ravensweald

casting runes — 26mar26
26Mar26 | 10.48 CDT
© 2026
michael raven
c: 260326.1048
wunjo
```
all at face to her light
rising on the eastern reach
to feel her warmth
against my cheek
to turn to her return
```
A rune poem, based on an Elder Futhark rune selected at random.
Today’s rune is wunjo, which is translated as “joy” and has been interpreted in both the earthly sense as well as in spiritual ecstasy. It has been associated with healing (emotional, mental and interpersonal) and some sources connect the rune to luck, the act of making a wish, or applied will. Wunjo can also be the inspiration for creativity.
Please visit my Elder Futhark pages at sceadugenga.com for additional interpretations of the runes based on multiple references and personal reflection.
tagged:
poetry, rewilding, rune, wunjo
filed under:
poetry
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casting runes — 26mar26
Other Writers — A Writer’s Shindig
25Mar26 | 18.50 CDT
© 2026
michael raven
c: 260325.1850
Photo by Peter Herrmann on Unsplash
I should have been more on top of this, but recently my fellow writer Ted Wallenius (aka shredbobted) pulled together about a dozen writers to do some short story workshopping and cross-promotion. Six of them made it through the gauntlet (the other six, including myself, started but then a little then a little thing called “Life” got in the way for us). Those brave and creative souls were:
- Emily Amsel — Loss Part I, Part II & Part III
- Stephen Bent — Trees Grow Around Wire Part I, Part II & Part III
- Jeremy Miller — Corrections Part I, Part II & Part III
- Sarah Orr Aten — Smoke on the Water Part I & Part II
- Jolene Rice — An Oily Mess Part I, Part II & Part III
- Ted Wallenius — Strapped for Love Part I, Part II & Part III
If you are ever on the lookout for some talented writers and don’t have two pennies to rub together, you can probably find something worth reading from at least one of these six talented individuals. There’s a little romantic fantasy, a little body horror, a bit of absurdity crossed with action flick, several literature played straight pieces, and something I would call speculative fiction.
It’ll keep you busy for an afternoon, for sure.
(more…)
tagged:
writers supporting writers, other writers, short fiction
filed under:
reading
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Other Writers — A Writer’s Shindig
casting runes — 25mar26
25Mar26 | 12.59 CDT
© 2026
michael raven
c: 260325.1259
ingwaz
```
i draw on bonefires
burning shadow
from the long night
the dance mantic
against tall oaks
& selling dream
```
A rune poem, based on an Elder Futhark rune selected at random.
Today’s rune is ingwaz, a rune named after the god Ing or Freyr. It is representative of a channeled energy or transformational process. It is also be seen as the male component of life, and therefore a symbol of sexual passions and the contributed “seed” of life (and, therefore, an aspect of one’s ancestral ørlǫg, or fate/destiny). Some interpretations conceive the rune as a symbol of darkness, solitude or dreaming.
Please visit my Elder Futhark pages at sceadugenga.com for additional interpretations of the runes based on multiple references and personal reflection.
tagged:
rewilding, poetry, rune, ingwaz
filed under:
poetry
2 comments on casting runes — 25mar26
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casting runes — 25mar26
Epilogue
25Mar26 | 07.00 CDT
© 2026
michael raven
c: 260325.0700
an episodic Vivian Locke occult noir
Image generated by Gemini, with direction by Michael Raven
Sunny Day Parasol Co.
Epilogue
This is a serialized story. Start with Case File #1 here.
The Meridian Club had been a monument to high-stakes vice; now, it was just an open wound catching the city’s freezing rain. Red and blue police lights pulsed through the ruptured doorway, casting long, fractured shadows across the pulverized baccarat tables and the sea of abandoned chips.
In the dead center of the devastation, Cross stood up from the gray ash and dusted off his suit.
(more…)
tagged:
noir, prompted fiction, writing challenge, vivian locke, occult noir, hardboiled, episodic fiction, sunny day parasol co.
filed under:
Vivian Locke Occult Noirs, serial fiction
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Epilogue
undertow
24Mar26 | 21.48 CDT
© 2026
michael raven
c: 260324.2148
```
what's the point?

scrape bone with flint 
phantasmagoric
and toss finger broke 
i can hear her calling
over the wave;
so slip me undertow
before i wake
```
tagged:
poetry, melancholia, pointless
filed under:
poetry
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undertow

