A person struggling with heartbreak is drawn into the history of a garden filled with morbid beauty. Genre: Fantasy

Excerpt:Branches terminating in skulls. Transparent petals whose vessels glow white as bleached bone in the dark. Bright yellow leaves whose soft serrated edges exude a dark red liquid that drips and pools and stains the ground like the signs of a crime scene. Such sights could I have seen in the greenhouse of gruesome growths. The courtyard of the maverick alchemist. The garden of the peculiar.

The Wheel of Fiction Turns. What did it land on this time?Each Season 9 story follows a theme chosen by the Wheel of Fiction. Thirteen spokes. Eight are the themes from previous seasons. One is "Turn Again." One is a wild card. And three are covered in question marks and will be revealed when the wheel lands on them. This episode landed on TURN AGAIN, and when I turned the wheel again, it landed on a Mystery Spoke…DRAW!!! This means I draw first, then write the story based on that drawing. See a story trailer and a (satisfying) video of the wheel turning here: Garden of the Peculiar Find more stories and episodes where the drawing inspired the story here: Year of Creatures

MERCH!Interested in merch, like mugs and notebooks, featuring my artwork?Please visit my Store page for info on where you can buy: STORYFEATHER STORE

The Store page also has sign-up forms for my two email newsletters: Storyfeather Gazette (if you'd like to keep up with the fiction I create)Fictioneer's Field Guide (if you'd like writing tips and guidance from me) Choose what you want. (Either way, you're choosing high jinks.)

MY FIRST BOOK (yay)Ever wonder how I've gotten all these hundreds of stories written? I have a method. You can learn it in my book called Fictioneer's Field Guide: A Game Plan for Writing Short Stories. It's now available from Amazon as an eBook, paperback, and hardcover. You can also get there from my Store page: STORYFEATHER STORE

CREDITSStory: "Garden of the Peculiar" Copyright © 2022 by Nila L. PatelNarration, Episode Art, Editing, and Production: Nila L. Patel

Music:"At Night" by NICHOLAS JEUDY (Intro)"Song Visiting Her Forest" by ALBERT FERNANDEZ (Outro)"Abstract Vision #5" by ANDREW SITKOV (Outro)

Music by NICHOLAS JEUDY (Dark Fantasy Studio)"Creatures of the night""At night""Whispers""Evidence""Witches"

Music by ALBERT FERNANDEZ (Audio Alchemist, Potion Studio)"Song Mistery""Song Painful Memories Loop""Song Visiting Her Forest""Atmosphere Persecution Danger Loop" All tracks are part of a music and sound effects bundles I purchased from Humble Bundle and sourced from GameDev Market. Music by Albert Fernandez, Nicholas Jeudy, and Andrew Sitkov is licensed from GameDev MarketSound effects from AudioJungle, GameDevMarket, and Soundly (through Hindenburg)Changes made to the musical tracks? Just cropping of some to align with my narration. Find more music by Nicholas Jeudy, Albert Fernandez, and Andrew Sitkov at gamedevmarket.net Find more stories by Nila at storyfeather.com

Episode Art Description:Digital drawing. Composite. At center, a flower with three petals shaped like teardrops, one petal at top, two below, each with long tips that extend out of frame. The petals' coloring combined to form the face of a monkey. Behind and at right are bright and shadowy overlapping outlines and silhouettes of a stem with branches that terminate in skull shapes. Behind and below the main flower is a smaller flower with a monkey face tilted to the right, its monochrome color fading into the background. Behind and at left, depicted in glowing monochrome is a flower that appears like a figure wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a flowing cloak. Behind this glowing figure at left is another silhouette of the skull shapes. Watermark of "Storyfeather" along the edge of petal at right.