Russell Mickler

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2022

Stories (44)

44 Stories

2104 karma pts

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“What We Should Be Saying” by Russell Mickler

Submitted to Contest #198

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 offer, and insisted I speak.”{audience laughs}“So I asked him, who wants to hear from some grumpy old Econ teacher anyway? He mu...

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“Urlwyn's Ward” by Russell Mickler

Submitted to Contest #198

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. It was early morning, a day after Urlwyn’s demi...

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“The Terror of Amberglen” by Russell Mickler

Submitted to Contest #197

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 patches of rust-colored blossoms, and over the ...

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“Born in the Sands of Mars” by Russell Mickler

Submitted to Contest #196

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’ structural truss ran a kilome...

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

Submitted to Contest #195

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 any voices, but he did hear Elina’s footfalls as she went ba...

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

Submitted to Contest #195

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, and Benzie was mindful of her comfort. Going to th...

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

Submitted to Contest #194

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 to the table like it rolled on a chugging Wile E. Coyote ACME conveyor belt into her incisors. Real pedestrian, and I mean South Dakota living, bought frozen from Safe...

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“A Warlock's Gamble” by Russell Mickler

Submitted to Contest #194

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 his hip. A heavy metal key trembled in his ashen hand. ...

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“A Plum Tree's Neighbors” by Russell Mickler

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #193

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 front-facing window, also circular in shape, bordered by...

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“Treasure of the Wraithwood Grove” by Russell Mickler

Submitted to Contest #192

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 and green tartan, was all that remained of its former self. In...

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“Soso” by Russell Mickler

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #191

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 magnifying glasses, cabinets filled with spare parts, a...

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“The Gifting Tree” by Russell Mickler

Submitted to Contest #190

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 enslaved by the Arch Fae Aurusel the Gardner, and upon his...

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

Submitted to Contest #189

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 face from the sun. Two nearly-empty wicker baskets hung from a sturdy pin...

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“The Green Chalice” by Russell Mickler

Submitted to Contest #188

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, strangling tendrils of Chaos. The form of the Chosen varies between universes; nowhere in al...

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“The Magnificent Maron Maloney - Part 4/4” by Russell Mickler

Submitted to Contest #187

Maron Makes his Escape. Battle at the Swindle. Breakfast. Rounding from the back, Maron tightened a rope and secured it to an anchor in the wagon. Huddled in Taika Maru’s cage, Elina Hogsbreath cradled Benzie’s limp, unconscious body and contemptuously glared at Maron. “You should get used to that cat shelter,” Maron smiled slyly, lifting a trunk from the ground and sliding it onto the wagon. Resting against it, he gestured to the inn. “Think of it as your home away from home.” Elina scowled, “This ain’t over, scoundrel.” “Scoundrel,” Pip re...

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Author bio

I work as a tech 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 handful of tech-related books. But tech's _boring_ ... ... I really like to write fun stories about halflings! Black Anvil Books is my imprint for fantasy, flash, micro, and serialized fiction. Website: https://www.black-anvil-books.com Reedsy Discovery: https://reedsy.com/discovery/user/russellmickler

Shortlisted 4 stories ⭐️

Contest #202

Enemies of Crowkind and Shades – read story

Contest #193

A Plum Tree's Neighbors – read story

Contest #191

Soso – read story

Contest #180

The Two Shades of Luck – read story