Archive | April 2019

Haunted House 44: Money

Apr6

First: A story featuring a male keeper and a female Kept.
Previous:  Buying and Selling

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The second customer left having actually paid – traded – for their goods, just as a third one stopped to finger the silk blouse Jasper’d wanted Mélanie to keep.

“You have a knack for finding the prettiest things, Jasper Fox,” the man told him.  He was an older guy, his beard long and braided into several pretty braids on the sides and his hair almost completely gone.  “I don’t know how you do it – and no, I don’t want to know, either. Some secrets are better kept, hmmm?”

“Indeed, my old friend, indeed.  Mélanie, this is Doug Carter. He’s a good customer – and if you ever need to buy something from him, count your change when you leave, but he’ll have the right stuff, mm, Douggie?”

“I always have the right stuff, my man, but you’re never buying.  No worries, Tonya down the lane was buying so I have this honey here, and, let’s see, oh, no, you don’t need eggs, do you, but how about some very nice cured sausage?  You know Jake makes the best stuff…” Continue reading →

Running in the Bear Empire 40: Spies

Apr5

First: Running in the Bear Empire
Previous:39: Prices and Paranoia
Next: 41: Discovery
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Deline shifted, not quite meeting Carrone’s gaze.  “How do you think you know anything about this?” she snarled, the first thing that came to mind. What was she doing, anyway?

“I’m a hunter, Deline, I think I know about being hunted just a little bit.  For starters, let’s get back to the – the place before we finish this argument, shall we?  In case our friend gets loose or someone else is looking for you.”

Deline set her jaw and nodded.  “Back,” she agreed. She stalked towards the cabin, barely minding things like cleaning up her trail.  What did it matter, when the Haloran spy was probably going to tell the Talon exactly where she’d been, anyway?  And then the Talon would put two and two together and- Continue reading →

MicroGreens

Apr4

The Tinies of Dragons Next Door can be found here.  The Tinies are generally around 4-6″ at the tallest, usually shorter, and live in the walls of human (Big) and dweomer (humanoid fae, also Big) dwellings. 

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“They’re called ‘microgreens.’”

Oka looked between her parents, trying to be defiant, feeling defensive, and looking nervous.

“We are – micro.”

Her hands were full of the seeds, which she had gotten when the Big whose house they shared had spilled her groceries.

Wud cleared her throat. “We are, but these are – we don’t grow, Oka.” Continue reading →

Camp NaNoWriMo – Autumn Lightning

Apr3

So, a year and a half ago or so, I wrote this story – Lightning in Autumn – to Inspector Caracal‘s (Cal’s) prompt.

This story features Leofric Lightning-Blade, from Addergoole: Ghost Story (before he was Lightning Blade), the Princess and the Elf AU/Fanfiction, approximately 8 million stories in 7 million AUs on my blog, and probably half that many or more on Cal’s blog. In addition to prominently featuring Leo,  it’s from the point of view of a man named Nathan, who is actually three people in one body – Public Face, Social Face, and The Other (though that doesn’t really come up in that story).

Then I… kept writing the story.  Through the apoc and out the other side and I kept going until it was 100000 words of a gay romance post-apoc travel journal exploration of Addergoole.

For Camp Nano this year, I’m trying to finish it! Continue reading →

Blog Post: Junk Mail Envelopes

Apr2

Through the magic of following the #LetterMo, #SnailMail, and #MailArt hashtags on Instagram and Twitter, and through looking at a whole bunch of mail art things on Pinterest, I have been experimenting with junk mail envelopes and more broadly make-your-own envelopes

The first thing I learned is that the US postal service’s guidelines are a wee bit complicated and slightly arcane, but once you have done your algebra and geometry and figured out your allowed envelope sizes vs. the paper you have, you can have a lot of fun.

I had a couple fliers from AAA and magazine from our local grocery chain when I found someone on Instagram who was using calendar pages – https://www.instagram.com/p/BvKEsgzFweR/.  That sounds good, I thought, but where do I find a calendar for cheap?

The next day, I walked into the local Dollar General (https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/dollar-general-throws-a-lifeline-to-hard-pressed-communities-but-at-what-cost/ar-BBO0d5j ; https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/aug/13/dollar-general-walmart-buhler-haven-kansas ) for a half-gallon of milk (Dollar General is literally on the way home even if I take the bus stop and is the only thing except a gas station and a strip club that is.) and there was a 2 foot tall stack of calendars for 70% off their $1 cover price.

Yeah, I have some calendars now.

I’ve read people talking about this sort of thing as being good for the environment, and I’m not 100% sure about that (more below), but it’s fun, and it’s a different way to make sure that the mail I send people has a pretty wrapper as well as a pretty inside and nice words – which is fun.  I get more excited when the envelopes in the box are fancy, or have wax seals, or are drawn on, or all three.  I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one, too.  (Do you?  Is it awesome to see some art in your mailbox?  I know my mom really likes it)

Okay, environmental impact.

As far as I know, the university I work at recycles all paper that’s put in the recycling bins, so not putting these fliers in the blue bin there doesn’t really keep them out of a landfill.  It might put them IN a landfill at the end, to be honest – I don’t know what people do with their envelopes. And as for what happens once that paper hits the county recycling plant – it’s hard to find concrete information on what percentage of paper that goes in a recycled bit ends up being paper again.

So that’s what I know about my boss’s fliers: almost nothing, but I probably didn’t keep it out of a landfill but making an envelope out of it.

Junk mail at home:  In the winter, everything paper without plastic attached goes directly into heat via our wood stove.  The ashes are composted – not in the garden usually, but in the meadow and other non-food areas.  Every piece of paper I turn into an envelope is actually taking heat and a decent soil amendment away from our house/yard.

And the calendars?  I don’t know what Dollar General does with things they don’t sell!  I know that the pile went pretty quickly, and that other people were buying them while I was there – I also know I went back and bought a couple more when they were 90% off, too.

The flip side: Not using store-bought envelopes?

Well, On the other hand, I’m sending more mail this way that I might have otherwise, and THAT costs a lot more fossil fuels than just sending an e-mail.

The end result of this is – I don’t feel comfortable in any way saying that junk mail envelopes are in any way better for the environment than any other craft.  If I’m being a responsible citizen and recycling all of my paper (or burning it for heat, which would be a reuse), then paper beads, junk mail envelopes, and other crafts from the back of magazines… decoupage!  I’m decoupaging my received-mail box! Collages!  – any of that is not inherently environmentally friendly.  There are things I can do that are a lot more so – like using reusable plastic containers instead of ziplock bags, bringing my own shopping bags, buying less…

… but the envelopes are really fun!

(and I bet they’re neat to get in your mailbox, too…)

Hidden Mall 62: Another Door Opens

Apr1

The ghosts led them past the cracked and melted remains of a Ground Round and a nail salon to a door that, in a normal world, might to go the outside.  To a parking lot. Abby stared at the doors – smoked overs and opaque – and reached for one of the handles.

A ghost caught her wrist with what remained of its hand.  No.  The meaning was clear even if the phantoms made no noise. Continue reading →