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Read on the author’s website
This directory leads to Jodi Taylor’s own posts. It gives a short, spoiler-light description of each piece so you can choose a mood without reproducing the stories. The author’s archive includes both written fiction and an author reading of Desiccated Water. Follow the format label on each entry: a reading is not a promise that the post also contains the full written text.
The current free-story section highlights recent pieces, while older posts remain elsewhere in the archive. A website posting date can be a republication date, and it does not establish where an adventure takes place in the fictional timeline. The notes below keep those questions separate.
The Coo of Warning
Leon introduces an unusual approach to fire safety at St Mary’s.
St Mary’s; no exact numbered position confirmed. Read on the author’s site
St Mary’s Goes Corporate
Corporate expectations meet the Institute’s familiar resistance to orderly working.
St Mary’s; no exact numbered position confirmed. Read on the author’s site
The Flux Capacitor
A technological talking point brings unwanted attention to the historians.
St Mary’s; no exact numbered position confirmed. Read on the author’s site
Raising the Dead
A Halloween celebration puts the Institute in charge of a problematic exhibit.
After The Good, the Bad and the History; before Murder at Martingale Manor. Read on the author’s site · Bookshelf entry
The Last Laugh
Max faces an appointment for her annual health check.
St Mary’s; no exact numbered position confirmed. Read on the author’s site
The Girl With The Pearl In Her Nose
An unconventional character portrait in the author’s free-fiction archive.
No numbered series placement assigned. Read on the author’s site
St Mary’s and the Great Toilet Roll Crisis
A shortage brings everyday practical problems to the Institute.
The author says this story can occur at any time. Read on the author’s site
Desiccated Water
Professor Rapson presents a scientific invention with a very practical promise.
Suggested 7.7 on this bookshelf; no official decimal confirmed. Author reading · Bookshelf entry
The Muse of History
A mythological perspective on the relationship between history and time travel.
No numbered series placement assigned. Read on the author’s site
Markham and the Fox
Markham’s visit to Sick Bay begins a tale of animal-related trouble.
St Mary’s; no exact numbered position confirmed. Read on the author’s site
Markham and the Anal Probing
A missing colleague prompts an extraordinary theory about his whereabouts.
Suggested 8.1 on this bookshelf; no official decimal confirmed. Read on the author’s site · Bookshelf entry
You Have Reached Your Destination
A driver’s navigation system turns a routine journey into a disturbing experience.
Standalone fiction; outside the numbered series. Read on the author’s site
Where should I fit the free stories?
Raising the Dead has specific author guidance: it follows The Good, the Bad and the History and comes before Murder at Martingale Manor. That is more useful than placing it purely by the date the post appeared. The author describes St Mary’s and the Great Toilet Roll Crisis as a piece that can occur at any time. For several other entries, an exact numbered position has not been confirmed, so this directory deliberately leaves it open.
Our 7.7 marker for Desiccated Water and 8.1 marker for Markham and the Anal Probing are suggested bookshelf placements. They help keep the companions near familiar parts of the series, but they are not author-issued decimal numbers. If you are avoiding references to later relationships, read the novels first and return to the smaller pieces when the Institute feels familiar. There is no need to manufacture a precise chronology to enjoy a short visit.
Do these replace the collections?
Two online pieces, Desiccated Water and Markham and the Anal Probing, also appear in Long Story Short. Finding a free original does not mean every story in that collection is available online, or that every online story is collected. Use the short stories in order to compare confirmed collection contents. That keeps a reading choice separate from an edition purchase.
All external story links here go to the author’s publication. Access arrangements belong to that site and can change; check its page if a subscription prompt appears. This guide stores no copies of the fiction and has no substitute download. After reading, the tracker can help you remember which short visits you have already made.
Placement evidence: author’s Raising the Dead guidance · author’s flexible placement note.