Selktember 2021

Please use one or more of these tags when sharing your work!

#selktember #selktember2021

30 days of selkie related prompts.
Always in September.
Draw, paint, write, make music, any sort of art.

Some of us need a little time to prepare for something like Selktember, especially if someone ever decides that they want to do cosplay photography or something similar for their Selktember pieces. I started this thinking first about art and writing, remembered songs and music were a thing, so I have the hashtags open for any sort of creative Selktember offering.

Prompts

Below is the official prompt list I have created for this year.

Seastacks
Island
Seal Skin
Beaching
Whale
Secret
Crystal
Cave
Carving
Stone
Seaweed
Food
Fishing
Culture
Dock
Sailor
Kraken
Liminal
Magic
Seawitch
Exploration
Arctic
Penguin
Temperate
Inland
Descendant
Return
Stolen
Tears
Reunion

Official Rules

1. Please use one or more of these tags when posting and sharing your work!

#selktember #selktember2021

2. Any art of any kind you wish is welcome as long as it touches on selkies.

3. Do them all or focus on a few, there is no pressure. I myself might not be able to do one for each day within the month of September, depending on what my workload will be that month. No pressure.

4. If you are on DeviantArt submit your selkie work to @SelktemberGroup gallery in the Selktember 2021 folder.

5. Prompt suggestions to future years are welcome. Send them to THGStarDragonPublishing@gmail.com

Deviantart Group Official Deviant Art group: https://www.deviantart.com/selktembergroup

Twitter @amehanaarashi

Instagram@ amehanaarashi

Deviantart @amehanarainstardrago

Seal photos used for the background overlay layers are sourced from Pixabay. For those unaware of what a selkie is, a selkie is a shapeshifter of Celtic origin. When wearing their sealskin or seal coat they are seals. They become human when they remove it. Other cultures also have their own sealfolk, and they are just as welcome to be represented in Selktember.

Crossposts: https://rainstardragon.livejournal.com/1194787.html

Flash Fiction Month is happening, and I have been working on catching up to it. You can read my flash fictions for free on my Deviant Art gallery. Views help boost me in the algorithm, if I understand things correctly. I will update this list to link to where you can read the flash fictions written for this month.

Flash Fiction Month 2021

The Idols: Obsession, or safety? https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/FFM2021-1-The-Idols-884398326
Rainbringer: When the rain runs dry, what happens when there is less to bring? https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/FFM2021-2-Rainbringer-884402495
I Want Flames: Aging does not mean growing up. https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/FFM-2021-3-I-Want-Flames-885840121
Wind and Stream: Experience the connection of a tree between her suitors. https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/FFM-2021-4-Wind-and-Stream-885848421
I Just Want A Bed: No, really. I just want a bed! https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/FFM-2021-5-I-Just-Want-a-Bed-886131751
Sloth: Be careful what you program. https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/FFM-2021-6-Sloth-886138477
Within Her Mirror: Snow White from the Magic Mirror's perspective. https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/FFM-2021-7-Within-Her-Mirror-886218522
A) The Fae Bride: A Fairy bride and what a chance encounter means for her future groom. https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/FFM-2021-8-The-Fae-Bride-886230385
B) They: Wander with a spirit that had never walked as human. https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/FFM-2021-8b-They-886338858
Cloud In The Storm: The Cloud Maiden always wanders far, and sometimes she comes when called. https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/FFM-2021-9-Cloud-in-the-Storm-886233369
Starstone City: Adventurers, a love triangle, and personality clashes. https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/FFM-2021-10-Starstone-City-886247909
Providence: A half selkie shipwrecked encounters a full selkie family. https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/FFM-2021-11-Providence-886241301
The Taste of People: A forest spirit speaks his mind https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/FFM-2021-12-The-Taste-of-People-886149220
You'll Be Mine: Loving? Obsessive? You get to make up your own mind about this Fae and his letter. https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/FFM-2021-13-You-ll-Be-Mine-886146025
The Cloud Maiden's Shrine Origin: The Cloud Maiden chooses a home, and a priest to serve her. https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/FFM-2021-14-The-Cloud-Maiden-s-Shrine-Origin-886141083
Wishing Cookies: Just a little bit of baking. https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/FFM2021-15-Wishing-Cookies-886040849
An Unusual Day In The Life of Sir Seb (or Sir Sebastion): When a villain is bad at being bad and it's the castle dragon that needs rescuing Sir Sebastion gets to clean up the mess. https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/FFM2021-16-An-Unusual-Day-in-the-Life-of-Sir-Seb-885959154
Temptations: In which I mock blouse ripper romance and shed a little light on certain aspects of the Temple of Mara that aren't so fun. Or is it just angst? https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/FFM-2021-17-Temptations-886054881
Who Summoned Me To Punch A Fish?: Teenagers, elder gods possessing tentacles, and wannabe gangs. https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/FFM-2021-18-Who-Summoned-Me-to-Punch-a-Fish-886057619
Dragon And Hawk Reunite: A long flash forward for Ryu Take and BlowingWind Mountainchild from my Dragon Shaman books. https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/FFM-2021-19-Dragon-and-Hawk-Reunite-886209592
Untethering The Dragon: When a spirit incarnates as a human but needs their powers there is always some sort of price. https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/FFM-2021-20-Untethering-The-Dragon-886335217
The Cloud Dance: Your typical unruly princess, and the typical falling for a guard. The Cloud Maiden has plans for them https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/FFM-2021-21-The-Cloud-Dance-886350253
In progress
In progress
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In progress

