Tales from Indies: Smashwords Forum Writers Anthology 2015

By Smashwords Forum Writers

Tales from Indies is the first anthology published by Smashwords Forum Writers (SWF). This collection of eleven pieces, with an international flavor, includes short stories, an essay, and chapters from completed works with themes ranging from science-fiction, fantasy, historical retelling, to paranormal romance.
Tales from Indies writers are: Bret Allen, John Chapman, Shelia Chapman, Şerban Valentin Constantin Enache, Julie Harris, Kell Inkston, Alan James, Ian Kotze, Jennifer R. Povey, Ria Stone, and Bonnie Turner.
SWF writers are a diverse bunch. We have a global membership. Our genres run the gamut from children's picture eBooks to erotica, from historical fiction to science-fiction, fantasy, and romance. Nonfiction writers offer puzzle eBooks, how-to-books, satire, & more. SWF writers are new authors and long-time pros.
Monies from sales goes to SPCA in Canada.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Smashwords Forum Writers
• Release date: Nov 14, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311404664

Smashwords Forum Writers

Smashwords Forum is a forum for Smashwords authors founded by Ted Summerfield. It is free to join and offers lots of helpful information and support on how to self-publish on Smashwords and much more.Smashwords Forum Writers is the publishers' name for the authors of the "Tales from Indies", Smashwords Forum Writers Anthology 2015."Tales from Indies" writers are: Bret Allen, John Chapman, Shelia Chapman, Şerban Valentin Constantin Enache, Julie Harris, Kell Inkston, Alan James, Ian Kotze, Jennifer R. Povey, Ria Stone, and Bonnie Turner.

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Tales from Indies

Smashwords Forum Writers Anthology

Published by Smashwords Forum Writers at Smashwords.

The Smashwords Forum is an independent website not affiliated with Smashwords.

Copyright 2015:

Smashwords Forum Writers

Copyright 2015:

Another Earth by Julie Harris, Paper by Kell Inkston; It Wants to Eat Me by Bret Allen; Stranded by Shelia Chapman; Filo's Escape by Alan James; Pierced Tongue by Ria Stone; Saturday Night at the Wonderland Club by Jennifer R. Povey; The Madness in Me by Ian Kotze; Waking from Death by John Chapman

Copyright 2014:

Talking Crows by Şerban Valentin Constantin Enache

Copyright 2009:

Footprints in Time: A Walk in Sacajawea's Moccasins by Bonnie Turner

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Cover Artwork Credit:

Pier Francesco Cittadini - Vanitas-Stillleben

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pier_Francesco_Cittadini_Vanitas-Stillleben.jpg

This photographic reproduction is therefore also considered to be in the public domain in the United States.

Preface

Welcome to Smashwords Forum Writers Anthology 2015

This anthology would not exist if it were not for Ted Summerfield.

Ted Summerfield is a former member of the Radio Television News Directors Association. He started writing as a teenager and over the years has written poetry, news stories, sports stories, stories for children, puzzles, plays for puppets, fiction and non-fiction works.

As Ted tells his story, "my parents and grandfather were great role models and inspired me in many of my lifelong interests. My grandfather was wonderful. He always ended our conversations with a problem to solve or an opinion requiring some thought. My brother and I would have a week to think about it and tell him our answers the following Saturday. My answers were simple as a 6 year old, but I was providing more reasoned answers when I was 15. It was grandfather who got me thinking about law, business, relationships, and the mathematics involved in those areas.

My mother got me hooked on games when I was 4 years old, by showing me how to play Chinese Checkers and telling me if I studied the logic of the game well enough I could soon beat my older brother at the game.

My family was middle-class, business people who raised me with the concept of social capitalism. They contributed much of their income anonymously to various charities and non-profit organizations as well as no-interest loans to a few low-income families who had an idea for a business and just needed a start or in some cases a place to live. My father insisted we help others not out of religious beliefs or image-improvement but because it was the right thing to do. That could be you was an early instruction from my father on the importance of helping others.

