And I bow as I step onto the dance floor, and the strings strain, and the bodies around us move. Bodies of abusers and saviors. Rose dances with Olsen, Destiny with Tiger. The music plays, we all twirl, and I take each of the next stories out onto the floor. The waltz is the most… Continue reading The Shieldmaidens 4: Lamia
Tag: Mr. Olsen
The Round Table 28: Mark Part 2
Here we are again. In a fantasy book I haven’t published yet, these two young warriors are escaping an enemy, and they approach a bridge, and the leader yells out, “I’m gonna do it again!” The other one says, “You won’t be happy til you get us killed.” And then they both jump over the… Continue reading The Round Table 28: Mark Part 2
The Round Table 27: Mark Part 1
Here we are again. In a fantasy book I haven’t published yet, these two young warriors are escaping an enemy, and they approach a bridge, and the leader yells out, “I’m gonna do it again!” The other one says, “You won’t be happy til you get us killed.” And then they both jump over the… Continue reading The Round Table 27: Mark Part 1
Rise of the Storyteller 20: The Bus Ride Home
I started to stuff my break up letter in my pocket but felt the ID in there and kept it hidden in my hand. I walked out of first hour and into the hallway to see Island waiting for me. “What are you doing, Mr. Brown?” She held a finger up at me and shook… Continue reading Rise of the Storyteller 20: The Bus Ride Home
Rise of the Storyteller 17: Bonnie
Climbing the cedar was the worst part of the morning. Cedar trees are not strong. Not this kind. They are whips of things, and bendy. The leaves, if you want to call them that, are more quills than leaves at all, small, sharp, and tough enough to slice like blades. I got gloves for Christmas,… Continue reading Rise of the Storyteller 17: Bonnie
Rise of the Storyteller 13: X
Science, and I am trying to remember the wording of the lecture I had heard two days before. See, I had learned with Mr. Liechin how to memorize so I didn’t have to do the homework. I never, not once, did a single stitch of homework in Slinger. I just took tests. I read books… Continue reading Rise of the Storyteller 13: X
Rise of the Storyteller 12: Slinger
Mullets. They all had mullets. The boys at my new middle school were all business in the front. They had a party in the back, but for sure all business up front. And pokey, too. They loved to take mousse and spike their hair up tall. I guess the business they had up front was… Continue reading Rise of the Storyteller 12: Slinger
Rise of the Storyteller 10: Liechen’s War Part 2
I went back to 20th Street School years later. After my fear of the place had drifted off and I came to terms with my years there. I looked up from the sidewalk and noticed it looked more like a prison than I had ever seen. The building had a new name printed on it.… Continue reading Rise of the Storyteller 10: Liechen’s War Part 2
Rise of the Storyteller 9: Liechen’s War Part 1
I studied with some of the greatest minds in the gifted program at Washington High School in the summer of 1986. They chose the brightest and the most innovative minds to come out of the Milwaukee Public Schools. Mr. Olsen had recommended me for the gifted program and, knowing my parents would not have filled… Continue reading Rise of the Storyteller 9: Liechen’s War Part 1
Rise of the Storyteller 8: Savior
Pride had them. I could see by the clock in the gym there was only two more minutes before the first bell that would call all of us to class. And Pride had planted his feet. Pride and I had gotten into a blistering fight one hot spring day when we were both in first… Continue reading Rise of the Storyteller 8: Savior
Jesse Teller 