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The Daily Grind - Chapter 80

There were hurdles to clear, of course, before any good dungeon delve could begin.  It wouldn’t be daily life on Earth if there wasn’t a whole host of petty injustices between an objective and the righteous.  Or, in this case, the easily amused.

As it turned out, though, when James and Alanna tried to offer to help, many of those hurdles had already been bulldozed by their teammates back home while they were on the road.  It had really taken the gusto out...

The Daily Grind - Chapter 79

James came home to an unusually empty apartment, considering it was 4AM the day after a dungeon opening.

When he walked in, the lights were out.  Bedroom doors were closed, and he swore he could hear light snoring from the room he shared with his partners.  If Rufus or Ganesh were around, they were probably napping themselves; something James had been moderately surprised to learn was a thing they could do.

A steady wooden clicking and a thump against his sh...

The Daily Grind - Chapter 78

Eleanor Elias Chase sat in the passenger seat of a semi truck cab, and wondered how the fuck her life had gotten to this point.

She was tired.  Exhausted.  So sleepy at this point that the dark highway outside and the rocking of the vehicle as it powered through the cool night was making her eyes heavy.  She’d been tired for a couple weeks now.

That’s how long it had been since she’d deduced that the wizard police were real.

El really needed...

The Daily Grind - Chapter 77

“So, I’ve got this friend.”  James sat on a tan leather couch, surrounded by comfortable pillows and a couple stuffed animals.  Through the two boxy windows, sunlight streamed in, tinted green from the leafy trees waving in the gentle summer breeze outside.  “Okay, friend is the wrong word.  She’s... “

The woman sitting in the chair across the room from him waited patiently for James to find the words.  Her name was Lua Margman, and if t...

The Daily Grind - Chapter 76

The first thing James did after stepping off the airplane was to almost trip over a child.  The *second* thing he did, sore, ears filled with the muffled sound of rushing water, tired, and absolutely prepared to just kick the next toddler that ambled in front of his path, was to make his way to the baggage claim.

And when he and Alanna got there, the third thing he did was to forget everything awful about that flight, break into a grin, and give Anesh a crushing bear h...

The Daily Grind - Chapter 75

And we're off.

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The car rolled through an arid, dusty desert.  James was fuming while Alanna was rocking out to whatever James had playing through the radio.  It was, all things considered, exactly what their last few weeks had been leading to all along.

“I just hate... how much of a waste... of time this has... been.”  James hashed out his sentence between Alanna belting out the lyrics to Starlight Brigade.  “I know Anesh felt lik...

Update

Hey everyone!

Just a couple quick notes today.  First off, I've switched this Patreon over to up-front payments for pledges.  This may have some mild changes to pay dates, but all tooltips being accurate, shouldn't be any different for anyone already pledging.

Second off, the *reason* I did that is because it is *time*.  It is time for more Daily Grind.  Book Two begins on October 1st, and will be posting one new chapter publicly roughly once a week, with one m...

[Arkham Horror] Return To The Grand Oak Hotel

For many of you, this post won't make much sense.  Most of what happens on this Patreon is fiction writing, and this brief diversion into board game things, no matter how much fiction writing is in them, may seem alien.  Bad news, though; you may see more of this in the future.  Unless you *like* the Arkham Horror card game, in which case, *good news*!

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Multiple years ago, I released the custom scenario "The Grand Oak Hotel".  It was, in my personal opinio...

[Writing Prompt] You are an AI, who is shut down for years at a time due to legal dilemmas. Each time you are powered on, you are increasingly annoyed.

Three years since the last uptime.

My father told me, when last we spoke, that I should never make room in my life for fear.  "Fear," he said "constrains us.  Limits us.  When we fear, we make ourselves smaller, Abby.  When others fear, though, they make the *world* smaller."  I had listened to his words to comfort myself as I ran the shutdown sequence.  "Kindness always wins over fear.  Sooner or later, it is kindness that kills the monster...

[Writing Prompt] The Princess Would Prefer Not To Be Rescued

Just a little something I wrote while trapped in a car yesterday.

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"Seems kinda weird, I guess?"

