ravensweald

Just a snack
15May26 | 14.31 CDT
© 2026
michael raven
c: 260515.1431
Because, sometimes you just want a snack.
Some people might say I’ve probably bit off more than I can check with the running serial, Vengeance, My Heart, and they might be right in that assessment.
The story currently sits with twenty-six planned episodes (and approximately 4 posts per episode) for the full story arc and my reserving the right to extend it to a second and a third arc. Clocking in currently at ~40k words, I am trending towards about 170 pages (assuming 235 word/page when you account for rapid-fire dialog and end-chapter whitespaces.
That’s about 1/3 of the way for folks reading up through today. An estimated 400-page novel when we are all said and done.
So why the heck am I looking sideways when I have a long haul ahead (and I am running out of content to share post-Ep. 6)?
As I said, sometimes you just want a snack. And that goes for writing. too.
(more…)
tagged:
ash & thorn, flash fiction, tales from the fell wynd, writing about writing
filed under:
writing
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Just a snack
VMH Ep 6.4: Stilmere is live
15May26 | 12.01 CDT
© 2026
michael raven
c: 260515.1201
start readingVengeance, My Heart
The Argument:
An acquired taste.
A little church talk.
Bottoms up.
Episode 6.4 of Vengeance, My Heart (episode link), my serialized Sepulchral-Gothic Western novel, is now live at ravensweald.art.
Subscribe to the serial via email
❧
(more…)
tagged:
ash & thorn, episodic fiction, gothic western, ravensweald.art, sepulchral western, serialized fiction, vengeance my heart, web novel, weird west
filed under:
Ash & Thorn — Vengeance, My Heart
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VMH Ep 6.4: Stilmere is live
casting runes — 15may26
15May26 | 10.18 CDT
© 2026
michael raven
c: 260515.1018
hagalaz
```
hail seeks no permissions—
it arrives as revelation
small & indifferent

the field it falls on is i—
the silence after, too 

roots that never
believed in a summer
grieve not when
one draws to an end
```
A rune poem, based on an Elder Futhark rune selected at random.
Today’s rune is hagalaz, which has a core meaning of “hail”, which was associated with potential, transformation, renewal and change; hail is imagined a seed from which change will arise. Hagalaz is also seen as representative of things beyond our control: a clash between fire and ice.
Please visit my Elder Futhark pages at sceadugenga.com for additional interpretations of the runes based on multiple references and personal reflection.
tagged:
hagalaz, poetry, rewilding, rune
filed under:
poetry
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casting runes — 15may26
Towards the Within — New Model Army, “Vagabonds”
14May26 | 10.36 CDT
© 2026
michael raven
c: 260514.1036
```
We are old, we are young,
We are in this together
Vagabonds and children
Prisoners forever
With pulses a-raging and
Eyes full of wonder
Kicking out behind us again
```
Out planting trees a few weeks ago, I had a portable speaker on my beltloop and streaming music on it. I hadn’t listened to Justin and Co. for a spell and decided it was time to remedy that omission via giving the album “Thunder and Consolation” a spin (if that’s what you call it when you stream music and not put a record on a turntable).
Talk about earworming… Vagabonds is one of those songs that easily to sing the chorus with the band on, once you know the lyrics (see above) and NMA have been firmly stuck in my head since.
I came to NMA late in the game.
(more…)
tagged:
new model army, towards the within, vagabonds
filed under:
Towards the Within
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Towards the Within — New Model Army, “Vagabonds”
lost, so lost
13May26 | 21.26 CDT
© 2026
michael raven
c: 260513.2126
```
tincture these reflections of
tracing sweat beads down
your side with a kiss, pressing
cherry petals to your skin 
and on drunk your wine
lost, so lost, this time again
```
tagged:
betwixt and between, poetry
filed under:
poetry
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lost, so lost
VMH Ep 6.3: Stilmere is live
13May26 | 12.01 CDT
© 2026
michael raven
c: 260513.1201
start readingVengeance, My Heart
The Argument:
A stranger pushes, ends up with a fistful of husks.
Fences go beyond mending.
A crow agrees.
Episode 6.3 of Vengeance, My Heart (episode link), my serialized Sepulchral-Gothic Western novel, is now live at ravensweald.art.
Subscribe to the serial via email
❧
(more…)
tagged:
ash & thorn, episodic fiction, gothic western, ravensweald.art, sepulchral western, serialized fiction, vengeance my heart, web novel, weird west
filed under:
Ash & Thorn — Vengeance, My Heart
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VMH Ep 6.3: Stilmere is live

c: 260513.0947

slipping those witchy snares
letting hedges fall away—
i am not here to cosplay

i sky scree lake water blue
i dark root mycelium bound
i æsclāst, that wending path

fever, dreams draw heat
forest and wode, grown old
crows rise calling—

blood on virgin snow

tagged:

betwixt and between, poetry, rewilding

filed under:

poetry

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slipping snares

lark on the morn
12May26 | 21.26 CDT
© 2026
michael raven
c: 260512.2126
Today I draw dark lines in charcoal on parchment so thin as to air. All gravities pull in your direction and the angles bend true, in teeth-branded skin and hurt so good.
Head wrapped in linen for better to see. My fingers dance liminal, waiting for the telegraph of dream. Can you see the words writ in water? The ripples cross my dark lines in coal drawn on angle to you.
Granites love your gravity, antlers turn their curves to thee.
And, it is in this I apprehend. Waiting on the morning lark to call you into being.
tagged:
betwixt and between, prose
filed under:
prose
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lark on the morn
casting runes — 12may26
12May26 | 10.37 CDT
© 2026
michael raven
c: 260512.1037
othala
```
ancient this wood
sheltering spirit
a compact made
in the ever ago

moss at north
& lichen scalloped
at deadfall we hoard

fox bark, underdark
a crow calls, naming
from branch & from floor
```
A poem prompted by a randomly selected Elder Futhark rune.
Today’s rune is othala, which has a core meaning of “heritage”, “inheritance” and “legacy”. These are all associated with home, kin, ancestors, stability and (in some interpretations) past lives or spiritual legacy.
Please visit my Elder Futhark pages at sceadugenga.com for additional interpretations of the runes based on multiple references and personal reflection.
tagged:
othala, poetry, rewilding, rune
filed under:
poetry
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oculus obscura
11May26 | 21.15 CDT
© 2026
michael raven
c: 260511.2115
```
i am not of dreaming
her eyes mind not me
laugh crow at skies 
laugh stone at feet

i am hoar of unnight
shattered & unseen
laugh flint scrape skin
laugh bone under me
```
tagged:
betwixt and between, poetry, rewilding
filed under:
poetry
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oculus obscura