Welcome to my illustrated story, “Protect the Autumn Woods.” Here you will find all the illustrations and their corresponding short chapters. Most of the chapters are less than a thousand words.
Once you read a chapter, you can click on the link below, or the right arrow to go to the next chapter.
If you are viewing the paintings at the Dayton Society of Artists from November 1-December 15, you can just read along with the paintings on the wall. They should go in order.
Prologue
To outsiders, it seemed like fall came way too early to the Autumn Woods and stayed way too late. The first trees to turn sang their first notes of autumn in spring. And the last of the trees’ colors stayed till the chill of winter, adding extra red and orange to the snow. It was unnatural, some would say, for trees to linger through fall so long. They could be right. Leaves were almost always red and yellow and orange. Consensus decided the Autumn Woods were under a spell.
Stories about the Autumn Woods, like the woods themselves, were a bit more colorful and lingered in the imagination longer than most stories. People said they were enchanted. That their beauty was a lure. That magicians and sorcerers lived in the woods, dangerous fighters and thieves and those who controlled the dead.
Others wondered if so many powerful people could live together peacefully. They’d quote the “Sole Witch Theory” of woodslore: that any woods purported to be dangerous or enchanted has only one powerful person at its center because, chances are, multiple powerful beings would not get along.
Though theories argued about who lived there, they agreed on one thing: that the paths through the Autumn Woods should only be used in emergencies, and that the magic there might be helpful and benign, but could turn against a nosy traveler.
Best to leave these woods alone.
In this way, the tales created a buffer between the Autumn Woods and the rest of the valleys, towns, and fortified cities that lay off in all directions.
Go through the Summer Woods if you want with its frequently-used, well-worn paths.
Take any of the paths that skirt around the Autumn Woods.
But unless you wanted to become one of the stories of the Autumn Woods, it would be best just to look, from a distance, at the bright yellow aspens, the boastful red and orange sugar maples, and see all the bursting, jovial trees and bushes as a curtain, holding a mystery from you, for your own good.
Stay where you are now. On the edge of safety.
“Protect the Autumn Woods!” is an illustrated story by Jerome Stueart in 33 short flash fiction chapters. The story features D&D-inspired magic-using forest animals who fight to protect their homes. This story was at first a response to a prompt list created by Jenn Reese and Deva Fagan for an October Art Challenge in 2021. You can now read all 33 parts of the story, “Protect the Autumn Woods” with the search term, #AutumnWoods. “Protect the Autumn Woods!” Art Show at the Dayton Society of Artists (48 High Street, Dayton, OH) from November 1 — December 15 2024.
“Protect the Autumn Woods!” is adjacent to a larger show of amazing Dayton Artists, “Small, but Mighty.” Come see all of the art, any weekend, Friday 12-5, Saturday 12-5 to experience the art yourself.
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