Russell Mickler

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2022

Stories (30)

30 Stories

1235 karma pts

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“生日快乐 - Happy Birthday” by Russell Mickler

“A clear night,” Li Mei Ling texts in Mandarin, leaving the transit station. “Weird, but a good sign.” She turns a corner, her attention fixed on her mobile as she passes a mix of modern and traditional Chinese architecture. Neon colors splatter and stretch across the city street where throngs of young people loiter near vibrant, trendy bars and restaurants. A thrumming bass echoes, and Mei Ling smells the aromas of sizzling noodles, skewers, and dumplings offered by mobile food carts. A pair of pink over-the-ear headphones...

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“What We Should Be Saying” by Russell Mickler

CW: Language, Politics, Truth.{a high school graduation}{a crowd applauds}“Thank you. When Paul asked me to deliver the commencement address to Lake View High’s Graduating Class of 2023-”{applause}“... yes, well, I truly thought your principal had lost his marbles.”{audience laughs}“I even gave him a second chance this morning to rescend the invitation - for the Love of God, pick somebody else - but he declined the...

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“Urlwyn's Ward” by Russell Mickler

The Witch. Her Cottage. What Remained. Being Brave. Her name was Urlwyn Pitch, and when she died, her body was stuffed into a lidless casket propped upright against a hawthorn tree outside her home. A gruesome practice, the macabre display deterred sympathizers and served to caution the remaining members of her coven. Shortly after, the townfolk of Taemorden raized her humble cottage using mauls, sledgehammers, and mining picks, in a collective toil meant to expunge the witch from their memory.

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“The Terror of Amberglen” by Russell Mickler

The Wilds. Eder. The Game of Fate. The Aevalorn Wilds existed as an untamed forest to the south of Gaelwyn. It stretched inland from the western shore of the Fathoms for six hundred miles to meet a hilly plain dotted by steep, rocky mountain peaks. A rhododendron forest, most of its trees hugged the earth, and their trunks grew twisted, curled, and knotted, as their limbs were prone to creep sideways, horizontally to the ground. Seen from a distance, its rolling green canopy was marred by ruddy pa...

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“Born in the Sands of Mars” by Russell Mickler

The supercollider was called Magus, and it was - undeniably - mankind’s most significant scientific achievement. Constructed in the asteroid belt 1.2 million kilometers from Mars, Magus remained far from population centers, closest to the resources needed for its function. In continuous operation for more than four hundred Martian years, the Magus Complex was serviced by tens of thousands of autonomous robots that mined raw materials and fabricated components necessary to maintain the machine. End-to-end, Magus’ stru...

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“Midnight Tea - Part 2/2” by Russell Mickler

Benzie in the Closet. Elina’s Guest. The Way of Halflings. Benzie started, arrested from sleep by the sound of a table dragged across the hardwood floor. He wiped the drool from his face and brushed crusty sediment from his eyes. Faint firelight emanated from under the closet door, allowing him to make out shadows of his surroundings. Alone, Benzie Fernbottom huddled against the back wall of a narrow supply closet beside a mop and tin water pail. Listening, Benzie didn’t hear a...

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“Midnight Tea - Part 1/2” by Russell Mickler

Finding Your Place in Routines. The Guest. Attachment. Benzie arrived at the Swindle & Swine after dawn. It was the beginning of fall; the air was cool and crisp. He brought two logs into his arms and, balancing the load with a huff, reached into his pocket to fetch a key to the kitchen’s back door. Pushing it open with his hip, he entered the inn to gently lay the logs next to the kitchen’s blue and gray fieldstone hearth. Elina Hogsbreath, the inn’s proprietor, slept above the kitchen...

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“Favors for Juniper - A Mike Russler Mini-Mystery” by Russell Mickler

A Homage to Martin Ross on Reedsy.If You Ain’t Readin’ His Stuff, You Should Be!CW: Language “Nah, it’s New York style, eat it like this,” I said, curling the slice over, tilting it, and shoving a choking hazard of saucy, cheesy heaven into my mouth. Velma scowled at me like I was a nickel shy of a dime. “Wow, er, I can’t eat like that.” Velma ate her pizza tip-first, parallel ...

