"So I've decided to promote Rupert instead of Johanna." Aaron wound up with a plastic smile. Lee didn't smile back. They sat, stone-faced, as the silence stretched and Aaron began to squirm. Then they said. "You decided. Perhaps you'd like to begin with explaining how that is your decision to make." Aaron spluttered, but Lee …
They knocked and found Samuel did indeed have time to spare, and more, was delighted to meet the village’s new storyteller. “The younglings were full to bursting with your stories of the last couple of days. And my Tilly, o’course, she’s been parading about the place with her new town braids like the fanciest little …
“He said he didn’t know how to skate.” Becky glared into her chai latte as her friends stared. “He’s from, where, Norway?” “Denmark.” Justine shrugged. “Same difference. I can’t believe he came out with such an obvious lie, and I even more can’t believe you fell for it.” That was unfair, and Becky retorted. “You’re …
Charlotte slipped between an oak and a large holly bush and started down the winding track. She kept catching glimpses of something interesting at the other end, not far away, just a few minutes. The question was, which would come first, her intriguing destination, or Elsie’s screeching fit when she realised Charlotte wasn’t where she …
Shanthi looked across the table at the two people interviewing her. Both a good ten years younger than her, probably closer to fifteen, both looking confused by her answer. The one who'd introduced themselves as Yan, with they/them pronouns, asked. "Why, if you're coming in as a strategist, would you be spending time on the …
Eleanor set her shoulders. She could do this, she was good at learning, very good, much better than some smug village girl who was only here to try and beat her, if Eleanor left, Maggie would probably lose two helpers, not just one. Maggie’s eyes looked through her again, but all she said was. “And …
“You have to have a love triangle; all the best-sellers are doing it these days.” “Which means by the time this makes it through the publishing sausage-machine, it’ll be too clichéd for words and the kiss of death for the book.” Moira stretched her arms over her head and watched as her younger sister frowned …
The carriage had been built to impress pedestrians on the close-cobbled city streets of Stormhaven, and while it had rolled along well enough on the smooth, flat highway between there and Market Middling, it was a heavy pull indeed on the uneven, upward-sloping road towards Snowreach. They’d been plodding along the road since just after …
Jass had no idea how Ben knew this place, how he’d become friends with people living in a strange, beautiful valley in the middle of nowhere, with a set of hot springs in a tucked-away spot at the narrowest end of the valley. She might not know, but she wasn’t about to complain. After two …
Life has been blessedly quiet after the nightshade episode. School is back and the new little coven has been introduced to a few other witches in the area as potential apprentices. There’s no way I could take all of them on, I barely cope with Sarah and Ben. Even sour-sauce Emma has a mentor in …
The DNA of Stories 