This week, I started a new project aimed at accessibility for the story. There are three primary aspects to this project as it stands now.

• Image IDs: Posts that were originally published as only an image, such as select records on Benediction, are receiving a text block that will enable screen readers to know what the text on the image is.
• Content Warnings: While there is a generalized content warning on the front page of this site, there has not been any system in place to mark which posts may be of concern to readers with certain concerns or tastes. Posts which contain sensitive material of some kind are being marked at the top of the page to give readers a fair chance to know whether or not they want to read it.
• Audio: I have begun recording narration for each post of Tall Tales. Once I am able to do so, I will begin including these audio files in the posts and possibly as playlists, so people may listen to the story in audiobook format if so desired.

That last one is going to be a complicated process, for a number of reasons. One is that my current webhosting plan does not allow me to directly add audio to posts (though the embed code function allows me to share music from third-party sites, such as the Spotify station embedded in the Editor page). This is something that will be corrected in the near future. So it is an additional cost involved in sharing the story, and I have, as yet, made no money from it. No one to date has contributed on Patreon or ko-fi, and the ad space on my site is currently only displaying placeholders from the ad server, as no one has rented that space yet. This is not a complaint, it's simply an observation that the upgrade will have to wait until I have the funds available from my existing income sources.

​The narration, at this time, will likely be limited to my own voice for similar reasons. While the ideal form of this project would have a different voice for each author (currently Matteson, Jackie, the archivist responsible for Benediction and possibly Benedict himself, the Narrator, and Joanna for her diary entries; though there is a fifth blog scheduled to start publishing in October which would require another female voice), I cannot afford to pay for voice services at this time and it will be difficult to justify entering into an ongoing arrangement, as would need to be the case to keep up with the story's future, without the story itself generating revenue to help cover that cost.

At any rate, accessibility is a work-in-progress here at Tall Tales, and I apologize that it was not considered sooner. If there is anything else that should be added to the list of ways to make the story more accessible, please feel free to let me know through the contact form on the Editor page.

This week I spent some time playing on a site called Picrew and created avatars for a number of characters in Tall Tales. Avatars of blog authors have been added to their blog pages, but if I'm honest I'll be looking through the site again soon for a better tool to remake Benedict and Matteson in a less overtly anime style. I really like the one I used to make the women, but sadly that Picrew creator only makes women. But in the meantime, the ones being used should help you visualize the characters at least a little better.

Over on tumblr, I was tagged this week in a game where people were listing the titles of their chapters. If you would like to see the major arcs planned for Tall Tales, with some light spoilers, you can do so here.

Also, did you know I've started writing fanfiction on the side? So far all I have up is a standalone short from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and two parts of an episode of Miraculous Ladybug (part three is in progress). You can find those and any further works I make on AO3.

​I'm glad you're here! You may jump in at any post below; but if you prefer to read the entire story to date first, I recommend you start here. Please be aware that some story arcs are not yet in the Editor's Choice Reading Order as they fit in after arcs that are not yet finished.

Tall Tales has its own domain now! The service plan with my webhost was upgraded this week, which means the site now has a simple .com address (as you can see above) and I was able to customize the footer to have quick-access links. It also means that I will (hopefully) be able to put some ads on the site to help cover the cost of the upgrade. Don't worry, I also hate when they interrupt the flow of things, and will place them accordingly.

This week I hit a point in my post queue where I can begin stepping away occasionally to work on other projects without running the risk of missing updates. One project I've managed to get some work done on was the first Tall Tales Anthology, which I expect to have available before summer ends. Keep an eye out for details on that!

The other projects I hope to finish in the nearish future now that I have planned a system for shifting between them well include a fantasy story that follows a couple retired adventurers on a quest to restore magic to their world, and a science fiction thriller written entirely as the interactions of a ship's computer and a crewman trying to access records. I'm really excited to share all of this with you!

On a more somber note, today is my son's third birthday, but he isn't home with us right now. With our quarantine over and my wife and I returning to work as essential employees, we made the difficult choice to have them stay with a home-bound relative for a time so they wouldn't be exposed to anything from us. This is going to be a rough week for my wife and me, so please be patient if I'm slow with advertising new posts as they publish.