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“A Warlock's Gamble” by Russell Mickler

Dominion. Temptation. Gambling. Retreat. Snaked around Godwick’s neck, Greymalken licked at the air with a forked tongue emerging from a tiny snout of jagged teeth. Telepathically, the pseudodragon observed, “He’s resisting.” Wearing a spectral iron crown, Severain Yim, a healthy, young Gaelwyn Man in his mid-thirties and cousin to the King of Nodderton, resentfully gnashed his rotting teeth. He was armored, wearing a green and black surcoat and a sheathed broadsword hung at ...

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“A Plum Tree's Neighbors” by Russell Mickler

The Curmudgeon. The Sunflower. Feeling, Yet Saying Nothing. Between here and there - somewhere over yonder but more than a stone’s throw, and nowhere Man cared to be - in a quiet hamlet called Hollowgarde, lived an old halfling named Harlan Springbrook. Harlan lived in a cozy burrow set into a grassy hillside, surrounded by untrimmed boxwood bushes. His weathered, round wooden door was painted purple and adorned with a brass doorknob fixed directly in its center. Next to it was a large fron...

58 comments 58 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“Treasure of the Wraithwood Grove” by Russell Mickler

The Guardian. Manifestations. Mercy. Treasures. Raked across his chest, Bartram Humblefoot was thrown to the boundary of the grove to land amongst the twisted roots of rotting, dead trees clawing their way out of the soil. The siabrae issued a triumphant shriek from its fleshless, deer-skulled head. Its seven-foot-tall solid oak form lumbered on its hind limbs, and its branch-like arms bore grasping hands of wicked wooden talons. A tattered gray cloak, layered over a ruined tunic a...

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“Soso” by Russell Mickler

The Toymaker. Thomas. The Prodigy. Taking the River Trail. The dragonfly ornithopter remained still on the craftsman’s workbench. Inside its balsawood frame were scaled clockwork machinations - guts of miniaturized pistons, cranks, servos, and gears - that lay exposed in its abdomen. Four paper-thin metallic wings were secured to its thorax, and it had round eyes of polished purple kunzite. The tiny marvel was surrounded by an assortment of fine, delicate tools, a visor of sliding loupe mag...

50 comments 50 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“The Gifting Tree” by Russell Mickler

The Library. Tenrali’s Grievances. Tender Mercies.An explosion sent fire, sparks, and embers racing across the cobblestone floor of the library.Stepping through the portal with the use of a sturdy cane, the aged Tenrali Bubruco, Lower Magistrate of the City State of Caerleon, glowered. Pausing briefly to lift a lantern and adjust his eyes to the darkness, Tenrali sneered, “And now, my old friend, I’ve come to exact my revenge.”Behind him followed Godwick Emberfoot, a halfling warlock...

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“狐と笛 - The Fox and the Flute” by Russell Mickler

The Fisherman. A Forest Path. Promises. Cherry Blossoms. It was nearing the end of the day, and Henjō lifted his trap from the lowland river. He frowned at his luck as he reeled in his nets and lines from the water. Recovering only two eels and a catfish, Henjō would go hungry today, for his catch would only feed his wife and child. His stomach growled in disappointment. A young man, Henjō wore a green kosode over his hakama trousers, and a round straw hat shielded his fac...

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“The Green Chalice” by Russell Mickler

The Godhead. Holiday. Visions. Destruction. Across the multiverse, there are beings of extraordinary wisdom gifted with the power of omniscience, capable of witnessing places, people, and events throughout all time and space. They are the Chosen, selected by their universe to bear the crown of the godhead - the curse of true sight - so they might intervene in the affairs of mortals to right terrible wrongs and act as a counterweight to the malicious, stra...

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Author bio

I work as tech a consultant for small to mid-range businesses. I've been in the industry since the early 90's and over the years, I've written and co-authored a small number of books related to tech. But tech's _boring_ ... ... I really like to write fun stories about halflings! Black Anvil Books is my imprint for works of fantasy, flash, micro, and serialized fiction. Reedsy Discovery: https://reedsy.com/discovery/user/russellmickler Website: https://www.black-anvil-books.com Twitter: @blackanvilbooks Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blackanvilbooks

Shortlisted 3 stories ⭐️

Contest #193

A Plum Tree's Neighbors – read story

Contest #191

Soso – read story

Contest #180

The Two Shades of Luck – read story