Saturday, March 19, 2016

Isn't it Absurd - The River

-Isn't it absurd-
by Vanca - Vangjel Canga -
https://www.facebook.com/elheartista
https://twitter.com/elheartista

"The river flowed, wide and bountiful, its waters pure. Yet people did not go and take of its waters, though free. They preferred to pay for unclean water that even made them sick."

"Isn't it absurd?", the Master asked.

- - -

"The river flowed, wide and bountiful, its waters pure. Some went to the river with an empty bottle, its cap on. They tried and they tried but could not get any water. Some of them even thought the river was an illusion."

"Isn't it absurd?", the Master asked.

- - -

A certain village was organizing their yearly 'River Festival' and most of the people had gone to the feast near the old mill.

When the bridge had been built the river was larger and wider, but now, all that had remained of it was a small stream, and very dirty at that. This did not stop people from participating in the feast, though.

One of the men arose in the midst of the others and said:

"Hey, what are we doing here? The river was large and wide and pure, but now, all we've got is this little dirty stream. Certainly it has been blocked somewhere and deviated, either from branches, or from man's activity. Let's go and check, and let the river bless our village again!"

In fact, when the river was larger, the village mill drew power from the water, but now, they had to grind flour in a far away place, which was much expensive. Also, the water was clean, but now they had to get water from another distant place, which was again very expensive, and not as good.

Despite this, the people at the festival, starting with the elders, told the man:

"What are you saying? Why are you disrupting our festival? Why are you being disrespectful to the river?"

The man tried to change their mind, but they would not listen. They even threatened him with expulsion from their village.

So, the man decided to go and investigate for himself.

On traveling through another village upstream he saw some people drawing water with buckets from the same, but somewhat larger, dirty stream that was was in the place of the big river bed, and putting it in a small channel.

"What are you doing?", he asked them.

"We are taking water from the stream and putting it in the river", they replied.

"The river?! Where is the river?!", the man asked surprised.

"Here, this is the river", the men replied, and showed him the small channel.

They had in fact become so confused, that their watering channel had become their 'river'.

He left them, and, traveling through other villages, also realized that even that small stream had become polluted from the activities of men.

He continued his journey, went further up, until he saw a lake. Immediately he understood that this was the river, that it had been blocked from branches, and had been deviated by men's activities and various building projects.

Happy, he returned to his village, but nobody believed him.

Despite this, the man was not discouraged, but said to them:

"Let's go up the mountain, where the water is cleaner"

"Are you serious?", the others replied, "Do you want to take us out of civilization and live as barbarians?"

They threatened him again, but he did not care. He decided to wait for a while, and, if the river was not restored, go and live upstream.

The whole village thought that he was an idiot.

"Isn't it absurd?", the Master asked.

--
You can read it in full either in this Facebook post:
https://www.facebook.com/elheartista/posts/578662128938368
or in my free ebook "Melting Colors":
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/286951
(through Smashwords, this book is also available in iBooks, Nook, Kobo, etc)

Monday, March 14, 2016

Bota e Fantazise - The World of Fantasy - manga

In January (2016), my sister, Stela (http://starca.deviantart.com/), started her original (shojo/shoujo) manga series "Bota e Fantazise - The World of Fantasy", a fantasy/comedy story set in Albania, during the 80s.

This is avaailable through Amazon, both as paperback and Kindle edition

The first two chapters (paperback):

http://amzn.com/1523659440

http://amzn.com/1530278015

You can read the first chapter (in English) on her Deviantart page:


Bota e Fantazise - CH1 Cover + patreon by starca on DeviantArt

(Link: http://fav.me/d9p569k)

(use the previous and next links in the comments to go back and forth)


Official Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/BotaEFantazise/?ref=hl

Thank you.

Bota e Fantazise - liber manga ne shqip

Ne Janar (2016), motra ime, Stela (http://starca.deviantart.com/), filloi serine e saj "Bota e Fantazise", nje manga (komik ne stil japonez) ne shqip qe zhvillohet ne Shqiperi ne vitet 80. Eshte nje histori fantasike/komedike, kryesisht per femije, por gjithashtu e pershtatshme per te gjitha moshat, vecanerisht ata qe kane nostalgji per ato vite.

Kete liber, mund ta gjeni permes Amazon, por mund edhe ta kerkoni ne librari (nese eshte e mundur per t'u porositur prej tyre).

Per ta blere ne Amazon (amerikan, por gjithashtu i mundshem per t'u blere nga Amazoni anglez, gjerman, francez, italian, etj):

Dy kapitujt e pare:

http://amzn.com/1523443537
http://amzn.com/1530154219



















Kapitullin e pare (ne anglisht) mund ta lexoni falas ne faqen e saj ne Deviantart, :



Bota e Fantazise - CH1 Cover + patreon by starca on DeviantArt

(Link: http://fav.me/d9p569k)

Shihni pershkrimin (description) per si te shkoni para-mbrapa.

Faqja zyrtare ne Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/BotaEFantazise/?ref=hl

Faleminderit.

Melting Colors - free ebook update

Hello.

Since the first edition in 2013, my free ebook "Melting Colors" has been updated periodically.

In addition to poems selected from my other books, a 'Thoughts' chapter was added in May 2013 (and updated in successive versions).

With the last blog post, in 2014, I added a new chapter: "Short poems".

Then, in September 2015, I added a new chapter - prose this time, i.e. a short story, which is actually a collection of mini short stories: "Isn't it absurd". The short stories chapter has also been updated periodically since then and you can also read it online here:
https://www.facebook.com/elheartista/posts/578662128938368

To get the Smashwords book go here (available for free in various formats, such as epub, pdf, kindle, txt, rtf, etc):

In addition, it is also available for Kindle through Amazon KDP:


Thank you.

---

Copyright:
All rights reserved.
Although this ebook is free that doesn't mean that it is public domain. 
You can, therefore download this ebook, send it to somebody else with email, or print it for personal use as long as you acknowledge:
a) the moral rights of the author, that is: you can not change this ebook or claim it or some of its poems, or other text as your own or as those of somebody else, or put poems or other text on blogs, Facebook and the like without the name of the author and the title of the book
b) the economic rights of the author, that is: you can not sell this book (or individual poems, or other text) for profit, either by printing it or by putting it in a site that requires payment for this ebook's download. Printing is allowed only for personal/family reasons (i.e. on your home printer) in a few copies (2-3 copies).

The preferred method if you would like to recommend this book to other people is to give them the Smashwords link and let them download it themselves. Otherwise, just send the ebook by email.

Thank you for your understanding!