Menagerie by Joan Hall

What Amazon says

King’s. The Tower of London. Glass. What do these have in common?

Each is a famous menagerie.

While this Menagerie doesn’t focus on exotic animals, it does contain a collection of stories that explore various trials people face and how their reactions shape their worlds.

Survivors of a haunted bridge. Women who wait while their husbands fight a war. Former partners reuniting to solve a cold-case murder.

These are just three of the thirteen stories in this compendium, encompassing past and present, natural and supernatural, legend and reality. The genres and timelines are varied, but there’s a little something for everyone who enjoys reading about simpler times and small-town life.

My review

I am a fan of short stories as I like their concise use of words and fast pace. Of course, short stories still need to have a proper story line, and the reader needs to be grounded in the setting and engaged with the characters. This is not always easy to achieve in a short story format, but Joan Hall has managed to do it well in this interesting and well written collection of short stories.

This collection is varied and explores a number of topics and situations with the common thread of all being set in small towns in North America. The descriptions of life and relationships in small towns in the USA were fascinating for me as I have always lived in a big city. There was just enough detail to steep me in the setting without it bogging down the stories.

I enjoyed the large variety of characters, some of which are strong and enterprising women which I always value in a book. The characterisations demonstrate the author’s deep understanding of the type of people populating her stories and their thought patterns, way of life, and anxieties.

It is difficult to choose favourite stories from this collection as they are all engaging, but the following three stand out in my mind:

A Moment in Time: A dual timeline story set approximately 100 years apart and featuring two wars, two men fighting in the wars, and two young women waiting anxiously for the return of their men. I am partial to dual timeline stories and plots involving war, so this was right up my street.

Lone Wolf – A wonderful story of friendship between a wolf and a man and how they are able to help and care for each other.

Without a Trace – This story was filled with mystery and angst as the tale of a family that disappeared without a trace unfolds. As a person who moved continuously as a child, I related strongly to the main character, Rick, and his struggle to fit into a new school environment and manage the continuous changes to his life.

If you enjoy short stories with interesting and varied storylines and great characterisations, you will love this collection.

Purchase Menagerie from Amazon US here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BRL4Y5NL

Slivers of Life by Beem Weeks

What Amazon says

These twenty short stories are a peek into individual lives caught up in spectacular moments in time. Children, teens, mothers, and the elderly each have stories to share. Readers witness tragedy and fulfillment, love and hate, loss and renewal. Historical events become backdrops in the lives of ordinary people, those souls forgotten with the passage of time. Beem Weeks tackles diverse issues running the gamut from Alzheimer’s disease to civil rights, abandonment to abuse, from young love to the death of a child. Long-hidden secrets and notions of revenge unfold at the promptings of rich and realistic characters; plot lines often lead readers into strange and dark corners. Within Slivers of Life, Weeks proves that everybody has a story to tell-and no two are ever exactly alike.

My review

Slivers of Life is an apt title for this collection of short stories that cover a wide variety of topics and colourful characters of different ages, occupations, and intentions. Despite the short length of the stories, the author has created compelling characters whose behaviours, although not always exemplary, are very relatable.

I find the best way I can review a short story collection is by sharing insights into a few of the stories that have stayed with me the longest. My most memorable stories are as follows;

A Match Met – an intriguing peep into betrayal and revenge that will have your wondering whether the end justifies the means.

Lost Boy – a truly compelling read about a grumpy old man who finds fault with the noise generated by the little boy next door. Mr Spellman does everything he can, internally and externally to stop the irritation, but sometimes what we think we want turns out to be the opposite.

Night Flight – a poignant look at life for young boys being raised by a single parent and the pressure it puts on both the parent and the child. The story delves into the ease with which rejected and/or neglected youngsters can slip into crime and drug taking. There is a supernatural element which leaves you wondering if it actually happened or not. Was the narrator reliable?

And a little child shall lead them – this story talks to the invisibility of homeless and unfortunate people and the judgement that more successful people immediately pass on them due to their circumstances. A poignant story of caring.

Remaining Ruth – a peep into depression, teenage angst and cutting. Very scary for any parent who struggles to reach and understand their teenage child.