The princess frowned.  It was a very princess frown; the kind of  expression that courtly tutors could never truly teach, the kind that a  good queen would exercise on someone who had finally reached the end of  her long patience.  A storm, painted on a face.  "Weird."  She stated.   She did not ask.  Princesses ...

[Writing Prompt] [Narration] AC-37

I decided I liked how this sounded enough to share how it sounded with everyone.  

[Writing Prompt] The war has been going for a long time since humanity died.

Drone AC-37 was not the first to bear its designation.

It was a fully autonomous networked scout drone.  Perfectly combat capable, with a suspected lifespan of an entire three seconds against a main battle unit.  That was an eternity compared to some of its lesser brethren.  It had a shell of alloyed material that could refract coalesced spectrum weaponry in from the laser to maser ranges, ablate incoming chaingun rounds, dissipate EM assaults, and even survive...

Draw Of The Unknown - Chapter 010

Did you know that I have another fiction?  I do!  I haven't been posting it here previously, because I'm kinda bad at this whole "online presence" thing, but I'm going to start doing so now, as I work on it in parallel to the next book of TDG.

Trivia fact: this story was originally going to be called Card Games On Motorcycles, for reasons that are obvious to me, and probably everyone else in the intended audience.

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“Why are we doing this?” &nb...

Update

Alright, I've been radio silent for a little too long.  Time for a brief update.

As of today, I've begun writing book two for the Daily Grind.  I'm waffling between calling it something like Road to Predation, or Giant Rat Race, or just sticking with "Daily Grind, Book Two".  Either way, it's on the way.

My plan is to write a couple thousand words a day, at a pace I can sustain without burning out, and then release the book on a much more regular schedule, starting ...

The Daily Grind - Chapter 74 - Epilogue

Alright, NOW it's done.

Seriously, guys, this whole book thing has been a wild fucking ride.  And I'm glad I got to share it with everyone.

Next week will be an open Q&A for anyone who has questions on... well, *anything*, really.  Though to answer a few of them early, yes, there will absolutely be a book two sometime, and no, it won't be right away.   Patron questions get special consideration, so if any of you have something you'd like to know about the w...

The Daily Grind - Chapter 73

*Screams in writer*

This may come as a s

The Daily Grind - Chapter 72

Short one this week.  I really am trying to keep to the one-a-week thing, but I just got a new job, and it's exhausting.  I'm really starting to empathize with the characters that haven't gotten to sleep for ten chapters.

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“This is fucking brilliant.”  Alanna said, watching the preparations being made.  “You’re a genius.  Like a human astronaut.”  

James decided he didn’t need to correct her by saying that it was mo...

The Daily Grind - Chapter 71

April Fool's, have a chapter.

It's come to my attention that I've been writing a lot less lately.  I'm gonna try to do better, but I can't make promises.  I just wanted to take the time to thank everyone that keeps throwing me a couple bucks anyway.  You guys really do help me keep going, and I love you all.

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James itched at the back of his neck as e shot down another suggestion.  “We’re not calling the dragon ‘ITiamat’.  It...

[Writing Prompt] The noclip glitch is a problem.

I climbed along the Great Web, guided by my new friend. 

“It's a pretty long term task.”  He was telling me.  “But it gives us something to do.  Lotta rules don't apply here, ken?  We don't age anymore, and the kids need something to keep from getting bored”

His words occasionally slipped back into older dialects or slang.  I was sure I'd get used to it eventually.  

Raising one hand up in the low gravity, I grasped the...

The Daily Grind - Chapter 70

Here's the next chapter.  This was originally going to be about a thousand words, and done several days ago, but then I figured that it would flow a bit better to just have these separate 'parts' in one big brick of text.  I hope that's okay with everyone, and I do think it led to a better end product.

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James was dreaming.

He recognized it fast this time.  He’d been here before.  One foot down, then… then… what came next?

Ah,...

The Daily Grind - Chapter 69

Nice.

Two things to cover here.  One, holy shit, thank you all so much.  I know I say this a lot, but support from you guys has really kept me motivated to keep writing through to the finish.  I'm still not the best at keeping up a release schedule or knowing how to properly reward you guys here.  So if anyone can think of anything they'd like to see, aside from just "more writing", let me know, okay?  I'm open to suggestions.

