The Sampler Platter: A Little Bit of Everything

This disparate gathering of books and stories has as little in common as the varied contents of a ‘sampler platter’ of appetizers at a restaurant and serves the same purpose: if you don’t know what exactly you are hungry for, at least in a literary sense, why not try a little of everything? If you are a lover of fairy tales, why not give it a try? It is even low cal!This disparate gathering of books and stories has as little in common as the varied contents of a ‘sampler platter’ of appetizers at a restaurant and serves the same purpose: if you don’t know what exactly you are hungry for, at least in a literary sense, why not try a little of everything? Within you will find a book of fairy tales and verse (Over the Hills and Far Away), two short and humorous tales (The Foibles), two volumes of longer tales (The Greylands), and several works from the ‘Chronicles of the Brethren’ series including the starter volume (The Serpent and the Unicorn: Book I and II), a collection of short stories (Legends), and the first of a trilogy within the series (Shadow of the Unicorn). Enjoy!Over the Hills and Far Away: Fairy tales, like music and poetry, are a language known to every soul no matter the culture, time, or place. Travel 'over the hills and faraway,' with these varied tales of Faerie and for a little while reclaim the wonder and joy peculiar to a childlike heart. The Foibles: If you are looking for a serious tale with a redeeming moral, find another book. This is a foible, not a fable, thus it has no intrinsic value whatsoever, save to make you smile. These stories should be used with caution, not taken internally, and avoided by those who have a congenital lack of humor, who take themselves and the world too seriously, and those looking for something serious to read. So take a detour through the fickle world of Foible, where a sense of humor is your only weapon against incomprehension. These stories are a silly (and hopefully entertaining) romp through the land of Faerie, poking fun at everything you love about fairy tales, geek culture, and very possibly things that have very little to do with either.The Greylands: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” Hamlet, William Shakespeare A land of shadows, of mystery, of obfuscated Truth. Welcome to the Greylands, that strange world, within the bounds of Time, peopled by mortal men. We cannot see truly, only as through a glass, darkly. There are things that move and have their being completely beyond our ability to perceive them. There are things beyond our mortal ability to comprehend. There are hints and glimmers hidden within the body of revealed Truth, but there is much we do not know, cannot yet understand, and could never dare dream. These stories are mere fancy, with a seed of Truth at their core. They play with the ideas of mortality and Eternity, Time and things beyond it, and of course the epic battle of Good against Evil. Each stands alone, and though there are common themes, threads, names, and concepts, each story is an entity unto itself and should not be seen as occurring in the same world or mistaken for installments of a series. These are random musings, not Gospel Truth, and should not be taken as such. Joy, hope, and encouragement are hopefully a byproduct, but certainly not sound Theology. If you would know more of the true world beyond these Greylands, one must be a careful student of the Scriptures, not of silly stories such as these.Chronicles of the Brethren: What if the Myth were real and everything else mattered not? What if your very soul hung in the balance? Enter a land where the Myth is real, but many have forgotten or scorn the Truth and those who fight to uphold it. The adventure is about to begin, for even those who fight for justice are about to rediscover why.