On the whole, an intriguing and well written collection of short stories that I really enjoyed reading.

Purchase Slivers of Life from Amazon US here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1936442205

When I visited Japan in December last year, we went to see the art shop fronts on Ginza Street. I shared about this visit here: https://roberta-writes.com/2024/12/21/roberta-writes-thursday-doors-tokyo-store-front-scenes-tokyo-christmas-thursdaydoors/

On Ginza Street, I came across some lovely street art and took pictures of it for blogging friend, Resa, who loves street art. You can find Resa’s most recent street art post here: https://graffitiluxandmurals.com/2025/01/26/muhammad-ali/

I am sharing that street art today and also using it as a jumping off point for my contribution to Dora’s Reimagining d’Verse poetry challenge which you can join in here: https://dversepoets.com/2025/02/04/poetics-reimagining-the-familiar/

You can read Dora’s poem here: https://pilgrimdreams.com/2025/02/04/washdays/

When I appear on Ginza Street

I am a male Cape buffalo

I roam the plains of southern Africa

Endlessly seeking fodder

Which I consume faster than most African herbivores

Due to my wide row of incisor teeth

And deft tongue

My coat is dark brown, and

I have a set of majestic horns

Called a ‘boss’

They come together in front

To form a protective shield

My temper is unpredictable

And I cannot be tamed

Except when I appear on Ginza Street

Here, I assimilate

Becoming one with the local culture

I evolve into a showpiece

Wearing Joseph’s coat of many colours

My heavy front and wide hooves reduce

My boss erodes, shrinking as I conform

With bowed head and downcast eyes

There is no need to fear me

When I appear on Ginza Street

***

I am a male bush elephant

I wander the savannahs of Africa

Relentlessly grazing

The world’s largest land mammal

I uproot massive trees

Stripping them of their leaves and bark

Leaving behind much devastation

I use my large, curved incisors

Known as tusks

To dig, communicate, and for defense

My thick hide is grey

But I cover it with mud

The colour of the surrounding earth

I am dangerous when provoked

Except when I appear on Ginza Street

When I’m on Ginza Street

I must blend in with my surroundings

And acquire an arty look and feel

My skin becomes dappled

Resplendent in a variety

Of colours and shapes

My tusks diminish

Choosing obscurity

Along with my honey coloured eyes

There is no need to stand back

When I make my appearance

On Ginza Street

This was some other street art we saw on Ginza Street:

d’Verse – Celebrating groundhog day

Frank is d’Verse’s host for today and this is his prompt: Had enough Arctic cold? Buried under unseasonable snow? Or, for those living south of the equator, are you enjoying an arid summer? Well, whatever your situation, you might have heard about a certain rodent prognostication. Frank Tassone, here, & honored to be your host for another Haibun Monday, where we blend prose and haiku together. Today, let’s celebrate an American, weather-predicting tradition with Northern European roots: Groundhog’s Day.

You can join in the d’Verse challenge here: https://dversepoets.com/2025/02/03/haibun-monday-2-3-25-celebrating-groundhog-day/

You can find Frank’s poem here: https://frankjtassone.com/2025/02/03/groundhog-night/

As I live in southern Africa and it is summer here and we don’t have Groundhog’s Day, I have Africanised the prompt and incorporated two Zulu mythological creatures that bring the rain, thunder and lightening. In South Africa we get rain during late spring and summer and nothing at all during late autumn and winter. We can go up to eight months in a normal year without rain so by the time it arrives, we are desperate for relief from the heat and dryness.

The Forsaken

The angry sun savaged the land. Pouring its heat down onto the earth that cracked and broke under the relentless assault. The cattle grew thin, sharp ribs poking through their scraggy hides, while clouds of flies buzzed around their dry eyes and mouths. The crops withered in the fields and the people lay lethargic and parched inside their thatched huts. The milk in the breasts of the young mothers dried up and the babies cried themselves into early graves.

Unkulunkulu — “The One Who Carries Heavy Blows”, also called Rainbull, kept his mighty horns pointed at the sky, forcing the clouds to withhold their rain. He watched the daily passage of the boiling sun across the sky and dreamed about the cloudless nights when the bright stars performed undisturbed against a velvety blackness.

