November 17th-18th, 2020: Gay, Autistic college student Matt Slater starts up the Cascades Stories website, with the first post, “Introduction,” Being posted at 9:59 PM on the 17th. HOWEVER, the website is officially registered on the 18th.
December 9th-11th, 2020: The Social Media Pages for Cascades Stories are created on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
December 24th, 2020: Matt submits “The Aviary of Henry Weston,” a short story, to the Reedsy weekly Prompts contest.
January 3rd, 2021: “The Aviary of Henry Weston” also marks the beginning of the Wattpad/Tapas collection “Short Stories by Matt Slater,” featuring short stories and poems from SLS too small for their own book. After a few months of being unposted during the judging for the Writer’s Digest Short Story Competition, “The Aviary of Henry Weston” has been re-added to the collection.
February 2nd, 2021: “The Friend Lock,” also a Reedsy story, is posted on CS.
March 28th, 2021: “Carousel, Carousel” is posted. This is the first poem posted on CS, as well as the first writing by Matt Slater to not have come out of a prompt.
July 11th, 2021: “The Curious Store (AKA Tracing Patterns)” is posted on CS. While originally written for a Creative Writing assignment at Matt’s college, there was no prompt for this story, either. Rather, Matt wanted to write a story from the perspective of a gay, autistic man, and better explain what “stimming” is.
July 13th, 2021: Cascades Stories becomes Six Lakes Studios, as a tribute to his hometown, Lakewood, Washington (neither he nor his family live there anymore), and to his grandmother.
July 30th, 2021: Matt mistakenly publishes the first chapter of The Waterfall two days early. He later unpublished the post, and rescheduled it for the planned premiere on August 1st, 2021.
August 1st, 2021: Matt’s first multi-part story, The Waterfall, gets its first chapter published here, on Wattpad, and on Tapas.However, further chapters are only posted on Tapas and Wattpad.
September 20th, 2021: Matt turns 20 years old.
September 20th, 2021: The Vikings of Vancouver, Matt’s first comic,premieres here, on Webtoon, and on Tapas.
September 10th and 25th, 2021: Turning into darker works, Matt writes “The Runaways” for the Reedsy Weekly Prompts Contest for September 10th, 2021. Posted on SLS on the 25th of the same month, the Runaways did not win that contest, similar to the other stories submitted to past contests. However, “The Runaways,” as of November 18th, 2021, turned out to be Matt‘s most popular story on Reedsy, with 13 likes. “The Aviary of Henry Weston” is in second place, at nine likes, while “The Friend Lock” has five, and the original version of “The Waterfall,” which was disqualified, has one.
October 25th, 2021: The First Chapter of Blurred Lines #1: The Choir is published, and, sticking to his personal rule, Matt only published the first chapter here, while further chapters will arrive on Wattpad and Tapas.
November 18th, 2021: Six Lakes Studios turns one!!!!
November 18th, 2021: Matt Slater posts SLS’s anniversary video, thanking everyone who has supported SLS in its growth. This is the first video from SLS.
December 2021: Mason and Eric, the 2021 Christmas Special, will premiere. [Postponed, but not canceled]
December 31st, 2021: After this day, The Vikings of Vancouver, will only update on Tapas and Webtoon.
January 1st, 2022: Parker and Luca, Matt’s second comic, will premiere.
January 1st, 2022: “Formerly Cascades Stories” will be dropped from the site title.
February 14th, 2022: Matt, Matt’s third comic, will premiere.
February 2022: Max Fields #1 will premire.
April 15th, 2022: After this day, Parker and Luca will only update on Webtoon and Tapas.
May 2022: Tales of human Nature: Serial Killer will premiere.
May 31st, 2022: After this day, Matt will only update on Webtoon and Tapas.
October 2022: The Nightman of Bellingham Bay will premiere.
2022: SLS will be on Patreon!
2022: Matt will begin drafting the full-length version of “The Aviary of Henry Weston.”
2022: Matt will begin drafting the full-length Graphic Novel (yup, Graphic!) adaption of “The Runaways.” He will not illustrate it, however.
