Daily Short Stories from The Penned Sleuth

The Wee Free Men is the start of a series of novels following the young witch, Tiffany Aching. In this first novel, Tiffany faces her first challenge, as nightmares become reality and invade her home, the country of Chalk. She is armed with her wits, a frying pan and the Nac Mac Feegle, a band of tiny, blue-skinned pictsies. However, will it be enough to face the evils coming out of Fairyland? Here is my spoiler-free review of The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett! https://www.thepennedsleuth.com/blog/the-wee-free-men-by-terry-pratchett-book-review

The alarm blared, causing me to roll off the bed and faceplant into the floor. When did the alarm ring? It was either blaring at the wrong time or it wasn’t working. Unfortunately, it was one of those important days where you needed a blaring alarm at the right time. The airport was waiting and the nerves began to set it. Luckily, I had somebody in my life to share the load with. https://www.thepennedsleuth.com/

“Skies are clear, Alpha, you are good to go,” Jackson reported through the radio. “Roger that, Hawk,” the officer replied With that, Jackson flicked a few switches and leaned back in his seat. The jungle canopy below was now replaced with the ocean. It was a truly amazing sight, especially at these speeds. Ahead of Jackson and his co-pilot, Jimenez was the carrier. A large ship used to hold aerial support like helicopters and jets. Despite such a heavy load, the carrier was also armed with heavy artillery, including both anti-air and sea weaponry. https://www.thepennedsleuth.com/

Anna lived near the coast. There were no sandy beaches and warm sunshine, but rather rocky cliffs and constant bad weather. It was something you got used to living up north, but there was something Anna could not get used to; the thunderstorms. Living so near a cliff that fell off into the ocean, she constantly dreamt of a terrible accident that always involved the cliff being struck with lightning powerful enough to send a massive part of the land, as well as her home, into the ocean. https://www.thepennedsleuth.com/

The sun was a constant reminder of life to me. If I felt its warmth when I opened my eyes, I thanked it. The desert is unforgiving and some would say it is all because of the sun. I found that it is fruitless to base blame on something quite like the sun. We were in a situation that wasn’t easy, true, but many have thrived in it. You need only look at the plants that make it through the years or the towns and cities. Stone walls protect them from the sides, but there is no roof above them. Sunlight is needed or we would never leave the caves. https://www.thepennedsleuth.com/

While it wasn’t the genre I started writing in, Mystery was the genre that inspired me to write. Specifically, detective stories packed with cliches. For me, nothing beats a story about a fiercely intelligent person who casually pieces together every detail and catches the culprit in the end. Recently, I decided it was about time that I started writing my detective story, so I began my research and decided to share what I found in this blog post! https://www.thepennedsleuth.com/blog/the-detective-story-writing-toolkit-facts-and-tips-for-writing-mystery

For us, since this mess began, the trenches were home. From the kids who lied about their age to the veterans, trench warfare has always had the same effect on the troops. It was a terrible combination of depression and desperation; feelings that were brought on by the lack of food and quality defences. To make it fair, it was the same for the enemy as well. https://www.thepennedsleuth.com/

Ink on paper; is there anything better? I used to work as a cartoonist for a newspaper in my hometown, a small place away from most civilization. It wasn’t near the highway or any suitable tourist site, but still, we managed. Suddenly, around my late twenties, I was offered a job to draw for a cartoon program on the television. It was a dream opportunity that I could not pass over. https://www.thepennedsleuth.com/

The squire was beaten down by the overwhelming forces. Their push towards the city was unforgiving, but luckily he survived the onslaught by being weighed down by a dead comrade. His heavy armour protecting him from being trampled by the monstrous horde, but nothing blocked the sound of the horrendous laughing. https://www.thepennedsleuth.com/

Qu stepped into the broken building and wiped his metal face. Despite his transfer to this titanium and carbon-fibre shell, he still felt the sensation of stress and wiped his face like he normally did when he was human. Qu’s partner in the Sentinel program, Zed, was far more used to this experience. He had the transfer at the same time as Qu, but immediately adjusted to the new way of living. Now here they stood together, staring at the broken form on the chair.