Look for places to find me via my Linktree! https://www.linktr.ee/Amehana

Crossposts: https://rainstardragon.livejournal.com/1194274.html

I've finished all the Selktember and Tribble Month stories. I am aggravated with myself that somehow I overlooking posting them here as they got finished. They are listed below. I also have a few short story starts that went over the word limit that will wind up elsewhere when finished.

Selktember / Tribble Month stories

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Nets-Selktember-1-Tribble-Month-1-854384557 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Shell-Dawn-Selktember-2-Tribble-Month-2-854392464 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Her-Father-s-Daughter-Selktember-Tribble-3-854420072 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Murderer-Selktember-Tribble-Month-4-854421756 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Sleepy-Isle-Selktember-Tribble-Month-5-854425912 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/First-Taint-Selktember-Tribble-Month-6-854427314 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Recognition-854427944 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Substitutes-Selktember-Tribble-Month-8-854525739 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Rescue-Selktember-Tribble-Month-9-854632733 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Stolen-Selktember-and-Tribble-Month-10-854822111 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Exchanges-Selktember-and-Tribble-Month-11-854823858 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/The-Shipwreck-Report-Selktember-Tribble-12-854964446 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Luck-and-Treasure-Selktember-Tribble-13-855776941 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Selktember-14-Belated-Mermay-30-Pirate-855015760 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Rookie-Pirate-855777530 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Storm-Selkie-Tribble-15-855778785 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Tribble-Month-16-The-Fish-Tender-856547316 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Shark-Friend-Selktember-Tribble-17-856548598 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Captured-Creative-Energies-and-Dreams-Tribble-18-856549661 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Moonstone-Selktember-Tribble-19-856633313 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Story-Time-Selktember-Tribble-20-856635653 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Lure-Mermay-Tribble-21-855776249 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Seaflowers-and-Moonstones-Selktember-Tribble-22-856638421 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Disappointment-Selktember-Tribble-857147706 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Selkie-Shepherd-Selktember-Tribble-24-857339107 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Purple-Suit-Selktember-Tribble-25-857340917 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Water-Witch-Selktember-Tribble-26-857342113 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Who-She-Is-Selktember-Tribble-27-857343362 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Summer-Skin-Selktember-Tribble-28-857344226 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Protection-Selktember-Tribble-29-857346681 

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Last-Breath-Selktember-Tribble-30-857348691 

Crossposts: https://rainstardragon.livejournal.com/1192264.html

Tristan Makay was originally slated to be done for the Pirate prompt for day 30 of Mermay. It seriously took me this long to get to drawing Kirsty's far distance cousin.

Tristan Makay's father is the full blooded selkie in this situation. He's of selkie descent and it can be seen in the web of his fingers, the bit of a seal-ish part to the upper lip, and what may or may not be short little whiskers. His father set out to sea making a living for them, leaving his mother and their child behind. He never returned and it is unknown what befell his father. In this his mother, a sea witch, has also already passed and he has joined the crew of the dread pirate captain Rayas, a Scourge of the Sea and rather decidedly shark like.