Evan Samuels drove his truck up the mountain. His breath was shaky, and he remained focused on the road ahead despite the fact that his brain was processing 2,000 thoughts per second.
He was dressed rather slovenly: torn jeans, one gray sock, one blue sock, five-year-old tennis shoes that were showing their age, a camo t-shirt, a flannel shirt with the sleeves ripped off, a beige double-breasted coat, and titanium tunnels stretching his earlobes to a centimeter.
His hands kept moving from the steering wheel to adjust his glasses, or change the radio, or brush his pink hair. He had no idea where he was going, but he didn’t care. He just needed to keep driving until he found a good place to stay for the night. But, of course, that might have to be the truck: it was snowing, it was eleven, and this was the middle of nowhere.
Suddenly, the truck started sputtering.
“No. Please not now.”
Luckily, there was a diner with a parking lot to pull into. The restaurant looked sketchy, though.
No way in hell in I’m going in there.
He steered into the parking, put on his gloves, got out of his truck, and fetched the toolbox out of the flatbed.
Popping open the hood, he set the toolbox down on the bumper and put his hands on his hips as he surveyed all the gizmos inside the truck.
“Oh, who am I kidding?” he said to himself. “I don’t know cars.”
“Apparently not,” someone said, “Because that’s a truck.”
Despite the cold, snowy weather around him, Evan started to sweat.
“G-God?” he eeked out.
“Nope. But I have been called an angel and a demon by numerous people.”
Evan slowly turned towards the man the voice belonged to.
He saw a very attractive man in front of him: golden hair, short stubble, a thick down jacket, worn jeans, steel-toed boots on snowshoes, and a small gold hoop in each ear.
“Just come into the diner, I’ll have someone look at it in the morning.”
Evan blinked. “Um… no?”
The man chuckled. “I guess that sounded a little creepy given the circumstances.”
“Yep.”
The man stuck out his hand.
“Jim. Jim Crumb.”
“Evan.”
“Evan what?”
“Nice try.”
The man laughed.
“What do you take me for, son? A backwoods gun nut? Just grab your tool box, and come into the diner.”
Evan realized that unless he wanted to freeze to death, he had no other choice. So he grabbed the toolbox and followed Jim into the diner. Before he went in, though, he finally read the sign: “Jim’s Diner.”
“This is your diner?” Evan asked.
“Yup. Has been since 1988.”
~*~
Inside the diner, Evan froze and blushed a deep red as five men and four women sitting at the tables looked at him.
“Who’s the fresh meat?” a large, beefy man grunted.
Evan yelped and tried to run out the door, but Jim caught him.
“Joe,” Jim hollered. “Shut up and eat your steak.”
Joe shook his head and turned back to his steak.
Joe had black hair and a thick black beard. He wore blue jeans, a flannel shirt, black work boots, and had some tattoos poking out onto his neck.
“Sit down, let me get you a menu,” said Jim before disappearing into the kitchen.
Evan gulped. He had no idea who any of these people were, and there was no place in this small, roadside diner where he wouldn’t be less than a yard away from one of them.
“What are you afraid of, boy? Sit!” a short-haired brunette woman rumbled.
Evan took a deep breath, sliding into the nearest booth.
After what felt like hours, Jim finally came out with a menu for Evan: four pages of assorted breakfast foods and hearty burgers.
Another man came out of the kitchen.
“All right Jim,” the man said. “Where did you find this one?”
“His pickup broke down outside the diner.”
The man looked at Evan with a serious glare, scanning him up and down. Evan blushed even more now. Where the hell was he?!
“All right, Aaron,” said Jim. “You’ll have time to grill him after introductions.”
“Fine,” said Aaron. “I’m Aaron Stevenson, Jim’s husband.”
Evan’s eyes widened. “H-Husband?”
“You got a problem with that, punk?”
“No! Please don’t hurt me!” Evan yelped as he put his arms in front as a defense.
“Aaron!” Jim snapped.
Jim turned back to Evan. “Sorry about that, he’s a bit hot-headed. And anyway, we’re not legally married, but we have a son together. We’ve been together, oh… what has it been, 19 years now?”
“Yep,” Aaron said, softening a little. “If that’s not common-law, I don’t know what is.”
