A retelling of a short story written by myself for an old Horror fanzine. That story focuses on a particularly eventful evening in the life of freelance photographer Pamela Grey in the world of the Dark Conspiracy RPG. In this story game you take the place of Pamela. 

The world you live in is much like today's, only a little worse.  The rich are richer, the poor are poorer, and the gap between is so much wider. So much is controlled by the mega-corporations and rich interests that large swatches of the ever expanding urban sprawl are marked as "Outlaw Territory, Enter At Own Risk" - where even the police don't go, either for fear or lack of resources.  The middle class has mostly disappeared except for the lowest echelon of corporate execs, and legislative changes have allowed many that would have previously been on the public dole to instead sell their vote to corporate interests in exchange for support. Crime is up, as are disappearances, theft, and violence. Even as bad as the world has become, there are persistent rumors that even worse things lurk in the shadows.  Many neighborhoods have abandoned houses that everyone knows better than to enter, and even in the outlaw where the police fear to tread there are rumors of entire blocks that no one but the mad or the most desperate are willing to risk going into after dark.

You and Susan, your significant other, are doing ok.  Her job with Aprico has afforded the two of you a small place in a small gated community owned by the company. A prized place in the vanishing middle class. Your home is close enough to the gates that you can still easily indulge in your favorite hobby, walking through Chicago with your trusty camera in hand, particularly at night.  The sale of these photos as art pieces to the ultrawealthy, facilitated by Susan's contacts, has helped with sporadic lump sums of money.  Susan pays the bills, but your money pays for luxuries and splurges.

In the twilight one often finds isolated moments of beauty and mystery that would never been seen in the daylight, and you work to capture these moments in the perfect clarity of your lens. You know the risks of being out alone at night outside the gates, but even Susan has had to admit that the last couple of pictures you sold would not have been possible if you hadn't been out there.  To help comfort her (and yourself to be completely honest), you recently bought a large knife to carry with you, just in case.

So, come explore the night and see what waits for you in the dark.

An entry for MHD's Fairytale contest, this is a retelling of the old Appalachian Fairy Tale "The Little Princess of the Forest".

Come listen to the telling of one of the wildest fairy tales I've ever heard.    This story was originally told by Marshall Ward for a fairy tale collection, and has stuck with me ever since I first heard it.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.  Grab a seat and listen up, as it starts like this...

It was just supposed to be a quick run down to the bodega. Ten minutes, tops. Then you saw something in the alley, and now everything has been turned upside down.

Entry for Sherbet's Summer's End Synergy Contest

I feel your pain Dep.

Avery did a video on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3N8cnjXDb0

Might as well wait until Friday now.

Dirty trick!  My goose, it is cooked to blackened.

Yeah, I think that is really solid advice and kind of the way I am going to approach.

I had been thinking along the lines of those specific names only being referenced in books and by professors/teachers, with students and regular folk deferring to more common names to help emphasize the academic bent of the school environment.

The history is identical to the world up until 1500 AD, which is why I was leaning into Greek or Latin (and just liked the -urgy= "to work" connotation).  I could do a breakdown of which cultures likely developed a formalized system for each particular type of magic and have an official name constructed by the rules of that culture's lexicon.  That would help feed into stuff for the history coursework, so would have multiple funcitonality.  I like that.

I like the idea of being able to use Visio to make magic runes, that is a cool idea.

In the opinion of the illustrious authors and readers here, do you think it is worthwhile to come up with unique names for types of magic or advanced technology/sciences in your fiction? 

As an example, I am currently working on a fantasy magic school kind of game where the main stated purpose is to learn how the various kinds of magic work and it's impact on the world .  There are numerous types of magic to be educated in such as Alchemy, Elemental, Divination, Weather, Life/Death, Arcanotech, Divine, Resist/Amplify, Constructive/Destructive, Nature, etc.  To add to their integration into the world I have developed a name for each type based on the suffix -urgy meaning "to work" as magic is a method of doing work via certain domains.  Since that suffix is Greek in origin, I have come up with Greek portmaneaus for each type.  Alchemy = Alchimurgy, Elemental = Stoichiurgy, Arcanotech = Michanurgy, Life/Death = Zoiurgy, etc.

Given that the game is a school learning about these, I don't think there is as big an issue using these new terms as there might be in other scenarios, but what do you think?  Is saving possible confusion worth losing the word-building of unique terminology?

Just think about how big the SHAME label is going to be if you fail...

Cause a diddy party don't stop till the fed investigation pops.