On Friday September 30, 2022, I published Piskie Sticks, a short story on Wattpad.

The rankings line up under the #halfling and #halfling tags, as well as under #fairies.

This story was originally written as serialized fiction for the Aevalorn Tales anthology. It’s a Gammond Brandyford backstory that attempts to illustrate a number of things about the character before he leaves Aymes Parish for his wander.

1. He’s a menace; how he’s looked at by most within Pondaroak.

2. His overall carefree nature.

3. His problem with understanding right from wrong and his willingness to harm even harmless little fae to get what he’s after (sociopathy).

4. His character’s relationship with Lucien Shrillgrove and Elina Hogsbreath in this story does take place in Pondaroak.

5. The backstory on how Gammond came into possession of the endless bread basket and butter crock.

Primarily, what I wanted to drive at in this story is Gammond’s nature. I wrote in his character bio that he just doesn’t give a crap and he’s willing to do almost anything he needs to do to accomplish a goal. That means doing some very questionable things, like capturing and torturing a fairy, in this case, or looking for a Goblin warlord all on his own in Of Luck and Locksmiths. In D&D terms, his alignment is chaotic neutral and I try to write him that way.

What I also wanted to touch on his own Gammond came into possession of his light stone and the endless items. They feature prominently in his stories and I figured that they needed their own back story.

Originally, Piskie Sticks had two sections. In this edition, I cleaned up the work and inserted more content, and wrote another section describing Gammond’s wander with the fae in the forest to raid her treasure hoard. I also re-aligned the story to match a timeline with The Knave of Nodderton, and removed the references to Dumbria in the work. Piskie Sticks takes place about six or eight months before Knave, and Knave takes place four or five years before Of Luck and Locksmiths. I also took the time to re-align some elements of Elina Hogsbreath with my work this last month on A Thyme of Trouble.

I always like writing Gammond stories - I feel like they’re my groove, you know? - and splitting this one out from the anthology is just an ongoing effort to capitalize on creating layers of searchable content within Wattpad.

Anyway, thanks for reading! Find more Gammond-goodness in Knave, my current project.

R