Eleven Tales of Magical, Mysterious, Mythical Doorways! Step through portals and into adventure as the authors of the Fellowship of Fantasy take you on another journey into fantastic worlds. Travel through time, space, and realities to encounter monsters, mechanical foxes, and the Fates themselves. You'll fly with dragons, save implausible beasts, and perhaps find your true home. Choose your path wisely, for dangers lurk in the lands beyond. In the third anthology from the Fellowship of Fantasy, eleven authors promise you journeys into fairy lands hidden within the modern world, futuristic universities, and lands of ancient myth. So what are you waiting for? Cross through our Doorways for the adventure of a lifetime!
This book features my original fairy tale "The Hallway of Three Doors"
This ebook is always FREE at all ebook vendors
And there is a paperback version
This book features my original fairy tale "The Hallway of Three Doors"
This ebook is always FREE at all ebook vendors
And there is a paperback version
Reviews: (always nice when my story get a mention)
"This story was so fascinating and unpredictable! The mystery of the three doors definitely left me with some unanswered questions, but I found the ending very satisfying. I appreciated the growth of Seta and another character I'll leave unnamed, and Driver's writing style kept me engaged throughout. Perfect for fans of fairy tales!" Lands Uncharted blog review
"'The Hallway of Three Doors' has a very old-style fairy tale feel to it--you know, like the old enchanted castles, well, doors, and princes, and trying to decipher the riddle behind it-- I liked it." Amazon customer review
"A semi-allegorical story. Seta is directed by a seer to the three doors seeking a new start. The doors lead to very different places which end up being connected. The City of Frivolity beyond the first door seems at first like an outtake chapter cut from Pilgrim's Progress, but I like where the author goes from there and what Seta does with what she's learned." Goodreads review
"There were a lot of stories with magical doorways. Ones that lead to fairy lands. Others to mage mice and even dragons. My favorite was the one that lead to the city of Frivolity. Prince Drudgery was very sweet." Amazon customer review
"This story was so fascinating and unpredictable! The mystery of the three doors definitely left me with some unanswered questions, but I found the ending very satisfying. I appreciated the growth of Seta and another character I'll leave unnamed, and Driver's writing style kept me engaged throughout. Perfect for fans of fairy tales!" Lands Uncharted blog review
"'The Hallway of Three Doors' has a very old-style fairy tale feel to it--you know, like the old enchanted castles, well, doors, and princes, and trying to decipher the riddle behind it-- I liked it." Amazon customer review
"A semi-allegorical story. Seta is directed by a seer to the three doors seeking a new start. The doors lead to very different places which end up being connected. The City of Frivolity beyond the first door seems at first like an outtake chapter cut from Pilgrim's Progress, but I like where the author goes from there and what Seta does with what she's learned." Goodreads review
"There were a lot of stories with magical doorways. Ones that lead to fairy lands. Others to mage mice and even dragons. My favorite was the one that lead to the city of Frivolity. Prince Drudgery was very sweet." Amazon customer review
An Excerpt from "The Hallway of Three Doors"
Seta and her stolen mount stopped in front of the castle Annelle had described. Her doubts about the castle containing an enchanted hallway multiplied when she took in the desperate state of it. The building was ready to collapse. A bombing had displaced many of the bricks and stones in the foundation. If there ever had been a magical hallway, it probably didn’t exist anymore.
If she tried to go inside, the whole building could crash down on her. If she didn’t go inside, she would never know if the answers she sought could be found. There existed a dim promise of betterment inside those fragile walls. The hallway might show her a life where the choices were made for her instead of by her.
So she went inside, gingerly stepping on floors that she didn’t trust to hold her weight. One room led to the next. Daylight poured into every room from bombed walls, tattered roofs, and bashed windows, revealing blackened tapestries and scattered chunks of furniture.
The light around her dimmed as she stepped into a dead-end room no wider than her arms outstretched and no longer than ten strides of her feet. Unlike the rest of the castle, this room was completely intact with hip-high maple paneling and red, crushed velvet wallpaper.
To her right were three doors. None of them alike.
The first door had no handle. The plain, wooden door needed none since it was propped wide open. Beyond it, Seta saw a city full of merriment. Banners flew, and people danced in the streets. Yet, above the city, clouds gathered, dark and stormy. Though the decorations of the place were bright and lovely now, Seta knew that it wouldn’t be long before the silken banners became heavy with rainwater. The party would have to turn indoors.
That door tempted her. All seemed comfortable and easy there.
The closed second door was completely different from the first. Some fine craftsman had purposely carved intricate etchings all over the dark wood. The door handle was long and bold with a complicated keyhole.
Seta longed to discover where that door would take her. As she approached the door to pull the handle, she noticed how her hand barely covered the top knob of it. Stepping closer to the door made her overly aware of how her five-foot-two body barely reached half its height. The door seemed to be growing. Or was she getting smaller? She certainly felt smaller.
Seta ran her fingers along the floor and through the deep grooves of the carvings but couldn’t find a key to the lock. Perhaps she wasn’t meant to see what was on the other side.
The final door was poorly made. The door wasn’t sanded or painted. Splinters poked out from it, ready to attack her fingers. It was clearly constructed hastily. Though it had a doorknob, Seta doubted that it would turn. The door looked as though it was jammed into its spot and merely needed a shove to knock it down.
