Another Snippet From The Farm At Wardenwood Hollow
Another Snippet from The Farm at Wardenwood Hollow
“Hey,” Taryn called as the door groaned open. The woman looked over her shoulder, her expression back to the familiar one of worry it always wore. Taryn walked up while she climbed into the truck, leaning an arm against the top of the door. She used her chin to gesture at the back seat. “You the only one we got here that buys that powder.”
In the seat, the woman tensed. She didn’t speak right away, and the gaze she fixed on Taryn made her believe she’d just asked something very, very wrong.
“You best be glad ‘bout that,” she told Taryn finally. The way her voice had gone low left her uneasy. “In fact,” she added, face more serious than Taryn had ever seen it, “if you notice anyone else start buyin’ it–you let me know. Y’hear?”
Taryn looked at her strangely and chuckled.
“I ain’t the sort to go ‘round discussin’ people’s purchases with others, Miss,” she said.
“I said you let me know.”
The grin faded from Taryn’s face, and she pushed back off the door frame.
“You’re serious, ain’t you?” she asked, eyeing her.
The woman stared for a couple seconds, then pulled the door shut with a clank. The truck roared to life and she leaned toward the passenger side, rummaging through the glove box for a moment. The window rolled down, and before Taryn realized what was happening, she’d thrust a business card into her hand.
“That’s my phone number,” she explained, eyes flicking to the card and back to Taryn’s. She nodded at it. “It’s a landline. Only way you gon’ reach me. Leave a message if I don’t answer. Keep callin’ and leavin’ ‘em ‘til I call back.”
Taryn’s mouth opened and closed a few times, confused and troubled by the odd exchange. She blinked down at the card. She recognized the name of the farm.
When she looked back up, the woman was still watching her.
“You tol’ me last week you don’t gotta drive far,” she said, narrowing her eyes. She held up the card. “But this is the ol’ Sterling place. That’s thirty miles from here.”
“Don’t you worry ‘bout that,” the woman warned, shaking her head and dropping the truck into gear.
“‘Bout your lyin’, you mean?” Taryn asked with a frown.
“Ain’t important.”
“You lyin’ ‘bout something small like that sure make it seem important.”
“You just worry ‘bout that powder, an’ tellin’ me if it ain’t me buyin’ it.”
Taryn held her gaze, then shrugged and shoved the card into her jacket pocket.
“Fine,” she said, tugging her beanie lower on her head. “I don’t know what you on about, but if I see anyone else buyin’ it, I’ll give you a call.” She pulled a face, wondering if she’d misinterpreted the woman’s nature and questioning if she just might, in fact, be crazy.
“You promise?”
The way she asked it–quieter again, and very worried–gave Taryn pause. Her own face softened at the edges, and she nodded.
“Sure, Miss,” she told her, smiling again. “Yeah. I promise.”
“You keep your promises?”
“Sure do,” Taryn said with a stern nod, almost offended by the implication she wouldn't.
“Good.”
Taryn chuckled again, stepping back.
“You drive safe, now,” she said.
“I will,” the woman replied. Then, with a smirk of her own, “That’s a promise.”
-----
Synopsis:
Taryn Monroe prefers simplicity–her place in the mountains, the predictable rhythm of her job at the mill, and the peace that comes with keeping to herself.
Every Tuesday, a woman shows up at precisely fifteen minutes to close. Taryn doesn’t know much about her–just the rumble of her truck, the way she never wastes words, and the peculiar gallon of sulfur she buys each week.
Then one Tuesday, she doesn’t show up.
Taryn tells herself to leave it alone, that it’s not her business and the woman can handle herself. But when she overhears an argument and starts asking questions, she can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong–and her life becomes anything but simple.
Something wild is living in the barn at Wardenwood Hollow. Something keeping the woman bound to the old Sterling farm.
And Taryn may be her only chance to break free.
More Posts from Adelineiserman and Others
Can anyone recommend their favorite WLW Star Trek or Stargate fanfics I should download while I try to dissociate next week? I have seen Discovery, Voyager, Picard, and the new movies, but if it is well written I am happy to read from Star Trek series I haven't seen yet!
I primarily ship Janeway/Seven, already have Burnished Slate and Wild Horses, and all of the Just Between series.
Bonus points if it's slow burn with an action/adventure/mystery/psychological drama plot =D
Thank you ❤️
That shot with the wall killed me in the show 😭💔
We all need an Emma.
4.01, A Tale of Two Sisters 4.23, Operation Mongoose, Part 2
Revisiting a couple drawings of Airiam I did in ClipStudio last year and now I have a new fic idea...
Gonna rewrite Discovery post 2x09. Yup. That's what I'm gonna do.
Once For the Light and The Ithaca Mandate are finished...Buckle up.
ETA TBD.
🦉
My partner critiques my fics in memes, I felt this on a very personal level.
