Fantasy

Eyes of the Beholder

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For 2022, I’ve been wanting to write more ‘creature features’ and generally improve my short story writing. My partner got me a Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual for my birthday so I came up with the idea of writing a story every week based on a different creature from that – All There in the (Monster) Manual. Hope you enjoy!

This Week’s Inspiration: Beholder

HAILING FROM THE FAR REALM, WHERE YOUR MOST SECRET TERRORS AND DARKEST DREAMS BECOME A BALEFUL REALITY. FLAWLESSLY CONCEIVED AND BORN OF THE MIND OF THE GREAT MOTHER, THE MIGHTY BEHOLDER goes to the optometrist to have its eyes checked.

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Scorpion’s Sting

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For 2022, I’ve been wanting to write more ‘creature features’ and generally improve my short story writing. My partner got me a Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual for my birthday so I came up with the idea of writing a story every week based on a different creature from that – All There in the (Monster) Manual. Hope you enjoy!

This Week’s Inspiration: Giant Scorpion

Salma Al Aleagrab and her family flee across the deadly sands of the Great Sandy Wastes atop their scorpion mounts, pursued by a seemingly unstoppable predator. Unexpected allies and unexpected new ideas might be the only way to stay alive, free, and uneaten.

This story is based in the same setting as The Birth of Cities and Captain’s Log, although no knowledge of either is required before reading.

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Spoils

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For 2022, I’ve been wanting to write more ‘creature features’ and generally improve my short story writing. My partner got me a Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual for my birthday so I came up with the idea of writing a story every week based on a different creature from that – All There in the (Monster) Manual. Hope you enjoy!

This Week’s Inspiration: Wererat

War brews on the borders of the Eight Kingdoms, as the Dark Lord gathers his forces. A strange traveller arrives in an abandoned town recently devastated by plague, only to find he is not as alone as he thought.

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Maze

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For 2022, I’ve been wanting to write more ‘creature features’ and generally improve my short story writing. My partner got me a Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual for my birthday so I came up with the idea of writing a story every week based on a different creature from that – All There in the (Monster) Manual. Hope you enjoy!

This Week’s Inspiration: Minotaur

Doug’s new gig as an overnight security guard for Irrgång sounds like a breeze, just watch the cameras and every once in a while walk around the massive furniture store. But at night, the twisting path through the showroom somehow becomes even more of a maze. And worse, there’s something in there with him.

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Captain’s Log

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For 2022, I’ve been wanting to write more ‘creature features’ and generally improve my short story writing. My partner got me a Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual for my birthday so I came up with the idea of writing a story every week based on a different creature from that – All There in the (Monster) Manual. Hope you enjoy!

This Week’s Inspiration: Yeti

Sailors and traders have searched for years for a fabled passage through the frozen north. After two years stuck fast in ice on such a mission, Captain William Blarvey and his crew have been forced to abandon their ship and make for a nearby settlement. But the fields of ice and snow hold dangers and mysteries they have failed to anticipate.

Note: This story takes place in the same continuity as The Birth of Cities. Wooster is a city in the same vein of Yoruga, without that context this story is likely to be slightly confusing.

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Escalation

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For 2022, I’ve been wanting to write more ‘creature features’ and generally improve my short story writing. My partner got me a Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual for my birthday so I came up with the idea of writing a story every week based on a different creature from that – All There in the (Monster) Manual. Hope you enjoy!

This Week’s Inspiration: Couatl

Wallécre handler Tosh is going to be the very best, like no one ever has been! But first, he has to get to Tangerine Town to defeat the local wallécre maestro, and another young handler, Richie, is standing in his way. His wallécre are going to have to battle right to the bloody, bitter finish.

Trigger Warning: Cruelty to (Fictional) Animals

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Into the Labyrinth

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For 2022, I’ve been wanting to write more ‘creature features’ and generally improve my short story writing. My partner got me a Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual for my birthday so I came up with the idea of writing a story every week based on a different creature from that – All There in the (Monster) Manual. Hope you enjoy!

This Week’s Inspiration: Minotaur Skeleton

For years, seven young men and seven maidens were sacrificed to the beast that roamed the inescapable halls of the labyrinth. But the minotaur is dead and rumours of treasure have drawn the attention of a group of mercenaries. In the endless dark, however, something even more vicious has survived.

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The Birth of Cities

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For 2022, I’ve been wanting to write more ‘creature features’ and generally improve my short story writing. My partner got me a Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual for my birthday so I came up with the idea of writing a story every week based on a different creature from that – All There in the (Monster) Manual. Hope you enjoy!

This Week’s Inspiration: Dragon Turtle

Once in a century, the city of Yoruga goes ashore at the site of her ancient hatching ground to birth a clutch of eggs that will hopefully grow into a new generation of cities. Seeking a purpose in life, young Jairo stays behind with a force of volunteers to help protect the eggs. At first it’s a grand adventure, but the work, and the hatching itself, are fraught with lethal dangers.

This week’s story is a long one, the longest one I’ve written for All There in the (Monster) Manual so far. So if you have an ereader and would like to take away a copy with you, feel free to download this MOBI file instead!

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The Hunt

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For 2022, I’ve been wanting to write more ‘creature features’ and generally improve my short story writing. My partner got me a Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual for my birthday so I came up with the idea of writing a story every week based on a different creature from that – All There in the (Monster) Manual. Hope you enjoy!

This Week’s Inspiration: Cockatrice

The gods never made a creature more foul than the cockatrice. Its gaze paralyses, its breath sickens, and its bite turns living flesh into stone. But if Gould is going to get back into the good graces of his crime lord boss, he needs to capture one and bring it home alive. Is he hunting the cockatrice though, or is the cockatrice hunting him?

Trigger Warning: Cruelty to Animals, Cruelty to Humans

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The Pig

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For 2022, I’ve been wanting to write more ‘creature features’ and generally improve my short story writing. My partner got me a Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual for my birthday so I came up with the idea of writing a story every week based on a different creature from that – All There in the (Monster) Manual. Hope you enjoy!

This Week’s Inspiration: Nalfeshnee

Half-orc Hack doesn’t know where he fits in the world but desperately wants to prove himself tough enough to join the fully blooded orcs of the Greenskins MC. But when a delivery to a rival motorcycle club led by a hulking kamapua’a known as ‘The Pig’ goes disastrously wrong, the young half-orc might wind up fully dead.

Trigger Warning: Attempted Sexual Assault, Gore

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