Aaron was tall- probably 6’3”- and well-built. His short, red hair smoothly connected to his short beard, which rested above a heavily tattooed body wearing a grease-soaked red apron and white t-shirt, work boots, white socks, half-inch tunnels in each ear, and, sure enough, jeans, as well. In fact, everyone was wearing jeans, except for the woman who told Evan to sit down, who had on ski pants, and the teenage boy in the corner, who wore torn khakis.
“Actually,” said Evan, “knowing you guys are a couple makes me feel a little better. I’m gay, too.”
Jim smiled. “I had my suspicions, I’ll be honest.”
The other patrons started smiling, as well.
“Damn it, son,” the brunette from earlier said. “What are the odds you’d end up here?”
“He’s one of us,” her companion, a skinny redheaded woman, said.
“All right,” said Aaron. “What’s your name, new guy?”
“Evan Samuels.”
The teenager got up from his chair and slid into Evan’s booth. He held his hand out, giving Evan a flirty stare.
“Zeke Crumb-Stevenson,” he said.
“Hello,” said Evan, taking Zeke’s hand.
“This our son,” said Jim.
“Who always acts like he’s smarter than us,” said Aaron.
“He is smarter than you,” said the brunette woman.
“Well, he sure as hell doesn’t need to act like it!”
Zeke leaned in closer to Evan. “I graduated high school at 16,” he said.
“And you’re…” started Evan.
“Nineteen. Currently at the university for Meteorology.”
“That’s pretty cool. I got my bachelor’s in Geography.”
“Nice. How old are you?”
“22.”
“And he won’t buy beer for you,” Joe joked.
Zeke blushed. “Gross, no. I hate beer.”
“And just how do you know that?” Aaron questioned.
“All right, all right, maybe we should let Evan order already,” said Jim.
Everyone looked to Evan.
“I’ll need another minute,” he said.
Jim and Aaron walked back into the kitchen. Evan gazed over the menu. However, he felt eyes still on him. He looked up, and Zeke was still there.
Zeke was raven-haired, except for some green stripes, with a pink t-shirt, a white hoodie wrapped around his waist, red tennis shoes, and a lime green solitaire stud in each ear, as well as an industrial in his right.
“Hey,” said Zeke, grabbing Evan’s hand again. “Is that a tattoo I see?”
Zeke pushed Evan’s coat sleeve up to reveal part of an ivy-leaf vine tattoo going up his right arm.
“It’s pretty cool,” Zeke continued.
“Here,” said Evan, “I have some other ones too.”
Evan slid his coat off and rolled his shirt sleeves up to reveal numerous other examples of skin art.
“Impressive,” said the brunette woman, “but you should see Jill’s.”
The redheaded woman rolled her eyes before rolling up her jeans, showing off a blue viper going up her left leg.
“That’s pretty cool, Jill,” said Evan.
Jill was wearing a parka with snow boots, small gauges, and a backward ball cap.
“I’m sorry,” Evan said to the brunette woman, “I didn’t catch your name.”
“Maggie,” she responded.
Unlike Jill, Maggie kept her hair pretty short. She wore a blue fleece coat, snow boots, and small silver hoops. She also wore glasses with thick black rims, much like Evan’s.
Aaron and Jim came back out.
“Alright, kid,” said Jim. “See anything on the menu yet?”
Evan handed him the menu. “I’ll take the chicken fried steak and some orange juice.”
Aaron swiped the menu. “Good choice.”
He went back through the kitchen door, and Evan saw him through the service window as he took his place in front of the stove.
“So, kid…” said Joe. “What’s your story?”
“Well, I’m originally from Montana, just outside Missoula. My family’s very traditional, but I decided that I would come out to them before the millennium. Well, my dad’s brother had gotten him this beautiful truck for Christmas. I thought he would be in a good mood after that, but I was wrong. He kicked me out.”
“Wow. That’s rough, Evan,” said Zeke.
“Wait…” said Jim. “Didn’t you come here in a pickup truck?”
Everyone turned to Evan, whose face turned red with embarrassment.
