Sorry about earlier…

…if you were trying to reach the place, I managed to blow up my access and, well, the site stopped loading.

Thankfully, support at Dreamhost helped fix me up. The tech also gave me some tips for speeding things up, so I’m going to be poking around with that too.

I really do recommend them for hosting. If you want a new account here, please feel free to use my Referral Code. And you can tell them I sent you, although they may not know who I am.

Hopefully a new story will be out tonight or tomorrow, with Lady Mara showing off a bit of her skills – if not tonight, tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

Street Cleaning – A Story of The Night

BROOKLINE, BOSTON
11:22 PM

(Text surrounded in [square brackets] is spoken in Russian.)

The Model Cafe once had been a nice place to eat. That was years ago.

Now it was a dive bar, and the place to drink for more than a few Russian expats. Even on a Sunday night, a half-dozen of them were mostly drunk, boisterous, and unable to keep playing the darts game in the middle of the bar. A couple of the hot dogs the place was known for were in pieces on the floor and the bar, and the bartender was looking at the group dubiously.

Click to continue reading.

Some quick notes

  1. I’m going to try to start writing some stories more often – move to every other day, then to every day after I get in the swing of it. So expect more content soon.
  2. I’m still job-hunting.
  3. I don’t think I’m up for a Patreon kind of thing, but I set up a ko-fi account for a little spare change, if you want to send me a little something.

Management Negotiations – an Outback story

San Francisco:

James Michael Donobran stepped into the small alley off Wentworth Place, and adjusted his coat. It was drizzling a little, but not too badly.  He reached into a pocket, pulling out a small gem, and put it in the mouth of what appeared to be a statue of a dragon next to the wall he’d apparently stepped out of.

“Thanks for the trip, Ménlóng,” he said, and as he stepped away, the gate dragon’s eyes lit up, and it swallowed the gem, making a pleased noise.

Click to continue reading.

Pragmatism – a Juliette d’Aubigniy tale

ABSALOM, Ascendent Court, Cayden’s Hall

Boots up on the table, Juliette d’Aubigniy regarded her cup with a mix of amusement and irritation. The amusement was due to having seen one member of the group she shared the table with try to take a drink from the cup, only to have the metheglin within push him over the edge from drunk to unconscious; the irritation was because he’d dropped it and spilled it over the table. It had been a bit expensive to get it, in both money and personal services, and she wasn’t looking forwards to the cost that Tauglithgin would ask for more.

Click to continue reading.

Today’s travels – 9/17

Later today I’m going to be heading with my wife and my parents to a German festival. There will be food and a traditional German band. I’m going to try to get some photos – not sure if the phone or the Good Camera yet – but I’ll let people know what’s up when I get in (or, if it’s the phone, on the way — welcome to the magical world of the Future, where I take a photo of a bratwurst with spaetzle and let everyone know about it ten minutes afterwards, along with a review of the food).

Did I ever mention I like German food? Well, some of it. I don’t do much with mushrooms, don’t really go for Limburger cheese, and never quite got the taste of currywurst, but man, a good bratwurst or weisswurst and I’m a happy, happy man.

The Blow-Off – an Imago story

He ran down the filthy back alley, stopping at the intersection to look behind. He knew he was being pursued – one of the enforcers for the cult was after him. It was revenge that drove them, he knew – the guard had somehow found the cult and arrested most of them for demon worship and human sacrifice (the latter was the actual crime), and now those that remained were looking for their betrayer. Click to continue reading.