I’ve been going through making some crummy placeholder covers for my writing so they at least have some kind of face. This one’s for my Dark Crystal and American revolution inspired duology ‘Declaration’, the second of which will be posted here soon. You can give the first volume a read if you’re interested.
These stories were written live on stream based on prompts provided by the viewers. They have been edited, with this second more in-depth edit occurring much later, but not meaningfully rewritten or expanded so as to preserve the spirit of the exercise. Sadly, the prompts themselves were not recorded until many stories in. Sometimes the prompts were silly challenges, or quirky thoughts, or dark ideas, or utter nonsense. I did my best each time.
If you enjoy this, please check out the other activities from the stream. If you would like something longer and much more thoroughly planned, simply investigate my more traditional work at the top of the page.
prompt provided by swetankarmy
The cruise liner Seraphina had sunk more than a year ago. Its bow stuck out of the slimy sand at the bottom of the ocean like the jagged lid of a can pried open. Her contents had spilled out, settling into a swath next to her. Bacteria had come. Worms had come. Now the eels were enjoying their day in the accidental reef.
They came by the hundreds to hide and sleep in its shadows, but Seraphina provided them so much more. The eels hadn’t realized what living in the nearly lightless depths had done to their minds, with nothing to focus on, or to cherish, as it all simply drifted until it was buried. Now, here was something prolonged in burial and lively in construction. Eel minds experienced attention, new things to see beyond a dim horizon of marine snow. Continue reading
Porpinky & Phrammal
Designation: the LISA FRANK DOLPHIN cillimorphs
Group: FISHY
Native Biomes: PLANET SPLISHY
Size: SMALL & MEDIUM
Interesting Facts: Both stages eat the most colorful things they can find, stealing the shades so they can then expel them as rainbows to impress their friends and enemies at parties.
These stories were written live on stream based on prompts provided by the viewers. They have been edited, with this second more in-depth edit occurring much later, but not meaningfully rewritten or expanded so as to preserve the spirit of the exercise. Sadly, the prompts themselves were not recorded until many stories in. Sometimes the prompts were silly challenges, or quirky thoughts, or dark ideas, or utter nonsense. I did my best each time.
If you enjoy this, please check out the other activities from the stream. If you would like something longer and much more thoroughly planned, simply investigate my more traditional work at the top of the page.
prompt provided by DarkLordofSheep
Normally, all the lamps around the frozen grounds would be ablaze. Now, only the ones inside the workshop were lit, and their flames seemed weak and frightened. December was upon them, the night near-permanent, but that had never stopped them before. This year, this Christmas, was different. Two claimed the sled as their own now; the second was on his way.
Riddles the elf was hard at work alongside his kin, tiny fingers slaving over the last of the toys, stitching manes into hobby horses with black marble eyes the size of quail eggs. His own eyes darted back to the wardrobe in the corner of the workshop. That was where Santa kept his cloaks, but he only wore one of them around this time of year: the red one. He clung to it now especially with that bloated specter on the horizon. Continue reading
This story takes place in our cillimorphs universe, the team of monster buddies and the broad strokes customized by Hadnto over on our interactive fiction writing Twitch stream. Head on over there and give it a follow if you want a team and a story of your very own!
Jimothee Jenkins Jukes Jungle Justice
by
Blaine Arcade
The planet Woodzy was not known for mysterious jungle islands that knocked you out of the sky and trapped you inside some kind of invisible force field, so one Jimothee Jenkins could be forgiven for not having his wits about him when it happened.
He was a cillikeeper, a coach of those profoundly silly creatures called cillimorphs, but some who knew him called him a drifter instead, while those who knew him best called him a bum. As far as he was concerned, a bum was the imago form of a cillikeeper, someone who had embraced the silly lifestyle so passionately that traditional employment looked like willingly taking on a chronic autoimmune disease. Continue reading
My series of crummy placeholder covers for my free books here on the blog continues. Say hello to the Porce series: four high fantasy novels infused with lowbrow humor. Join the guileful Captain Kilrobin Ordr and his rowdy crew of sink pirates as they traverse their colossal public bathroom world, battling monsters, ornery gemstone skeletons, and whoever they just stole from. They’re all free to read, so please check them out if you’re interested.