“Well…” He started, “I’m not proud of this- I almost never do anything like this, and I don’t even have a record. But the way he reacted- I- I…” he picked the keys and twirled them on his finger. “I guess I just snapped.”
Jim sighed, putting his hand on Evan’s shoulder.
“Look, Evan,” he said. “We all do stuff we’re not proud of. I had a record back before I met Aaron. Believe me, if I hadn’t met him, I’d be in a very bad place right now.”
“Tell him how you met, dad,” said Zeke, using his foot to drag a chair over to the booth.
“All right,” Jim said, taking that seat. “It was 1980. I was at this gas station in Tukwila, filling my car, when this tall twig of an 18-year-old in church clothes jumped in my car. I yelled at him to get out, but he insisted that I drive him away. Turns out, he had just escaped from conversion therapy. I still wanted him out of my car, but he kept insisting, even offering to pay me. After a while, I finally broke down, and drove us both out of there. I was headed to Spokane, and he just wanted to get away from the ‘camp.’ But by the time we got to Leavenworth, we had grown on each other. So we stopped here-“
“And managed to rub off on each other,” said Aaron, placing Evan’s dinner on the table. “I got him to clean up his act, and he got me to loosen mine up. I mean, look at me,” he continued, gesturing to his ear gauges and tattoos, “do I look like a church kid anymore?”
“Evan,” said Joe, “stealing that truck was not a good decision, but you’re not alone. We all have stories. We’re all running away from something, whether it be trouble or homophobia.”
“Welcome to the Runaways, kid,” said Jill.
~*~
11:59 PM
While everyone else was inside awaiting the advent of the 3rd Millenium, Evan joined Zeke outside on the porch of Jim and Aaron’s upstairs apartment.
“Hey,” Evan said. “What are you doing out here?”
“I just needed a break from the party.”
Evan nodded, looking back at the party.
“10! 9! 8!” everyone inside chanted.
Evan turned back to Zeke, who was acting rather shy right now.
“Hey,” said Evan taking a surprised Zeke’s hand.
They leaned closer.
Midnight, Saturday, January 1st, 2000
They gave each other a kiss as the people inside cheered.
“Happy New Millenium, Zeke,” said Evan.
“Happy Y2K, car thief.”
Evan gave Zeke a playful punch on the shoulder.
“Hey, now, I just gave you a kiss.”
They chuckled as they reopened the sliding door, rejoining the party.
Evan never thought he would find a group like the Runaways. But these people, with their similarities and differences, managed to create a family for themselves. After Evan had been getting to know them for a while, he became of member of this family as well. And that’s what everyone needs, whether they be chosen or not: a family you can lean on.
Set your story in a roadside diner. (Prompt #1, Sept.10th, 2021, Reedsy Weekly Prompts Contest)
The Waterfall: The second chapter of The Waterfall will premiere on Tapas and Wattpad on Sunday, but no further chapters will be posted on this website. I’m sorry, but I made the decision to only post the first chapters of my books on this website, to save space on the homepage for other posts. After the second chapter is up, the schedule will go down to every other Sunday, so that I have more time to prepare the story, and figure out it’s direction. I already know how it’s going to end (no, I won’t tell you, sneaky!), but it’s the middle I’m trying to figure out. To be fair, unlike The Aviary of Henry Weston, the decision to make The Waterfall a full-lengther was a whim decision. The idea for this story didn’t even exist until two weeks ago!
However, I do hope you’re enjoying The Waterfall. If you’re wondering what happens next, please keep an eye out for the second chapter this upcoming Sunday, and following chapters every other Sunday, on Wattpad and Tapas!
Reedsy: I’m hoping to challenge myself more witht the prompts sent by Reedsy each week. I may not be a weekly writeer for them, but I hope to up my pace in the future. You can find my Reedsy profile here, or in the “links” section.
Even though The Aviary of Henry Weston was written in December of 2020, my Reedsy profile was created in May of 2020, predating this site by six months. I found Reedsy while trying to get started in writing, but before I really got into a ‘writing groove,’ so to speak. They’re quite the resource for writers. This is not a paid endorsement, just genuine compliments!
