Friday derives its name from Frigg, also known as Frigga or perhaps Freyja, as the Norse goddess of wisdom, marriage, and foresight, meaning Frigg can see into the future. Still, she only shares this knowledge on rare occasions, whereas I do so weekly; this is my Friday Newsletter, the tenth, as it happens—Halloo to new subscribers! I think this mythology makes Friday a fitting day to reveal snippets about the modern fables I’m creating. Rather than giving away spoilers, I get to share teasers about the tales I’m telling, glimpses of my future fictions.

In Master of Magic, a PC game I lost hours and days to last century, the makers named their premade Wizard of Nature Magic—Freyja. Scholars of Norse Myth debate the relationship between Frigg and Freyja. As often with stories retold over generations, some see them as the same character spun out in different ways. That’s the nature of stories, the same notes and beats mixed to play a new tune. 

Master of Magic mashed up a lot of things; it played like a classic turn-based city-building strategy game, but had arcade-like battles every time combat occurred.

Casting magic spells could be used in both. The races, the “combat units,” and Wizards themselves were all riffs on familiar tropes. It’s like a great pop song or traditional, simple food: when someone creative combines these elements with the right seasoning, they really work.

When Susan Lapse asked me to promote her book 'Sorcerous: A Medieval Tale of Myth and Sorcery (Rise of the Charioteer Series, Book 1)' I couldn’t help but remember Freyja, the blonde sorceress and those halcyon days when I burned away hours of my life to win a high score. | 

One place I find things get really mixed up is in my dreams, which are a source of inspiration for my flash fiction stories —a discipline I love and hate in equal measure. I love it when things go well, but I hate it when I have to rework a story concept for the fourth or fifth time. Sometimes, dreams are simply too big to contain in 600 words, but not all are destined, yet, for a novel. Some merit expanding into a short story. 

Short stories are in the one to eight thousand or thereabouts range, so three Flash Fictions can make a shorter short story. There’s no rhyme or reason to it, but I’ve completed one “trilogy” of flash fiction, and I find it almost certain that I will embark on another—a coincidence. The new trilogy will follow tonight’s standalone story, or yesterday’s, if you are one of the super secret club who receive a story a day before I publish it for everyone.

News! That’s not, however, my primary focus on any given day. Between the dog, domesticity, and country boy pursuits, I write the stories that are too big, at least in my imagination, for flash fiction. |

Last week on Dave Hayes’ Writing Forum, the Writers’ Corner, someone posted about a Webzine taking submissions. So I spent five minutes looking to see if I had anything that might work. The thing is, I have written very short stories, and started novel-length stories—at least in principle, but short stories not so much. So, after five minutes of checking my hard drive, I went back to my routine, everyday tasks; some things aren’t meant to be. Right? 

Until they are, which is what happened, I approach my flash fictions sequentially. I have a dream journal, and whatever dream is next in the book gets developed. If I skip a dream, it’s only because it falls into the ‘too big an idea’ category. The following day, the next dream in the queue did lend itself to the Webzine’s requirements, and so I wrote that. There’s no guarantee they’ll like it, but the story of why I found myself writing this dream into a short story is a story worth telling.

 In other news.

The Spectral Detective’s prequel, “King in the Dark”, is progressing, while the Vampire Story simmers in the background.As ever, Flash Fiction daily from my X formally known as Twitter and Telegram channels.

 
Sorcerous: A Medieval Tale of Myth and SorceryUse this space to introduce subscribers to the topic of this newsletter. If you’re selling something, write informative and persuasive copy to effectively communicate your message.

Short Days, Shorter Stories24 Flash Fiction Short Stories, with three additional short stories just for this edition!

For those who may have found me through "Dragons' Shadows" Here is an excerpt from my first anthology of Flash Fiction.

Presented in chronological order, with three extra stories not included in the published book but included in this promotional edition. Each story in this excerpt from the anthology begins with a dream I had while asleep, taken from my daily dream journal. Some stories closely follow the inspiring dream's narrative, and others less so. Yet each one begins with a dream—a vision of the night.