“Farmsteadburg,” by Andrew Joseph Kane (Fiction ’18)

Fiction alum Andrew Joseph Kane recently had a story featured in the Chicago Review. Read an excerpt of “Farmsteadburg” below:

Farmsteadburg

Welcome to Farmsteadburg! Here you may spend your Credits. Take over the decrepit farm north of town. It was willed to you by old Uncle Alfred. He left instructions in his journal: Get this place in shape! Fix the broken timbers, unclog the well, clear the south pasture. But first you need better tools. Lift stones to shape, gather branches to bend. Craft them at the Work Bench. Or go to town and buy them in Smithy’s Shop (if you have the Credits!). Use Work Points to hoe, plant, and cultivate. Advance the Farmer skill tree. Soon your pantry will fill with radishes, lettuce, carrots, and more. Eat them for Health Points, or sell them for Credits. Recover Work Points by sleeping at night. Do you hear a voice beneath your bed? Go to the earthen cellar and listen. Then start digging!

Season shift: Spring Carnival. Fish for fish in the river. Try different rods and lures. Win medals for fish records! Talk to suitable paramours: Polly, Lilly, Layla. Learn what they like, and buy them gifts (flowers, ribbons, lockets). But also: boy paramours (Charlie, Hector, Dax). Everyone is welcome! If courting takes up all farming time, collect green apples in the woods. Cook recipes in your Kitchen (built with blueprints from Paul the Master Builder). During night, tunnel deeper into the cellar. Find the voice! Is it the ghost of Uncle Alfred? Burn his journal in your Blacksmith Furnace. Then use the ore you mined while digging to refine your tools!

Season shift: Summer Festival. Apprentice with renowned entomologist Sir Zeke and catch butterflies for Insect Display. Then: Butterfly Pinning Mini-Game! Hold thorax until wings separate, pin thorax to spreading board, find veins of forewing and hindwing, and pin, pin, pin! Show Display Case to Dax. See Heart Points rise! Take quick nap at Campsite Bedroll to recover Work Points. Then spend them on Basket Weaving with Lilly. Assure her that Dax is just a woodcutting companion. Attend religious celebrations at Church with Charlie. Get to know congregation and learn new recipes as Trust Points rise. Raise livestock to collect milk, butter, eggs. Brush them, feed them, give your animals custom names! Bake muffins, biscuits, Bundt cakes. Give apple pie to Layla because it will raise more Heart Points than Shop-bought gifts. But: Exhaustion. Health Points low. Work Points low. Never enough Credits for top-shelf inventory. In bed, the voice keeps you awake. No time to sleep. There’s too much to do!

Read the story in its entirety here: https://www.chicagoreview.org/fiction-staff-feature-september-2020/