Monday, April 30, 2012

Zenia's Zoo #atozchallenge

 

For the A to Z Challenge, I'm featuring twenty-six flash fiction pieces from my Foxwick Kingdom and its surrounding neighbors. A to Z Flashes of Foxwick is now available from Smashwords and Amazon and includes the bonus short story "Lady Death." You can add this to your Goodreads list here.

Z

Zenia’s Zoo


Zenia knew something was missing from her menagerie.
A little dragon fluttered in his cage before gnawing on a sheep’s leg. The phoenix’s sweet song floated to Zenia’s ears, and she cuddled a baby unicorn and fed him a slice from her apple. A roc pecked at the ground and awaited a chance to fly. She had deer, a pet wolf, and horses. A tiny kitten wrapped around her legs, and Zenia tucked the kitten in her dress’s pocket.
She loved her animals. They listened to her gentle words and song. While her mother, Queen Amelia, had talents with plants, Zenia lived for her zoo.
But something was missing, and she didn’t know what to do.
“A present from the king, Princess Zenia.” The servant lugged a crate with holes into the barn.
“What is it?” Zenia clapped her hands and jumped up and down as the box opened to reveal a small gryphon with its swishing lion-like tail and brawny wings. The gryphon hissed like a cat, but Zenia giggled.
Calm, sweet beast, and hear my song. You’ll never want for anything all day long.” Her sweet voice lilted into the air and calmed the gryphon. She wished she could do the same for the people in her Foxwick and surrounding lands so there would no longer be war and heartache.
But for now, a gryphon could be just what completed her menagerie.






Now if you want to learn more about authors, I’m featuring up to three per day on my blog Surrounded by Books Reviews. To find the other participants, click here.

19 comments:

Jaycee DeLorenzo said...

Yay! Wonderful as always!

Congrats on a wonderful AtoZ!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

As long as it made her happy.
You did it!

Anonymous said...

If our zoos had that kind of collection, I wouldn't mind going to the zoo anymore. At least, just for a bit.

Nicole said...

A fun ending to a really fun series of posts. Thanks!

Julie Flanders said...

Oh, I totally love the Zenia character and would love to visit her zoo. Great ending to the challenge!

It's been such fun to visit Foxwick this month! :)

Rekha said...

A fitting end to a series of posts, some which I have missed and will catch up in leisure.

Christine Rains said...

I'd love to go to a zoo like that!

Congratulations on finishing the Challenge! :)

Nicole said...

This was a cute little story with a nice spin on Zoos.

Cheers!

~Nicole
Blog: The Madlab Post
@MadlabPost on Twitter

Unknown said...

Congrats on finishing the A-Z. You have a great collection of shorts here.

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

Congratulations on finishing. I love your fiction. :)

Laura Eno said...

Another wonderful piece and a double Z as well!

Golden Eagle said...

Zenia certainly knows how to handle animals. What a menagerie she has!


The Eagle's Aerial Perspective

Alleged Author said...

I want a zoo full of mythological animals!

Patricia JL said...

Cute story to end the challenge on.

Jay Noel said...

Yours was the only one that did the A-Z Challenge in this format. Congrats! And I love how you brought the dragon, phoenix, and unicorn all together.

Samantha May said...

Yay you finished! And as always, this was amazing :)

Fairview said...

Lovely piece to end the challenge. Great job!

J.C. Martin said...

How I'd love to own that zoo! Well done on completing the Challenge! I loved these glimpses of Foxwick!

Unknown said...

How cool to have all those legendary creatures as "pets"!