Mythical Minstrelsy Volume Two

By Teresa Garcia

Gather under the tree with the traveling bard while she recounts poetry and short stories centering around various mythical and magical creatures. Month by month her project grew as her supporters lent their ears. Here and there she shares some artwork, some snippets about her books, and even a little in the realms of meditation. This is the second year of her Patreon anthology, and this is arranged in month by month format. This anthology is a handy gathering of the year's work, not including the progress made in the "Selkies' Skins: Temple and Skinquest" manuscript which will be provided her patrons separately.

Year three is the next volume awaiting conversion. Year four's collection ends in August 2019 which will also mark the beginning of year five.

• Language: English
• Publisher: THG StarDragon Publishing
• Release date: Apr 12, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463997444

Teresa Garcia

Teresa Garcia (once Teresa Huddleston-Garcia) is a 30-something mother of two children with special needs, raising them "alone" in the small mountain town of McCloud, CA. Just because she is on her own though, does not mean that she is "alone." Many thanks are due to the McCloud Community Resource Center, to her brother and his family, and her mother, for all their help. She loves to text role play, write stories, hike, paint, meditate, and play games or read with her kids. She also writes quests for, and helps to maintain, the online browser-based RPG Dragon Hearts. As Amehana, Teresa volunteers time for the Trotsdale Public Library in Second Life. She was raised in another mountain community, which she visits as often as she can spare time and gas, though not nearly often enough for her wishes. Her parents always encouraged her writing and artistic talents. In 2005, she decided to pick up the dream of writing and publishing a novel once more, having shelved that (and the "Shadow Chronicles" manuscript) in her early college years due to the time constraints of motherhood at the time. In 2006 she released to the public her first novel in the "Dragon Shaman" series, "Taming the Blowing Wind," and has since published a second book in the series and a poetry book. She likes to deal with multicultural themes because of her own background. Currently Teresa has several manuscripts to work on, such as her "Dragon Shaman" series of novels and her current favorite serialized story, "Selkies' Skins." She is also currently narrating "The Ian's Realm Saga" trilogy by DL Gardner, expected to be available April 2018. Teresa writes short stories for children in the Adventures of Lightning the Cat series. Her other titles are intended for more advanced readers. Her personal blog is located at http://rainstardragon.livejournal.com You can check out what she has available for her patrons at her Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/Amehana In addition to finding her in print on Lulu, she can be found at Amazon Author Central. http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B009Q938VE

Book preview

Mythical Minstrelsy

Poems, Short Stories, and Art

Volume Two

2016-2017

By Teresa Garcia

Copyright Information

Copyright © 2019 Teresa Garcia

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved. This copy is licensed for your use only. If you wish to give a copy to a friend please either purchase them a copy or send them to an approved outlet to purchase it themselves. This book may not be reproduced in any format without the express agreement of the publisher in writing. Exceptions are segments intended for reviews under fair use. For further use permissions please contact the publisher by mail or email.

Email: [e-mail] or [e-mail]

THG StarDragon Publishing

Attn: Teresa Garcia

PO Box 249

McCloud, CA 96057, USA

www.thgstardragon.com

Contents

Title

Copyright

Dedication

Preface

August 2016

September 2016

October 2016

November 2016

December 2016

January 2017

February 2017

March 2017

April 2017

May 2017

June 2017

July 2017

August 2017

Musings 2017

About the Author

Dedication

For those that have stood with me all this time. Thank you for understanding as I juggle so many projects and jobs instead of splitting my time between other things. Thank you for listening, the wary shoulder pats, and the coffee. Thank you for not pushing me across the house for not spending more time with my novels and giving hugs.

Preface

This edition in the Mythical Minstrelsy series of anthologies has been a little delayed in release due to the ups and downs of life and many projects. What follows is a year worth of poems, art, short stories, meditations, and musings that were not earmarked for other projects, individual buyers, or other books. This also means that each year will likely have a varying amount of work being released for that edition.

I am arranging this by month instead of by subject as the anthology is intended to be a walk through the year. Most everything touches in some way on mythology or folklore which are two of my passions.

~Teresa Garcia

August 2016

The Naga and Dragon’s Tea

August 1, 2016

A naga and a dragon met one day for tea

As they sat the naga said, Oh woe is me.

What now is this my friend, dulling scales so,

Quoth his friend, that you cry thus to me?

"My wife, my child, the riches of my life

Lie in danger yet again by the tides of strife

Brought to bear by the hands of roving man

With which the surface teems so rife."

The dragon chewed his whisker, frowned,

And blinking wondered then quite aloud,

"How can they not see what’s beneath

Belongs to those of the verdant ground?"

Elder brother, sang the naga, "remember

Man has been greedy since the first forever.

I don’t think they need a reason to take

As the Wheel of Rebirth continues to whir."

"Then what do you propose I do

That would then satisfy you?

Have you forgotten that the Buddha

Was once himself a human too?"

The naga sighed and slipped his mala

Obtained during honeymoon in Douala.

"I don’t know what to do to protect

Without breaking the Vows of Bodhisattva.

I only want to keep my family safe

In our mound where our faith

Urges us to live and gently wait

Guarding there the sacred Vase."

The dragon nodded, sipped his tea.

"I could raise for now the shifting sea,

Make the Mound an islet unappealing.

What think of this plan thee?"

"It may work, if you will thus try

I’d rather not allow my child to die

While I guard a symbol for the one

That hears so well the world’s cry."

Thus spake the naga and the dragon

Taking tea instead of drinking flagons

Of wine left from caravans of yore

Retrieved by the dragon from the lagan.

*Glossary

Lagan: Wreckage and/or goods below water affixed to a buoy or such device for later salvage.

Wisps

Original layout:

Moonless dark night by winding stream

Passing strangers caught in between

The waking sight and the sylvan dream

The wisps kindle aloft, winking steam

Somber forest