What do you think?
Rate this book
Portals and Immortals
Thirteen rounds of a word game. Ten magical tales.
Immerse yourself in these deep, wildly imagined stories first brainstormed on the story craft podcast, Brainstoryum. Enter a world of shapeshifting ghosts, telepathic goblins, a cat demon, a time loop, illegal magic, and an alchemist on the run. These adventures are laced with themes of truth, darkness, choices, and change. They feature numerous portals and several immortals.
Portals and Immortals is the third release from The Book of Exquisite Corpse, a collection of stories inspired by the surrealist word game of the same name. This is the series’ first anthology of short fiction, showcasing the sheer scope of ideas made possible by mixing randomness with pure imagination.
All books in this series are standalone and can be enjoyed in any order. What connects them is their peculiar source of the surrealist word game of Exquisite Corpse.
Immerse yourself in these deep, wildly imagined stories first brainstormed on the story craft podcast, Brainstoryum. Enter a world of shapeshifting ghosts, telepathic goblins, a cat demon, a time loop, illegal magic, and an alchemist on the run. These adventures are laced with themes of truth, darkness, choices, and change. They feature numerous portals and several immortals.
Portals and Immortals is the third release from The Book of Exquisite Corpse, a collection of stories inspired by the surrealist word game of the same name. This is the series’ first anthology of short fiction, showcasing the sheer scope of ideas made possible by mixing randomness with pure imagination.
All books in this series are standalone and can be enjoyed in any order. What connects them is their peculiar source of the surrealist word game of Exquisite Corpse.
183 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 5, 2023
1 person is currently reading
15 people want to read
About the author
Anna Tizard
9 books11 followersI tried to categorise my books in a more sensible way (they’re currently "Weird-wonderful", "Quite Serious" and "Meh") but the cross-overs were just too many - and then I realised that I actually like this.
We’re living in an amazing era for fiction where genre writing can and should be as delicious and nutritious as the “best” literary work (and some of these high-brow prize-winning books could learn a thing or two about plotting from their genre neighbours). Fantasy for children is also enormous fun for (people pretending to be) adults. Why differentiate?
I write Deeply Weird fiction. Lately this involves making up stories based on a random word game called Exquisite Corpse; my favourite thing is to explore the strangeness of the human mind through a fantasy, imagining what our thoughts might look like if they were places, creatures or objects come alive. Subscribe to my newsletter for your free ebook copy of my latest release, "The Empty Danger": https://annatizardsubscribe.ck.page/e...
Oh, and please let me know if you’ve come across any amazing books about portals! Having spent a large chunk of my childhood in Narnia, I’m a little bit obsessed.
We’re living in an amazing era for fiction where genre writing can and should be as delicious and nutritious as the “best” literary work (and some of these high-brow prize-winning books could learn a thing or two about plotting from their genre neighbours). Fantasy for children is also enormous fun for (people pretending to be) adults. Why differentiate?
I write Deeply Weird fiction. Lately this involves making up stories based on a random word game called Exquisite Corpse; my favourite thing is to explore the strangeness of the human mind through a fantasy, imagining what our thoughts might look like if they were places, creatures or objects come alive. Subscribe to my newsletter for your free ebook copy of my latest release, "The Empty Danger": https://annatizardsubscribe.ck.page/e...
Oh, and please let me know if you’ve come across any amazing books about portals! Having spent a large chunk of my childhood in Narnia, I’m a little bit obsessed.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 19, 2025
This is a very interesting read.
Each chapter is a new story, and the author takes a bizarre sentence from a word game (Exquisite Corpse) and weaves it into an adventure.
The podcast it is based on is Brainstoryum.
It never gets tiresome, because you never know what’s going to come next.
Just in case you don’t care about one chapter, keep reading anyway — the unexpected is bound to happen.
Each chapter is a new story, and the author takes a bizarre sentence from a word game (Exquisite Corpse) and weaves it into an adventure.
The podcast it is based on is Brainstoryum.
It never gets tiresome, because you never know what’s going to come next.
Just in case you don’t care about one chapter, keep reading anyway — the unexpected is bound to happen.
February 26, 2024
The eleven short stories are:
- The Cat and the Shadows
- Axolotl
- Haunted
- Raine and the Doubt Storms
- The Great Taco
- The Bear and the Portcullis
- Carousel
- The Gate: Part 1
- The Gate: Part 2
- Silence of the Mountain
- The Alchemist's Breakthrough
These stories revolve around the surreal, featuring time loops, alchemy, and magic. These are character-driven stories that require readers to bring their imagination to fill in the gaps. These are quick reads.
I received a free copy and am leaving a review voluntarily.
Thank you to VRO and author.
- The Cat and the Shadows
- Axolotl
- Haunted
- Raine and the Doubt Storms
- The Great Taco
- The Bear and the Portcullis
- Carousel
- The Gate: Part 1
- The Gate: Part 2
- Silence of the Mountain
- The Alchemist's Breakthrough
These stories revolve around the surreal, featuring time loops, alchemy, and magic. These are character-driven stories that require readers to bring their imagination to fill in the gaps. These are quick reads.
I received a free copy and am leaving a review voluntarily.
Thank you to VRO and author.
