FERRIS ISLAND 📖

S.E. Reid
Jul 10, 2023
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the water is splashing over the rocks on the beach
Photo by Taisia Karaseva on Unsplash

Welcome to the Ferris Island Tales!

This is the Official List of all available stories set in, on, or around Ferris Island, Washington! New stories are being added regularly.

All of the tales found here were written and edited by S.E. Reid.

What is Ferris Island?

Ferris Island is a landmass in western Washington, located right at the elbow where Puget Sound meets the Salish Sea. The inhabitants are normal folk, just like you and me…except that the place where they live has some strange hidden corners and a very unusual history.

Read on for a collection of cross-genre tales about a mysterious place!

NEW! Ferris Island Souvenirs Available!

Are you a frequent visitor to the island and want to wear your affection on your literal or proverbial sleeve?

Check out the Official Ferris Island Gift Shop on Etsy for apparel, mugs, bags, and other trinkets! More collections are planned, so check back often!

The Tales

Use the links below to jump straight to a particular length of story. Also included is a short list of recommended free tales for first-time visitors, to become familiar with the island regulars.

Jump To:

  • Flash Fiction: Stories under or around 2,000 words (5-10 minutes reading time)

  • Short Fiction: Stories between 2,000 and 10,000 words (15-20 minutes reading time)

  • Serials: Multi-part tales 10,000 words and over (reading time varies by story)

  • Resources

Some Recommended Tales for First-Time Visitors:

NOTE: Some stories on the list below will be from past Archived seasons and therefore only accessible to paid Archive Members. These stories are marked with a (P).

Flash Fiction

Stories under or around 2,000 words

  • Tilford Till and the Highway Haunting - one unusual passenger turns Tilford Till’s usual drive into an unforgettable night

  • Something In The Water - a pair of crab-fishermen with dubious intentions wander into unfriendly waters

  • Passerine - a ferry captain faces a supernatural force when he pilots an antique boat for the final time

  • Birdmint Julep - the brief chronicle of a chef’s obsession with a strange herb and its bizarre implications

  • The Woodpile - a car thief has a nocturnal brush with fate

  • Old Spiderlegs - a little boy wanders into the woods and meets a peculiar creature

  • The Orientation - a strange tale from Ferris Island’s past, as told by grocery store assistant manager Hank, in the midst of a new hire orientation

  • Brokeneck - Cane’s incomplete culling of the alder trees on his property leaves the door open for something sinister to seek its revenge

  • The Eye of God - a wealthy widow gives a quarter to a pauper and receives a fearful prophecy in return

  • The White Horse - (unfiction) the author goes on her own ramble in the woods of Ferris Island and contemplates some solstice feelings through a search for the mystical

  • The Left Hand of Jim Barton - when a dog digs up a mysterious object in an old woman’s backyard, a journalist finds out a strange truth (a Caroline Phelan story)

  • The Weeper at the Wake - a journalist is faced with a dilemma when she’s caught moonlighting as a ghost-hunter (a Caroline Phelan story)

  • What Lingers In The Dark (P) and What Chooses To Stay (P) - in this short flash fiction saga, a journalist moonlighting as a paranormal investigator is given a tip that there’s something strange about the city library (a Caroline Phelan story)

Short Fiction

Stories between 2,000 and 10,000 words

  • Behind The Door - a widowed father is given an impossible choice

  • The Orchard Hounds - a young woman attempts a most unusual rescue

  • Saint Tibb’s Eve - a bootlegger fleeing danger is lost and haunted in a strange place during an annual ritual

  • The Last Resort - two kids on the cusp of high school explore an old hotel with dark corners and an even darker secret

  • Glossy - a shy teacher with a secret dream leaves his comfort zone and comes face to face with the supernatural

  • Druid - after a new piece of artificial intelligence fails its demonstration, a research assistant on the project is given a moral choice

  • The Uninvited Guest - 2023 Hallowe’en Special! - when Ivy and her friends attend their first high school party, they find out that someone there has an unusual agenda

  • Under The Mistle Crow (P) - 2023 Christmas Special! - Dennis realizes that he’s going to be alone on the holiday thanks to a freak snowstorm and finds compassion and connection in an unlikely source

  • The Right Thing (P) - a delivery driver trying to put her life back together is given a strange assignment and a set of firm rules. But can she follow the rules and still do the right thing?

  • The Revelation of Scott Candle (P) - a megachurch pastor meets his match on an ill-fated book tour (part one of the Candle Duology)

  • The Gospel of Agnes Candle (P) - a pastor’s wife journeys into the heart of the unknown to save someone she loves (part two of the Candle Duology)

Serials

Multi-part tales 10,000 words and over

  • Freelance and Fishmaids (episodic serial) - After getting fired from her job as a small-town journalist for moonlighting as a paranormal investigator, Caroline Phelan is urged to go freelance by her informant, a mysterious man she knows only as “the Captain”. Caroline travels to Ferris Island’s paranormal hotspots and learns surprising lore along the way, but in her search for the strangest stories on Ferris Island, she comes face to face with a few of the island’s deepest secrets, some of which still echo through time.

  • Ivy & Ixos (novella) (P) - when young Ivy goes to live with her estranged father during the uncertain days of March 2020, she finds herself caught in a web of mystery and a family secret too strange to be believed.

  • The Founder’s Week Saga (three-part short; link takes you to part one) - Tamsin Cunningham, the island’s new social media consultant, has big dreams and big ideas, and she’ll do whatever it takes to make them come true. Unfortunately, her new marketing strategy might get her into some trouble…

  • Goldgreen (episodic serial) (P) - In the fall of 1962, an eccentric director and a screenwriter with a hidden past set out to make a most unusual TV show, called “Goldgreen”, but the show only filmed eight episodes before the cast and crew mysteriously vanished. To this day, the reruns of the eight completed episodes are all that remain.

Resources

NOTE: Most resources are for Archive Members only