Five SFF Stories To Tell Around a Fire

Not all stories are campfire stories, suitable for a dramatic telling under a darkening sky to a rapt audience, their faces half-lit by the flickering flames. These are stories that require a rhythm, a grandness, tricks and twists, characters you want to love, and endings that leave you satisfied as the fire slowly starts slumbering and you become drowsy, too. Here are five selections that you might want to memorise the next time you find yourself wearing the hat of a bard or balladeer…

“Constant Ivan and Clever Natalya” by M.A. Carrick

The son of a fisherman, Ivan is both admired and made fun of for being a man of his word, for he sees to completion everything he says he would do. 

The daughter of a caravan leader, Natalya is both admired and made fun of for her cleverness, for she is fond of winning whatever she sets her mind to.

Out to fulfill a promise made to a woman he wants to marry, Ivan hears that Natalya has posed a challenge: anyone who can move her large caravan will be named her father’s heir and become the leader when the older man steps down. Ivan hears only of the first part of the challenge and sets out to help Natalya find the horses needed to pull her caravan. Since he has given his word, he must do it, for that is his nature. But how will Ivan succeed when the challenge is set by one so shrewd as Natalya?

“Faith That Builds Worlds” by Eric A. Clayton

Brother H’Pin Wa, per his own admission, is a “lousy monk.” His job is to lead the annual pilgrimage to The Eye, which is orbiting the planet. As he leads the group of eighteen-year-old, he spots that one kid—for there’s always one of his kind—who is eager to prove his piety, flashing his credentials. Brother H’Pin Wa finds him annoying, but even though he’s a lousy monk, he’s devoted to his job. And so, he gives this kid the reward he deserves for his devotion. Only, the reward is something he had never expected, and Brother H’Pin Wa is only too glad to lead him to it. 

Short and hilarious, Clayton’s story reads like a friend sharing an anecdote about that one time they did That Really Surprising Thing And No One Saw It Coming…

“Bestiary viventem” by Kyle E Miller

Finch’s dad didn’t like books because they couldn’t do the work needed to help feed a family, but when he passed away, he willed a bestiary to his son—a tome out of which shot out a dragon, who then turns into a merman and then into a griffin—the creatures illustrated within taking form, first scaring away poor Finch, then later providing the means to help feed himself, and eventually earn a living. 

But when fortunate days arrive at a poor orphan’s house, people notice. They first become jealous, then angry, then afraid—and, finally, violent. Finch is just trying to live his life. How long can he ignore the people? Will he have to turn to the beasts for help? 

“Voices of Kings” by Joshua Lim

This is the story of how King Solomon appointed a monkey from the Mawah tribe to be the Raja of the Jungle, and how a Tiger incited the Siamang tribe, who had beautiful voices, to fight against this Raja for the throne—after all, if there has to be a king, he should be from the melodious Siamang tribe. But no throne is won easily; is battle the only option?

I grew up with the Panchatantra and the Jataka tales, and Lim’s little story reads just like these ancient stories. A new folktale told in the style of the subcontinent’s ancestors, it brings a nostalgic feeling with it, like being told a story by our grandmothers during lazy summer nights on the terrace.

“How the Maine Coon Cat Learned to Love the Sea” by Seanan McGuire

McGuire spins an evocative, fairy-tale-like origin story of a variety of felines—for before we had scientific facts, we had stories (although facts can also be stories), and this one is an excellent example to tell around a fire on the beach, under a blanket of stars, as you imagine a fleet of ships on the dark distant horizon, and the Cats that prowl the decks…