Strange Worlds: An Original Fantasy Short Story Collection

By E.C. Blumenthal

Do you like strange gateways and doorways to unknown places? Maybe you do, maybe you don't… The characters in these short stories certainly didn't.

 

Discover five original fantasy portal short stories created specifically for this fantasy collection, that range from contemporary to high; and romantic to dark.

 

Join these characters as they journey to exotic and unexpected places.

Follow a young English woman as she traverses time, space, and love in It Could be Worse.

Join Marnie in Marnie and the Crystal Goddess as she discovers a magical portal in her beloved bookshop.

Watch as Jacob, the young adventurer finds his long-searched treasure in The Treasure of Kisea.

In It's Inevitable, join a young boy navigating trouble in the early 1900s.

Finally, travel with the Dwarf, Lorgrun as he delves within his own mind in The Meditation.

 

If you love short fiction filled with portals, strange places, and misadventure, then buy your copy of E. C. Blumenthal's Strange Worlds today!

• Language: English
• Publisher: E.C. Blumenthal
• Release date: Mar 2, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215490495

Book preview

Strange Worlds

E. C. Blumenthal

Copyright © 2023 by E.C. Blumenthal

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

Published by E.C. Blumenthal

Perth, Western Australia

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Strange Worlds/E.C. Blumenthal. -- 1st ed.

Contents

Introduction

1. It Could Be Worse

2. Marnie and the Crystal Goddess

3. The Treasure of Kisea

4. It’s Inevitable

5. The Meditation

About The Author

Also By E.C. Blumenthal

Introduction

I've always loved portal fiction even from a small child, from Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, to The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. When I got older, I continued to love stories focused around portals, especially when characters are portaled into different worlds. One of my favourite novel series of all time, is the Otherland series by Tad Williams, an early virtual reality story that focuses on characters jumping from world to world. Sci-fi films and series have always been my favourite from Sliders and Quantum Leap to Stargate and 12 Monkeys.

I’ve realised portals, gateways, and people in other places and dimensions are a common theme in my writing, and always seem to pop-up throughout my short stories and my many novel starts.

So, here are five brand-new original portal short stories written specifically for this collection. This group of stories are primarily of the fantastical nature, but do cross genre occasionally. It Could be Worse is a romantic-fantasy story of a young woman who finds a portal which changes her future forever. It alone has a slight romantic element to it, which the remaining stories do not.

Marnie and the Crystal Goddess follows another young woman and her encounter with an unexpected magical doorway in her beloved bookshop.

The Treasure of Kisea is a short, short story about a man looking for his ultimate treasure, and finds it.

It’s Inevitable, set in England in the early 1900’s follows a young boy as he finds himself in trouble, again. This story is slighter darker in nature, following the growing trend throughout the collection.

The Meditation, the final story, turns towards high fantasy with a truth-seeking Dwarf who must traverse a portal within his own mind.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did writing and learning about these new characters. I can already see some of them returning in the future in their own series or further short stories.

Thank you for reading, and enjoy!

It Could Be Worse

The old oak tree stood tall and strong alone in a field of flowers. Hannah could see it from where she entered the field, crossing over the old wooden stile. The crossing stile was much broken, and she was careful not to rip her leg on the protruding nails or splintered wood that seemed to stick out in every direction.

She’d have to let the owner know when she returned to the renovated cottage, her bed and breakfast for the next few nights.

This had danger all over it, and she wasn’t a fan of anything dangerous. Or anything that broke the rules, and this was breaking the rules of a healthy and safe meant-to-be-relaxing farm stay.

Hannah landed on the other side safely, but she eyed the stile again, pulled out her smart phone, and took a photo of the hazardous object.

This would be going on the review if the owner didn’t see to it soon enough.

She smoothed down her red cardigan and brown corduroy skirt, glad they hadn’t become caught on the offending and protruding stile.

She sighed and tuned to look back at the oak tree in the far distance. The owner had said there was an apple tree not far from the oak, and that was what she was here to find. The owner’s wife had raved about the fresh apples picked fresh from the tree.

Hannah couldn’t resist since she’d grown up on a farm not unlike this one, and they’d had their own small orchard filled with orange and apple trees mostly, and a towering dark plum tree, beneath which she had hidden and played within. But that was before the time of the fire. When everything changed.

She and her brother had been taken swiftly into child services, and the next place she finally called home, was in the suburbs of Birmingham, far from any such farms or soothing fruit trees.

Hannah sniffled and wiped her nose. The tingling continued however, and her eyes grew wet. She took a slow breath, counting to six as she breathed in and held it for six