhat starts as a curiosity, a light on the bedroom ceiling that seems to have no source, heralds the appearance of a huge eye that just watches and watches.
Genre: Mystery, Science Fiction, Horror
Excerpt:
I yelled out. The hazel iris shifted toward me.
I slowly slid off the bed... dashed to the door, flung it open, and pulled it closed behind me.
Okay, okay, think. I have to…
I had cried out. Someone must have heard. Someone would come knocking on my door. Normally I didn’t want that. But right now, right now I might want that. I might want that.
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.
A previous story about an organ growing in the walls of someone’s bedroom is “Chemoimagination.”
Creepy coincidence?
One night, after I posted this story, I’d plugged in a mini-fan to charge next to my bed. I woke up in the middle of the night and saw a glowing green eye on my ceiling. The fan had finished charging, and the indicator light happened to be facing up to the ceiling. And it happened to be the same shape and size of the eye I describe in my story. It didn’t scare me. I immediately knew what I was. But I did sleepily think something akin to “heh, good one.”
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 Eye in My Ceiling” Copyright © 2021 by Nila L. Patel
Narration, Episode Art, Editing, and Production: Nila L. Patel
Music:
“Orbs” by NICHOLAS JEUDY (Intro)
“Experiment 7” by NICHOLAS JEUDY (Outro)
“Abstract Vision #5” by ANDREW SITKOV (Outro)
Music by NICHOLAS JEUDY
“Above”
“The 4th world”
“Experiment 7”
“Dark wonders”
“Abyss”
“Orbs”
“Experiment 6”
“The corner of your room”
“Well of souls”
All these tracks are part of a music and sound effects bundles I purchased from Humble Bundle and sourced from GameDev Market.
Music by Nicholas Jeudy and Andrew Sitkov is licensed from GameDev Market
Vocal effects created with Audacity
Changes made to the musical tracks? Just cropping of some to align with my narration.
Find more music by Nicholas Jeudy and Andrew Sitkov at gamedevmarket.net
Find more stories by Nila at storyfeather.com
Episode Art Description:
Digital drawing. Central figure, a woman, her top half, seen from below at an angle. She’s facing away, standing in a room where the ceiling and parts of two walls intersect at her left, around waist level. The woman wears pants and a t-shirt and her hair in a ponytail. She holds a carving knife in her right hand, held down and behind herself. Her left hand reaches up towards a huge eye in the ceiling. Most of the iris and a small portion of the whites are visible. Eyelashes extend out at left. Watermark of “Storyfeather” along wall in image at left. The rectangular image is made square with top and bottom borders with blurred portions of the main image.