Blue City Mysteries: The ball is rolling on the writing of the much-awaited Blue City Mysteries. Here’s the plan for the series: fifty stories, published in five volumes of ten. Not every book will focus on a murder. Some will have other crimes, such as kidnapping, or it may focus on the re-opening of a cold case.
Here is the summary for the first story, “The Mortality of Fame:” Warburton and Bankole’s relationship is immediately tense, as they both struggle to adjust to each other’s investigative styles, and Bankole has second thoughts about accepting the job in Lakewood. The new partners must put aside their differences, however, when they’re called in to solve the murder of a young tennis star.
I would love to talk more about Blue City Mysteries, and Lakewood itself, so keep an eye out for a future post focused entirely on them.
Comics: I hope you all read the info cards about The Vikings of Vancouver characters! I am in the process of creating the first few comics right now, and also the info cards for Parker and Luca. Later this month, I may do a “work in progress” post for my comics, with sketches for TVOV,Parker and Luca, and Matt.
Max Fields: I am putting together an outline for the first story starring Private Eye Max Fields, a character of my own creation.
Max Fields was a detective for the Chicago Police Department in the late 50s and early 60s. In 1962, the same year Illinois became the first U.S. state to decriminalize homosexuality, he was fired from the CPD when his sexual orientation was found out. He decides to become a private detective, and starts a new life in (the fictional) Wyvern, Illinois, where his cousin, Alex, lives and works as the Sheriff for Lakeshire County.
Max teams up with two locals, Isaiah Barrow and Patrice Wendall, to set up a P.I. agency in Wyvern, and buys a house where he shares a rear fence with Alex and Alex’s family. He inserts himself into Alex’s cases, against his cousins’ wishes, during which he acquaints himself with Deputy Johnathan Zhukov, who is in the closet.
More information will come in a future post.
Personal: I recently had my wisdom teeth out, and I will be going on vacation next week, but things will be picking up soon after, even with school coming up.
The Waterfall: I originally started writing this as an entry for Reedsy’s weekly prompts contest. However, I got so into the story, I realized it might go over the word limint, so I just found a good place to stop it, and said “To be continued” at the end before I submitted it. When the judging round is over, I plan to break my submission up into two parts, publish the first part on this website, but the full story will be published on Tapas and Wattpad.
Here is some information to know about “The Waterfall:”
Patty Newman and her wife Tess are cleaning out her late grandfather’s house in 2022, when Patty finds a note from him written on the back of a picture, in which he reveals himself as bisexual. He tells her the location of a diary where she learns about how her grandfather, Murray, had a secret relationship with his best friend Fred in 1950s Oregon. After this revelation, the plot switches back and forth between 2022, where Patty and Tess are searching for more information, and the 1950s, where Fred and Murray navigate being in a very secretive male-male relationship during the age of McCarthyism.
The story is set mainly in the fictional town of France, Oregon, which is based on the real life Seaside, Oregon; Cannon Beach, Oregon; Long Beach, Washington; and Ocean Shores, Washington.
The Waterfall is rated PG-13, for alcohol, language, outdated terms, and suggestive content.
Tales of Human Nature: I have scrapped the cult story in it’s entirety, and and going for a new angle with volume one. It will still be set in the fictional town of Rhododenron Heights, Washington, which is based on the real life Poulsbo, Washington; Steilacoom, Washington; and Astoria, Oregon. I am not sure if I will have it ready in time for Halloween, but fingers crossed. If not, at least Christmas, as the story starts just before Christmas, or maybe for Halloween 2022.
Here is the new idea for volume one of Tales of Human Nature (each volume will still be standalone, as previously stated):
Volume one will be titled “Serial Killer.” It is set between December 2007 and February 2008. Autistic high school senior Ryker Whitman lives with his parents and older siblings in Rhododendron Heights. His parents, Jane and Lewis, used to have high paying jobs until the Great Recession (a financial crisis that greatly affected the world in the late aughties). Now, they’re working two minimum wage jobs each to scrape enough cash to get the family through the holidays. If that wasn’t enough, a serial killer has become active in the area, dubbed the “Heights Glossectomist,” or “H.G.” by local media. The case gets more complicated, as H.G. leaves a letter for Ryker the morning after every murder explaining his actions.
