The tavern's weathered sign creaked in the autumn wind, its faded lettering barely legible in the gathering dusk. Inside, three figures occupied a corner table well away from the evening crowd, their drinks barely touched as they waited. Dhuson Blunthammer's thick dwarven fingers drummed impatiently against his ale mug while David Smythe and the man known only as Crash watched the door with practiced casualness.

The crunch of tires on gravel announced Elena's arrival twenty minutes later. Her Subaru Outback, mud-spattered from recent fieldwork, pulled into the lot with the practiced ease of someone who spent more time on remote forest roads than highways. Her headlights swept across the gathered group before cutting off, leaving them in the glow of Alex's modified exterior lighting.

©2025 SammyC

Being Samantha Masters

an homage-sequel to Being Christina Chase

Distractions

Sammy, you have to text me when you get home from a date!  Rowan’s message was waiting on his phone when Sammy woke up the next morning.

How do you know if it was really a date?  he texted back, bleary-eyed.  I never told you how that shook out.

CHAPTER 77
Year by year, both our business and our son grew, and Geeta got her wish to see Sydney when we opened another branch there. Kul running it as a manager until we had integrated some more employees. One of them turned out to be Betty, who took over from Kul after a very few months, allowing the Butts to return. Ish was now five years old and in proper preschool, which he would regularly complain about.

“The reading’s boring, Dad!”

CHAPTER 76
We got a regular flow of letters after that, or perhaps it could be described as an intermittent drip feed. Every now and again, we would pop off a new snap of our boy, and hint about dates, but my mother-in-law never bit, not even to the extent of mentioning me at all, or using anything other than Malay for her correspondence. According to my wife, Mrs R even appeared to be matchmaking a few times, even though her daughter was already married. I began to feel a little unwanted by her.

Chapter 13

When Willow went in, Wendy had some sandwiches for her after she had changed.

“How did this mysterious meeting go? Are you ruling the world yet?”

“Not that serious, Mum. All I did was to get together with a few people and play them some songs which I thought might make a good concert.”

“Oh, yes. Now give, before I get you some ice cream.”

©2025 SammyC

The Visund departs Faralan alongside the Hopvalk and the Ten-Legged Brakky on the long leg to Fanir. Unfortunately those of Pakmal are waiting and only the Brakky keeps them from causing problems. Then a second Pakmal galley appears ahead...

The Voyage of the Visund

A tale of Anmar by Penny Lane

99 - Faralan to Fanir

Chapter 12

Sunday morning, they were up and ready for church. Willow showed her parents the pathway across the field, and it was a pleasant stroll in the morning sun. At the church, they saw Maisie and Gina arriving, so the girls left the adults to talk and went up to prepare the organ for the morning service. Willow asked if Gina wanted to play the arrival music, and she sat at the keyboard and started doodling Bach and Beethoven piano pieces.

Chapter 18: Another Day, Another Blow
The following day, Yuqi walked into school with trepidation gnawing at her insides. Her parents had promised to handle the situation, but Yuqi wasn’t naive enough to think things would change overnight. As she approached her locker, her pulse quickened. The image of the graffiti inside her locker the day before was fresh in her mind, and she dreaded what she might find today.

A group of people wake up in video game world and are forced to work together to survive and find out how to escape.

Chapter 44 Revelation.

Changing back to the previous posting time so last chapter was 12ish hours ago in case you missed it and don’t want spoilers!

A group of people wake up in video game world and are forced to work together to survive and find out how to escape.

Chapter 43 Escape.

Chapter 11

They spent two hours working with the music. They didn’t have the numbers that the piece was written for but made do with a pruned down orchestra. There was enough percussion players to fill out that section, but the strings were thinned out a bit. There was a full complement of brass players, and Willow wondered if there was an evening brass band.

A group of people wake up in video game world and are forced to work together to survive and find out how to escape.

Sorry it’s late I already posted it before but I guess it failed.

Chapter 42 The assignment.

The sound of a door slamming echoed through the Altura household, but Melissa barely registered it. She sat cross-legged on her bed, staring at the wall opposite her. The black and gray tapestry she'd hung there featured an intricate mandala design that she used to find captivating. Now it was just another pattern, devoid of meaning.

Chapter 10

On Sunday morning, the Rose family were at the church as the bells started their peal. Today, because it wasn’t a special occasion, the Reverend Russell was wearing a grey suit and his clerical collar. He welcomed them when they arrived.

“Good morning, good people. A little bird told me that my organist was tickling the ivories in a den of iniquity last night. One of my wardens rang me from the club to let me hear some of the festivities. It sounded like a good time. Are you ready for today, Willow?”

“Avoid playing games of chance for money, young lady.” His eyes twinkled. “Yes. You have a question. So, ask it.”

Chapter 9

On the way home she told her mother about her day, telling her that she had played enough hymns to fill a church. She gave herself a break from her room after dinner, going outside and walking from the house to the end of the road and back until the light was fading. It felt good to move after being sat at the keyboard all day.

A group of people wake up in video game world and are forced to work together to survive and find out how to escape.

Here we go…