Valkyrie

I'm absolutely gutted. What a great man. I'll have a cup of tea, Earl Gray, Hot, in his honor.

Anthology month continues with the third installment of the 2026 Anthology. I'd like to extend a huge thank you to all who have supported, read, commented, and reviewed all the stories that have been released so far. We've had 11 stories over the past couple of weeks, with 5 more today If you haven't checked out the first two installments, check out the banner at the top of the page, which will take you to the blogs listing the stories. Will there be a fourth installment? You'll have to be sure to check out next week's blog Be sure to read the next chapters in Myr's two stories!

Great interview! My surprise was that he chose to be an owl instead of a wolf. But I can totally see him as an owl, so it fits

Snow in October isn't unheard of around here, although it generally starts more in November. Twenty years ago we had a surprise October snowstorm that decimated the area. Good ol' lake effect set up right over where I live. All the trees were in full leaf still, so two feet of saturated, heavy snow, brought down so many trees and branches that it looked like a hurricane came through. I remember leaving work and thinking it's just flurries. It's October... it will stop and melt right away. Nooooooopppeeee... I was just able to make it down my street and into my driveway. I'll never forget the sound of all the cracking trees. My poor hawthorn tree in my front yard folded like an umbrella. I was in the middle of watching CSI when the power went out. It didn't come back on for two weeks. My mom made me come stay with her because they had a woodburning stove, so at least there was heat. I told her if I'm coming, the cat is too, which she begrudgingly agreed to. We also took in her 90 year old next door neighbor. Thankfully my aunt never lost power, so her house became the meeting point for all of us to get a hot meal and do laundry. No snow yet this year, but it's definitely been cold enough overnight. We've had frost overnight for about the past week. My furnace was so happy to be useful again, that it decided it didn't want to turn off, so I'll have to call the furnace repair place tomorrow. Fingers crossed it's just the thermostat and won't cost me an arm and a leg. For an area known for massive amounts of snowfall, you'd think people would be better at driving in it. Sadly, a lot of them drive like @centexhairysub When I used to work in the snowbelt, I'd play "count the cars in the ditches" on the way to work when we got snow. The record was over 20. My biggest pet peeve when driving is tailgaters. Get the eff off my a**, unless you want to go much slower, hoser.

It sounds like the issue is more that our Anthology doesn't fit your definition of an "Anthology". Our anthology stories are all grouped together under the same theme. Finding them is as exactly as Krista described. I already said the Anthology hasn't finished posting, so there are more than 2 stories for Horizons. I don't release final numbers until the final week of posting. What I meant when I said we handle the anthology the same way, is that the way we post has always been the same. The anthology is a fluid thing, and I have done quite a few site polls, threads, and blogs about what site readers and writers want. The guidelines are adjusted every year based on constructive feedback and things we feel need changing. Calling this anthology "messy", and the fact that we have lives and demands outside of GA and are volunteers "excuses" is not the way to effect change. A lot of site staff have gone through challenges this year that nobody should have to go through; yet, we've still kept the site open and running, and held all site events as scheduled. If that's an excuse, well excuse me while I don't particularly care. And excuse me while I go plan the next site event.

This is not the rest of the stories. The Anthology publishes over several weeks. The way we handle the anthology hasn't changed in the thirteen years I've been on this site, with the exception of releasing them in batches vs all at once. Without complaint, I might add. I don't know what else you want from us. I forgot to feature the blog, which I will remedy now. I'm also going to add the new blog to the banner announcement, which I was planning to do this morning anyway. I already outlined ways to find the antho stories if you're so inclined. As Cia stated, we're all volunteers with outside jobs, personal issues, and lives. We can't please everyone, apparently.

This year's anthology started off last week with a bang! The number of comments and reviews are impressive, so keep it going! This week, we have five new stories to read, along with Chapter 2 of Myr's story from last week. Ready, set.... Check out Chapter 2

The Anthology blog can be found by searching under "blogs" or under "stories" by searching under "anthologies". It was also linked to in this week's Weekly Wrap-Up on the front page. I've added a banner announcement with the link to the blog, so it can be found there as well.

It's heeeeerrrrrrreeeee.... We've been anticipating these stories all year, and now it's time to release the Kraken! Uh... anthology stories. With two themes this year - Horizons and Unspoken- we had several authors take up the challenge and write stories for both themes. So, without further ado, enjoy this week's anthology stories! Don't forget to react, comment, and leave a review! The anthology will post over several weeks, so if your story is not listed here, fear not! It will be posted over the next few weeks. The first two stories are for Horizons, the remainder are for Unspoken.

Anything by Addy is definitely worth checking out! Especially vampires 🧛‍♂️

My birthday is in June, and I'm a Gemini. I don't make a big deal about it, but I do like it to be acknowledged. I like to go out to dinner, although it's not always on my actual birthday. This year's bday kind of sucked, though, since I spent it super sick in the hospital Hopefully next year's will be better On another note, don't forget to post your links to your anthology stories, once they've been returned from the proof team.

Anthology Stories are due today! Get those final touches done on your story and send it to me by midnight, EST tonight so I can get it assigned to a Proof Team member! There are lots of burning questions... Did we break the 20 story barrier? Who participated? How many stories did they write? When will the stories go live? Which theme has more stories? Of course, I'm not going to answer any of them now You'll have to wait and anticipate!

No otters?

Haha that's exactly how I cook too My mom and I laugh about how we tell if something is done by the smell

My favorite animals are cats and horses, although penguins do figure in there as well I also love capybaras. They've fascinated me ever since I first saw their exhibit at the Buffalo Zoo when I was a kid. On another note, get those antho stories in! This is turning out to be a fantastic anthology, and I'm hoping we break the 20 story barrier Fall food is my favorite. Pumpkin spice all the things!!!! Make fun of me if you want, but there's nothing more comforting than Fall warming spices. I need to make a batch of my cheesy broccoli and ham soup. Soooo gooood. Chicken pot pie sounds lovely, unless it has puke spheres (aka peas) in it.