January 18, 2024
Splendid Fantasy Writing
I so enjoyed this anthology of fantasy with its theme of portals and immortals. Filled with clever plots, brilliant ideas and interesting characters.
All of the stores were a little bit different and all were well written. I highly recommend Portals and Immortals
I so enjoyed this anthology of fantasy with its theme of portals and immortals. Filled with clever plots, brilliant ideas and interesting characters.
All of the stores were a little bit different and all were well written. I highly recommend Portals and Immortals
July 7, 2025
This short story book is entirely based around an online game of Exquisite Corpse which readers can play with author Anna Tizard on her website here: https://www.annatizard.com/play.html
Readers generate unique phrases using the prompts on the website, then the author creates a short story using the phrase as a jumping-off point. The result here is an interesting mix of stories – some horror, some fantasy, and becoming more surreal and metaphysical as you move through the book.
Some of my favourite stories in the book are those that feel fairytale-ish in tone and content, like ‘The Cat and the Shadows’ (Exquisite Corpse: The frayed nekomata protected the loving leaf blower), in which a garden centre employee worries about his missing cat and his difficult boss; ‘Axolotl’ (Exquisite Corpse: The petrified horse sold their name to the all-consuming axolotl), in which animalistic music stars vie for power before their make-up artist; or ‘The Bear and the Portcullis’ (Exquisite Corpse: The book-loving teddy bear solved the case of the rediscovering portcullis), in which a bear who has lost his memory, a little girl and a witch are trapped in a magical castle.
The prose of every story is poetic and rich in imagery, but perhaps a little bit too much so, because at some points it felt forced. I think this is perhaps a natural result of the constraints of writing to quite complex and often abstract or surreal prompts – rather than unfolding naturally the story has to be trimmed and trained to fit the required mould.
My favourite part of the book was being able to see the Exquisite Corpse/s at the end of each tale and then read back through to see how they fit to the story presented. This is definitely a fun game to play along with and sparks some fascinating and unusual story ideas for us readers as well as the author.
Readers generate unique phrases using the prompts on the website, then the author creates a short story using the phrase as a jumping-off point. The result here is an interesting mix of stories – some horror, some fantasy, and becoming more surreal and metaphysical as you move through the book.
Some of my favourite stories in the book are those that feel fairytale-ish in tone and content, like ‘The Cat and the Shadows’ (Exquisite Corpse: The frayed nekomata protected the loving leaf blower), in which a garden centre employee worries about his missing cat and his difficult boss; ‘Axolotl’ (Exquisite Corpse: The petrified horse sold their name to the all-consuming axolotl), in which animalistic music stars vie for power before their make-up artist; or ‘The Bear and the Portcullis’ (Exquisite Corpse: The book-loving teddy bear solved the case of the rediscovering portcullis), in which a bear who has lost his memory, a little girl and a witch are trapped in a magical castle.
The prose of every story is poetic and rich in imagery, but perhaps a little bit too much so, because at some points it felt forced. I think this is perhaps a natural result of the constraints of writing to quite complex and often abstract or surreal prompts – rather than unfolding naturally the story has to be trimmed and trained to fit the required mould.
My favourite part of the book was being able to see the Exquisite Corpse/s at the end of each tale and then read back through to see how they fit to the story presented. This is definitely a fun game to play along with and sparks some fascinating and unusual story ideas for us readers as well as the author.
December 14, 2023
Now why would anyone ever send me this type of book? I have never, never , well ever read a book like this. Why would you think to do this? I'm a little old 70 year old man and I have never read a book of this type! Never.
Well I also filled with manners so I thought maybe, just maybe a should look what's behind the cover. So I grabbed my coffee and my easy chair and there I sat for the next few hours. I read that dam book! From cover to cover and Oh Lord! I loved that book. Young Ms. Tizard can write! :) Amazing bit of literature this is!
How good is it, well I finished and signed onto her private email group, I plan on listening to her podcast, and most of all I will be looking for another book of her's to read!
Fantastic! Join me in reading a great book.
Michael
Well I also filled with manners so I thought maybe, just maybe a should look what's behind the cover. So I grabbed my coffee and my easy chair and there I sat for the next few hours. I read that dam book! From cover to cover and Oh Lord! I loved that book. Young Ms. Tizard can write! :) Amazing bit of literature this is!
How good is it, well I finished and signed onto her private email group, I plan on listening to her podcast, and most of all I will be looking for another book of her's to read!
Fantastic! Join me in reading a great book.
Michael
April 2, 2025
I received a complimentary copy of Portals and Immortals from the author via Voracious Readers
Only, and I am leaving a voluntary honest review.
Portals and Immortals is a collection of short stories inspired by the word game of Exquisite Corpse.
I think they would be enjoyed by fans of R.L. Stine, as they have a supernatural, magical sort of theme reminiscent (to me at least) of Stine's Goosebumps, or the TV show, Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Only, and I am leaving a voluntary honest review.
Portals and Immortals is a collection of short stories inspired by the word game of Exquisite Corpse.
I think they would be enjoyed by fans of R.L. Stine, as they have a supernatural, magical sort of theme reminiscent (to me at least) of Stine's Goosebumps, or the TV show, Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews