by C. Vandyke
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are the products of the authors’ imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons—living, dead, or piratical—or actual events is purely coincidental. Especially those involving space kraken.
Copyright © 2021 Skullgate Media
All worlds, related characters, and locations are the shared intellectual property of all contributors. Individual creative pieces are the intellectual property of their respective creators.
All rights reserved.
Tales From the Year Between is a publication of Skullgate Media
“Tales From the Year Between,” “Skullgate Media” and associated logos copyright © 2021 Skullgate Media LLC
ISBN 978-1-956042-00-9
Ebook ISBN 978-1-956042-01-6
www.skullgatemedia.com
First edition
Cover illustration by Duy Phan, aka Phanduy on Fiverr
Cover design and internal layout by Chris Vandyke
Map illustrations by Aaron Hockett, Michael D. Nadeau, Dewi Hargreaves, and C. Vandyke. Copyrights for each belong to their respective illustrators.
Group author portraits were commissioned via Fiverr.com. For links to each artist, see the acknowledgements page.
All fonts are either licensed or open-source. If you believe any images or fonts were used without license or attribution, please contact us so we can correct the oversight.
Also Available From Skullgate Media
TALES FROM THE YEAR BETWEEN
Volume 1—Achten Tan: Land of Dust & Bone
Volume 2 —Under New Suns
Volume 3—In The Wake of the Kraken
* * *
SKULLGATE MEDIA PRESENTS
Loathsome Voyages: An Anthology of Weird-Fiction
Winter Wonders—(Nov. 2021)
* * *
THE LYTHINALL SERIES, by Michael D. Nadeau
The Darkness Returns
The Darkness Within
The Darkness Rises (coming soon!)
Tales from Lythinall
* * *
OTHER BOOKS
Friends of the Skullgate, curated by C. Van Dyke
Each Little Universe, by Chris Durston (Oct. 2021)
Speechless, by Debbie Iancu-Haddad (Dec. 2021)
Under New Suns Staff
Skullgate Media Staff
Chris Durston
Diana C. Gagliardi
Debbie Iancu-Haddad
C. D. Storiz
C. Vandyke
* * *
Volume 2 Game Masters
Diana C. Gagliardi
C. Vandyke
* * *
Lead Editors:
Chris Durston
C. D. Storiz
* * *
Guest Editors:
B.K. Bass
Jayme Bean
A. R. K. Horton
Jeremy Nelson
Sarah Parker
Jonathan Beck
A.E. Bross
Chapel Orahamm
C.J. Henderson
Katherine Shaw
* * *
Editor-in-Chief
C. Vandyke
To Captain Hook, Jack Sparrow, the Dread Pirate Roberts, and all the fictional pirates who inspired us.
Arr, avast, and may your timbers be ever shivered.
Crazy people don’t know they're crazy, therefore I’m not crazy. Isn’t that crazy?
Captain Jack Sparrow
The pirate he will sink you with a kiss
He'll steal your heart and sail away
He'll leave you drowning in the flotsam of a broken promise in the bay.
Joni Mitchell, “The Pirate of Penance,”
Yes, as through this world I've wandered
I've seen lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a six-gun,
And some with a fountain pen.
Woody Guthrie, “Pretty Boy Floyd”
Contents
Introduction
C. Vandyke
About This Book
BOOK 1: PIRATES OF THE SEA
Map of the Isles Surrounding the Kraken’s Whirlpool
Illustrated by Dewi Hargreaves
Roman Jewels
Chapel Orahamm
The Dowery
Imelda Taylor
Stolen Goods
J.C. Pillard
Cat ‘O Nine Tails
Jack Kaide
Heart of Storms
Darby Cupid
Accounts From Doctor Pendergast’s Chronicle
Imelda Taylor
Of Revenge & Rapiers
C.J. Henderson
Creators of the Sea
Illustrated by Katherine Ellis
BOOK 2: PIRATES OF THE FANTASTIC
Map of the Archipelago
Illustrated by Michael D. Nadeau
The Elysium Proposal
A.E. Bross
The Screaming Harpies
Caroline Barnard-Smith
Select Letters
Caroline Bernard-Smith
Exposed
A.R.K. Horton
Never So Near, Never So Far
A.R.K. Horton
The Ballad of Tasmin the Tattered
Astrid Knight
The Curse of the Crimson Eye
Robert Mammone
Prince of the Porthole
Ian Barr
Creators of Fantasy
Illustrated by Day Phan
BOOK 3: PIRATES OF SKY
Map of the Charted World
Illustrated by Aaron Hockett
The Hunt for the Other Side
Katherine Shaw
What We Dare to Behold
B.K. Bass
The Talons of Ice
Gregory Coley
Another Kind of Immortality
Dani Atkinson
The Final Testimonies of Dr. Issen Weiland on the Occasion of His Death
Jeremy Pak Nelson
An Airship Built for Two
Jayme Bean
Creators of the Sky
Illustrated by TBL Kobka
BOOK 4: PIRATES OF THE STARS
Map of the World’s End Galaxy
Illustrated by Chris Van Dyke
Last Ship to Trenchfall
Harry F. Rey
Debt Collection
Lisa Kuznak
Kiss & Tell
J. Calamy
There But For Grace
Synchrony
Alexis Ames
The Wolf and the Kraken
Craig Rathbone
Creators of the Stars
Illustrated by TBL Kobka
Creators of Worlds