Tristan's voyages are to take him beyond the Veil, though under far different circumstances of the still-yet-to-be-born Etain.

This piece finally finishes the coloring book project as far as content that has been waiting. I can now do layout. Once the .pdf is ready I can send it out to the Patreon Patrons that have been patiently waiting and upload it for sale.

Crossposts: https://rainstardragon.livejournal.com/1191812.html

Selkies' Skins Extras Flash Fiction
Upheaval
https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/FFM2020-15-Upheaval-848845342

She stood at the shore and undid her braids, shivering as she began sensing more around her in the wind. Her sealskin cloak, once disguised as lambskin before being awakened and bound to her, billowed and fought to cling, flippers firmly gripped around her shoulders. The waves fell back before here where she stood overlooking the sea and revealed to her the seabed as she knew it would be. Rocks, twists, turns, caves, flopping fish and sharks, seaweeds and sea stars, along with innumerable other details beckoned her.

The earth smelled wrong, felt wrong. Behind and below her the water from the underground streams and springs trembled. The Lady’s wails rose from beneath her hill and sacred well.

The docks weren’t going to survive this. They’d have to rebuild.

Kirsty held her ground and stared down the storm that roiled far out at sea. Somewhere out there below the water deities strove and fought. Plates shifted sooner and more violently than they would have.

It was a shame that the drained powers of some of the Old Gods that would have helped lay imprisoned in the Ministry of Mysteries, waiting to be awakened and for some believer to release them.

Suddenly Kirsty realized that she was not alone. A thin, wrinkled, shaky hand with paper skin grasped her own. The taller form stood beside her, holding the lantern that had once belonged to Mrs Kitsch’s father when they’d lived in the lighthouse in her childhood. The other shaking hand held it aloft as it blazed to life. The wind rose and her long white hair lifted on it beneath the old yellow rain cap and over the equally old yellow slicker.

“Are the boys out on the boats then?”

“Yes.” She didn’t know how she knew, but she did.

The priestess-witch and the Cowan guardian solidified their stances. Each knew their job. She sang in the face of danger for those on land and sea while the water rushed back to land. Kirsty’s own energy went into the spellsong and this song was echoed by the strand of her ancestor’s hair in the wand amplifying it. She pulled what she could from the water in the land, the sky, the sea and wove part into a net to be a buffer. The light keeper concentrated her heart on bringing all the boats home to the shore safe. The waters crashed down but parted around the confines of the past and future village, leaving both the human style homes and the currently mostly unoccupied selkie caves unharmed.

The sound of the waves and foam blurred reality. When she woke it was in her own bed. She was parched and starving. Surely that experience had been a dream brought on by not eating enough. Yet, her eye fell on a dried starfish by her bed and a tiny, elegant scrawl.

Kirsten;

I had to go feed your horses. The lads are down rebuilding the docks. If you wake before I get back, Mara asked me to give this to you for your regalia. There’s soup on the stove, make sure your mother eats too.

~Mary Kitsch

With a sigh she gave a prayer of thanks that David was currently with his father, and that his mode of transport was not usually boat related when travelling between the communities. He wasn’t expected home very soon, but maybe this was something she ought to let him know about since he’d definitely be coming back to a significantly changed scene.

Crossposts: https://rainstardragon.livejournal.com/1190282.html

Tiptoe by Kit O'Connor

I got this book in exchange for an honest review. When I got it I had not seen the tiny blurb mentioning infidelity and insanity. I wish I had. The book was well written story wise, even with the jumping between characters. I normally enjoy that sort of book, but it took me a bit to understand how the characters were connected. I was expecting a story about a boy becoming a knight and defeating his dragon. It's not quite what I got and it seems the dragon was a completely different kind than the sort we started out with. On one hand I'm applauding this and on the other I'm going "not quite for me." However it might be for you. I had to push through the first third or so, but then it started to make more sense to me. Also as I have avoided drug culture that might have put a damper on my understanding. However that also may have been the effect the author was going for as I was indeed finding myself in a very alien (to me) world.

I might look for more by this person later, but it isn't high on my priority list.

---

Here, have a Kirsty picture. Back to some selkie related material.
http://amehanarainstardrago.deviantart.com/art/Selkie-transformation-567750156