Matt Keelock is pursued by a posse into the wilderness after a supply trip to Freedom ends in a shootout. More than anything, Keelock is worried about his wife, Kristina, who has her own pursuer. It’s a story of survival, greed and doing the right thing, with a host of characters to underline each value. Here is my spoiler-free review of The Key-Lock Man by Louis L’Amour! https://www.thepennedsleuth.com/blog/the-key-lock-man-by-louis-lamour-book-review

I continued the sketch with a little more caution. I had to make sure my measurements were accurate or the engineer would not understand what I wanted. The machine needed to have the right length and the correct weight. Any lighter and the machine would be too weak and any heavier and I would break under its weight. The helmet needed to contain a large number of mechanisms that wouldn’t break easily as well. It would be a difficult task for the engineer, but not an impossible one to complete. https://www.thepennedsleuth.com/

We drifted through the cold waters towards the void in the cliff face. A cave that wasn't there the day before, so you can understand our curiosity. It could have turned out to be a simple rockfall from years of seawater bashing up against the cliff, but no matter how close we got we could not see the back of the cave. Our interest peaked when we saw the beauty of the pools inside. https://www.thepennedsleuth.com/

Steven eased himself into the chair. The comforting sound of birds put him at ease and exhaustion caught up with him after such a long day. The warm fire glowed its appreciation for his hard work. The logs burned splendidly, fighting the cold air and finally a good night’s rest neared. Before drifting into a deep slumber Steven reached for the remote and turned the TV on. He preferred to listen to something while he slept; strangely the sounds didn't seem to have such an effect tonight. https://www.thepennedsleuth.com/blog/static

This isn't a nightmare. The doors were an almost common phenomenon. People seeing the same dream and even seeing each other. People on the other side of the world met each other in their dreams. Government reaction? Well, their initial plan was to kidnap these people. Experiment with them. However, it grew at an exponential rate. Everyone was seeing these doors. Soon you couldn't just pluck someone out of their homes or from the street. Still, those of us who were curious about this phenomenon found it to be a lot more sinister than most believed. https://www.thepennedsleuth.com/blog/doors

For Betty, this was the third time the company had messed with her plans. Having been preparing for her mother's birthday for close to a month it seemed that time would be wasted. Due to heavy cuts in revenue, after a PR disaster, many employees were let off. The remained work was passed on to two other employees that needed to work overtime to meet an unfair deadline. No matter what, Betty would end up working through her weekend, skipping her mother’s birthday. Not to mention the weekends that followed, with the second employee, Steven. https://www.thepennedsleuth.com/blog/overtime

Neon Tree was the most exclusive club in the city. The owner was a rat-faced gang-leader who governed over illegal trade in that sector of the city. Not to say he made it obvious, to most he was simply a man, to a few he was the club owner, but to me, a man that has been in his employ for almost a decade, he is a snake. I sat in his cold empty offices on the fourth floor of the luxurious club and pondered my plan to rid him from this city, he was a disease festering and rotting the core of the people with drugs, violence and fear. https://www.thepennedsleuth.com/blog/the-tree-fell-in-the-night

"I'm sure we took a wrong turn somewhere," Simon said stumbling on lose ground. "It's a mountain," Kate told him with a powerful sarcastic tone. "There are only two directions we can go." https://www.thepennedsleuth.com/blog/mountain-climbing

https://www.thepennedsleuth.com/blog/silver-stars The Silver Stars were a set of stars that appeared once every twenty-five years. It is common for stars to disappear. It means that they died thousands of years ago and the light has only just stopped reaching us. However, for stars to disappear and return on such a tight schedule is an unexplainable phenomenon. All we know is that the Silver Stars change nature that day. It shifts a balance in the direction of good, or it shifts it in the direction of bad. If you examined the times closely you would find that major events or actions that led to such were caused by Silver Stars.

Year One by Nora Roberts is the first book in a post-apocalyptic fantasy series. It follows the survivors of a virus known as the Doom. Some of these survivors are starting to develop magical powers. The world is divided further by the fight between ultimate good and ultimate evil. Here is my spoiler-free review of Year One! https://www.thepennedsleuth.com/blog/year-one-by-nora-roberts-book-review