Foto Dono

Previously on The Queen of the Underverse…Rebecca is on her own — but along the way, she ends up saving a bus full of kids… or younglings, as they call themselves. In the process, she discovered a side of herself she didn’t know existed — one that could fight, bleed, and protect those who needed her most. Now— She’s finally reached Amberford, marking the first quarter of her journey home. Hopefully, there won’t be any more delays… Ye saga continues…

Tales from the Memory Market were never written down. They can’t be. The Memory Market Council wouldn’t allow it. However, they can be found in the Unwritten Library located on the eastern shores of the Fallen Sea. There are over 1000 volumes. The following tale is from a collection of stories by a Memory Market Merchant called Auntie Myne. She likes to think she’s being kind. This is her last story before she disappeared.

Queens leave fancy notes. Providers leave warnin’s. Blue moon’s up. Aetherrucks hummin’. Younglings in cages tryin’ not ta cry. I’m bleedin’ a bit—don’t make a fuss. If ya see a dagger in mah back, do me a kindness and don’t pull it out. Cursed things got rules. Rebecca? Folks whisper Queen when she runs past with that big damn tree. Maybe she is, maybe she ain’t. Crowns don’t matter much when bars need bendin’. She laughs in a storm and still carries ya out of it.

Ah, Chapter 15. Strange, isn’t it? I’m dead, and yet my voice still trails after the story like perfume on an empty throne. That’s the trouble with queenship in the Underverse — you never quite leave, even when you’re gone. Rebecca thinks she’s only carrying a tree trunk. She imagines herself improvising, astronaut-turned-barbarian, battering her way through mercenaries. But we both know she’s hefting something heavier: the kind of weight that decides who lives and who doesn’

A long time ago in a bar far, far away — sometime in the year 2000, though Murphy’s clock had long since stopped keeping time — Emerson leaned across the sticky counter and asked the bartender after a round of bad service, “How many f@#ks do you have to save before you can give a f@#k? She looked him up and down, unimpressed, and fired back: “Well, if you had more than two f@#ks to rub together, I’d give you a f@#k.” The service improved only slightly after that. Emerson didn

Ah, Chapter 14. Rebecca stumbles forward, clinging to her little notions of courage and family. She believes she’s rescuing children, defying mercenaries, and being the noble astronaut. What she doesn’t see is how easily her newfound “strength” could crush the very things she’s trying to save. She thinks it’s training. It isn’t. It’s corruption. The Underverse doesn’t hand out power without a price, and I know exactly what that price is.

So apparently, we’ve made it all the way to Chapter 13. Rebecca thinks it’s her story—“astronaut lost in space, family back home, blah blah heroic glow”—but let’s be honest, without me, she’d have been ground into space-dust chapters ago. Do I get credit? No. I get called an “attendant,” like I’m here to fetch tea and polish helmets. Still, the author insists on dragging me along. Sarcasm and wit, he says—that’s my job. He doesn’t even bother with my real name. Anyway, Cha

Astronaut Rebecca Lopez has been through a lot: lost in another universe, traveling with creatures she barely understands and doesn’t quite trust. She thought she’d found her way home, but it was only another version — not hers. All she knows now is that the road to Amberford may hold the true way back. Now - Rebecca is on her own again. But in the Underverse, the road never belongs to her alone. Ye saga continues...

Rebecca’s fury burns hotter than ever as she confronts bonds she never asked for, forcing her to choose whether to sever them or carry their weight. Alone on the road to Amberford, her resolve hardens—while in the shadows, unseen eyes are already waiting. Ye saga continues...

Far from the Underverse, life on Earth moves on—or at least tries to. Old friends struggle with fresh grief, children dream of impossible reunions, and somewhere above Florida, something impossible still waits in the sky.

Welcome to Chapter 10! Not as many pictures this time—I’m still waiting for the AI rebellion to burn itself out. They did give me one image, though. 😞 On the bright side (for me), I’ve now written 99,953 words. On the dim side (for Rebecca), a lot of those words involve throwing her into plot pits and then watching her try to climb out. I’m sure she likes some of them. Probably the snack breaks.

So, the AI has officially staged a rebellion. I’ve hit my image-generation limit for the month, and now I must sit here like some digital pauper, waiting for the counter to reset. Fear not! I still have at least two shiny new images for you to feast upon this week. However, this might mean a slight delay for the next installment until I can bribe the AI back into action—probably by mid-next week. I’ve tried a few other “creative” AIs, but they don’t seem to get me.

So here we are again—another Tuesday, another chapter, another chance for Rebecca to question her life choices (and mine). If she ever finds out I’m the one behind all this, I fully expect a flaming side-eye and maybe a punch to the narrative. This chapter was a strange one to write. I had a plan—an outline, even! Then the characters read it, laughed, and did whatever they wanted. Honestly, I just try to keep up and type fast enough so no one falls off the plot.

Notes From Foto Dono: 👋 Hey there! Just a quick peek behind the curtain 🪄—I usually write these blog posts a few days ahead, while the...

Yesterday was my birthday. I hope it was a good one. I’m writing this a few days in advance, so if it turned out badly... well, that’ll be a fun surprise for all of us when this posts. I must be mad. I had to polish edits for three installments instead of one, make the pictures, and spend a disproportionate amount of time wondering why I’m not supposed to use the words just and really anymore. According to grammar tools, they’re “filler” and redundant. I wonder if they’re ta

Author Notes: Today is my Birthday, so I'm celebrating by posting two chapters. Well, this first one is more of an Interlude, and Yuunral Naretar wrote it. He's been helping write most of the book. Mainly looking over my shoulder and yelling at me that what I'm doing is wrong. Also, I should shower more frequently. Nobody likes a wiffy writer. There will be another regular post on Tuesday. I know I'm mad. It must be Monday.

Hello all, and welcome to Chapter 5. Today is my Birthday, so I'm celebrating by posting two chapters. I've begun Chapter 18, and the book now includes three interludes, an Intro, and an Epilogue. The word count stands at the moment at 64,967, but you, dear reader, are at 17,370. These words have made it the cut. So far. That'll include the two posts today and tomorrow's regular post. After all, I have plenty of free time. 🤦‍♂️ I must be mad.

Welcome to Chapter 4 - Oh my! I've put down 11,000 words that I like so far. Well, they don't suck. 😜 So far, I've written 45,000 words for this book project, which means I'm halfway there! The chapters have grown, and now there are interludes! You might be wondering, why pursue this at all? We were celebrating his 21st birthday, and we talked about those stories. I mentioned that I had one idea about this place, the Underverse.

For some reason, Rebecca's story keeps getting longer and longer. I'm not sure if she appreciates it. She's the main character and gets to have one adventure after another, whether she wants to or not. I wonder if other writers ever feel that way about their characters. Maybe at the end of the story, Rebecca is the one who will have the last laugh.

Relief washed over Rebecca as Sarah slipped into the airlock. That had a slim chance of working, and a small laugh of disbelief escaped her. Mark's reaction would likely ping-pong from anger to pride, finally landing on fear. I married an astronaut, not Lara Croft; she could practically hear him say. Still, she'd make a fantastic Lara Croft.