The staff of Skullgate and Editorial Team, Illustrated by Katherine Ellis
Index
Index
Acknowledgments
Kickstarter Backers
Contributors
About “Tales From the Year Between”
A Note on the Font
Also Available From Skullgate Media
Introduction
C. Vandyke
In most versions of reality, this book doesn’t exist. One year ago, Skullgate Media was started by a impulsive tweet that I very nearly didn’t send. Had I chosen instead to tweet a cute GIF of Pikachu or an inane question (“Hey, writers! What’s your MC put on their waffles?”), you wouldn’t be reading this right now. Had the writers who responded chosen not to check their phones or shrugged and scrolled on to something else instead of sending me a DM, you would’t be reading this book. There were countless inflection points where different choices could have been made, and most resulted in a world where there is no Skullgate Media, no Tales From the Ye
ar Between, no In the Wake of the Kraken.
And yet, remarkably and against all odds, we are living in the version of reality where all those things came to pass. While I lack Doctor Pangloss’s confidence that we are living in “the best of all possible worlds” (see: November 8th, 2016 through all of 2020 as a counterpoint to such a rosy view), I’m still pretty happy to find myself writing an introduction to an anthology that marks our first anniversary as a publisher.
It seems fitting that we’re celebrating that anniversary with a volume that traipses through the multiverse. Tales from the Year Between is premised on strangers coming together to create new and unexpected worlds, and on a macro-level, that’s what our entire company is—a new and unexpected world formed by strangers with shared desires for story-telling and collaboration. In our two previous volumes, we’ve created a single world, but in this book we have created four worlds, all loosely united by the theme of pirates and the reality-traipsing kraken. I’d like to say this was all done in some grand-design meant as a commentary on the iterative nature of Skullgate and quantum reality in general, but honestly it came about like most of my creative ideas: somewhat haphazardly while doing whatever sounded fun at the time. The idea of a pirate-themed anthology was popular, so we went with pirates. Then writers asked: can we do space pirates? What about viking pirates? Modern pirates? And either due to my college exposure to improv-theater or my inability to say no (or a healthy dose of each), my answer each time was “Yes.” Yes, we’ll do pirates. And yes, they can be space pirates, and yes there can be elves and yes they can have clock-work limbs and be on zeppelins.
A universe comprised of “yes and…” That’s basically how you find yourself with the book you are holding now. Yes, let’s do an anthology… and let’s start a publishing company… and let’s do a second book… and let’s create four different world and get four cartographers and do a kickstarter and author portraits and and and…
I have no idea what the next year will hold. Skullgate has at least half a dozen books planned for the next 12 months, so no matter which of the infinite possible worlds we find ourselves in, at least we’ll be cultivating our own garden. We hope you like all the “yes ands” we have in store for you.
* * *
-C. Vandyke, Founder & President of Skullgate Media
About This Book
This volume is divided into four books, each containing pirate tales from one world from the infinitude of the multiverse. The worlds themselves represent four distinct genres of speculative-fiction: Fantasy, Science-Fiction, Steam Punk, and Traditional Pirates.
While distinct, there are thematic elements that tie these disparate worlds together. An infamous Captain Braddock and their ship, the Midnight Scythe. A lighthouse and a fountain of death. A floating merchant market, the Well of Eternal life, and a map to the multiverse. And bringing terror to every iteration of existence: the great destroyer, the Kraken…
BOOK 1: PIRATES OF THE SEA
Map of the Isles Surrounding the Kraken’s Whirlpool
Illustrated by Dewi Hargreaves
Roman Jewels
Romeo & Juliet but Pirates
Chapel Orahamm
Act 1
Prologue
Two ships' crews, both alike in disposition,
In shadowed Squanderer's Bay, where this story unfolds,
From old insults arise a troubled mission,
Where privateer treasure lies in blood-bound holds,
From Pirate Code ink of these two captains
A duo of course-crossed lovers escape their fate;
Whose curious discovery happens
And with their stealth steal their captains' estate.
