Beyond the Binding Composers for Relief Companion Collection

By Samantha Redstreake Geary

Embark on an exciting journey “Beyond the Binding” of the imagination with 29 authors from across the globe, in a groundbreaking collaboration where music meets fiction. Surrender to soaring compositions as they surge through the veins of every story, capturing the triumphant pulse of the notes in heart pounding sci fi, enchanting fantasy and gripping slices of realism.

All proceeds of the Composers for Relief album and Beyond the Binding companion collection ebook will go to Gawad Kalinga (“give care”) and GVSP (Gualandi Volunteer Service Program), to support the relief efforts for victims of the deadliest natural disaster in Philippines’ history, Super Typhoon Yolanda.

Cover and chapter images designed by Jennifer Redstreake Geary

Contributing Authors:
Samantha Redstreake Geary
Elise Fallson
Amy Willoughby Burle
River Fairchild
M. Pax
Damyanti Biswas
C. Lee McKenzie
Al Diaz
Yolanda Renee
Michelle Wallace
Ruth Long
Lisa Shambrook
Bryan Taylor
Djinnia
Valentina Cano
Jeff Hollar
Lisa McCourt Hollar
Leighton Williams
Rebekah Postupak
Vidya Sury
Jeff Tsuruoka
Shannon Kenoyer Lawrence
Michael L Swift

• Language: English
• Publisher: Samantha Redstreake Geary
• Release date: Feb 7, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311906861

Samantha Redstreake Geary

Sam works as a freelance writer in the film music industry and is the mad architect behind a string of globalcomposer/author collaborations, including audiomachine’s Tree of Life & Existence and most recently, Composersfor Relief. She’s also a speculative fiction author, weaving music-inspired short stories and YA novels under thesteady influence of locally roasted coffee.

Book preview

Inspired by One - Ryo Ishido feat. Nik Kershaw

THE LINES IN THE wizard’s face were deep, like the folds of his velvet cloak. Every night his faded blue eyes gazed in mournful meditation out the window. Tumultuous rains had befallen the land and the future was being swept away. On the darkest of nights, the wizard concentrated his magic to summon a noble light. The light resembled a tiny man made of fire who was anchored to the wick of an enchanted candle. The wizard named the man, Flame.

Flame was grateful for the life cast into him and honored to provide a soothing light in return. But after several moons, the wizard noticed his friend’s light was fading. A foreign emotion had begun to fester in Flame’s heart, it was called melancholy.

Worried, the wizard took action and retrieved one of his finest sheets of paper vellum. He placed the paper on his desk and rolled up his sleeves. Aiming his wand, he mumbled a few magical sounds into his long grey beard. The tip of the wand glowed like molten lava, and released a bolt of magic that electrified the paper vellum, infusing it with life. The delicate sheet began to tremble. Flame looked on with glowing curiosity. Slowly, the sheet began to fold upon itself. It twisted and creased. It folded and unfolded. It pleated and opened until at last, a recognizable figure was created—a delicate paper girl known simply as, Vellum.

The girl lay still on the table at the edge of Flame’s light. Her eyes were closed but she was breathing. Captivated by what he saw, Flame pushed his light a little further and wrapped the girl in his warm glow. The warmth made Vellum stir. She stretched her arms and opened her large round eyes, turning a delicate face to the source of the light. When she met Flame’s gaze, she smiled for the first time. She couldn’t blush, but she felt as if she could as she stared into the eyes of the man made of fire. Flame had never seen anything so beautiful and wished he could reach out and touch her lovely face. Her smile alone was enough to cast out the loneliness. He swelled with joy and the entire room filled with a magnificent light.

Satisfied, the wizard put away his wand and gave his creations a warning. He told Vellum should she get too close, Flame’s light would burn her to ash and she would perish. But, the wizard also said the day would come when they would be together as one. Their union would bring an end to the rains and hope for a brighter future. The two nodded, heeding the wizard’s cryptic words, and Vellum kept a safe distance from the enchanted candle.

But distance proved powerless in keeping Flame and Vellum from spending endless nights together. They shared their thoughts and dreams, and soon the two became close in heart. One night, the paper girl danced for her flame. It was an expression of love, and the only gift she could give that could not be destroyed by fire.

