Russell Mickler

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2022

Stories (40)

40 Stories

1900 karma pts

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

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.”...

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“The Magnificent Maron Maloney - Part 3/4” by Russell Mickler

Following the Cat. Questions. The Remedy. Benzie. It was an hour past midnight, and a slow-stalking tiger ascended a staircase found above the Swindle’s kitchen. Upon reaching a door left ajar at the top of the stairwell, the tiger gently shoved it open with her head, and it listed wide enough for her to enter. Taika Maru arrived at the foot of Elina Hogsbreath’s green-painted bed. A ward of three conjoined circles was carved into the footboard, and a matching wood dresser was similarly gre...

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“The Magnificent Maron Maloney - Part 2/4” by Russell Mickler

Petting the Tiger. Cooling the Water. The Spectacle. Secrets. It was a starry, starry night, and fireflies swarmed overhead like drifting embers. A light breeze blew through the whispering pines behind the Swindle & Swine. There were smells of fried pork, roasted beets, and freshly-baked cakes and pastries. Beeswax candles were lined along the porch railings. And halflings of all kinds gathered in the clearing beside the inn to attend the outdoor show. Taika knew, deep in his heart, the...

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“The Magnificent Maron Maloney - Part 1/4” by Russell Mickler

The Magnificent. Rolling into Pondaroak. Benzie’s Discovery. Taika Maru, a strikingly beautiful Bengal tiger, lolled in her cage, lazily watching rhododendron trees go by as the rickety wagon exited the forest. “Pondaroak,” she heard the guide say. Seated in the wagon’s pilot chair, Maron Maloney, a lanky Gaelwyn man with an impressive handlebar mustache with waxed, curled ends, said, “Ha! And as you promised, long before dusk, ranger. You’ve earned your commission ...

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“Return to Me” by Russell Mickler

The Wolfhound. Recalling the Past. Voiceless. A thick rain fell from a dark and foreboding sky when lightning tore open the night to reveal a lifeless body hanging from a noose above Mumling’s waterway. Nearby, a black, hungry wolfhound cringed. Frightened by the sudden burst of light and crack of thunder, it tucked its tail and made its way around the parameter. The dog growled at the witnesses as it wandered past. Bartram Humblefoot, the venerable Paladin of the Ancients, knelt rev...

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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 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 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