Short Story

I Am Waiting

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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: Vine Blight

She’s killed the others. I don’t know if it’s better or worse that she did so out of ignorance or indifference rather than malice. My sanity verges on an abyss. My thoughts turn to vengeance.

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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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Once Orcs Were Warriors

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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: Orc

Niklaus is a typical orc in an untypical age. Although he has a wife, twin sons, and an office job, his blood longs for the ancient ways. For bloodshed and the glory of battle. As the petty frustrations and humiliations of modern life mount, Nik is on track for an explosive eruption when old ways meet new.

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The Floor is Lava

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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: Magmin

Playtime has never been so lethal, as Kevin and his friends discover the floor has transformed into bubbling, searingly hot, molten lava. Not everyone will survive as they make the treacherous journey from playroom to kitchen, across the dining room and to freedom through flames and choking clouds of smoke, pursued by evil lava monsters.

Trigger Warning: Children Dying Horribly

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The Ooze That Ate Everyone

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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: Ooze

Having come to earth inside a meteorite, the Ooze has now consumed every living creature, every man, woman and child, every animal, every insect, every tree and plant, on the face of the earth – except for one person. Time has come to find out exactly why they were saved.

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