c: 260324.1942

i cut my lip while
kissing your lazuli eyes
under a blood moon
last night, at least
a decade ago
it seems today

bone pale, you laughed
as you tossed your
ebon hair away
cast it to the stars to
wash my cut away

i only wished
i had listened harder
before i grew stone
in sternum and
memorized the how
of that song on the
breeze that night

tagged:

poetry, betwixt and between, old ways

filed under:

poetry

4 comments

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under a blood moon

Case File #15: Absolute Zero
24Mar26 | 07.00 CDT
© 2026
michael raven
c: 260324.0700
an episodic Vivian Locke occult noir
Image generated by Gemini, with direction by Michael Raven
Sunny Day Parasol Co.
Case File #15: Absolute Zero
This is a serialized story. Start with Case File #1 here.
Kogan’s lead ampoule shattered under my bandaged knuckles. The purified salt and cold iron filings scattered across the green felt, but the dead quicksilver didn’t just spill… It leapt. It shot from the broken glass like a liquid soul, violently drawn to the impossible shape of the Black Sulfur token.
It hit the velvet exactly as Cross’s rotting entropy and Gallow’s crushing stasis slammed into the table.
The ignition didn’t produce a fireball. It produced an execution.
(more…)
tagged:
noir, prompted fiction, writing challenge, vivian locke, occult noir, hardboiled, episodic fiction, sunny day parasol co.
filed under:
Vivian Locke Occult Noirs, serial fiction
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Case File #15: Absolute Zero
Page Added — Serialized Fiction
23Mar26 | 20.15 CDT
© 2026
michael raven
c: 260323.2015
While I know most readers view this site through the lens of WordPress/Jetpack Reader, I like to tweak with the site as I go along to make it more user-friendly for those who swing by to see things up front, close and personal.
In preparation for having an anticipated longer-running bit of serialized fiction, I have created a landing page for those folks who don’t want to scroll though my posts to find individual episodes for a given series.
Swing by and let me know what you think, if you are so inclined. It just so happens that I also added a navigation element linking to this page as well, in case, you know, you want to catch up with one of these stories.
(more…)
tagged:
site details, serial fiction, design elements
filed under:
junk drawer
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Page Added — Serialized Fiction

marionette

23Mar26 | 16.05 CDT

michael raven

c: 260323.1605

my scrimshaw heart
ink etched and pale
bound in rust wire
wound around old nails

tired for explanations
eyes shutter-slip click - - -
stop.

then comes that
marionette walk
back to gods’ little
alcove behind
her priesthole
waiting for another
tick of the tock

tagged:

poetry, melancholia

filed under:

poetry

2 comments

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marionette

Half-Penny Thoughts — 23mar26
23Mar26 | 11.29 CDT
© 2026
michael raven
c: 260323.1129
I’ll have to admit that I am mighty surprised by the lack of discoverable serialized fiction via WordPress Reader. That isn’t to say that it doesn’t exist, but either WordPress Reader doesn’t recognize the term, people don’t use “serialized fiction” (or variations of it) for tags or categories, or there are just not that many folks publishing such things that are connected to WordPress.
(more…)
tagged:
half-penny thoughts, serial fiction, discovery
filed under:
thinking
24 comments on Half-Penny Thoughts — 23mar26
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Half-Penny Thoughts — 23mar26

Sunny Day Parasol Co.

Epilogue

Sunny Day Parasol Co.

Case File #15: Absolute Zero