FIction Without Boundaries - May 2020: Fiction Without Boundaries, #4

By Kate Pavelle, Olivette Devaux and Jonna Bernstein

Fiction Without Boundaries, Issue 4 brings you the joys of May and of love of all kinds. Siblings, friends, kindred souls finding their way toward each other to become couples.

Some go beyond the grave, others reside in the here-and-now.

Seven stories with a touch of something outside of our ordinary experience! Finish a short, relaxing read with a smile on your face and that happy feeling of a situation put to right.

This collection contains:

CATCHING THE SEVENTH WAVE – When afterlife holds unexpected potential. By Kate Pavelle

 

THE BOY WHO HAD THE STRENGTH OF BAMBOO – A sweet story of a Filipino bishi whose yearning for the warmth of tropical climate is assuaged only by true love. By Olivette Devaux

 

THE BOY WHO TRIED TO BE ENOUGH – A story of a regular American cute guy who tries so, so very hard to be worthy of his lover's favor, not realizing that he is perfect just the way he is. Olivette Devaux

 

THE FLYING VIOLIN – Two childhood friends, one a musical prodigy, the other an aspirant. As hard work pays off years later. the women meet halfway around the world, playing for the same orchestra. Except one isn't what she seems to be, and her musical genius is only one of her special talents. Kate Pavelle

 

ASWANG WHO ATE STARDUST – Aswang, the supernatural soul-eater of Filipino lore, reforms. But how does one go on without the nourishment of human souls? A heartwarming story, where the Aswang becomes an accidental cupid and learns the meaning of love in the process. By Kate Pavelle)

 

UNCANNY FAMILIARITY – Set up to be rivals and enemies, the two field research scientists become friends. It's as though they had met before... but wait, had they? A modern take on Roland and Oliver's reincarnation delivers both adventure and heartwarming ending as the two join forces for science, and for good. By Olivette Devaux, Song lyrics by Jonna Bernstein

WHEN OREGON IS JUST A CONSTELLATION AWAY – When a twin dies, her surviving sister grieves. An unexpected, surprise visit from beyond points to afterlife possibilities bends reality that leaves you thinking... and smiling. By Kate Pavelle

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mugen Press
• Release date: May 25, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393585039

Kate Pavelle

A prolific writer under another name, Kate Pavelle is an award-winning author and an Amazon best-seller. Her works span many genres, but her Kate Pavelle pen name focuses on works of suspense, adventure, and the occasonal dead body. Born in the Czech Republic, Kate enjoys her rich family and professional life in Pittsburgh, PA.

Book preview

FICTION WITHOUT BOUNDARIES

Literary magazine

ISSUE 4, May 2020

Mugen Press, 110 Isolda Drive

Pittsburgh, PA 15209

E-mail: [e-mail]

www.mugenpress com

Available in all major e-book outlets

plus at

www.payhip/katepavelle

Paper copies available on Amazon

Check our website for subscription information at

www.mugenpress.com

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

All rights reserved. Reproduction, copying, or adaptation to drama formats in any medium or of any kind, in its entirety or in part, is prohibited without an express written permission by the copyright owner. A short paragraph, or no more than two lines of lyric, may be quoted for the purpose of an editorial review.

This issue is published by Mugen Press, Inc. on May 28th, 2020.

CATCHING THE SEVENTH WAVE © Kate Pavelle 2019

THE BOY WHO HAD THE STRENGTH OF BAMBOO © Olivette Devaux 2017

THE BOY WHO TRIED TO BE ENOUGH © Olivette Devaux 2017

THE FLYING VIOLIN © Kate Pavelle 2019

ASWANG WHO ATE STARDUST © Kate Pavelle 2017

UNCANNY FAMILIARITY © Olivette Devaux 2016

Song lyrics © Dr. Jonna Bernstein 1998

WHEN OREGON IS JUST A CONSTELLATION AWAY © Kate Pavelle 2018

Welcome, readers and friends!

Whether you are a returning reader or whether you hold an issue of this magazine for the first time, I hope you will find an entertaining escape between its pages. True to its name, Fiction Without Boundaries features stories that are a bit off-genre, a somewhat difficult to classify. A bit of fantasy, or something just slightly out of this world – and, also, love between people, be they siblings or friends, be they alive or not-so-alive.

As I gave every story a quick read just to make sure it has all its parts, I was reminded that I truly enjoyed writing every single one of these. Some were by real events in the lives of real people which stuck with me until I poured it all out onto the page.

Others were a stream of consciousness, the kind where you write with a sense of surprise and trepidation because, suddenly, your body is just a medium and you have no ideal where the story is going, or how it’s going to end.

I hope they touch you in a way that lets you escape for a bit and emerge refreshed and with a smile on your face.

One story, UNCANNY FAMILIARITY, was built around the lyrics of a song written by Dr. Jonna Bernstein. Known as Mistress Rosalinde Jehanne in the SCA, she is a medieval recreationist, a bard, and a friend I am honored to know from my SCA days, and I am grateful for her permission to share her art with you. It is based on a story arc from the French medieval Chanson de Geste, in which Roland and Oliver were palladins of Charlemagne and their friendship and loyalty has inspired stories for centuries to come.