What is H.G.’s Modus Operandi? What is their motive? Why are they telling Ryker about their murders? Find out in Tales of Human Nature: Serial Killer.
TOHN: SK is rated “R” for violence, language, alcohol, and sexual scenarios.
Comics: Three comics are in the queue for release during the 2021-22 Television Year (for those who don’t live in the United States, our Television Year is September to August, so the comics will debut between September 2021 and August 2022).
Comic #1: The Vikings of Vancouver: Follows the Norwegian-Canadian Halvorsen family: Marcus and Mary Halvorsen, their aduts children, their grandson, their dog, and their younger son’s live-in boyfriend, all of whom live in a townhouse in a fiction version of Davie Village, Vancouver, British Columbia. Even though this is a comic about a family, it is not family friendly. It is more of a cringe-comedy and sitcom-inspired comedy. 14+, 9/20/2021
Comic #2: Parker and Luca: Follows married couple Parker Johannsen and Luca Paiva, fathers raising three children in Spokane, Washington. I got the idea for this strip years ago, actually, after realizing that while there has been more LGBTQ+ visibility on television, there aren’t many shows with same-sex parents. The percentage of shows featuring same-sex parenting, in my perspective, goes down even further if you only count comedies. I am not a parent myself (I plan to have four kids in my thirties, but there is no place in my life for a kids right now), but I draw inspiration from my expiriences babysitting my younger brother, as well as stories from other people. PG, 1/1/2022
Comic #3: Matt: This is just some “slice of life”/social commentary comics I draw about my life, including my expiriences with ADD, Asperger’s, body image issues, social awkwardness, (self-diagnosed) mild social anxiety, navigating college during COVID, and my coming out. 14+, 2/14/2022
Blue City Mysteries:I’m working on fleshing the first few stories out.
Youtube and Patreon: I am hoping to start making Youtube content on both the Matt Slater and Six Lakes Studios Youtube pages, and get the Patreon Page up and running by the time SLS turns one. I plan to have the Patreon page membership charge by creation, rather than by month, just in case I get some slow months during the upcoming school year.
Tapas: I have set up my short story collection to premiere with “The Friend Lock” and “The Curious Store” on Saturday, with the former at 9 AM PST, and the latter at 10 AM PST. “Carousel, Carousel” will follow at 11 AM PST. They are already on Wattpad. Here are the links for Wattpad and Tapas.
I apologize for not having posted in a while. A new quarter has started at school, and now that I have switched from a double-major in Tech-Comm and Analytics to a single major in Computer Science, my main priority is getting my schoolwork done.
This story is shorter than “The Aviary of Henry Weston,” and is “G-rated” as opposed to “PG-13.” It is called “The Friend Lock,” and it takes inspiration from a local “Love Lock” bridge, as well as the sledding comics from Calvin and Hobbes. I initially wanted it to be a love story, but I had trouble getting it along. So I changed it into a story about friendship… and sledding down a huge hill.
I will be posting “The Friend Lock” after judging is over.
Happy Holidays, everyone. I have added “Reedsy” to the links page to celebrate the posting of my first short story to the Reedsy weekly prompt/short story contest.
Each Friday or Saturday, Reedsy posts five prompts, and in order to submit their story to the contest, writer must write a 1,000 to 3,000-word long story based on one of the prompts and submit it by 9 PM Pacific (12 Eastern) the following Friday. The theme for this week’s contest was “My True Love Gave to Me,” and the prompt I chose for my short story was “Write about someone who is given a bird for the holidays but doesn’t know how to take care of it.“
I wrote about a gay, autistic man who is tasked with taking care of his late uncle’s aviary, full of fifty exotic birds, at Christmastime, in order to receive his share of the estate. He also deals with his bullying cousin, who is tasked with restoring the uncle’s car collection.
I will post the story to Wattpad and this website on January 2nd, after the voting for “My True Love Gave to Me” has concluded.
I am excited about this story. I don’t care about winning, I’m just glad I get to be a part of this contest, and have other people see my work. I’m also proud of the story, and I hope to expand on it soon, maybe as a full-length book.
Six Lakes Studios 
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