One scorching day, he shook his massive head and his horns accidently pointed towards the land below. The opportunistic rain seized the moment and flooded down in sheets accompanied by Impundulu, Lightening Bird, who summonsed thunder and lightening through the force of its wings and sharp talons.

The parched earth, unable to absorb the deluge, regurgitated the water creating flash floods across the land. People, animals, trees, and bushes all disappeared into the swirling brown whirlpool while Unkulunkulu, faced with his gross neglect, stamped his great hooves and cried pools of tears.

Unkulunkulu

Why have you forsaken us?

Direct your horns well

If you are interested in the Zuly Rainbull myth, you can read it here: https://medium.com/mythology-journal/the-spectacular-story-of-zenzele-and-the-rain-bull-0732de860a33

Last August, TC and I visited Jaci’s Treehouse Lodge in Madikwe Game Reserve. These pictures demonstrate how dry and dead everything looks at that time of your in this part of the world:

Story Chat

Talented writer, Marsha Ingrao, is the brain behind the innovative Story Chat series of blog posts. Story Chat involves the submission of a story or a poem which is published on Marsha’s blog, Always Write, and open to constructive discussion by her blog supporters. It is a most informative and interesting process and well worth considering for all poets and writers. You can find out more about Story Chat and find the schedule and submission process here: https://alwayswrite.blog/2024/11/22/story-chat-2025-schedule/

Marsha was kind enough to publish my poem, Invisible People, as part of her Poetry Day for Story Chat Digest 2025.

Story Chat Digest: Poetry Day

I am catching up today and posting poems for two d’Verse prompts.

The first one is OpenLinkNight #377 which offers the following picture as inspiration for a poem:

You can join in this prompt here: https://dversepoets.com/2025/01/30/openlinknight-377/

Mind Map

In her head

Her life

A mind map

It’s two main areas

Enclosed rectangles

Joined by gossamer threads

Fine but strong

To smaller contained squares

Work

Broken down into engagements

Engagements broken down into tasks

Tasks assigned to colleagues

Family

Each member

A different shape

Their problems

As different

As their various forms

Health

An inverted triangle

A reflection of balance

Or not

Between the other areas

It’s threads elastic

That stretch and stretch

Until they start to fray

Around the edges

She sits

Inside a circle

Formed by disconnected dashes

Her hands tightly griping

Those slippery silver threads

The second poem is a quadrille consisting of exactly 44 words and containing the word hint. You can read other poets’ poems here: https://dversepoets.com/2025/01/27/quadrille-216-can-you-take-a-hint/

Mist Warriors

Clothed in mist

The spirits of warriors

Sway and dance

To the beat of the rain

Their presence visible on aloes

Dripping from broad, green leaves

An arrow of light

Thrusts through the clouds

Turning the drops gold

A hint of the coming routing

These are some of the aloes we saw during our recent trip to Babanango Game Reserve. These photographs were taken after a cloudburst followed by drizzle for a few hours.

I hope you enjoyed this tour of the garden at the lodge.

Esther Chilton’s Writing Prompt

Esther Chilton’s prompt is beauty. You can join in here: https://estherchilton.co.uk/2025/01/22/writing-prompts-49/. It worked beautifully in tandem with my latest watercolour painting.

Beauty (shadorma)

Young beauties

Skin smooth rose petals

Lips plump fruit

Hair fine silk

Life a freshly planted field

Just waiting for rain

Reena’s Xploration Challenge #365

Reena has posted a YT short about not letting others sap your energy as her prompt. You can join in here: https://reinventionsreena.wordpress.com/2025/01/23/reenas-xploration-challenge-365/

Energy suck (shadorma)

Parasites

Suck your energy

Feel it flow

Directly

From your heart and soul to theirs

Vampirical feast

What do you see #273

Sadje has posted this picture as her prompt:

The beach cafe (rhyming verse)

