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    Tales of the Unexpected
    Tales of the Unexpected
    Tales of the Unexpected
    Ebook91 pages59 minutes

    Tales of the Unexpected

    By Debbie Mumford

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Take a journey into the unexpected with these five short stories from the Flights of Fantasy of Debbie Mumford.

    In this collection you’ll discover an entrancing tale of the fantasy life cycle of a giant redwood (“Needle-Green”), a flash piece about a mean spirited bully (“Life’s a Bitch”), a moving story of a man’s desperate fight to save his identical twin (“The Tie That Binds”), a flash tale that will take us to the stars (“Stargazer”), and a steampunk story of a young woman’s strange compulsion (“To Dream of Flying”).

    *~*~*

    A prolific copywriter by day, Debbie Mumford has been published in WMG Publishing’s Fiction River anthologies, Heart’s Kiss Magazine, Spinetingler Magazine, and other markets. She has also released several novels, novellas, and short story collections, including the popular Sorcha’s Children series. Find out more about Debbie’s work at debbiemumford.com or follow her on Facebook: @DebbieMumfordWrites. Join her newsletter list at eepurl.com/bTXLhX to receive an exclusive FREE story!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWDM Publishing
    Release dateJun 11, 2017
    ISBN9781370495689
    Tales of the Unexpected
    Author

    Debbie Mumford

    Debbie Mumford specializes in speculative fiction—fantasy, paranormal romance, and science fiction. Author of the popular Sorcha’s Children series, Debbie loves the unknown, whether it’s the lure of space or earthbound mythology. Her work has been published in multiple volumes of Fiction River, as well as in Heart’s Kiss Magazine, Spinetingler Magazine, and other popular markets. She writes about dragon-shifters, time-traveling lovers, and ghostly detectives for adults as Debbie Mumford and contemporary fantasy for tweens and young adults as Deb Logan.

    Read more from Debbie Mumford

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      Book preview

      Tales of the Unexpected - Debbie Mumford

      Tales of the Unexpected

      Tales of the Unexpected

      Debbie Mumford

      WDM Publishing

      Contents

      Foreword

      Needle-Green

      Life’s A Bitch

      The Tie That Binds

      Stargazer

      To Dream of Flying

      About the Author

      Also by Debbie Mumford

      Foreword

      Thank you for journeying with me into the unexpected with these five short stories.

      In Needle-Green, you’ll discover the entrancing fantasy life cycle of a giant redwood, while Life’s a Bitch will carry you briefly into the mind of a mean spirited bully as his karma comes full circle.

      The Tie That Binds exposes my fascination with twins, while Stargazer explores the wonder of our possible evolution into a space-faring species. Finally, To Dream of Flying visits an alternate version of the

      American

      West

      .

      I hope you enjoy your visit into my flights of fantasy!

      Needle-Green

      Iopened my eyes and stared into the leafy canopy so far above my head it might have been — What was the word? I searched my consciousness and delved into our collective memories. Ah. Yes. There it was — the sky. I pulled air into my tissues, refreshing the cambium layer running just beneath my bark. The air was crisp and clean and tasted of family. My grove .

      I stood quietly, drawing strength and understanding from the life of the root system below me. I was Needle-Green, a redwood dryad. I had made the leap from growing sprout to sentient being.

      Glancing around, I saw other dryads stirring. Hundreds of us littered the ground at the feet of our elders. Most were seedlings, tall stripling youths whose seeds had drifted to earth seasons earlier. They had germinated in the needle-strewn soil of our grove, sending rootlets down, questing for the life of our communal roots, while unsteady stems shot their cotyledons into

      the

      air

      .

      A few, like myself, were sprouts. We had sprung up from boles of parent trees. Even fewer had leapt skyward from the decaying trunks of downed giants.

      Whether seedling or sprout, we would carry the spark of redwood life into the future. And those of us who had successfully made the leap to sentience were now known as dryads. We had reached the second phase in the life-cycle of a redwood. We were conscious … and capable of movement.

      Not all of us had succeeded. I closed my eyes and mourned the seedlings and sprouts who had failed to awaken. They would now shrivel and die, their remains enriching the soil of the grove. They would return to the circle of life as nutrients. Before I could follow that root too deeply, an elder spoke into our collective awareness.

      Welcome to our grove, little dryads, whispered the ancient titan at the center of our grove. We are pleased you have safely awakened. Pull in your rootlets and explore your world, but be careful to return to us before your small stores of energy run low. Only our root system will nourish you sufficiently to maintain your growth.

      Yesssss, sighed the surrounding giants. Dryads who are too adventurous too soon have starved in the rootless expanse. Do not stray too far, little ones.

      Not

      yet

      .

      I shivered as though buffeted by a strong wind. Memories of dryads who had failed to return drifted through my thoughts and stuck there, like pollen collecting on cones. I nodded. Warning internalized.

      Carefully, delicately, I experimented. Flexing my roots, I withdrew a filament. Nothing happened. I hardly noticed the decrease in water and nutrient flow. Emboldened, I pulled in all my filaments, separating myself from the life of the grove.

      For a moment, I wobbled, my tender trunk unsteady, unbalanced, but then I divided the base of my trunk into twin stems capable of independent movement. I widened my stance, trying to compensate for my loss of anchorage. The exercise left me vaguely dizzy. Quickly I sank my roots back into the security of the grove’s interconnected system. Peace flooded my cambium

      like

      sap

      .

      Well done, little dryad, said my parent tree, the one from whose bole I had sprung. I remember well my own dryad days, the giant redwood sighed. Dancing in the moonlight with my fellows, creeping through stands of aspen and big-leaf maple, searching for the perfect place to plant myself permanently. Heady days await you, Needle-Green. Enjoy your wanderings, but don’t forget to come home for nourishment.

      I’ll remember, elder, I replied, bowing my leafy head in respect. I will explore with care; I will bend but not break.

      The elder sighed its approval, and I withdrew my root filaments once more. Separation anxiety pulsed through my cambium, but this time I knew I could reconnect whenever I chose, so I stood firm and endured. After a moment, the disorientation passed and I stepped cautiously from the bole that had supported me throughout my life as a sprout.

      From deep within a chant pushed its way into my

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