flash fiction on Patreon
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Spooky Season Shenanigans (Ines’ Adventures in Paganism #2) by Francesca Astraea

You can find previous Ines’ Adventures instalments here. They can be read in any order, although might be most fun to read chronologically as I build the world. As autumn fell over the Ines’ town, so did an enchantment. Ines didn’t notice at first, because she was rather busy with magic of her own.… Continue reading
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A Measure of Time | A Bezzina’s Emporium of Magical Artefacts and Antiquities Short Story by Francesca Astraea

You absolutely do not need to have started reading or have read Rotting Trees to enjoy this. You don’t have to have read any Bezzina’s stories at all. It is quite short, because I wrote it for a zine submission but decided not to edit it after the zine said no. Enjoy! You can find… Continue reading
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‘Growing Pains,’ a Bezzina’s Emporium Short Story by Francesca Astraea

Ernest Bezzina really just wants a cup of tea. Other Bezzina’s Emporium stories can be found here. Two short stories in one quarter? It is indeed. There’s invented Latin. Well, the Latin is real, I just smushed two words together. That’s how language works, right. I’m not saying that if you enjoy this, you should… Continue reading
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‘A Devil of a Time’ by Francesca Astraea, Illustrated by Tatchiana Michaela

A new story? In this year of our lord 2023? Well, I actually wrote this last summer to pitch to magazines. BUT STILL. Here you go. No blurb because you have this wonderful illustration by my friend Tatchiana Michaela, a Bristol-based illustrator (who is open for commissions if you’re interested!). As per, it was available… Continue reading
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Quiet Night Out, a Bezzina’s Story by Francesca Astraea

Welcome to the latest Bezzina’s story! It is a standalone; you don’t have to read them in order of publication, but you can find them all here. Sophey and Ariel have an idea to boost the fortunes of Bezzina’s Emporium of Magical Artefacts and Antiquities, but they’re going to have their work cut out… Ernest… Continue reading
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Winter Sun, a Bezzina’s Story, by Francesca Astraea

I always name characters after members of the No. 1 Readers’ Club over on Patreon – this was Jackie’s turn! As is usually the case, this Bezzina’s story is a standalone. You don’t have to read them in order, but you can find them all here. One winter evening, a couple enter Bezzina’s Emporium of… Continue reading
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The Balanced Scales Agency by Francesca Astraea
The Balanced Scales Agency looked from the outside like every private investigator’s office in every film or TV show ever made about private investigators. Its shopfront was a faded green, tucked between two large, corporate, glassy buildings in London’s Square Mile. How it hadn’t been subsumed by developers yet, Bradley Henderson had no idea. Bradley’s… Continue reading
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Day Trip by Francesca Astraea
I wrote this little vignette as a response to a challenge my friend Tatchiana Michaela put on their Instagram. Essie didn’t love boats, but she had told herself she wouldn’t love hot-sun holidays either, so she knew she should give the boat trip a go. Half a day around the Mediterranean island she was staying… Continue reading
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The Portrait Witch (The Hermit, Major Arcana Series) by Francesca Astraea
Ask anyone: twenty-eight Wimbourne Way was the place to go if you needed a helping hand with your life. For the price of one good deed, or a couple of thousand pounds, the witch who lived there would paint you and at least the likeness of your loved ones into a scene of your heart’s… Continue reading
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The Thief in the Night by Francesca Astraea
This is a commission for my friend Robyn. Her prompt: What is the least convenient personal habit for a detective? Write about that detective. Quigley Thompson had only been Junior Security Guard at Meadowlark Conservation Park and Society for three weeks, so he really wasn’t sure what to do with the woman in the staffroom.… Continue reading
