Natalie Gray
Bio
Welcome, Travelers! Allow me to introduce you to a compelling world of Magick and Mystery. My stories are not for the faint of heart, but should you deign to read them I hope you will find them entertaining and intriguing to say the least.
Achievements (8)
Stories (186)
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Chapter One: Unlikely Friends
Aidan sat in the cool, damp grass with the little brass gearbox in hand, tightening the springs with a miniature screwdriver. The warm breath of the summer wind kissed his stubbly cheek but he took little notice of it, absorbed as he was in his tinkering. Tinkering always helped him think, and calmed him when even his mother’s words could not. With each click and whirr of the mechanism, though, Kyden’s words still rang loud and clear in his pointed ears, piercing his heart with the ferocity of a red-hot iron spear: "He's not my son."
By Natalie Gray2 years ago in Chapters
Prologue: The Babe in the Woods
Lavinia’s toes scraped the ground with every slow stride she took. The skin around her tired lavender eyes glowed bright red against her porcelain complexion, looking puffy and lumpy and decidedly out of place on her otherwise flawless visage. She was so certain it would work this time. It should have worked. She’d completed every rite to the letter, followed every detail and done exactly what the Old Texts decreed: she’d fasted at the appropriate times, sacrificed to the appropriate Goddesses – twice – and endured the brutal mating ritual until she thought her body would break. And yet, despite all that hard work, agony, hope, and suffering… here she was in the exact same circumstance as before.
By Natalie Gray2 years ago in Chapters
Hocus Pocus
Spooky season is almost here, and what is it without Winnifred, Mary, and Sarah? The perfect blend of goofy and fun with iconic characters and just enough heart to put a spell on you forever. Gary and Penny Marshall are icing on the cake. But the sequel is absolute garbage.
By Natalie Gray2 years ago in Critique
Y.A. Fiction Isn't Just For Kids
Nothing can quite describe the joy of walking through the Junior's or Young Adult section of a library when you're a kid. Moving up at last from picture books to chapter books is a heck of a milestone: for once you feel grown up, sophisticated, not like the babies sitting in a circle for story time and hand puppets. It's a feeling that can't quite be explained, and once that magic is gone it's almost impossible to recapture it.
By Natalie Gray3 years ago in BookClub
Burnout Is Real
In every creative field, there is a phenomenon. A kind of "hitting a wall", where the creator - that's you and me - feels their creative muse take a hiatus. The wellspring of one's creative juices just runs dry one day, and no amount of drilling, priming, praying or begging can make them flow again. You might feel tired or frustrated, like you want to write but you either can't or everything that comes out of your pen would be perfectly at home in the bottom of a cattle chute. If any of the above describes how you're feeling right now, congratulations: you're suffering from burnout.
By Natalie Gray3 years ago in Writers
Hungry Little Waifs
Welcome back, Weary Traveler. It's been too long since you last settled at my campfire. Have you returned to hear another tale of the twisted and the macabre? I hope so, because I am definitely in the mood to tell one. Settle in and get comfortable, won't you?
By Natalie Gray3 years ago in Horror
The Man Who Made Me
He seems so peaceful, sitting there snoozing on his favorite couch. A crossword puzzle book lays folded open in his lap, the pen still poised in his hand from the last clue he was working on. It's amazing how quickly he can fall asleep these days. Honestly, I'm a little jealous. Then again, when one gets into their late 70's, I suppose it's normal to conk out at the drop of a hat. The frost in his beard is a marker of the ever-marching passage of time, faded after the years from its once jet-black hue. I suppose I'm partially responsible for that. Alright, more than partially.
By Natalie Gray3 years ago in Men
Different Worlds
Shelly sighed and flipped her tail wistfully, staring at the sky while she languished in the pool. She had it bad. There was no denying it. Why did it have to be him though, of all people? It just wasn't fair. Not fair at all. Her golden yellow hair fanned out all around her in the water like a net, catching the sun's rays and reflecting them in her seafoam green irises. It had to be his eyes. That's what she'd been drawn to right off the bat: those deep, smoldering purple orbs with orange flecks, like embers floating up through a wall of smoke. Just thinking about them made her scales simmer in the water.
By Natalie Gray3 years ago in Fiction
John Doe
Ben had never been one for quick, whirlwind romances. He'd been through enough bad breakups to learn his lesson about jumping the gun in relationships. More often than not he'd wind up with a broken heart, a ruined self-image, and an empty wallet. It was his hubris: he was just so desperate to be loved by someone - anyone - that he'd fall head over heels for the first guy who paid him a compliment.
By Natalie Gray3 years ago in Horror
The Music of My Life
Ever since I was little, music has been a prominent and impactful aspect of my life. When I was small, my mother rarely went a day in her life without singing or playing the piano. The earliest days of my childhood are vague at best, but I remember three songs in particular that stand out particularly strongly:
By Natalie Gray3 years ago in Beat
Perfectly Mismatched
Flames. Red, angry, biting flames. They were everywhere: on the ceiling, the floor, all around her crib. A pretty dwarf woman with big, green eyes covered her with a wet blanket. Cold and squishy, but at least it kept out the flames and choking smoke.
By Natalie Gray3 years ago in Fiction
