The Reptilian Vaudevillians

Every ninth full moon, the Reptilian Vaudevillians put on a spectacular show that for one audience member is a once-in-a-lifetime event.

Genre: Fable

Excerpt: No one will know of my crime. Tomorrow, I will die. And so will every one of my cohorts. The ones who came before are already dead. So none will know of my crime.

Today, I should be searching for a mate.

But instead, I am hiding in the shadows of leaves, having broken from tradition, from fate, from my duty.

What’s the Writing Prompt that inspired the story?There is no official writing prompt, but I was prompted to think of this idea when I started drafting my first email newsletter and realized that all the stories I’d written in January 2020 thus far featured an animal.  First birds, then a dragon, then a tiger.  None of these animals were what they seemed.  None of them were ordinary animals.  So I figured I’d round out the month with another story centered around an animal. 

MY FIRST BOOK IS OUT!Ever wonder how I’ve gotten all these hundreds of stories written?  I have a method. And I talk all about it in my book called Fictioneer’s Field Guide: A Game Plan for Writing Short Stories. It’s now available as an eBook, paperback, and hardcover.

The book title takes you straight to the book on Amazon.

Or you can visit my Store page: STORYFEATHER STORE

(Hint: The Store page has a sign-up form for my email newsletter, where you can get tales of my fictioneering mischief and writing tips from me for free.)

CREDITSStory: “The Reptilian Vaudevillians” Copyright © 2020 by Nila L. Patel Narration, Episode Art, Editing, and Production:  Nila L. Patel

Music: “Trip-Hop Lounge Abstract Background” by Digital Emotions (Intro/Outro)

Music by JONATHAN SHAW* “Spinning Tavern” “Midnight Creeping” “Showdown of Misdeeds” “Sinning Tavern”

Music by NICHOLAS JEUDY (Dark Fantasy Studio)* “Oinions” “Winterheart” “Infinite land” “Double face” “La pomme” “Duality” “Shadows and flames” “Haven”

*These tracks were part of a music and sound effects bundles I purchased from Humble Bundle and sourced from GameDev Market.

Music by Nicholas Jeudy and Jonathan Shaw is licensed from GameDev Market Sound effects from AudioJungle and GameDevMarket Changes made to the musical tracks?  Just cropping of some to align with my narration.

Find more music by Digital_Emotions at audiojungle.net Find more music by Jonathan Shaw and Nicholas Jeudy at gamedevmarket.net Find more music by Jonathan Shaw at jshaw.co.uk Find more stories by Nila at storyfeather.com

Episode Art Description: Digital drawing. An alligator, standing upright and seen from left, stepping forward with tail raised, and holding out a top hat in the outstretched right forelimb. Behind the alligator is a hazy curtain of moss drawn apart to either side.  Strands of sparkling lights are set in the curtains. Behind the parted curtains is only shadow. At bottom edge are the silhouettes of the heads of various animals. Watermark of “Storyfeather” along the alligator’s back.