The Privilege of the Happy Ending

A collection of fantastic stories (of short, medium and long length) that shows how broad the author's writings can be. Stories that invite the reader to become part of the story, flash fiction and 'traditional' forms of writing can all be found here. Stories that I really enjoyed include a trickster Coyote's journey into the land of the dead, one involving Toad and other characters by Kenneth Grahame, a magnificent journey through a dreamland created by H.P. Lovecraft, and a story that asks the reader whether the characters should have the privilage of a happy ending.

• "Tool-Using Mimics": an unusual picture of a little girl wearing a squid or octopus-like costume triggers a speculative story about what the girl really is: just a girl in a costume, or perhaps an octopus mimicking a girl as a disguise, or something else.

• "Mantis Wives": the various ways female mantis deal with the fact that they eat the males.

• "Butterflies of Eastern Texas": a train conductor on an unusual train meets a girl on the train that constantly releases butterflies.

• "Five Sphinxes and 56 Answers": a retelling of the story of Oedipus Rex, as seen from the viewpoint of the Sphinx, who wonders whether her task was worth all the trouble. Interspersed is another story about a girl who has her own Sphinx-like troubles with her mother.

• "Ratatoskr": a young girl is terrified one night when she sees an image of a giant squirrel in a storm, which she later decides is Ratatoskr, who in old Norse mythology is a squirrel who runs up and down the world tree Yggdrasil to carry messages between the eagles perched atop Yggdrasil, and the serpent Níðhöggr. This would lead her to a 'spiritual' connection with squirrels that she would later encounter.

• "Coyote Invents the Land of the Dead": the trickster, Coyote, and her friends, enter the Land of the Dead to search for her dead lover. But the search may be futile, for the lover may not be easily found during the strange and unusual dead world that they journey into; and possibly beyond.

• "The Ghastly Spectre of Toad Hall": a tale based on the characters by Kenneth Grahame, this one has Toad telling a story to his friends of how a ghost haunts Toad Hall and possibly caused the death of his predecessors. Of course, the spectre turns up, and the friends look for a 'loophole' to prevent Toad's death. In the end, Toad prepares to meet his doom, but he may yet be saved by an unexpected loophole.

• "The Apartment Dweller's Bestiary": on the various beasts an apartment dweller can get or encounter and how they can fill your time or missing relationships with people.

• "The Apartment Dweller's Stavebook": on the various symbols you can draw on objects or yourself to encourage or discourage events.

• "The Apartment Dweller's Alphabetical Dreambook": on the meaning of various symbols or desires you see in your dream, and how to, maybe, interpret them.

• "The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe": a long and fascinating story set in the Dream World that may be familiar to those who have read Lovecraft. One day, a student from a women's college in the Dream World is enchanted by a man from our world (known as the Waking World) and runs away with him. Now, it is up to the Professor, Vellitt Boe, to track her down and bring her back. As the story develops, we learn more about this Dream World, where mad old gods rule and can bring death and destruction on a whim. And it is such destruction that Boe hopes to prevent when it is revealed to her how important the runaway girl is. She will have to travel through an underworld full of ghouls and other beasties, before she will meet the girl that, in a twist, may well change the nature of the Dream World.

• "Noah’s Raven": a raven on Noah's Ark laments the extinct birds that are lost as the ark struggles through the flood, until it is at last set free by Noah to find land.

• "Crows Attempt Human-Style Riddles, and One Joke": viginettes of jokes that may be told be crows.

• "The Privilege of the Happy Ending": a story of a girl and her old hen who set out on a journey to find a new home when their old one, and the surrounding land, are ravaged by marauding wastoures, hordes of devouring creatures. Their journey seems hopeless as they wander from place to place looking for a home, until an unexpected event makes them realise that the only way is to stop the wastoures. And the hen, who has special abilities for a hen, would have an unexpected role in this. But is the journey of the girl and the hen meant to have a happy ending? That depends on the author's whims and the reader's decision on when to stop the story; or not to end it.