Steve's Leaves

       I wrote this story a year ago and wanted to incorporate pictures of the mall I was thinking of in question but was discouraged by the pictures I got, which were livelier than I anticipated. I'll include a few at the end. In the meantime, here's THE MALL            It's in a town you can't remember the name of. Not a crowded town, it's more of a nook in comparison to a city. You're unsure of what the name of it is; you know that it has a one-story mall strip that was once bigger than it is today, full of a vibrant energy you can almost see dying within the walls that failed it. Today, the mall...if you can call it that... consists of a driver's license center, an adjacent arcade with three or four games and a gumball machine, a small candle store and an independently owned Ross's next to an unfinished cigarette store. The mall still sees business from Monday 'til Saturday, 10 in the morning 'til 8 in the evening, alth...

a bonus comic featuring Amber Frost and Felix Biederman

featuring Amber Frost

i call this an anti-fairy tale and you'll soon see why. this is the tale of HOOPS        In the land of Shuguriah lived a boy named HOOPS, an avid fan of magic and an eager & willing student of the art. Few in the town of Medlemar are able to teach the Medlemarian HOOPS the basics, but he wanted to know more.        One day, HOOPS learned of the scheduled appearance of the most famous of Shuguriahan magic practitioners in the local middle school: Mr. Merlin, a man who looks like a hermit with his long white hair and his long white beard, wearing a purple robe and carrying a wooden staff with a red jewel embedded atop it. His shows have been described by some critics as "mere firework displays" or "smoke & mirrors"...but HOOPS knew better. He believed in magic. He knew the difference between optical illusion and real magic and Mr. Merlin definitely had the latter. He'd seen Mr. Merlin thrice before, after all, but never this clos...