📚 The Firedrake--Working on Ravensgame

With a lethal deadline looming over her, Traedis needs to find her uncle before it’s too late. But a new danger has emerged, and now she must learn the secrets of bardic runes before they topple her rule. #WritingCommunity #amwriting #FantasyIndies amazon.com/Runedance-Beth…

A roller coaster loomed, rails funneling the morning sun. Some cars were running; Nan could hear excited screams. She boarded; took off. As she hit the signature #loop, gravity dissolved: again and again. Her screams joined others as she learned it would loop forever. #vss365

@redsaid1 You sent me down a rabbit hole with this one! I don't speak Afrikaans, but I studied Dutch in college, so I heard "lope." Then I had to chase down the fact that the word is, in fact, a cognate of the word lope in English. Fascinating!

For my penultimate prompt, I'm changing course. A false cognate (or false friend!) has the same spelling in English and Afrikaans, but different meanings. Today's means walk in Afrikaans, but it's a circle or cycle in English. The #vss365 #prompt for April 14, 2026 is #loop

The Dragon King was angry; the town could tell. #Water rose and lashed at houses; darkness rolled in on a storm-clouded horizon. A young girl clutched the stolen dragon pearl, heart thudding at each wave. She would not lose the promise of magic even if it destroyed her. #vss365

The dryad would #sing with joy, warbling like a bird, murmuring like a stream. She danced to the call of the wolf and the shrill of crickets in the night. The village at the forest's edge heard no beauty, only fear. "The forest will eat you," they told their children. #vss365

@MariaAPerez1 At best, she eats travelers.

@TFiredrake Whoa! What's up with Mama?

Laurel noted the window #blind was up; a sure sign Melanie was home. The single candle on the sill meant she needed no assistance. Mama had not yet returned. It would be Melanie's turn to bind their mother. Only then would the inn be safe enough for travelers to stay. #vss365

Dr. Georges did not #bank on an infestation when he opened his office on the border. It was not till patients flooded in talking of grasshopper steeds and burning moonbeams that he realized. Fairies stung, and their chimeric venom could erode human reason in a heartbeat. #vss365

@brclothwrites Are you familiar with the 90s animated series "Gargoyles"? It was actually quite good.

If I wrote a story about gargoyles coming to life at night would anyone read that? Is anyone else obsessed with gargoyles like I am?

He drew her #hand obsessively; it should have been his. He always changed the ring, wondering if a different stone, a different pattern might have changed her mind. One night she appeared to him. "Come, love," she whispered, and swept her broken fingers across his face. #vss365

All Alice's mother had left her was an elegant silver-etched #ring. When she wore it, she could almost hear her mother's voice whispering. Gradually, grandmother's and great-grandmother's voices slipped into her ears, telling her the wisdom of the women in her line. #vss365

It hated everything, but the works of #man the most. The forest ignored the creep of rot among the roots; the grasses seeded over what they could not defeat. But in the cities, black inched into sewer pipes; brought coughs, chills, and fevers that would destroy millions. #vss365

The lifespan of a #sprite was short; a season at most. As ice melted into a warming spring, the last of them began to dissolve, its power of frost evaporating. Soon, in mere decades perhaps, none of its kind would be reborn, as the earth heated into perpetual summer. #vss365

She watched stars #revolve around her, radiant and glorious. All were known to her: the blazing pole star; the red giant with laughing flame; the somber twin suns. She had burned out and fallen so long ago. Somehow she must reignite the cinder of her heart and return. #vss365

Hi, friends! Here is my March flash piece! What is found at a tea party? Find out! $2 gets monthly flash piece, answer to writing questions, $5 gets that and thank you in a novel, look at old writing, etc. #amwriting #fantasy #amwritingfantasy #writingcommunity

Enzo's power to #fascinate was the strongest the family had seen in generations. By the time he was seven, the magic clan would have offered him the galaxy for a smile and a glance. Only sister Thea resisted his charm. Her gift of soul-seeing revealed his rotted heart. #vss365

In the highest tower of the mountain keep, a girl watched the #tempest boil. They had forbidden it to her, but she was not afraid. The storm was her lifeblood. Her eyes lit with reflected lightning. Clouds swirled in the palms of her hands. She stepped out into the air. #vss365

@AliceLBronte @brclothwrites A backwards one! It's delightful and runs in that direction.

@TFiredrake @brclothwrites A backwards watch, really? Or do you just mean an analogue one?

Okay…what time is it? 🧐🥴

@Aljakhope3 Lovely.

@TFiredrake In wavering reflections, grief and longing blur, calling softly from the edges of memory 🌧️🪞🖤

Tears prickling her eyes, Josie flung herself in front of the pond. The water shimmered; her reflection seemed to #waver. Then, superimposed, another figure appeared: the image of her dead mother. "Come to me darling," whispered a voice like the falling of raindrops. #vss365