The Mall, a short horror story for Patreon Patrons

Nov6

The thing is, our town isn’t that big. It’s a city, technically, yeah, but the next city away is an hour in any direction, and most of those aren’t very big either. So the mall is the only real shopping around except Wal-Mart and Main Street, which is to say, the only real shopping at all.

Or at least, it was…

read on…

For just $1/month, you can read all the Patreon stories!
For $5/month you can prompt me AND vote on the serial topic!

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1005568.html. You can comment here or there.

Distributing Self-Pub books via Little Free Libraries and the like?

Nov5

I was thinking the other day (while passing the Friends of the Library book sale building), that many people advise getting your book out there by donating it to libraries, which is problematic – library donations often just end up at book sales like that (and then sometimes in dumpsters from there); libraries have limited space and the books they keep on their shelves are curated, and so on. There is a five-post guest article on this in my archives – http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/tag/info:+library and scroll down a couple posts – by eseme.

But!

Little Free Libraries have none of that, including a budget. If you had a map of their libraries in your area and a stack of your books, you could seed them throughout the area. Road trip and slide ’em in on the way. Like very map-based suburban/urban geocaching? “Oh, we’re going to be in boston, let’s check out their little free libraries while we’re there.”

…I need a book to drop off at the local LFL.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1005124.html. You can comment here or there.

Edally Academy Chapter 10A: Gather Round Now Children, Hear My Song

Nov5

Saydrie looked at Taikie and Enrie with a look so worried and so desperate, it made Enrie’s chest clench and her throat tighten. She nodded slowly. “We trust you, Sayrie. I promise I won’t doubt you.”

“I – I trust you.” Taikie sounded less certain, but she had been the one following Saydrie

Read on:
http://www.edallyacademy.com/2015/11/04/10agather/

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1004339.html. You can comment here or there.

Into Lannamer First and Last lines, 4th day of nano

Nov4

First line of today, Into Lannamer:
He gaped at her. “I want to go home. I’m the-”

Last line of today, Into Lannamer:
“It’s like throwing a blanket over a goat and pretending it’s a table. But if you add enough blankets, even a goat-herder might be fooled.”

628 words today, 3292 words running total on Into Lannamer.

A grand total of 1,283 words today, bringing the total to 7,585.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1004847.html. You can comment here or there.

Into Lannamer First and Last lines, 3rd day of nano

Nov4

First line of yesterday, Into Lannamer:
It was a good choice

Last line of yesterday, Into Lannamer:
She settled cross-legged with her knees nearly touching his, so that she, at least, didn’t need to raise her voice.

808 words yesterday, 2664 words running total on Into Lannamer.

A grand total of 1,655 words yesterday, bringing the total to 6,302. Whee!

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1004059.html. You can comment here or there.

Through Another Door

Nov4

There were people waiting for them when Alexa opened the door.

It was certainly not the first time that had happened. They’d run into hostiles a time or two, scientists on one memorable occasion, and there had been the time the door had opened into someone’s bathroom.

(If Door-hopping ever became a proper mode of exploration, there would have to be some sort of note sent around about remodeling.)

But this time they opened the door into an attic and two children, one snatching her hand back as if she’d been about to open the same door. They were dressed in school uniforms; the boy had a black eye and the girl two scraped knees. They were, not surprisingly, staring at the team.

“You are most definitely not Aslan.” The girl had a working-class London accent and a very withering glare.

Alexa opened her mouth, momentarily at a loss for a reply.

“No.” Josie stepped forward, her voice carrying gravitas like Alexa had never heard. “One of the truths about such portals as this is that they rarely, if ever, open to the same world twice. But there are other portals out there, and they will take you to many places.”

“Be careful-” Cole began, and then trailed off, at a loss for once in his life.

Aerich stepped up, his voice stentorian and serious. “-for there are monsters and dangerous people through many doorways, and you will not always be given a guide.”

Peter said nothing. His meters were beeping and whirring away.

“Good travels.” Alexa bowed to them. “And may the Door always lead you home when you need it to.”

Peter’s meters clicked; they had all the data they needed. Alexa shut the door firmly, holding the girl’s eyes until the door and the world was closed.

“HQ would have loved them.” Cole’s voice was surprisingly bland.

Alexa was equally surprised to find her own voice vehement. “HQ can go fuck themselves until those kids are adults. Let them explore while they still have wonder.”

“They might die, you know.” Josie was back to sounding stoned and dreamy. It made the sentence she’d uttered even more creepy.

For once, it was Aerich who defended her. “They might. And they will then have died exploring. Let them live, as Alexa said. Time enough for HQ and such things later.”

“Makes you wish, doesn’t it?” Peter finally looked up from his machines. “Sort of makes you wish we were young enough to see the world like they do.”

Facets of Dusk has a landing page here

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1003850.html. You can comment here or there.

Into Lannamer First and Last lines, 2nd day of nano

Nov3

First line of today, Into Lannamer:
“The remaining army will need translators and, mm, cultural interpreters.”

Last line of today, Into Lannamer:
… or risk his own life by starting to complain again.

803 words yesterday, 1856 words running total on Into Lannamer.

A grand total of 1531 words yesterday, bringing the total to 4647. Whee!

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1003711.html. You can comment here or there.