OK, so it’s been about a year since I launched the Free Fiction Feature, and I’ve decided to mix things up a bit. Instead of posting each story here, on my overall/multi-genre site, I’m breaking them out by genre onto my sub-sites going forward. I’ll continue to post a roundup here of the feature(s) for each month, as well as any other writing news.

What does this mean?

For fantasy:

A different short fantasy adventure will be posted each month on my fantasy-specific website, which will also be highlighted on this blog.

For mystery:

A different short mystery adventure will be posted for one month of each quarter on my mystery-specific website, which will also be highlighted on this blog. These posts will take place during the months of April, July, October, and January.

And yes, this means that during the months listed above, there will be two stories available to read for free–one fantasy and one mystery. This also means that those who enjoy fantasy will get a story in that genre each month, without a mystery story taking up a place in the rotation. For mystery readers, the scheduling is still roughly the same–if not a little more frequent–as it was when I was slotting my mystery stories on this site between my fantasy titles. (I have far fewer mystery shorts than fantasy at the moment, so the scheduling on that side is lighter.)

I hope this all makes sense… In the meantime, here are this month’s Free Fiction Features!

Legends of Lasniniar: Making Waves (Fantasy)

Deep sapphire, flecked with silver. Iarion’s eyes mark him from any elf ever born.

A strange, physical anomaly? Or a sign of his unique condition? Even after thousands of years spent wandering the lands of Lasniniar, the answer continues to elude him.

…Now Iarion’s eyes sweep the harbor of the Sea Elves in the hopes that his ship might finally come in.

In the epic fantasy World of Lasniniar series by award-winning author Jacquelyn Smith, this stand-alone story explores an adventure from Iarion’s deep past, before he becomes a hero of legend.

Now, you can read it online for free for one month only:

On the Card: A Kira Brightwell Short Story (Mystery)

Kira Brightwell needs to pay.

A problem solver for hire and local hero in her own right, Kira never sought any acclaim for her actions. She only wants to track down the man who abducted her three years ago. And maybe celebrate her birthday with some ice cream cake.

But even an unintentional path to prominence comes with collateral damage.

…And some people can never forgive and forget.

A fast-paced, stand-alone story from the Kira Brightwell mystery series by award-winning author, Jacquelyn Smith.

Now, you can read it for free online for one month only: