science fantasy

Snakewaist (Part Two)

~ Blaine Arcade ~ 1 Comment

(Part One)

(reading time: 1 hour, 20 minutes)

…

“Barf! Barf, barf, barf!” Clandestiny cursed into the channel. “What do we do?”

“I don’t know; I wasn’t expecting this,” Drupe admitted. “Quick, under there!” The fairanquin tiptoed across the sidewalk and threw itself under a wood-slatted bench at the edge of Piston City’s one tiny park. Its limbs retracted as much as possible. The sun had been down for several hours, and most of the bumblers were asleep in their beds, but not the crowd gathered around Wallup Tower. Continue reading →

Snakewaist (Part One)

~ Blaine Arcade ~ 10 Comments

(blurb)

Fairies exist, and they’re surprisingly tech-savvy, with their own magical internet, smartphones, and even giant transforming mech suits that can combine into powerful warriors… about the size of a short man.

Chaxium is just your average sour loner fairy, enjoying workouts and long conversations with her none-the-wiser human best friend online, but when a disgusting tycoon with an anti-environment agenda runs for office, she has no choice but to team up and use her family heirloom, the transforming snake machine Snakewaist, to put a stop to his plans.

(reading time: 1 hour, 2 minutes) (reading time for entire novella: 2 hours, 22 minutes)

Snakewaist

by

Blaine Arcade

Exercise

Inbox:

(NEW)(Ladyspiller): Hey, how’s my favor…

(NEW)(Podcrown): Chaxium, we really need…

(NEW)(Podcrown): This is urgent Chaxium,…

(OLD)(Leafshroud): Has Podcrown told you…

(OLD)(Podcrown): You haven’t gotten bac…

(OLD)(Podcrown): We have an offer for yo…

A bubble, tiny and blue, rose out of Chaxium’s pants pocket. It kept pace with her brisk walk as it rose to her face and popped in front of her eyes. She ignored it. Another bubble squeezed out and popped on the other side of her face. It was just going to keep going like that until she checked it or changed her settings. Chaxium stopped. There were others walking behind her, so she had to move over to the railing to let them pass. Continue reading →

Chat-your-own-Adventure #35: 1986

~ Blaine Arcade ~ Leave a comment

Author’s Note: This story was written live on stream with the audience voting to determine the path of the story.  The underlined phrases in the choice of three were the winning pathways.  Stop by twitch.tv/blainearcade if you’d ever like to participate in our interactive fiction.

Psycho Clown                  Epic Playlist                    The Guy Run Over by the Bus

He didn’t remember the destruction, as he’d never lived it, but he felt like he should have. The event was so cataclysmic, so volcanic, that it probably shook most of the world. People from a continent away did report hearing the boom. Raery Jeed was not one of them. This was not his experience, so he walked through it as cautiously as he could. Continue reading →

Regular Romp #17: Exigecki’s just a Hoax

~ Blaine Arcade ~ Leave a comment

Regular Romp is an interactive fiction activity over on our Twitch stream where I ask a regular a series of questions before turning their answers and a corruption of their username into a short story.  Stop by twitch.tv/blainearcade if you’d like to participate.

starring

Secksigeeki

He leaned over the edge of the boat, letting a rope of orange-stained drool drop into the sea and drift away. His name was Bob Badcork, and this was, if his stomach was telling the truth, the sixth time he was going to vomit that day. Continue reading →

Regular Romp #15: Ozmick Zord vs. Tanglecord

~ Blaine Arcade ~ Leave a comment

Regular Romp is an interactive fiction activity over on our Twitch stream where I ask a regular a series of questions before turning their answers and a corruption of their username into a short story.  Stop by twitch.tv/blainearcade if you’d like to participate.

starring

Cosmiczord

According to the automatic calendar, the soft paper-turning fwip sound of which served as Zord’s alarm click, it was the six thousandth five hundredth and thirty second day of freedom. Everything the robot had done with those days was visible in their small apartment hidden beneath an active machining facility. Continue reading →

Regular Romp #10: The Controlled Burn of Frykeesh

~ Blaine Arcade ~ Leave a comment

Regular Romp is an interactive fiction activity over on our Twitch stream where I ask a regular a series of questions before turning their answers and a corruption of their username into a short story.  Stop by twitch.tv/blainearcade if you’d like to participate.

starring

Dwaiquiche

“Turn it up,” the young chef ordered. She stirred the vegetables around in the wok, waiting for the right shade of char marks to appear. She leaned in to scrutinize the zucchini, but there was a sudden flash of heat, forcing her to pull back and wipe the sweat off her face with a hand towel. “Not that much!” Continue reading →

Regular Romp #8: Prod Measures Up

~ Blaine Arcade ~ Leave a comment

Regular Romp is an interactive fiction activity over on our Twitch stream where I ask a regular a series of questions before turning their answers and a corruption of their username into a short story.  Stop by twitch.tv/blainearcade if you’d like to participate.

starring

DarkhorseProductions

There were eight ships currently docked at the Tape Maestro station. Prod Darkorse had the job of knowing exactly how far each of them had traveled to get there. That was the easy part though, as each space-faring vessel trailed a giant cloth tape measure that terminated at their starting point. He knew that the drumstick-shaped golden ship had traveled exactly 6,569,435 indents to reach Tape Maestro. He knew the silver discus had gone only 302,649 indents. Continue reading →

Regular Romp #4: Screamer Echo Echo Echo

~ Blaine Arcade ~ Leave a comment

Regular Romp is an interactive fiction activity over on our Twitch stream where I ask a regular a series of questions before turning their answers and a corruption of their username into a short story.  Stop by twitch.tv/blainearcade if you’d like to participate.

starring

ScreamingEcho

All three versions of this story are surely interesting. I know why mine has succeeded over the others; it’s the easiest to understand. It’s also written the ‘loudest’. You may not know what I mean by that quite yet, but you will. I don’t feel bad that the others aren’t quite as popular, because I know their authors don’t mind. There will always be the cult followers, the beatniks and the berets ready to praise anything quieter than what’s in all the bookshop windows. Continue reading →

Regular Romp #1: Squishaby Snail and the Anti-Birdsong

~ Blaine Arcade ~ 1 Comment

Regular Romp is an interactive fiction activity over on our Twitch stream where I ask a regular a series of questions before turning their answers and a corruption of their username into a short story.  Stop by twitch.tv/blainearcade if you’d like to participate.

starring SquishySnail

Much cleaning had to be done before the arrival of the president of the Creative Wildlife Solutions Committee. The man was famously allergic to almost everything, befitting his hatred of furry, scaly, and feathered things. His family crest bore a damp used handkerchief. A single stray hair could send him into a sneezing fit, and Edwar Beygal needed him to be quiet long enough to absorb his explanations. Continue reading →