Mostrando resultados por autor "Helena Puumala" en Todas las categorías

This short story (approx. 6000 words) relates a trek along a lakefront path by a grandfather and his grandson. The simple lakeside walk becomes a journey of discovery, whereby they each learn much about the other, strengthening the bond between themselves in the process. When a crisis occurs, they, along with the boy’s father and the rest of the family and friends, learn something about the mysterious forces of the universe, about life and death, and about hope for the future. The story is set in a Northern Ontario lake community, and continues to explore the setting and characters ...

This short story (approx. 6500 words) focuses on the complex and somewhat troubled relations between children, parents, and grandparents. It also revolves around the mysterious forces of the universe, including the various notions of the divine held by the people in the story, which sometimes conflict, much as they do in the world in general. An Easter service and a freshly planted apple tree draw the parties together, over one fateful Easter weekend. The story is set in a Northern Ontario lake community, and continues to explore the setting and characters introduced in “Love at the Lake...

This story is titled “Beyond the Blue Door, Part 2”, as it is a companion piece to Helena Puumala’s original story “Beyond the Blue Door”. In that story, the teenage girl Jennie takes refuge from domestic abuse in a perhaps illusory, perhaps supernatural, world that she has discovered that exists beyond a hidden blue door in an old farmhouse. The story can be interpreted in many ways – the Blue Door may represent a psychological escape mechanism for a traumatized youth, or it may represent a transition to a hopeful alternative reality. The conclusion to the story may be read ...

This is a love story, about love in its various forms and how those feelings intermingle – romantic love, family love, and love that endures forever. Meg and Mike experience all three, over a memorable six months. It is a short story of about 12,000 words.

Here is another wonderful story by writer Helena Puumala, one of her warm, emotional “at the Lake” stories. It is a sequel to “Love at the Lake”, which involved the consequences of marital infidelity, real and imagined, within the relationships of two young couples.What happens next? Can love be recovered after thoughtless betrayal? Perhaps, but only with a little help from a mysterious dark haired woman, in this modern-day spin of a fairy tale for adults.This is a short story, of about 9000 words, suitable to be read in about 45 minutes to an hour, by a typical reader.

A teenage girl inadvertently materializes the image of a Christ on the Cross on the outside wall of her parents’ boathouse, at their cottage on a Northern Ontario lake. She spends hours praying to the figure while her parents and their neighbours express their distress. Then it is discovered that the girl, Terese, also has marks on her body, recreating the wounds of the Christ. What is to be done? Discover what happens as the uncanny events unfold, during one week in October, which just happens to include Hallowe’en. This is a short story of approximately 6000 words.

Here's a tale of a haunted house, of a sort. Really, two haunted houses are involved. But where does the greater evil reside - in the safe family domicile of our everyday world or in the creepy old abandoned farmhouse? And then there’s the question that we must all face eventually. What lies Beyond The Blue Door? Note that this is a short story of about 7000 words, or a reading time of 30 to 45 minutes.

- Young Nathan, a resident of our everyday world, is called back to the Other-Other Land, beyond the Magic Mirror, for another adventure. On this occasion he must aid the Princess Pepper in her efforts to overcome a drought that is slowly making the Other -Other Land barren, and leaving its people at risk of famine. She is sure that it is the result of a curse by an evil Wizard, who is in cahoots with the Kingdom’s enemy, The Terrible Bing. She, Nathan and his cousin Scott, must travel far to discover the source, and hopefully lift the curse, perhaps with the help of the Princess’s long...

This story is composed of two interconnected narratives, with Part 1 describing a tragic family situation that is resolved by the events in Part 2. The families involved are separated in both time and space, but their fates intertwine in this location which has become known by the locals as "the haunted park". Philosophically, the story explores the notion of a ghosts and the afterlife from a several different perspectives. And of course, it is just a satisfying ghost story. The characters in Part 2 are also found in Helena Puumala’s selection of ‘Lake’ stories, entitled Five Holiday ...

This romantic short story (approx. 5000 words) tells about the first days of a summer vacation of two couples with young children, who have cottages on a Northern Ontario lake. Both of their marriages are affected, in different ways, by the arrival of a luscious, blonde eighteen-year-old, at a neighbouring cottage. Janice is a flirt, at the least, and Mary Anne and Doris have to decide how they will deal with the attention that she is showering upon their not unattractive spouses. And their husbands, Tim and Ross have to figure out what is the most important to each of them. Is the ...

Young Nathan discovers some new playmates in the Other-Other Land, a wonderful, magical world that exists behind the Magic Mirror. But disaster strikes, and Nathan must help Prince Roland rescue his sister, the Princess Pepper, from the clutches of the Black Flying Dragon of the Dark Mountain. But the rescue will not be easy. There are said to be many fearsome obstacles along the way, including treacherous quicksand swamps, complete with monsters, poisonous mushrooms that can walk and jump and that hate people, and ferocious bands of roaming tigers. And then, there is the dragon and his ...

The little pre-school girl, Miranda, is feeling unsafe because of bullies in the neighbourhood and family troubles between her mother and father. Can her friend, young elementary grade age Nathan, use his special powers to call on the North Pole for some Christmas Eve magic, to help her out? The story is a heartwarming Christmas tale, suitable for children and adults, which will bring a little Christmas magic to us all. It is about 9000 words, or around an hour or so, at typical reading speeds.

Here's a nice children's story by Science Fiction and Romance writer Helena Puumala. Yes, she does kid's stories too. Read it to a younger child (pre-school, elementary or early junior-high), or read it yourself to bring back memories of those long, lazy childhood days at the lake, during summer vacation, when your biggest worry in life was a lost kitten. Note that this is a short story of about 8500 words.