Mason and Eric will be postponed. I will come up with an alternative, most likely a short story, that will premiere on December 23rd.
My Apologies!
Tag / Update
First Anniversary!!!!!
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” is the first original story posted on Cascades Stories.
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 He later unpublished the post, and rescheduled it for the planned premiere on August 1st, 2021.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 18th-24th, 2021: @impromptuwriters features Matt’s haikus about the Greek Muses. Matt later posts these on SLS. Thanks, Gage! 🙂
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.
2022: Blue City Mysteries will premiere.
Update 11/12/21
Personal: Eric Horsted, sitcom writer and producer, came to speak at my college about a month ago! I was pretty stoked because it was pretty cool to hear about his work in the industry, how he got started, and the challenges of being a screenwriter. It was also very cool to meet a gay man who had worked his way up in the industry to earn a resume that includes shows like Futurama, the Simpsons, and Reba. After taking this picture, he said “I hope to see your name on the screen someday.” This was amazing. I am now even more inspired to pursue my writing and screenwriting goals. Of course, I will stay in college as a Geoscience major, but I am keeping my Screenwriting minor, and will take his advice of finding time every day to just sit down and write. Thank you for coming, Eric!
The Runaways: Stay tuned for more information regarding an expansion of this story. Hint: It will be a novel, but not the kind of novel you might be thinking of… 😉
The Aviary of Henry Weston: The novelization will be commencing over winter break, and I’m setting a goal to have the first draft ready by next year’s winter break.
Unfortunately, the short story didn’t make it past judging at the Writer’s Digest Contest, but don’t worry, I’ll be reposting it on Tapas and Wattpad. I’ll also be writing something for the upcoming contest. 🙂
Comics: TVOV, Parker and Luca, and Matt are being drawn, but some delays are expected with the rest of fall quarter coming up.
Also, I just got the new Windows 11 upgrade, and Paint got the biggest update it’s gotten in years! It finally doesn’t look like it’s stuck in the mid-aughties! So, I may have a smoother time drawing, but I have yet to try it, so let’s see how it goes.
There is also a fourth comic in the works, but more information on that later.
Oh! And make sure you follow TVOV on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
Blurred Lines: Updates will be slow. Forgive me.
Other Projects: More work is underway, but the biggest project right now:
The First Anniversary!
Thank you all so much for viewing my work over the past year. Since SLS’s debut (as “Cascades Stories”) on November 12th, 2020, I have started a comic and a few books, gotten my poems shared by Impromptu Writers, and worked up the nerve to submit to the WD contest.
So, please, keep an eye out for the SLS First Anniversary Video, premiering Thursday, November 18th, 2021 on YouTube!
Thanks for reading!
-Matt
Coming soon…
Update 10/31/2021 (Halloween!)
ARRRRRRGH, MATEYS!!!!! I be Four-Eyes the Fabulous, and this be my color-changing pumpkin friend, Jack O’Lantern! We be takin’ over this here website!
Just kidding! It’s me, Matt! Happy Halloween, readers!
If I’m being honest, I didn’t used to like Halloween (sensory overload), but I’ve grown to it. I just have to avoid anything that would cause me to freak out, shut down, or have nightmares. But I’m getting better! In fact, I am even watching the 1978 John Carpenter classic slasher: “Halloween!”
Now, onto the news:
The Vikings of Vancouver: More TVOV coming underway! I will only post a few more comics on WordPress, before shifting distribution exclusively to Webtoon and Tapas. Most likely, I will stop posting TVOV on here after the New Year.
Parker and Luca: I am getting started on Parker and Luca comics right now. I will try to create a character sheet for them as well.
Matt (Comic): I will be starting work on this comic soon.
Mason and Eric: I am one of those people who tries not to get all “Christmassy” (or “Winter Holiday-y” overall) until the Saturday after American Thanksgiving, but what the heck! I’ll announce this year’s Christmas Special! The 2021 Christmas Special is: “Mason and Eric!” More information to be coming next week. [Postponed, not canceled]
The Waterfall: Don’t worry! I haven’t forgotten about The Waterfall. Updates will resume sometime in December.
Tales of Human Nature Serial Killer: Coming May 2022!
Blurred Lines: Well, the story is coming along now, and will be updated as much as I can through November.
Max Fields #1: Coming February 2022!
Blue City Mysteries: I am in the process of writing stories for the series right now, but I’m still trying to figure out the characters, plotlines, and each individual story. I have some of my fictional version of Lakewood, Washington built up right now, but it’s not complete yet.
Also, I am not trying to put Lakewood in a negative light. I just wanted to set the series somewhere that is a) A diverse, medium-sized suburbia in the Pacific Northwest and b) close and near to my heart. I love that city. I lived there for a few years as a young kid, I have family and friends there, and I have a lot of memories there.
Voldensfjordian Murders: If you follow my work on “Chapters” I am so sorry I haven’t updated “A Voldensfjordian Murder” or its sequels and spin-off in a while! I am trying to get back on track, but it’ll be easier when I’m out of school for Winter Break.