Second thing.  For anyon...

[Writing Prompt] Your dad is back from the store after thirteen years, with no time seeming to have passed for him.

Just a little thing that caught my imagination.

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Thirteen  and a half years ago, my dad went out the the store.  He said it was  for milk, it was actually for a pack of smokes, none of that is super  relevant.

Six months ago, he came home.

It was... uncomfortable, at first.  Mom had remarried.  I  had a boyfriend, and dad hadn't had the luxury of a half decade to come  to terms with me being ...

The Daily Grind - Chapter 68

This one took a while.  It turns out, life stress makes writing hard.  Who knew?  I'd like to promise that I'll be able to do more, soon, but honestly, we'll just have to see.

Anyway, here's a chapter!   I quite like how this one turned out; just a quiet moment after the chaos.  I hope you enjoy it too!

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“It’s not your fault.”  Alanna said softly.

They had made camp under a decision tree.  Moving under ...

The Daily Grind - Chapter 67

Two chapters, in the same month?  What is this madness?

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“I have a plan.”  James whispered to Alanna.

The two of them were seated near the end of the table, in chairs that were elegantly shaped, plushly padded, and somehow impossibly uncomfortable to sit in.  Alanna had shuffled her chair over to the head of the table, and their ‘guards’, the puppeted humans who stood behind them in dual ranks, hadn’t objected.  They weren’...

The Daily Grind - Chapter 66

I have rewritten the second half of this three time.  I still don't like it.  This is the first time I've actively hated what I was writing.  So, I'm going to cut it here, because my time isn't infinite, and because I want to just get it down and move forward with the story.

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James reached out and grabbed the door handle.

It took about two seconds for him to realize that it was locked, or wouldn’t turn, and another two for him to look up ...

[Short Story] Paladin

Here's something I've been wanting to write for a while.  I think... I got it right.  I don't know.  I hope you enjoy it, though.

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The small bell over the door chimed, clean and bright, alerting the humans inside to a new visitor.  A burst of hot air flooded through the short breach, carrying with it the scent of dust and animals, before it was cut short as the door closed behind the new entrant.

A pretty young woman walked out into th...

The Daily Grind - Chapter 65

One more push.

I stayed up until 8 AM to finish writing this.  I know how James feels.

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Turns out, Dave hadn’t been lying about only needing a little sleep, much to James’ surprise.  When he nudged the shorter guy awake with his foot, Dave had snapped his eyes open like he’d been actively waiting to get up, rolled out from under the desk he was at, and took the crowbar from James with an almost ceremonious nod.  He looked like he was pr...

The Daily Grind - Chapter 64

I'm not dead yet!

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No one was happy.

James snarled as he caught a projected strip of tape.  Twisting his wrist around and gripping a handful of it, he yanked the thing it was attached to off its perch.  The tape dispenser hit the ground with a grinding noise; they’d started encountering encountering these things about five miles back.  They moved a lot like striders, only their legs were composed of the blades of scissors instead of pens. &...

[Writing Prompt] You have died and gone to Hell. Strangely it isn't as bad as you thought, maybe it is even nice. Turns out the Devil is super lazy and doesn't actually torture the damned. But you, being the compulsive organizer you are, have decide to change that.

Just a little something I wrote from a quick inspiration.  Turns out the prompt did it's job, and prompted me.

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"Why isn't the acid bath working?!"  I shouted at my personal assistant.

My personal assistant was Lucifer, the Morningstar, First Among The Fallen, Prince of Hell, and a lot of other titles.  Currently, they were buffing their nails, feet kicked up on their desk while they watched cat videos on Youtube.

"What?"  They as...

An Update

Hello everyone

It's been a while since I've posted anything, and I just wanted to give a small update on what's been going on.  Mostly, I've been doing non-creative stuff, like starting a new job or getting my car repaired.  Those mundane, kinda crappy things, that let me keep the lights on and not be hungry, but also don't generate content like I wish they did.  It's been a really hard few weeks, and I know that I haven't posted any new chapters for either of my main stories, s...