He and my grandfather were businessmen and made a good living for their families, but looking out for the other person was paramount because 'it could happen to you'. My grandfather and father instilled in me the notion of 'favourable agreement', where both parties are happy with the result.

I’ve enjoyed a business life comprised of property management, property development, real estate sales, puppetry, and broadcast journalism.

As a property manager, one of the dumbest moment I ever had while I was leasing properties was when I offered a generous time-frame for repayment to a tenant who was behind in payments, ensuring they wouldn't be financially strapped, but they refused and left me no choice but to go to court. When the smoke had cleared they'd been forced to pay far more than the originally sought amount. That was truly dumb on their part. The lesson, I hope they learned, was don't try to cheat people.

After writing and performing several puppet plays, and traveling to storytelling conventions in the United States, I discovered there is not a lot of money in the arts business. But, the most wonderful aspect of puppetry was seeing children react to the story, get involved with the story, be really excited and laughing. Those moments were worth millions.

My first puzzle eBook was published in 2010, and I have published over 40 eBooks, comprised of picture eBooks for children, a variety of puzzle eBooks, fiction and non-fiction works.

As a new Smashwords author, I was unable to find an online community for Smashwords authors, so I created Smashwords Forum (SWF) in 2011.

SWF has become a place where new and seasoned authors can find a variety of information about self-publishing and traditional publishing.

With over 900 members, SWF members ask/answer questions regarding publishing, formatting, marketing, promoting their eBooks, and meet other authors from around the world.

I also do a lot of research and provide the results to SWF members about the ins and outs of self-publishing and help other authors and forum members by providing guidance and details about self-publishing policies, royalties, various eTailers, formatting, making book covers, and more.

In addition, I encourage SWF members to try new ideas. This anthology is one of those ideas.

The forum has proven itself popular and valuable to new and experienced authors."

Ted Summerfield

Author Information

Blog: http://punzhupuzzles.wordpress.com/

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/puzzles

Smashwords Forum: http://smashwords-forum.proboards.com/user/1

Twitter: punzhu_puzzles

Facebook: Facebook profile

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/ted-summerfield/13/327/4b8

Table of Contents

Copyright

Preface

Chapter 1: Another Earth by Julie Harris

Chapter 2: Paper by Kell Inkston

Chapter 3: It Wants to Eat Me by Bret Allen

Chapter 4: Stranded by Shelia Chapman

Chapter 5: Talking Crows by Şerban V.C. Enache

Chapter 6: Filo's Escape by Alan James

Chapter 7: Pierced Tongue by Ria Stone

Chapter 8: Saturday Night at the Wonderland Club by Jennifer R. Povey

Chapter 9: The Madness in Me by Ian Kotze

Chapter 10: Waking from Death by John Chapman

Chapter 11: Footprints in Time: A Walk in Sacajawea's Moccasins by Bonnie Turner

Smashwords Forum

The Shelter Pet Project

Chapter 1

Another Earth

by Julie Harris

There was another Thear, my father said often. It was almost like this.

March 17, 2255, Polico, The West Sector, Thear.

Eirene walked into the room and slid her carry bag under the table. It felt almost strange to be back, stranger that the low level hum of young voices hushed the moment she faced her audience.

If there was such a thing as celebrity here, it was Eirene. She was known far and wide as a storyteller, but the story that most listeners wanted to hear, over and over again, was the story about the other Thear. When she was a young child, her father often said: There is another planet like ours, and when you are older, I will give you the proof…

Thank you for coming.

Yes, it is true. There was another Thear, a mirrored world, almost like our home, or so my father said, and his father, and his father’s father, too. It was in 2100 that the father of my father’s father’s father was something called an astronaut. The place he lived was called Earth, another blue world with lands surrounded by oceans, away off in the distance, far beyond the stars we see at night.

So many years ago, the people of Earth were not like us, even though they too, were humanoid. They had their history, just like Thear’s, but their history was written through the eyes of war, which is something that Theareans will never understand.

