Alien Beer

"Hunted" came to me in September 2010, and though I've never managed to publish it before now, it became the seed for the first of my Tipsy Fairy Tales, Blue Spirit. Having written the Road Ghosts Trilogy, I decided I needed a new direction, since I felt Brett's story had been told well enough. I wasn't quite ready to leave that universe, however, so I thought about minor characters I wanted to explore more, Skye came to mind immediately. She was funny, she had deep issues, and she'd been touched by the supernatural. But rather than stick to ghosts and ghouls and demons, I wanted something different. The following dark fairy tale still fresh in my mind, I decided that Skye would see into that fairy world. See the end of chapter 1 of Blue Spirit to fit this story in, and guess what its characters' names might be.

Jules and the crew of Hope's Tour confront the Deltan spy. Can they find an escape from Delta Earth before the Arch Authority can capture them?

I wrote "Fell Down" for The Iron Writer Challenge in September 2013. The terms of the challenge were to write a 500 word flash story using these four elements: A murderous unicorn; The Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle; A fantasy football draft must be a part of the main scene of the story; The story must be written from the POV of someone with a mental illness or developmental delay. This was a special Iron Writer Challenge. It was the very first Iron Writer Grudge Match. I was challenged by Tony Jaeger, whose second was K.A. Davur, and M.D. Pitman stepped up to be my second. The result was that my story won the popular vote by one, but K.A. Davur’s won the judges’ votes, giving her an overall one point win over me. The other stories were all quite good, especially Ms. Davur’s "Kenny", so I don’t feel bad coming in second.

Last time on The Multiverse Blues. Jules helped Coral escape the Arch Authority facility, only to have the strange Tristellian slip away into the Arch gate without them.

Now, Jules has caught up with Hope's Tour, mid-concert, to be reunited with their newfound family of friends. Or will they? The other Jules is still out there, so how will Jules convince Hope and her crew that they're really who they say they are?

This was my first story sale, back in the fall of 2011. I was, and am, grateful to D.L. Russell for taking a chance on me and my story for his ezine, "Strange, Weird, and Wonderful" and for including it in the anthology he later published from those stories.

Reading it now, I feel differently about it than when I wrote it under a different name; I still like it, but with more complicated feelings.

CW: Loss of agency, jealousy

On the run! When Jules is asked for help by a prisoner of the Delta Arch Authority, they can't say no, and the two set out against the odds to make an escape. Can Jules help the prisoner escape, without becoming a prisoner themself?

 

Last time on The Multiverse Blues: Jules set out to follow their doppelganger's directions, using preprogrammed Specs. Along the way, they run into Delta Earth's version of their fiancée, Samantha, and get a glimpse into their double's life in this 'verse. After some delays and tricky situations, Jules finds the secret their twin wanted them to find: a captive Tristellian like Hope, named Coral.

 

I've been teasing for a few weeks about giving you a look at what the alien diva Hope looks like. Well, wait no longer, I have posted my artist friend Kirsten Jacobus's beautiful rendition of her on The Multiverse Blues page on my website! Just visit https://sillyhatbooks.com/tmb and click on the picture to expand it. You can see Kirsten's other work on Deviantart at http://lunaseas.deviantart.com/

Ten years in the making, Mean Spirit, the last book in my Tipsy Fairy Tales Trilogy, is now available on amazon.com! The trilogy tells the story of gamer girl Skye, who has one foot in the fairy realm. Except, they don't like being called fairies. See more about Skye and the Tipsy Fairy tales on my website, https://sillyhatbooks.com, under the "fiction" tab.

First, some announcements.

I've been teasing for a few weeks about giving you a look at what the alien diva Hope looks like. Well, wait no longer, I have posted my artist friend Kirsten Jacobus's beautiful rendition of her on The Multiverse Blues page on my website! Just visit https://sillyhatbooks.com/tmb and click on the picture to expand it. You can see Kirsten's other work on Deviantart at http://lunaseas.deviantart.com/

Ten years in the making, Mean Spirit, the last book in my Tipsy Fairy Tales Trilogy, is now available on amazon.com! The trilogy tells the story of gamer girl Skye, who has one foot in the fairy realm. Except, they don't like being called fairies. See more about Skye and the Tipsy Fairy tales on my website, https://sillyhatbooks.com, under the "fiction" tab.

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Here's a second story I did for the 2014 Coffin Hop, based on elements given me by other participants in that Halloween event.

Here’s what they came up with: Nina D’Arcangela supplied an image of a wrought iron lantern cage; D.D. Syrdal: Staircase; Armand Rosamilla: M&Ms; Clarissa Johal: Bed sheets.

Exploring a new place on your own can give you a feeling of independence and excitement. However, when that new place is an alternate dimension, and you run into people who are almost—but not quite—the same people you know back home, things can get a little dicey. In this episode of The Multiverse Blues, Jules gets to find out what impersonating themself in another life feels like. They also make a startling discovery.

 

 

Have you ever wondered what Hope, the alien singer in The Multiverse Blues looks like? I have commissioned artwork depicting her, and will be sharing it with you very soon!

This week, we'll be doing something a little different. I was invited to do a mutual interview with my fellow fiction podcaster, Mariah Powell, who is the host of Hobbies Include: Writing. It turned out our projects have a lot in common, so we decided to sit down and have a chat about what we've been up to, and why.

 

Rest assured, dear listeners, The Multiverse Blues will return next week, with a new episode, but for now, I hope you enjoy this peek behind the scenes of the Alien Beer Podcast and hopefully check out Hobbies Include: Writing.

I wrote this story in the summer of 2014 as a submission for, and was published in, the Seventh Star Press anthology, A Chimerical World: Tales of the Seelie Court. It is a tie-in to my Tipsy Fairy Tales series, between Blue Spirit and Restless Spirit. It takes place during the time when Skye was borrowed by R.J. Sullivan for his novel, Virtual Blue. I figured since Minnie didn't make an appearance in that book, I wanted to write about her solo adventures in Bloomington, Indiana. On her own, Minnie gets into as much trouble as Skye, but without anyone to bail her out. 

 

Have you ever wondered what Hope, the alien singer in The Multiverse Blues looks like? I have commissioned artwork depicting her, and will be sharing it with you very soon!