Author: Ashlyn Nafina

In the Limelight, in the Spotlight

In the Limelight, in the Spotlight
Copyright © 2018 Ashlyn Nafina

Summary: A student makes their way from class back home in a waterlogged world.

This was something fun for me: I took a particularly compelling dream I’d had and composed it into something resembling a coherent story.

Timeline note: This was written several years ago, but since I’m releasing it for the first time now, I’m going to go ahead and leave the date stamp current.

I watched her with a surprise that came even to me in this strange time: swimming, then crawling, then walking up out of muddy water. It didn’t seem like it was anything new to her, though a few stared; I suppose we all found our ways of coping. Friends walked around the bricked ring around the library itself, water lapping nearby, while someone launched a windsurf skiff to make their way home.

Continue reading →

Posted on by Ashlyn Nafina

Flying With the Angels

Flying With the Angels
Copyright (C) 2018 Ashlyn Nafina

Summary: A swan mythology by way of an “ugly” duckling story.

Notes: I’ve always had a fascination with mythology and big stories, and I enjoy writing mythic stories myself. I had a friend who was very much into swans, so I wrote this story while thinking of her.

Timeline note: This story was actually written around 2011 or so, but it’s never actually seen the light of day. So I’m going to go ahead and leave the date for this post as today, to avoid confusion about what’s new on the site.

Once upon a time (as all good stories begin), there was a duck. She was not just any duck; for this duck wished to fly higher and higher, and higher still — so high that she could loop around the moon and reach the stars.

Teana, for that was her name, was unusual in some other ways; and that is the true start of the most interesting part of her story, and the beginning of ours.

“What interesting feathers you have,” her friends would say.

“They’re not like any I’ve seen,” they said.

Continue reading →

Posted on by Ashlyn Nafina

Meta: New story / world: Agent

Hey readers, there is a new story that’s been posted, along with a new world category: Agent. The longer description of this is in the header of the story post, but basically it’s something from a long time ago (2006-ish) that I wrote as sort of fan-fiction of a video game I was working on. The game never got published, and this is what’s left of it.

There may be some site changes in the next few days, because I think I’m going to remove the Markdown editor from the site itself, and replace it with a local “build” workflow. This isn’t a big deal because I am already having to do a build to get some new Markdown elements I wanted. I’d like to get this situated before a whole lot more is posted.

Posted on by Ashlyn Nafina

Agent

Agent
Copyright (C) 2018 Ashlyn Nafina

Please note, this is an old version of the story, left here for legacy. Find the new one at Agent Revisited!

Summary: An elite, shape-shifting agent takes on a mission that has even the big brass scared. A series of surprises leads to a change of perspective for the agent, and the beginning of a revolution for the world.

Notes: The amusing back-story of this story: Me and a group of friends were planning to release an RPG (video game) and spent a while coming up with a world and characters for it. We never did get our act together to build the game, and I was a little lukewarm on where the story was going anyway. Later on this emerged based roughly on the world, so I guess you say that it’s fan-fiction for a game that never was. It takes place a thousand years after the RPG would have.

Timeline note: This story was actually written around 2006 or so, but it’s never actually seen the light of day. So I’m going to go ahead and leave the date for this post as today, to avoid confusion about what’s new on the site.

One

Five minutes, thirty-six seconds. It’s all the time I’ve got to make a decision which could be the most important decision I’ve ever made in my long, long life. Could be the most important decision that any of us has ever made. It shouldn’t be me making it. But here we are, and here I am.

Continue reading →

Posted on by Ashlyn Nafina

Meta: Site Relaunch

Hallo, everyone. I’m happy to announce the relaunch of the nafina.com site into its newest mutation.

The big change that’s happened (well, it’s a complete rewrite, essentially, but on a conceptual level) is really in my expectations for how the site will work and why it’s here. In the past, I’ve had expectations, or at least hopes and dreams, that one day I would have my work published in a traditional format. It’s possible that may still happen one day, but I’ve come to understand that it’s probably not going to fund me any time soon. And in the meantime, I’ve got this giant pile of stories I really just want to share with people.

