Category Archives: Short Story or Scene

Mephitic

I’m part of a Facebook group associated with National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). The group is all the WriMos from the Rochester, New York region. NaNoWriMo is a November thing, but writers write year-round. For fun, we’ll occasionally challenge each other with writing prompts.

This prompt was to write something involving TPS reports. You know, those hideous things from the movie Office Space. We later discussed the wonderful word “Mephitic.” In the end, I decided that I needed to write a scene involving the words “mephitic” and “malarkey,” TPS reports, and an unexpected visit from Mephitis mephitis. Let’s see if it can be done.Continue reading “Mephitic”

Stink Bug – Chapter 5

I stared closely at the white cliff wall as I climbed down. It was crystalline and beautiful, like snowflakes compressed together. As I moved downward, different crystal surfaces lit up and twinkled in the sunlight. The cave entrance had all but disappeared from this perspective. I wondered if I could find it again. Panic gripped me. What if I couldn’t find it again? Would I be trapped here forever?Continue reading “Stink Bug – Chapter 5”

Scene: An accident – Clint meets Enna

Clint huddled against the stiff wind. The twig and branch blind provided some shelter against the blowing snow, but the wind cut through readily and it was getting colder. His feet were wet. He was starting to shiver. The burrow would provide a warm reprieve from the bone-chilling weather. Yet he continued to stare down at the roadway below.Continue reading “Scene: An accident – Clint meets Enna”

Short Story: Theft

Gordon leaned against the tree, stretching his feet out in front of himself. The apple was a bit under-ripe and hard, but he didn’t care. He hadn’t had a bite to eat since the day before. The shade in the apple grove was welcome, too. This was an unusually hot late summer day. Gordon rubbed the apple’s interior across the bridge of his nose, hoping that its cool moistness would ease the pain for the sunburn he knew was there. A breeze came up, carrying with it the scent of ripening fruit and the coming fall. Gordon’s dark wavy hair blew across his face and into his mouth as he took another bite of the apple. He winced and tucked his hair back behind his ear.Continue reading “Short Story: Theft”

Short Story: Flynn

Flynn wended his way along the muddy path from the farrier’s shop to the stable. The wind gusted, carrying a late winter chill and a few snowflakes. Flynn braced himself momentarily against the wind, then continued forward, trying to keep as much as possible out of the deep mud in the center of the path. The edges of the path were slippery with half-melted snow, causing him to stagger into the mud more often than he liked.Continue reading “Short Story: Flynn”

Short Story: Jason’s Invitation

A short story, or I guess just a scene, from the early life of Jason. In the book Prince of Herongarde, Jason is on the verge of 16, the age at which young men may attain the Mark of Herongarde. This scene happens ten years earlier, when Jason first enters training.Continue reading “Short Story: Jason’s Invitation”