The sun blazes down

the beach simmers with heat,

my brother moans and whines

as it burns our feet

***

We dash for the door

and burst into the cool

an oasis in the desert

like diving into a pool

***

In the beach cafe

decor simple and plain,

from the heat we shelter

before we go insane

***

From it’s windows we watach

bodies frying on the sand

brown, white, and black

they all try to get tanned

***

Stretched out and exposed

shining with oil

a strange way to unwind

from your daily toil

***

We gulp down our drinks

wonderfully wet and cold,

staying out of the sun

for once we do as we’re told

You can join in Sadje’s prompt here: https://lifeafter50forwomen.com/2025/01/27/what-do-you-see-273-27-jan-2025/

Bjorn is the host of this interesting prompt to use negation in poetry. You can join in here: https://dversepoets.com/2025/01/23/meet-the-bar-positively-through-negation/

You can read Bjorn’s poem here: https://brudberg.me/2025/01/23/what-it-is/

I have made an attempt based on how I understood this prompt. If you don’t like spiders STOP here.

I used a quote from Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream which reflects spiders in a negative light. I have then flipped this idea in the second half of the poem.

In case you’ve forgotten, Puck, the mischievous servant to the fairy king in this play, is tasked with anointing Titania’s eyelids with the juice from a flower which will serve as a magic potion.

The Weaver

I scrabble backwards

Scrubbing shreds of sticky web

From my mouth and eyes

My Midsummer Night’s Dream forest walk

In tatters, just like the spider web

“Weaving spiders come not here

Hence, you long legged spiders, hence”

I invoke the charm of protection

From venomous arachnids

Out of the corner of my eye

I see a spectacular creation

A complex structure of threads

Glimmering in the golden light

Diamond-like rain drops clinging

At intervals along each lengthily seam

At the centre, sits the weaver

Slender red legs spread out

Around a distinctly marked abdomen

Like a queen on her throne

She eagerly awaits a banquet

Is her beauty real, or have I been bewitched

By magical floral juice upon my eyelids

“Tell me Puck? Is this vision real?

Or are you making mischief

With your enchanted love potion?”

I am excited to be kicking off In Touch with Nature, 2025 with a post about the Secretary Bird, Southern Africa’s most unusual bird of prey.

Thanks for hosting, Kaye Lynne Booth.

In Touch With Nature – African’s most unusual bird of prey – Ode to a Secretary Bird #southernafricanwildlife #birds #poetry

The prompt: Write a piece of prose, fiction or non-fiction, up to 144-words, using the line:

“where can we find light in this never-ending shade?”
–From Amanda Gorman, “The Hill We Climb”

You can join in here: https://dversepoets.com/2025/01/20/prosery-finding-the-light/. Thank you, Merril: https://merrildsmith.org/2025/01/20/prosery-galaxies-of-hope/

The Light

The forest sweltered in the heat. Droplets oozed from the dense undergrowth and the loamy, waterlogged soil squelched beneath our sneakered feet. The air lay heavily on us, coating our skins with slickness. Our lungs sucked in boiled syrup, thick and sticky in the gloomy twilight beneath the canopy.

All around us, the trees formed a closely packed barrier, forcing us to wallow on through the mud. Snaking tendrils, moist and slimy, slyly pulled our hair and sneakily wrapped around our ankles while the cicadas blasted encouragement. The noise rang in our ears.

“I need some sun … and fresh air,” Bill muttered. “Where can we find light in this never-ending shade?”

The trees did not deign to answer. The cicadas screamed laughter.

On we trudged, eyes downcast, muscles quivering.

The cicadas fell silent. Glancing around, we saw dappled sunlight ahead.

The Sound of the Forest YT video:

And beyond the trees lay The Grotto:

Three videos of inside The Grotto. It was very wet, with water sparkling on the rock walls and undergrowth. There were also two waterfalls. You can hear them in the last to YT shorts.

Thank you to talented author and blogger, Toni Pike, for this wonderful review of my short story collection, And the Grave Awaits.

Toni has a marvelous selection of books in the thriller, women’s fiction, and children’s books genres. I’ve read several of her books across all of the genres and loved all of them.

Book Review: And The Grave Awaits by Roberta Eaton Cheadle #shortstories #reviews