That is what it boils down to, for me. I like creating, I like writing stories, and I like letting others read them and get enjoyment from them. What I was building before was more of a marketing site for traditionally published work. What we have here, now, is something more like a library of stories for everyone to read. There are a few big, book-sized stories (like Soar), but my plan going forward is to focus on writing short stories elaborating on the various worlds and settings I’ve created.

It is my intent to pull in my entire writing back-catalogue here, to be readable online with both mobile and desktop browsers. That’s a tall order, considering how many different tools I’ve used over the years. I’m focused now on Markdown, but it may take some time to get it all converted to that toolchain. Eventually, my hope is to have my Markdown be the source for many other formats that might be pullable by Patreon subscribers. But that’ll be a bit later. For now, I will slowly be bringing in stories from other collections/formats, so you’ll see more appear here over time.

Please enjoy and share and link to others. Also feel free to talk with me — I’d love to hear from you. Check the sidebar for links. (No, I am not offering up links to any of the “big” social networks, for specific Reasons, which is another post for later.)

Primary contact is Mastodon now: @mahaleia@wandering.shop

(Also: The old posts from the old site have been pulled in for historical purposes, but recategorized for the new site structure.)

Posted on by Ashlyn Nafina

The Long Way Home

The Long Way Home
Copyright (C) 2018 Ashlyn Nafina

Summary: Two sisters, a quiet engineer and a famous e-sports space pilot, go together on an investigation of a routine maintenance issue on their world’s networking infrastructure, only to find themselves on a strange adventure that will shake their whole understanding of their world.

Notes: This one has been bubbling up in my consciousness for a while. Part of why I like to write stories is that it lets me explore topics important to me on a deeper level and share that exploration with others. I hope everyone finds something to like in this one!

Also, this is now a story album / radio drama! The Long Way Home

One – Society

— Tai —

Often it is said that the young feel old, or the old feel young. I’ve lost track of what “age” means, myself. All I know is that, when the world, with all of its loves, hates, fears, wisdom, folly, laughs, and cries… when the world suddenly and abruptly brushed its closest yet with death, the books said I was 24 years old.

Continue reading →

Posted on by Ashlyn Nafina

Meta: Updates

It’s been quite some time since I wrote anything here, perhaps inexcusably long. (Three years!) A few things have happened since then, though:

  • A new short story compilation has been completed: Tales of Alchemy. It still needs editing and some cover art, but beyond that, it’s basically ready to go.
  • A new short-ish novel: Fractured Harmony. This is a sci-fi story about a future society with a collective consciousness, and modern-day Seattle. This is pretty much in the same state as Tales of Alchemy. About 80% of it is a NaNoWriMo novel.
  • A new co-written comic is beginning soon if I can manage to keep up with the drawing. I’ll post more about that as it comes up.

If anyone is interested in reading/editing Tales of Alchemy or Fractured Harmony, feel free to toot … @mahaleia@wandering.shop

Posted on by Ashlyn Nafina

Meta: NaNoWarmUp wrap-up

I’m sad to say that I only got about half way through, due to Circumstances. 🙂 A combination of sudden busy and sudden de-inspiration on the story I was working on. I still want to finish it though; I may turn it into another piece for the I’ll-finish-it-some-day compilation of short stories. It was on its way to becoming something more like a novella, but I already have at least one of those lined up for the short story book.

I hope everyone out there is having a happy holiday season. ^^

Posted on by Ashlyn Nafina

Meta: NaNoWarmUp

This is a cool idea by YA authors Kat Zhang and Savannah J. Foley. I’m going to try to participate 🙂

http://nanowarmup.blogspot.com/

You can follow my progress on the bar graph on the right side bar.

I think I may also look at some options for allowing comments on here. I haven’t really wanted to deal with spam in the past, but it feels kind of curmudgeonly. ^^;

Posted on by Ashlyn Nafina