Chambers

by Beth Brower

A Scene from St. Crispian’s

“Benjamin Chambers was lucky to be alive.

"He knew this.

"When he woke each morning, he was even grateful, pulling himself up to the side of the bed, the muscles of his forearms now accustomed to his weight, hands gripping the edge, head bent. He uttered his brief prayer—thank you—and breathed as deep as he could manage. But by nine o’clock in the morning, it was his prerogative to curse a good many things, his existence being one of them. He often did.

Today was no exception.”

Genres: Fiction

6 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2022

About the author

Like many of my siblings, I would sneak out of bed, slip into the hallway, and pull my favorite books from the book closet. I read my way through the bottom shelf, then the next shelf up, and the shelf above that, until I could climb to the very top shelf, stacked two layers deep and two layers high, and read the titles of the classics. My desire to create stories grew as I was learning to read them.

Subsequently, I spent my time scribbling in notebooks rather than listening to math lectures at school.

I graduated with a degree in literary studies, and have spent several years working on the novels that keep pounding on the doors of my mind, as none of my characters are very patient to wait their turn. I currently live in Orem, Utah, with my wonderful chemist husband, and books in every room of the house.

Reviews

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love all of Beth's short stories of her Characters in St. Crispian!

[Jessica Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I need this to be longer! Seeing a glimpse into Bens life makes his gruff exterior look more like a teddy bear.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short peak into Ben Chambers story. It sheds light on his past and opens the heart to understanding his gruff exterior.

[Audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute little short story about Chambers. I felt that we needed this to understand his character and what he’s been through. It has no romance, which is what I suspected, so it’s hard to judge. But it was only seven pages long, so it didn’t have a huge impact on my reading. I know that this is a book review paper, but I thought it would be fun to put this here. I liked how we got to learn how Chambers and Pierce met and why they are friends. It gives me a better understanding of why Chambers is always grumpy and grumbling his way through life. This makes me very excited to keep reading The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion series; especially Vol. 7, which should come out soon.

[Susannah Beaumont · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beth Brower is so good. I would happily read an entire book about Ben Chambers. This little vignette of his life was beautifully portrayed. Beth knows how to put together characters, a story, everything. *chef's kiss*

[Mariana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love short storirs that let you see into a side characters life and understand them better. This is a the case with this side character from the Emma M Lion Journals.

[Becky S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good short story with a little more background to a character that was do mysterious.

[Baili Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved getting to know this character’s backstory from outside of Emma’s perspective.

[Brenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly a great short story and nice to learn a bit more about Chambers and his relationship with Pierce. I just have a hard time rating most short stories higher than 3 stars since not much happens.

[Simone · Rating 5 out of 5]

From only Emma's perspective, I didn't much like him, but after THIS - I just wanna hug 'im!

(Which was a surprise to me, as I typically prefer "physical signs of affection to be kept to a barest minimum,” as [2003-tv-movie-]Pollyanna's aunt would say;)