The tempestuous voyage of their cutlass-scarred love,
And the persistence of their captains' deck
Which, but for their quartermasters' mutiny, none would move,
Is now the few hours' rambling on our wreck;
If you wish a moment's entertainment
We shall reach for your desired attainment.
Scene 1.
Squanderer's Bay, The Market Center. Enter Sanderson and Godfrey, crew of Captain Lutterell's Black Albatross, armed.
Sanderson: Godfrey, I promise you, they won't make us into clowns.
Godfrey: Well, duh, we'd be a clown posse and not privateer, and I'm contracted to the code.
Sanderson: Not what I meant, God. I meant, if they cross us, we'd snuff 'em.
Godfrey: Sandy, you might want to see a priest or an apothecary.
Sanderson: Someone pushes my buttons, I push back.
Godfrey: But you don't wear buttons, at least none I've seen.
Sanderson: One of those Montgomery cutthroats pushes my buttons.
Godfrey: I mean, there are some fine looking specimens on board. Button-pushing doesn't sound half bad, does it?
Sanderson: They'd steal my buttons and leave me hanging. Rather crowd the market stalls then share the throughway with one of Montgomery's lackeys.
Godfrey: That's rather nice, giving them some room to get by.
Sanderson: I'm not nice. Women are nice. Here's what I'll do. Montgomery's men can stick to the street and I'll stick to her women.
Godfrey: Always fighting between the Black Albatross and the Crimson Blade captains. We just work for them.
Sanderson: When I'm captain, I'll put the men in their place, and I'll play sweet with the women - I hear they like bananas.
Godfrey: Are we really doing the banana in my pocket joke?
Sanderson: Well, I was ‘til you ruined it.
Godfrey: The joke'd work if you had anything resembling a banana.
Sanderson: I've seen enough bananas around here to know mine's a decent size.
Godfrey: Oh, aye. There's those Lady Fingers that'd give you a run for your money. Oye, here comes trouble. Get out your knife and not your Lady Finger, mind, lest you think that'll make the Montgomery men skat.
Sanderson: It's out. You initiate. I'll protect your back.
Godfrey: And you'll say you were there in my blindspot the whole time while cowering behind a barrel.
Sanderson: Don't be scared for me.
Godfrey: Yo. You scare me.
Sanderson: Wait. Gov'll have us if we go pointing bananas, I mean swords, at people. Let the Montgomerys come over here.
Godfrey: Y'all tell me I have resting bitch face. Of course they'll come over. They always do if I'm around.
Sanderson: I can always flip 'em off. Keep it subtle though. They'll have to come over if your pretty face doesn't do it. (Sanderson scratches his face, emphasizing the use of his middle finger.)
Enter Annesley.
Annesley: Sharkbait, you flipping us off?
Sanderson: You've gotta be blind if you're asking.
Annesley: Seriously? Are you a kid, or just looking for a smackdown?
Sanderson: (whispered to Godfrey) Can I call this self defense if I say yes and he attacks me?
Godfrey: (whispered to Sanderson) Nope.
Sanderson: (to Annesley) Uh. No. Not flipping you off. But I do have this atrocious itch. (Scratches more vigorously.)
Godfrey: Are you itching for a fight?
Annesley: Itching? I've bathed recently. You might look into one yourself.
Sanderson: We've got baths on our ship. Captain makes sure ours is just as good as yours.
Annesley: But not better.
Sanderson: Yo.
Enter Bostock.
Godfrey: (whispering so only Sanderson hears) Tell him "better". Here comes Cap's man.
Sanderson: (to Annelsey) I'd go with better, man.
Annesley: Sucking lies through your teeth will leave you in dentures.
Sanderson: If you got more than one knife on you and keep it sharp, pull the sharp one, Godfrey. I hope you're just as good at thrusting it as the blunt one.
They Fight.
Bostock: (breaks up fight, swords scattering to the ground on both sides) Cool it, you idiots. Y
ou wanna get both of us under Gov's nose?
Enter Tyndall.
Tyndall: You'd really chip your blade against mere crew, Bostock? Here, turn around and let me show you what a proper fight looks like.
Bostock: You're not helping here, Tyndall. Help me get these clam-brains to put their blades away.
Tyndall: You want my help? Here, let me help you and all the Montgomerys into the sea.
Montgomery and Lutterell crews join in on the scuffle. Enter several Market Watch with muskets.
First Market Watch: We've had it with you pirates, Blades and Albatrosses both. To arms, men! Cock and ready on my signal.