Despite the carelessness of its design, the builder did see fit to include a window, a peephole level with her eyes and made of rose-colored glass. Through the window she could see a world devoid of people. For miles in every direction, she could see natural resources of every sort. Seta put the pieces together and understood that beyond this third door was a world she would have to build on her own. Alone, with no help. That world made her apprehensive. True, what choices she made in that world would affect only her. On the contrary, however, was loneliness. A high price to pay for peace of mind.
Loneliness. She had to laugh at herself for even thinking of that as a deterrent. All she had was herself anymore. She could hardly go back home where everyone despised her. Anywhere else she went she would be starting anew. Alone.
“But there’s the possibility…”
Of what? Of finding love? Whether lover or friend, what kind of person would it take to end her regrets and give in to the pure joy of connection? Seta trembled with the doorknob of the third door filling her palm. Was this the right door? What about the other two?
Then it came to her. The point of this hallway was not to plague her with new choices but to show her the way. Seta closed her eyes and walked in a circle four times. Whichever door she saw first when she opened her eyes again she would go through.
Which door does she go through? What happens next? Find out when you download your copy of Mythical Doorways.
*A little author's note. "The Hallway of Three Doors" is a little, let's say, artsy, compared to my other more straight-forward stories. If you like interesting settings and colorful characters - more like Alice in Wonderland - then you will enjoy this story.
Seta and her stolen mount stopped in front of the castle Annelle had described. Her doubts about the castle containing an enchanted hallway multiplied when she took in the desperate state of it. The building was ready to collapse. A bombing had displaced many of the bricks and stones in the foundation. If there ever had been a magical hallway, it probably didn’t exist anymore.
If she tried to go inside, the whole building could crash down on her. If she didn’t go inside, she would never know if the answers she sought could be found. There existed a dim promise of betterment inside those fragile walls. The hallway might show her a life where the choices were made for her instead of by her.
So she went inside, gingerly stepping on floors that she didn’t trust to hold her weight. One room led to the next. Daylight poured into every room from bombed walls, tattered roofs, and bashed windows, revealing blackened tapestries and scattered chunks of furniture.
The light around her dimmed as she stepped into a dead-end room no wider than her arms outstretched and no longer than ten strides of her feet. Unlike the rest of the castle, this room was completely intact with hip-high maple paneling and red, crushed velvet wallpaper.
To her right were three doors. None of them alike.
The first door had no handle. The plain, wooden door needed none since it was propped wide open. Beyond it, Seta saw a city full of merriment. Banners flew, and people danced in the streets. Yet, above the city, clouds gathered, dark and stormy. Though the decorations of the place were bright and lovely now, Seta knew that it wouldn’t be long before the silken banners became heavy with rainwater. The party would have to turn indoors.
That door tempted her. All seemed comfortable and easy there.
The closed second door was completely different from the first. Some fine craftsman had purposely carved intricate etchings all over the dark wood. The door handle was long and bold with a complicated keyhole.
Seta longed to discover where that door would take her. As she approached the door to pull the handle, she noticed how her hand barely covered the top knob of it. Stepping closer to the door made her overly aware of how her five-foot-two body barely reached half its height. The door seemed to be growing. Or was she getting smaller? She certainly felt smaller.
Seta ran her fingers along the floor and through the deep grooves of the carvings but couldn’t find a key to the lock. Perhaps she wasn’t meant to see what was on the other side.
The final door was poorly made. The door wasn’t sanded or painted. Splinters poked out from it, ready to attack her fingers. It was clearly constructed hastily. Though it had a doorknob, Seta doubted that it would turn. The door looked as though it was jammed into its spot and merely needed a shove to knock it down.
Despite the carelessness of its design, the builder did see fit to include a window, a peephole level with her eyes and made of rose-colored glass. Through the window she could see a world devoid of people. For miles in every direction, she could see natural resources of every sort. Seta put the pieces together and understood that beyond this third door was a world she would have to build on her own. Alone, with no help. That world made her apprehensive. True, what choices she made in that world would affect only her. On the contrary, however, was loneliness. A high price to pay for peace of mind.
Loneliness. She had to laugh at herself for even thinking of that as a deterrent. All she had was herself anymore. She could hardly go back home where everyone despised her. Anywhere else she went she would be starting anew. Alone.
“But there’s the possibility…”
Of what? Of finding love? Whether lover or friend, what kind of person would it take to end her regrets and give in to the pure joy of connection? Seta trembled with the doorknob of the third door filling her palm. Was this the right door? What about the other two?
Then it came to her. The point of this hallway was not to plague her with new choices but to show her the way. Seta closed her eyes and walked in a circle four times. Whichever door she saw first when she opened her eyes again she would go through.
Which door does she go through? What happens next? Find out when you download your copy of Mythical Doorways.
*A little author's note. "The Hallway of Three Doors" is a little, let's say, artsy, compared to my other more straight-forward stories. If you like interesting settings and colorful characters - more like Alice in Wonderland - then you will enjoy this story.
If you're a fan of fairy tales, I have more for you. My original fairy tale novelettes The Royal Deal, The Tomato Quest, and The Silent Beauty are each available for 99 cents at Kindle or FREE for Kindle Unlimited.
My story "King or Beggar", a retelling of the Grimm Brother's fairy tale "King Thrushbeard", is featured in the anthology Tales of Ever After. Also, coming soon! My newest original romantic fairy tale The Tomato Quest.