Bringing you stories, book and game reviews, writing tips, and updates from author S.G. Baker.
From a nearby pond, I heard a very small argument. More of a berating, actually. A tiny voice pierced the peace of the meadow where I lay napping. "You must fly!" it shrilled. "How else can we be together?" With a groan, I sat upright, immediately spotting the speaker. A handsome blue and black butterfly … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – Macabre Collaboration
A thump sounded beside me as an object landed in the springy moss along the dirt path where I walked. Following its trajectory, I figured it had come from a house crowding this side of the walkway; a lacy curtain stirred in a high open window, but no light filtered from within. There was no … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – The Hardest of Hearts
Clusters of bells hung in every archway of an old stone city. At the center of each was the original bell and along both sides of its dark, weathered chain, smaller bells clung like uneven bunches of brass fruit. I stood below one such cluster, listening to their small clappers shivering in the breeze. Bright … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – Howler Alarms
One of the rare times that I tripped, I happened to do so over the heads of a pair of gods, which I had mistaken for a pile of stones. Though they were sunk to their shoulders into the ground, they smiled contentedly at me. One had moss growing on its round cheeks and the … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – Resting Gods
Glass tubes glinted in the afternoon sunlight pouring in through the front window. Each tube contained a bright colored liquid, several flower varieties soaking up the colorful water. Only, their blossoms were the wrong color. As I examined them, yet another bloom changed, a pink carnation darkening to brown. I turned to the florist hovering … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – Dying Flowers
There was a star caught in a tree. Branches hung over a neighborhood sidewalk and the first breath of fall had convinced some of the topmost leaves to begin drying out. It was in this cluster of yellow foliage that a golden spark twinkled. I stood below on the cracked sidewalk, head craned back. "Did … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – Soul Glow
Worry had just begun to gnaw at me when I felt the thin silver chain wrapped around my fingers twitch. In what I thought looked like an ancient river bed, I paused, swinging the pendulum hanging from my hand back and forth. Slowly, slowly. At the bottom end of the chain hung a smooth orb … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – A Migrating Forest
Fifteen minutes of hope. That was all it took to drive me into standing in line for a week, winding step by step through the bottom of a valley alongside hundreds of other travelers from the world over, all sharing that same hope with me. No one maintained the line, yet in it we stood, … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – Fifteen Minutes
I was digging. Cold, dry flakes of snow bit at my bare fingertips, leaching the warmth from them. Knee deep in it, I didn't dare move any farther forward. She had gone down right here, the snow too light to bear her weight, closing over her head with just a small impression to show where … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – A Deceptive Drift
Orange sparks drifted upward into the night sky. Below them, flames fed upon fragrant pine boughs, leaping high and higher. The popping hiss of logs and branches lent the dancing flames voice, like a smoker singing to the tune of the whistling wind. I had questions for the builder of this bonfire, for those fluttering … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – An Abandoned Bonfire