To hear the song, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLUf3vG9VdA

To read stories of their epic exploits retold in contemporary English, click here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01I4JBK2U

Where I used to end on keep warm, with the changing weather I bid you to embrace the season. Enjoy the healing sun and the refreshing wind, and stay healthy.

Keep cool,

Kate Pavelle

Editor-in-chief

IN THIS ISSUE:

CATCHING THE SEVENTH WAVE – When afterlife holds unexpected potential. .

By Kate Pavelle

THE BOY WHO HAD THE STRENGTH OF BAMBOO – A sweet story of a Filipino bishi whose yearning for the warmth of tropical climate is assuaged only by true love.

By Olivette Devaux

THE BOY WHO TRIED TO BE ENOUGH – A story of a regular American cute guy who tries so, so very hard to be worthy of his lover’s favor, not realizing that he is perfect just the way he is.

Olivette Devaux

THE FLYING VIOLIN – Two childhood friends, one a musical prodigy, the other an aspirant. As hard work pays off years later. the women meet halfway around the world, playing for the same orchestra. Except one isn’t what she seems to be, and her musical genius is only one of her special talents.

Kate Pavelle

ASWANG WHO ATE STARDUST – Aswang, the supernatural soul-eater of Filipino lore, reforms. But how does one go on without the nourishment of human souls? A heartwarming story, where the Aswang becomes an accidental cupid and learns the meaning of love in the process.

By Kate Pavelle)

UNCANNY FAMILIARITY – Set up to be rivals and enemies, the two field research scientists become friends. It’s as though they had met before... but wait, had they? A modern take on Roland and Oliver’s reincarnation delivers both adventure and heartwarming ending as the two join forces for science, and for good.

By Olivette Devaux

Song lyrics by Dr. Jonna Bernstein

WHEN OREGON IS JUST A CONSTELLATION AWAY – When a twin dies, her surviving sister grieves. An unexpected, surprise visit from beyond points to afterlife possibilities bends reality that leaves you thinking... and smiling.

By Kate Pavelle

CATCHING THE SEVENTH WAVE

By Kate Pavelle

When afterlife holds unexpected potential.

Written for Suzanna.

He was insufferable at times, but I figure he thought the same of me, Earl heard his wife say.

Her voice drifted over the crash and roll of the surf, barely audible as the wind whistled overhead. The water was cold as always - so cold only crazy people would go in.

Or that’s what Marla used to say back when they’d come to the beach and she just spread a sheet over the sundrenched sand and read a book, sunglasses and a cooler of hard lemonade and overflowing red bikinis.

And he had gone in, of course. Splashed in wearing his flamingo board shorts even though no flamingos lived in the wilds of New Jersey. Felt the shifting sand underfoot, the riptide tugging as he shifted his weight to brace himself and stand, waiting for just the right wave to catch on his way out.

Out where the troughs were chest-deep, where he could see the waves coming on.

Counting, bobbing up and down, floating up up up and then feeling his feet settle on a ridge of gentle sand once again.

...five...six...SEVEN!

The seventh wave always rushed in like a wall of water, tall and thrilling – and he scrambled, neck craned, drawing small quick breaths to last under longer.

SEVEN.

Leap and scramble and stretch. No board, just arms out and eyes closed and the rushing water that carried him at a dizzying speed, roaring by his ears as though it echoed his exhilaration.

Small pebbles salted up and stung his belly, his arms – and he knew to lift his head.

A scrape of forearms, a furrow in the surf-line, the occasional shell fragment that scratched his aging skin.

He jumped up, laughing hard and shaking the grit and sand out of his swim trunks as he faced the sea, eyeing the waves, counting them. Seeing how long it would take to catch a ride out there, turn around, and score a big one again.

He dreamt of doing this somewhere exotic with Technicolor sunset and dolphins and flamingoes.

He bobbed on the waves now the way he used to while waiting for the seventh wave, he heard the slap of water and the whistle of the wind. The water, though – the wetness. Its sensation seemed curiously muted.

Earl wiggled his fingers.

Instead of the icy brine, he recognized a layer of... of plastic.

~o.O.o~

Panic suffused him. Was this some kind of a sick joke? Did Marla shoved him out to the sea all shrink-wrapped and helpless?

He tried to breathe hard. Tried.

Couldn’t.

Yet he still felt the plastic around him, he heard the splash of the waves. A seagull cried overhead. He could hear it all, but despite his acute awareness of the sounds around him, Earl didn’t hear the rush of blood he used to hear when excitement – or panic – had seized him. Nor the pounding of his heart.

No breath, no heartbeat.

And he wasn’t rightly seeing things either.

Perhaps this was just a sick, disturbing dream.

~o.O.o~

The sounds lulled him, soothed him until he quit fretting over his lack of breath, his curiously absent heartbeat.

Just a dream.

Deep thrum of a boat engine woke him up. He recognized it from his diving days, his snorkeling days. It had been a while since he had put on a diving mask – the doctor was all against it – and snorkeling wasn’t the same when Marla parked her thick ass on the beach with her nose in a book.

Not that he minded. It made her happy, after all, but he couldn’t quite banish the slight – ever so slight – envy of the pleasure she took in her reading.

She’d been traveling in her mind, she had tried to explain. Why spend the money and go to Paris or China or