A list of some of the things I use every day for writing and worldbuilding tasks!
I've been thinking about a post with this info for a few weeks now, so here it is! A note that I am not affiliated with any of these sites or services--I just use them :)
WordHippo
Until late last year, I had been using thesaurus.com to handle my never-ending hunt for the perfect word. I switched to WordHippo because it is much more friendly to searching phrases in addition to just words. It also includes rhymes, translations, word forms, and pronunciations. For non-English speakers, the word forms section could be particularly helpful.
Fantasy Name Generators
This site has just about anything you could need in relation to generators, including ones specific to pop culture and fandoms like Stargate, Star Trek, Harry Potter, and more. There are sections to create simple mockups of character armor, solar systems, languages, and even find some royalty-free music.
PhotoPea
As a graphic designer, I often find myself needing to visualize my characters, environments, and book covers to really immerse myself when I'm trying to write a scene. PhotoPea is a free alternative to Photoshop that even uses many of the same keyboard shortcuts (meaning you can often follow Photoshop tutorials while using PhotoPea). If the Adobe Creative Suite is out of your budget, PhotoPea is, in my opinion, the best free alternative.
Seventh Sanctum
This was the first generator site I used back in my days on FanFiction and FictionPress, and I still like to use it for its slightly less daunting interface when compared to Fantasy Name Generators. I also find it loads faster.
Descriptionary
I stumbled across this site not long ago, and I've become a bit obsessed with it. It's a bit clunky to navigate, but there's a lot of information and helpful tidbits to be found including color symbolism, body language, and words to use/not use and why.
No Man's Sky Photo Galleries
While this isn't a specific site, and the one I've linked here is just one example of many that are out there, I've found No Man's Sky to be one of my biggest inspirations when writing sci-fi and environmentally focused scenes. The sheer scale of No Man's Sky and its procedurally generated worlds make it easy to find inspiration for everything from planets, to fauna, wildlife, ships, and structures.
Inkarnate
This site stands alone if you need something that allows you to build beautiful maps for your stories. It has a free and a paid version, and the free version is fairly robust. If you're someone who writes anything that involves large-scale worlds or anything involving military strategies, it can be really helpful to have the lay of the land right in front of you as you write.
Autocrit
While the free version of this is pretty limited, I've really enjoyed having it accessible for identifying adverbs, story beats, and to compare my original pieces to genres and authors.
Cap That
If you need high resolution screen captures from your favorite shows, this is the place to find them!
Subversion Theory: Chapter 10 Posted
Subversion Theory Chapter 10
Every moment in this world felt hazy, every passing second inching her closer to some unknowable abyss, tamping down memory and morals, smothering instinct until she feared she might not know enough to run.
-----
Three years after the attack on Section 31 Headquarters, Control has the Federation on the brink. When the USS Discovery begins receiving encrypted transmissions from someone claiming to be Starfleet who seems to know everything about their enemy, Captain Michael Burnham sees one last shot to turn the tide. But as Control's obsession with her deepens and the boundaries between ally and adversary begin to unravel, its objectives evolve into something far more dangerous--and lead Michael to question if she's still in control of her own game.
Fandom: Star Trek: Discovery
Relationships: Michael Burnham/Airiam, Michael Burnham/Control, Michael Burnham/Nhan
Rating: Mature
Star Trek: Voyager, J/7: The Measure of Logic
Sneak peek of one of my favorite sections from later in this fic.
A hardness overcame Seven then, the alloys in her spine chaining her fractured emotions back together in some grotesque distortion of what Janeway had always insisted they could be. Was this what it meant to be human? This labyrinth of consternation and insecurity and doubt? To feel, from one moment to the next, while drowning under the gravity of her inability to draw any meaningful connections between them? What was the purpose? Janeway found her then, and Seven realized she had dropped into a crouch closer to the habitat floor. The tentative ghost of a palm encapsulated her knee as the Captain crouched before her and Seven carefully deflected its benevolence by righting herself. She feared the touch would melt the metal of the implant concealed beneath the biosuit and burn them both. “Must...you always…touch me?”
https://archiveofourown.org/works/62063797/chapters/158729248
I'm 129,000 words in and my flashbacks are misaligned with my present day scenes and now the main characters rekindle in the present before they breakup in the past gahhhhhh
How did I do this to myself >.<
You will not convince me they couldn't be a thing 🥲
Graphic designer and aspiring author of LGBTQ sci-fi, fantasy, & romance. Faithfully defending my pet turkeys from the local homesteaders. Probably still mad about Airiam. AO3: AdelineIsermanJaneway x Seven | Michael x Airiam | Sam x Janet | SwanQueen Star Trek: Discovery | Star Trek: Voyager | Stargate: SG-1 | Stargate: Atlantis | Farscape | Once Upon a Time
169 posts