Apocalypse Daycare

You’re a daycare worker, watching over toddlers, when the imminent end of the world is announced. It becomes increasingly clear none of the kids’ parents are going to show up as the end inches nearer. Story by Bixby the Martian More fiction by Bixby: https://bixbythemartian.tumblr.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bixbythemartian Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/bixbythemartian Art is free use from Pixabay Concept by writing-prompt-s https://writing-prompt-s.tumblr.com/ https://www.instagram.com/writing.pro... Read by John Payton If you want to hire me as a voice actor, contact me via this channel. License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... License Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed)

The Mimic

You’re a mimic. You were disguised as a chair in a dungeon when an adventurer decided to take you as loot. You’ve actually enjoyed your life ever since as furniture in a jolly tavern. So when some ruffians try to rob the now-elderly adventurer’s business, you finally reveal yourself. Story by Bixby the Martian More fiction by Bixby: https://bixbythemartian.tumblr.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bixbythemartian Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/bixbythemartian Art "Chairald the Chair Mimic" by Lisa Hall More art by Lisa: https://www.Instagram.com/thisislisahall Gaming loot by Lisa: https://www.instagram.com/level1gamers/ Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/thisislisahall Concept by writing-prompt-s https://writing-prompt-s.tumblr.com/ https://www.instagram.com/writing.pro... Read by John Payton If you want to hire me as a voice actor, contact me via this channel. License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... License Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed)

Forgotten Gods 1: Allie

An audio recording of the story by Sarah Blackwell (@dycefic).

Again, I hope I've done it justice.

Again, published under the same terms as the OP. If you want to donate to anyone, donate to them.

I'm planning on moving my voicework to YouTube, to make it easier to find, including my two previous interpretations.

2021 Hogswatch Letter

 Greetings, friends and family.

This year was much like the last - not a lot got done, not a lot changed.

I auditioned for a few plays, but did not land any parts.  I did more recording for librivox.org, and have enjoyed it enough that I'm considering making voicework a side-hustle after retirement.  To that end, I'm clearing out the "hobbit room" upstairs and turning it into a studio.

If anyone is interested in looking up my work on librivox, the finished works that I've contributed to so far are "Black'erchief Dick," "T. Tembarom," and "Mary Ware's Promised Land."  I'll also keep a copy of any of my work on my media server, for those who have or want access to that.

I continue to livestream an hour of "bedtime reading" every week on Facebook.  I pick one of our family favorites and read from that.  At an hour a week, it will be a long while before I run out of things to read.  I save those files, too.

Arthur wrapped up the third "season" of his online game.  Kyrie has started up one of her own, giving him an extra-long break to set up the next twist in his campaign.  And I recently learned that my granddaughter wants to run a murder mystery game during the holiday visit.  I'll be playing the butler, so I think I'm in trouble.

This year, plants decided to grow in my yard.  Along the front walk, three mullien stalks sprang up, making it look as if I had planned it that way (I didn't).  And in the back, a pumpkin vine crawled out of one of the ash stumps, producing four pumpkins before frost took it.  One of these rotted away because I didn't know you were supposed to harvest them as soon as they turned orange, and two of them never did turn orange.  But one - the smallest - became the main flavor in a pumpkin cheesecake.  If it springs up again next year, I'll be ready.

Kyrie had quite a fright this year.  While taking a break from decorating her yard for Halloween, she heard a terrible crash outside: a drunk driver hitting first a power pole, then the fence in front of her house!  No one was hurt, not even the driver, but only minutes before several people were out in her yard, hanging decorations.  Insurance only recently paid on the damages; as of this letter the fence is still scrap in the yard.

We have started a monthly newsletter.  If this is something that interests you (and you're not already getting it), drop me a note.

Every week, I pick a box from storage and clear it out.  That means that, theoretically, I should have cleared out about fifty boxes from the basement last year.  It does not look as if I have done that.  I have a long way to go.

Plans for next year include joining Arthur as he picks up his RenFaire circuit again, provided the Omicron variant doesn't send us all back into lockdown.

Stay safe out there, folks.

John