I can’t afford any fancy pants ‘actual artist’ as far as making cover images for my free books, but I can throw together lousy placeholder ones with the best of ’em. Today it’s my post-apocalyptic big magic animal brawlfest epic Invoke the Bloody Mouth. Please check it out if you’re interested.
This story takes place in our cillimorphs universe, the team of monster buddies and the broad strokes customized by Screamingecho over on our interactive fiction writing Twitch stream. Head on over there and give it a follow if you want a team and a story of your very own!
Skipper Eden’s Big Break
by
Blaine Arcade
Cheerleaders are always in the wrong place. Somebody keeps putting them on the field, during the game, when they really belong in the preamble, in the lockers and dressing rooms, motivating the people who aren’t quite sure if they can get themselves out there and perform their best. Luckily for Skipper Eden, he had five incredible cheerleaders with him before he even entered Club Nosering:
In his particular future, on his particular planet, along with the other habitable worlds and realms, it helps in most situations to have cillimorph friends. Skipper was a cillikeeper in addition to an announcer (he’s getting to the announcer part), so had plenty such friends. His cheerleaders were his closest. And they were, in random order, just the way cillimorphs like it, a Tictuttle, a Mudaub, an Egvelope, a Rimeroot, and a Puckerluck. Continue reading
These stories were written live on stream based on prompts provided by the viewers. They have been edited, with this second more in-depth edit occurring much later, but not meaningfully rewritten or expanded so as to preserve the spirit of the exercise. Sadly, the prompts themselves were not recorded until many stories in. Sometimes the prompts were silly challenges, or quirky thoughts, or dark ideas, or utter nonsense. I did my best each time.
If you enjoy this, please check out the other activities from the stream. If you would like something longer and much more thoroughly planned, simply investigate my more traditional work at the top of the page.
prompt provided by pinkeyepoxy
Tiff’s tears pattered against the pile of metal debris. Tink tink tink. She tried to reach her hand in once more and came out with a fresh scratch on her forearm. Blood welled up. Rain joined her tears, filling the air with the sound. Tink tink tink tink tink. The broken husk of the hovercycle that topped the refuse was far too heavy for her to lift, and her arm certainly couldn’t stretch that far in.
“Why?” she asked the overflowing dump that was her next door neighbor. They lived in an illegal apartment, barely more than a room in a basement in a slum in one of the poorest super-cities in the world. At least it was one of the poorest according to all the E-zines that blew over from richer neighborhoods. Tiff’s place was currently encroached upon by a new surge of trash. Every day it inched closer to the window she used to crawl in and out of their home. Her boyfriend Masser could barely fit through, and risked hitting his head every time now. Continue reading
Hey folks, just a quick post to let you know that my longest novel ever, Invoke the Bloody Mouth, is now available on Kindle for $2.99 or free on Kindle Unlimited. (Psst, it’s also free in its entirety here on the blog). Please give it a look if you’re interested; the blurb is below.
It is the age of the beity. The animals of the world have grown in size and intellect, and in their wake humanity is reduced to meek servitude. They say the humans did it to themselves, shying away from the chaos they created. Loric Shelvtale says that, and much more in the course of his duties as a storyteller in the court of the great bear: Krakodosus the thundercoat, Scion of the Salmon Run.
Until one evening, during a key performance, he violates one of the ultimate rules, meant to keep his kind in check. Fleeing for his life, he seeks the only human power left, a secret reserved only for dentists, who are still allowed to forge metal to keep the giant teeth of their masters clean. That secret is the Bloody Mouth, an oath that turns a dentist into protector and warrior, and the tool of their trade into a weapon.
And so begins their struggle, to flee the beities, and perhaps learn how the world could have reached such a state, though they would be shocked to find it all started long ago, on a place called the internet, where their forebears could not stop obsessively staring at photos of adorable animals…
Blaine Arcade 