Crann na beatha Stories and Poetry Newsletter

Cead Fáilte

A thousand welcomes to Crann na beatha Short Stories and Poetry for June 14th, 2024

I am Terrance Ó Domhnaill, your village scéalaí, back again this week with more stories and poems from online writers.

I have three stories and three poems this week. We have chapter twenty of the ongoing story From Beyond the Water Wall, a short science fiction story, a children’s story, and poetry for the soul.

So gather round once more and let me read them to you under the shade of the crann na beatha, the tree of life. Click play above to listen to the show.

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I am still working on more fictional stories from Substack writers and I hope to have some more soon. This week, I have a little bit of everything. Some short science fiction stories and Zen poetry to help soothe our lives in all of this chaos from the outside world.

Sara Fellers new story today is a three part children’s story, written at a preteen level, so I hope this reaches a few parents to let them know. Not that the other stories and poems wouldn’t be of interest to everyone of all ages as well. More of my efforts to keep this family friendly for all age groups. I will read the other two chapters over the next couple of weeks.

There isn’t much going on in the literary world that stands out this week other than a couple of emails from Substack writers asking me to look at their stories to see if I want to read them. Sometimes I feel more like a publisher than a simple Seanchaí who wants to sit under a shade tree with the kids and parents from the village to read and tell stories to.

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I love stories. I have ever since my late Máthair sat me down at a very young age and gave me a book to read. I have spent countless hours ever since reading books, especially before the advent of the digital age. Now, I still read a physical book to help me get to sleep at night. That is so much better than looking at a digital screen for settling the mind before bedtime.

I was fascinated as a kid to read and hear the stories of my forebears. Stories of Fion Mac Cumhaill, Cú Chulainn and the knights of the Red Branch. Plus the stories of the Tuatha dé Danann. Then I found science fiction.

After that, it became all about stories in the pulp fiction magazines of the day. Stories by Ray Bradbury, and Isaac Asimov. Books by C.J. Cherryh, Terry Brooks, Alan Dean Foster and so many other greats.

I had a huge library (huge by a normal poor person anyway) at one time of science fiction books that overflowed a bookcase that went floor to ceiling and along one wall. I had been collecting books since 1979.

Authors photo of the bookcase mentioned above in the room at the end of the hallway. In this photo, dated July, 2014, I had already started to donate some of the books as the shelves had become double stacked and overflowing.

When I sold this house in this picture and moved to Texas in 2015, I donated the books to the local public library in Caribou, Maine. They were shocked at the sheer amount of books I brought them but were grateful for all of them nonetheless.

Now, I don’t collect as much. When I accumulate a handful of books I have read and don’t wish to keep, I box them up and take them to the local library where I live now and donate them. No more wall to wall, floor to ceiling bookcases.

My tastes are still the same after all of these years. Primarily science fiction and fantasy. I still look for stories of the famous Irish mythological heroes of old and other Celtic legends.

Terry Brooks and S.M. Sterling have to be my most favorite authors of all time, with C.J. Cherryh and Alan Dean Foster running close behind. Once in a while I will read a little Charlaine Harris or someone new I discover.

Maybe I will discover a Medium or Substack writer who has become as famous as some of the noteworthy authors I mentioned here. Is there another Terry Brooks or C.J. Cherryh waiting for me out there to discover?

With that in mind, here are the stories and poems I selected to read to the world today.

From Beyond the Water Wall

Chapter 20/25 — A New Leader

Don Woodby

Through a Darkening Copse

David Pahor

The Blooming of the Violet Dusk Oak

Part 1: This tree only blooms once every ten years to mark the end of spring, and Renae will do anything to see it

Sara Fellers

I Release the Need for Perfection (Shadows On the Path)

Dave B.

Dawn’s Reveille

Musings With Melanie

Whispers of the soul

Scribbled Thoughts

That’s all I have for everyone this week. I hope you will return again for another episode of Crann na beatha Stories and Poetry next week. Sláinte

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Go raibh maith agat. Thank you for joining me. I hope you enjoyed the variety of stories and poems again this week. Maybe one of them might touch your heart a little.

As a Seanchaí, I want to continue to delight you with a story or a poem that may bring you a smile or make you think a little after we part for the day.

As I say good bye this week, I wish to leave you with this Irish blessing as you go about your day. “Long-life and fair health to you — Saol fada agus breac-sláinte chugat.” “Slán go fóill — goodbye for now”.

T. Ó Domhnaill — Gaelic Seanchaí