Through the Violet Redwoods

By Xanna Renae

Debut author Xanna Renae has forged a collection of short stories and poems encompassing the joyful and darker emotions we experience in our day-to-day lives. Some feelings are subtly woven among lines of prose and dialogue, others have bled into the ink. 

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Nightshade Publishing
• Release date: Nov 11, 2021
• ISBN: 9798985082319

Xanna Renae

Xanna Renae says she doesn't like going outside, which is rich coming from someone who likes being outside. (There's a difference I promise). Growing up with a big family, Xanna was always playing games with her siblings and cousins, making up worlds and kingdoms that they reigned in. As she grew older her passion for storytelling never faded. She's currently giving life to the ideas in her head while she finishes her BA in Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University. Xanna hopes to inspire other creatives to do what they love, even if it isn't full-time. You can find her snuggled up with her cat, Maestro, on her couch listening to music or watching Star Trek. Or you can find her on YouTube with her channel, XannasBooks, where she talks all things bookish and writing related. Or maybe, you'll find her wasting time on TikTok as WitchDoctorXanna-because man it's easy to get sucked into fun videos about book tropes and Dungeons and Dragons. Have you guessed that she's a nerd yet?

Book preview

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, mythical beings, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously in a completely fictitious manner of which all things were made fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead or stored in a freezer somewhere, events, or locales, also, perhaps, in a freezer somewhere, is entirely coincidental.

Story & Cover Art Copyright © 2021 by Xanna Renae

Illustrations Copyright © 2021 by Margaret Howard

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review. For more information, address: [e-mail]

First paperback edition October 2021

ISBN 979-8-9850823-0-2 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-9850823-1-9 (ebook)

Published by Nightshade Publishing

NightshadePublishing.com

The following stories contain content as listed on the previous page. If you wish to remain unaware of the contents of any stories as to keep the element of one’s own interpretation, turn the page. Stories are listed below.

Salvation for One

Ground of the Willow Tree

She Ran

Something She Couldn’t

List of Stories

Pitter Patter

Pretend

A Letter to my Lost

Time of Saturn

Join Thee

Ground of the Willow Tree

War Painter

Behind Glass

Monster in my Closet

Death of Light

Clotted Feelings

Ostrich Thinking

Midwest Moon

She Ran

Moonlit Play

My Dearest

Alone Together

Thoughts in the Heavens

Something She Couldn’t

Unexpected

Salvation for One

Acknowledgments:

About the Author

To anyone who needs to unstop some bottled-up emotions.

Words are powerful, and words can be freeing. Find a paper, write them, and burn them. You don’t need to hold onto them any longer.

Pitter Patter

The hall groaned with every step she took away from the door. The chill of the brass knob lingered in one hand as the other hung her purse on the coat rack, which seemingly bent to receive it.

I’m back. Her voice floated about in the air.

The banister creaked in response, eager for her to set her hand upon it—it would have to wait a while longer. She had business on this floor to attend to first.

The lights burned to life, flickering only half of a half moment. They were eager to please the current Mistress of the home.

The flaking wallpaper curled into a hug on her youthful fingers as she trailed them along the wall. She ducked around a corner, making her way through the archways.

You’re back late. A warm voice curled with the fire in the hearth.

So sorry, I had a hard time getting away. She shed the fur coat that swathed her neck and bodice and draped it upon the cabinet to her left. But I’m here now.

The figure turned around the wings of the velvet chairs, the firelight forming a halo around his face. My oh my, how horrible. He grinned, his smile stretching over his ivory teeth. His face was the pinnacle of youth and perfection, if one counted imperfections as perfect—which she did. Rolling the stem of a tall glass flute between his long fingers, he took a sip and placed it down on the cocktail table. If the glass was half full, or half empty, she wasn’t sure.

Indeed. She lounged