My ancestor, the astronaut, was named Dixon. I do not know what the name means, but a very long time ago in Earth’s history there was a man called Jesus, who to me was a political prisoner, but his legend remained for thousands of years after his execution. There were more like this Jesus, who called for peace and kindness and celebrated love, and each prophet acquired his own following, and over time the followers forgot the ideals of love and kindness and hope—our ideals—and Earth was plunged into despondency and hatred.

Poor Earth, its people evolved in darkness.

There was a Bible and a Quran. There was Zen. There was Buddhism and many more things called faiths and religions, and it seems that these faiths were driven by Earth people’s need for something else to believe in, something intangible, outside of their own realities, not from within. And of course there was money. Not that money in itself is a problem, but when it is the case where most had little and a few in power had much, then society can be driven by greed. And so it was money and power that drove life on Earth and made wars and ultimately destroyed that beautiful blue planet.

My ancestor, the astronaut, Dixon, was chosen to leave Earth in 2100. Dixon was what was known as an ‘American’. America was a vast landmass, as were Europe and Africa, and Asia. Strange names, I know. Unlike us, the people of the Earth belonged to different landmasses and not the whole planet…

How can that be? I do not know.

If I may continue? Dixon was a pilot. At first, he took to the skies in antiquated, fossil fueled aircraft, and then he took to space. He was one of the pilots who saved some of his people from extinction.

In his lifetime he did not know of Thear, but I would like to believe he hoped that there was another place, just like his home planet, that was peaceful and prosperous. My grandfather used to say how Earth people would likely call our home ‘Heaven’—something else that had its origins in belief and faith.

Yes, you may roll your eyes and think it ridiculous but what I say is the truth.

It was said, by my father, who heard it from his father, how one thousand humans, male and female under the age of 35 years from each continent on Earth, were chosen at random to go into space and ‘colonize another planet’. However, technology was in its infancy and what we know of space travel, for them at the time, was almost impossible. To govern the migrators, governments from each landmass elected their officials. Legend has it that this was the first time in humanity’s history where all government officials did not argue. The end of their civilization was approaching fast.

In all, there were one thousand five hundred people who left their home planet to spread their seeds anew.

Back then, a human’s lifespan was eighty to ninety years, unlike a Thear’s, whose lifespan has always been 220 (although some have reached 230). Because there was no suspended animation or magnetic fuel at the time, it would have taken many lifespans to reach at light speed… Please do not laugh. We know light speed to be very slow. They did not have the technology!

Now where was I? It would have taken many lifespans to reach the nearest planet that may have supported life as they knew it. Their only chance for survival of the species was to inhabit a purpose-built space station in full orbit, and a moon base.

Yes, the planet Earth had a moon and it was similar in size to ours.

Half of the migrating population was allocated to the space station, and the other half lived on the moon base. For a very short time all was as expected, until several of the colonists on the space station could not live with their ‘enemies’ in such close proximity…

What is an enemy?

An enemy is best described as one who is an opponent, an adversary. In most cases, it describes hatred, a lack of tolerance, an omission of love and respect and an unwillingness to compromise.

Over thousands of years, this hatred became a genetic mutation, and our scientists have since theorized the mutation was caused by the remnants of cellular memory. Hatred had become embedded in some, if not all, Earth people’s DNA.

So it was that the space station, even though it was designed to last in perpetuity, was blasted out of the planet’s orbit by a crazed human being who believed it was God’s will that humankind perish because its origins were rooted in evil.

As the space station spun wildly out into the depths of space, Dixon and the moon base people looked on helplessly as half of surviving humanity was swallowed into the blackness…

Perhaps they survived? Perhaps we shall never know.

Where do I get this information? My ancestor, the astronaut, Dixon, had written with his own hand what is known as a Diary, and parts of it still remain… May you see it? Perhaps, if you are patient. Now, if I may continue?

The Earth was uninhabitable and was no longer blue, and returning would be instant