Working on Brief Attractions has been really pushing me to stretch my ideation and writing skills to a whole new level. Working on House, A Vampire’s Vengeance, and Bus Driver are challenging in their own way, but there’s a roadmap, an outline, a structure to follow, loose as that structure may be. With Brief Attractions, there is only the commitment in producing … something. What that something looks like, I have no fucking idea until I start word-vomiting and an idea takes shape.
It’s interesting to say the least. Since I’ve started doing this, I have had a number of false starts, two stories I feel mediocre about, and two stories that genuinely have given me life and are motivating me to continue. One such story was 🧚♀️ The Traveler, the Tavern, the Fae. The other is linked below.
With regard to my regular columns, er, attractions, I keep pushing forward! Isabelle and Edgar are on the brink of releasing all humans trapped and enslaved by the Beings and their vampire collaborators in A Vampire’s Vengeance, and the bus driver and company run afoul of some nefarious group on the highway to Las Vegas in Bus Driver. Don’t miss these new installments.
As a final thought, I want to point out that not a single word of this edition—nor any prior—whether expository or narrative (read: editorial content or stories) has been written with the use of AI. I now feel it entirely necessary to state this fact since AI has become prevalent in a number of ways across society, and I want to reassure you, my dearest guest, that what you consume here is all dreamed up by a human—me—and created by hand, the old fashioned way.
Let’s get into it →
The Gaping Maw, which will you find below, is what came out of the attraction factory this week! Part one is shared here as this edition’s Brief Attraction, a solid 2500+ word story written in a single afternoon. Parts II and III were written shortly after, on Thursday night, all in one shot, bringing an additional 3700 words to the story. 6200+ words written over the course of two days is no small matter, and I am quite pleased with the outcome. I hope to see this published and brought into the Calamity catalogue as soon as possible.
I hope you enjoy part 1, and if so, you’re in for a grand surprise in how the story ends. Or maybe you won’t be, if you’re readily familiar with the rest of my work. Whatever the case, it will be my pleasure to share with you the rest of the story upon its publishing.
Our vampires seem to have found more trouble. What kind of mess do they find themselves in this time? Can’t be all that bad, considering they haven’t really had to deal with anything truly problematic, right?
Are you ready for some original cosmic horror? I certainly hope so. A vacation gone awry, the group trapped in a strange temple, and no way out. What does the narrator discover? Perhaps more than they ever wanted to know.
In this edition’s guest attraction, I share with you a strange tale of intrigue by a renowned author of weird stories, August W. Derleth. Part horror, part historical fiction, this one is quite … interesting.
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A patron falls prey to the whimsical magic of a touring artist. Currently available only on Apple Books.
Welcome to another installment of Bus Driver! When we last spent time on the bus, the bus driver and co ran afoul of some group on the highway. As they were a long way off, the bus driver had no way of knowing why they were being attacked. You can catch up with Part XLIV here. What happens next? How does the bus driver deal with this challenge? Let’s find out →
