Apricot jam and costume feathers and an afternoon that almost gets to be perfect.

Feathers and fabric and children's laughter — a day spent building something bright with your own hands and the help of people who showed up when you asked. It feels like winning. It feels like proof that the world can still be steered.

—

Narrated by Rebecca Hasler.

Set in D.W. Sheppard’s vast interconnected world where protective Gates hold back deadly monsters and treacherous flora, where safety is never guaranteed.

Support the show:

• Grab the full novel: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CWNBQWZM
• Stream sats or boost on Fountain.fm to support more episodes
• Leave a rating or review to help new listeners find the series

New episodes every Tuesday.

There's a hollow spot in the room where something important used to be, yet the shape remains.

A house full of small mutinies — sugar raids, homework dodged, brothers at war over things that don't matter yet. But between the noise and the dust, a stillness settles in a handmade room, and something hardens. Some things are worth protecting not because they're yours, but because someone trusted you to carry them forward.

—

Narrated by Rebecca Hasler.

Set in D.W. Sheppard’s vast interconnected world where protective Gates hold back deadly monsters and treacherous flora, where safety is never guaranteed.

Support the show:

• Grab the full novel: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CWNBQWZM
• Stream sats or boost on Fountain.fm to support more episodes
• Leave a rating or review to help new listeners find the series

New episodes every Tuesday.

Dust on the path, jam on a chin, and the stubborn gravity of a boy who won't be steered.

This chapter tastes like warm bread and exasperation — a sun-drenched day spent trying to build something for someone who hasn't yet learned to want it built. Underneath the laughter and the sticky fingers, a quieter question: how long can you keep shaping a life before the world starts shaping it for you?

—

Narrated by Rebecca Hasler.

Set in D.W. Sheppard’s vast interconnected world where protective Gates hold back deadly monsters and treacherous flora, where safety is never guaranteed.

Support the show:

• Grab the full novel: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CWNBQWZM
• Stream sats or boost on Fountain.fm to support more episodes
• Leave a rating or review to help new listeners find the series

New episodes every Tuesday.

Clotheslines and wildflowers and the kind of silence that sits between two people who almost say too much.

This chapter opens like a window after a closed room — sunlit, full of children's voices and the easy rhythm of friendship. But underneath the warmth, two women carry very different versions of the same ache: the distance between the life you have and the one you thought you'd live.

—

Narrated by Rebecca Hasler.

Set in D.W. Sheppard’s vast interconnected world where protective Gates hold back deadly monsters and treacherous flora, where safety is never guaranteed.

Support the show:

• Grab the full novel: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CWNBQWZM
• Stream sats or boost on Fountain.fm to support more episodes
• Leave a rating or review to help new listeners find the series

New episodes every Tuesday.

Fifteen years is a long time to hold your breath.

There's a particular kind of dread that comes not from enemies but from the people who love you most — the ones whose trust makes the truth feel impossible. This chapter hums with the tension of a life held together by careful omissions, and the slow realization that care alone may not be enough to keep it intact.

—

Narrated by Rebecca Hasler.

Set in D.W. Sheppard’s vast interconnected world where protective Gates hold back deadly monsters and treacherous flora, where safety is never guaranteed.

Support the show:

• Grab the full novel: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CWNBQWZM
• Stream sats or boost on Fountain.fm to support more episodes
• Leave a rating or review to help new listeners find the series

New episodes every Tuesday.

Steady hands don't always mean a steady heart.

A closed room, the scratch of tools on wood, and the suffocating weight of being trusted with something you never volunteered for. This chapter tightens like a knot — the quiet kind, where every competent gesture risks unraveling years of careful silence. What you can do and what you dare to show are rarely the same thing.

—

Narrated by Rebecca Hasler.

Set in D.W. Sheppard’s vast interconnected world where protective Gates hold back deadly monsters and treacherous flora, where safety is never guaranteed.

Support the show:

• Grab the full novel: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CWNBQWZM
• Stream sats or boost on Fountain.fm to support more episodes
• Leave a rating or review to help new listeners find the series

New episodes every Tuesday.

Some things stay hidden because you let them. Others, because you need them to.

The air in this chapter smells like pencil shavings and obligation — the quiet friction between the life you've built and the one you left behind. Somewhere between inventory lists and children's laughter, a question tightens like a knot: what do you owe a community that doesn't know what you're capable of?

—

Narrated by Rebecca Hasler.

Set in D.W. Sheppard’s vast interconnected world where protective Gates hold back deadly monsters and treacherous flora, where safety is never guaranteed.

Support the show:

• Grab the full novel: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CWNBQWZM
• Stream sats or boost on Fountain.fm to support more episodes
• Leave a rating or review to help new listeners find the series

New episodes every Tuesday.

Autumn sunlight on cobblestones, the rhythm of a busy shop, and the kind of warmth that makes you forget the world outside the city walls.

A family moves through an ordinary day — small joys, familiar frustrations, the comfort of routine. But the town is talking, and some conversations leave a chill that sunlight can't reach.

—

Narrated by Rebecca Hasler.

Set in D.W. Sheppard’s vast interconnected world where protective Gates hold back deadly monsters and treacherous flora, where safety is never guaranteed.

Support the show:

• Grab the full novel: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CWNBQWZM
• Stream sats or boost on Fountain.fm to support more episodes
• Leave a rating or review to help new listeners find the series

New episodes every Tuesday.