Shambhala Saga

A world of infinite possibilities

Other Works By Susan English

Destination Unknown

A travel memoir

What does it take to see the world? Lots of money? A good travel agent? Extended vacation time? Or just maybe all it takes is $700, a bicycle, and an indomitable spirit. Destination Unknown is a travel memoir exploring the coming of age of a young woman. Set in Europe and the Middle East in the 1980’s, this tale chronicles the adventures of Susan, a nineteen-year-old woman who sets out to see the world, and in the process discovers herself. Battling poverty, the unique hardships of being a woman alone, seemingly interminable rain, brutal headwinds, sore muscles, and loneliness, Susan is compelled by an inner drive to experience life to the fullest. She is confronted by the best and the worst human beings have to offer, from being imprisoned in a church and turned out on the streets by nuns, to strangers who welcome her into their homes and hearts. Susan’s unflagging tenacity and will to survive are constant themes in this book. She embraces life and the world, making connections with others and learning self-reliance through this rite of passage of her own design. This memoir will appeal to a wide audience, as it is both an adventure story and a journey of self-discovery. Anyone who has contemplated the freedom of simply packing up and hitting the road, or those who have grappled with understanding themselves and their place the world, will find inspiration in this narrative

Requiem for Ku

Short Story

Requiem for Ku has all the trappings of a children's tale, but none of the idyllic sugarcoating. Instead, the grim reality of Ku’s existence is told through the watchful, often bewildered, and unfailingly innocent voice of the rabbit herself. Ku’s haunting story takes the reader on a heart-rending journey of love, sorrow, and uncompromising dignity.

Roach Heaven

Short Story

A tenderhearted pacifist moves to a new apartment, only to find herself sharing the space with a colony of cockroaches. Determined to avoid using a professional exterminator, she attempts a harmonious existence with an insect which, for most, invokes not empathy but loathing. Eventually, her predicament culminates in a ruthless resolution for these invincible creatures, in the mutual quest for a roach heaven.

Eve’s Dreaming

Short Story

According to Hebrew tradition, Adam's first wife was not the well-known helpmate Eve, but the first woman, Lilith. As legend tells it, Lilith and Adam lived happily in the Garden of Eden until one fateful day, when Adam decided that during sexual intercourse he should be on top, so that he would be closer to the heavens, and, therefore, to God, and Lilith would be forced to look up to him. Lilith would have none of it, and, uttering the secret name of God, flew off to the ocean. Adam was devastated by Lilith’s abandonment of him, and continually badgered God to force her to come back. Finally, fed up with Adam’s whining, God sent a delegation of angels on Adam's behalf to plead with Lilith to return to Eden and to her husband. Lilith flatly refused, preferring instead to live on the shore with her demon lover, who was apparently more egalitarian in his lovemaking. Neither God nor his angels were powerful enough to force her to return to Eden, so God laid a curse on Lilith, that from then on, she would bear a hundred demon children every day. Then God created Eve...