If you haven’t seen them, please be sure to check them out!
Other Works: I have so many ideas in my mind, I can’t keep track of them! But I will be sure to keep you updated, and whenever I start truly working on a new project, you, dear readers, will be the first to know!
Personal: I am doing well in the Geosciences Major, and can’t wait for my winter quarter Screenwriting Class. I am also doing better, mentally, now that I am doing in-person classes. I am excited for what comes next for me in college, on this website, and in life! Also, my brother turned 15 years old TODAY! A Halloween birthday, how about that?!
P.S. Yes, those are real earrings. My Ears have been pierced since February of 2019, and earrings are one of my weird, random interests. The strange part, though? I’m not a fan of piercings elsewhere. Just ears. Not sure why.
Bone-us: Here’s a picture of my dog, Pizza, in 2019, dressed in his Halloween Costume.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2021!
BE SAFE, EAT CANDY AND HAVE SOME FUN!
(Hey, that rhymes!)
Update 8/18/2021
The Waterfall: Chapter Three will be posted on Wattpad and Tapas on Sunday at 4:30 PM PST. I am introducing some new characters.
Comics: The Vikings of Vancouver‘s first strips are underway.
Other than the plot and characters, there is another difference between TVOV and Parker and Luca. TVOV will have standalone comics (with a few exceptions), while Parker and Luca will have more story archs, with a few standalones mixed in.
Halloween: I have a few ideas for TOHN’s ‘substitute’ while I get the details for TOHN ironed out. You will get a Halloween story, mark my words!
Other Projects: The Aviary of Henry Weston, Tales of Human Nature, and Max Fields.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading!
-Matt
Update 8/6/2021
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.
That’s all for now. Thank you for reading!
-Matt
Upcoming Comics (As of August 2021)
Comics will be available on Tapas, Webtoon, and this website (for select strips only).
The Vikings of Vancouver follows Norwegian-Canadian chef and restaurateur Marcus Halvorsen, his wife Mary, a retired police officer who currently works in retail, fraternal twin sons Marcus Junior, a musician, and Marvin, an autistic Food Science student at Davie University, daughters Trina, who plays for numerous collegiate sport teams, younger daughters Green, founder of the Eco Club at every school she’s been attended since preschool, and grandson Mark, Junior’s son from a high-school relationship. They live in a fictional version of Davie Village, Vancouver, in a large townhouse across from Voyager’s Landing, the Scandinavian cuisine restaurant Marcus co-owns and operates, along with the Halvorsens’ Norwegian Buhund, Gjørmete (“Muddy” in Norwegian), and Marcus’s American sous chef, Frankie Morales, who is also Marvin’s Boyfriend.
The Vikings of Vancouver primieres on 9/20/2021, which also happens to be my 20th Birthday!
TVOV is rated 14+ for strong language, social commentary, sexual references, suggestive dialogue, slapstick humor, and references to alcohol, gambling, pot, and adult media.
Parker and Luca: The shortest way to describe my second comic, which premieres on New Year’s Day 2022, would be “Baby Blues meets Husband and Husband.”
Parker Johannsen and Luca Braz have been married for years, and have been raising two daughters and a son in the fictional Monroe District of Spokane, Washington. Luca works as the athletic director for Hell’s Canyon University, while Parker works from home as a graphic designer and podcaster. Their children are 12-year-old Xylon, 8-year-old Ruby, and 5-year-old Morgan.
Parker and Luca is rated PG for mild language, suggestive content (involving the adult characters, not the kids!), social commentary, and alcohol references.
Matt 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, navigating college during COVID, and my coming out.
There will be many characters featured here, but mainly, the comic will showcase me and Blue, a baby blanket with a plush dog head who I have held dear since my uncle Mike gave him to be when I was born.
Matt premieres on Valentine’s Day 2022.
Matt is rated 14+ for language, social commentary, suggestive dialogue, and references to mental health issues and adult media.
Whoops!
If you are subscribed to SLS on WordPress, you may have gotten an email showing you the first chapter of my new story, The Waterfall.
However, that was not supposed to be seen by ANYONE until August 1st at 4:30 PM PST. It was accidentally published due to an error on my part. Please do not share the story!
The Waterfall Ch. 1, now that the scheduling is fixed, should premiere on the above date, like planned, on Tapas, Wattpad, and here. The following chapters will be uploaded on Sundays on Wattpad and Tapas, but not here. Sorry about that, but I don’t want to crowd the homepage with all the chapters of my longer stories.
Sorry about the mixup!
If you are not yet subscribed to this blog, please do, but also, please read the first chapter of The Waterfall on Sunday!
If you are subscribed, and received the email with the first chapter, then please, again, don’t share it! Let it be our little temporary secret 😉.
-Matt
Update 7/23/2021
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.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading!
-Matt
Six Lakes Studios 
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