With music in her heart, she danced. Her arms painted rainbows in the sky. Her heels kicked high as she twirled on her toes. She was a delight to behold. Flame could have watched her for hours but soon sadness unfolded. Watching her dance reminded him of everything he could never do or ever touch. How he wished he could hold Vellum in his arms and dance with her.

The wizard also watched Vellum as she pirouetted across the room. A sad smile hung on his face. The outside world had long lost all hope, but when he looked at Flame and Vellum he knew, their love could bring it back. The time had arrived. The wizard glanced out the window, pausing for a moment at the sound of despair that rained against the glass. Then, he placed his head on his desk, and closed his eyes.

Sorrow fell upon the room. Vellum and Flame realized their friend had closed his eyes for the last time. But something else came over them—fear. Without magic, the candle was no longer enchanted, and Flame knew he would soon burn to the end of the wick, disappearing forever. Vellum raged against the thought. She searched the wizard’s books for answers, but no answers could be found.

Then, the floods came.

Outside, the rains brought floodwaters that rose with determination. Water forced its way into the room. It trickled through cracks, and rushed in rivulets from under the door. The floor was soon covered with water that never ceased to rise. When the water reached the wizard’s waist, it pulled him from the desk, and his body disappeared beneath the surface. Flame’s heart filled with despair. He cursed his body that committed him to the candle. His forever was with Vellum. How could life be so cruel?

Inevitably, water cold as death reached the edge of the table. Vellum would be washed away and Flame’s light extinguished forever. Yet despite this brutal fate, they still refused to succumb to the floods. In an act of eternal love, as the water spilled over the surface of the desk, Vellum turned towards Flame. She ran into his burning light. Then, she jumped.

Responding with the love he felt for her, Flame expanded his noble light, and received her in his arms. For a fleeting moment he felt her, and held her, and watched her smile one last time. As she smothered his light while his fire burned through her body, the cold waters took them both and they became one.

When the rains had washed everything from the land, the only thing that remained was a patch of soil nourished by ash, born of love and hope. The sun returned, and warmed the land, and from the ashes, rose a man. Flesh and bone replaced fire and wick, and at his side rose a woman. He recognized her large round eyes and beautiful smile. It was Vellum. Flame looked at her in awe and she blushed under his gaze. Reaching for her without fear, Vellum fell into his arms.

Hope had returned to the world and finally, Flame and Vellum danced towards a brighter future.

By Amy Willoughby Burle

Inspired by Beautiful Life - Lauri Koivisto

ANDREW LOVES TO SLEEP. In his dreams he’s whole again.

He can feel the warm sand beneath his bare feet and the sting of muscles well used on a long walk down the shore. He would never have done it in the waking world, but in his dreams he tosses bread to the gulls above. He understands, now, their desperate swooping for one more morsel. Awake, he rolls himself out onto the porch of his parent’s old beach house where he can feel the breeze from the ocean soft on his face and through his hair.

He wants to be grateful for what is left, but he misses what is gone. He had a normal life—a car, a job, a girl he loved. He had thought of all the things he would lose, she wouldn’t be one.

He was wrong.

The accident had taken the life he knew how to live. This new one is a mystery to him. So he lives in his dreams. At night, anything he imagines can become real. He can be a soldier victorious, a bird over the ocean, or better yet—he can be who he once was. In his dreams, he’s not alone. He is in love and loved in return. He has friends. He has family.

Awake he is reminded of his loss. His friends, not up for the challenge, his parents—already lost to him years ago. All for the better, he thinks. He would be too much of a burden now.

What he has left of his parents is this house where he spent childhood summers on the shore, where he learned to surf, where he sneaked out late to meet a girl under the moonlight. He remembers friends and nights out at the pub in town—drinks over lively conversation, bar food too greasy for its own good. He knows the loss of his friends is as much his own fault as theirs. But it's hard to be jovial when your world has broken in half at the center. A company sends a nurse aide who helps him do the things he has become too complacent in his misery to do for himself. She’s friendly, but it isn’t the same.

It’s been one year today that he awoke to a foreign life. He wants to wallow in his sorrow, but outside along the shore, he sees a young boy playing. The boy’s mother watches from a blanket nearby. The boy