One rec today, a long and wonderful read:
The Earth and Everything Under by K.M. Ferebee (in Shimmer Magazine).
I just read this story last night (it appeared last year) and was struck by a strange, melancholy sense of beauty. I absolutely love the way Ferebee writes! She creates a strange world both like and unlike our own, and paints such images with her words. I love it. This was the perfect reading after an exhausting, busy day. Such word-magic to sink into!
Sunday recs! Three stories I’ve enjoyed lately:
With a Golden Risha by P. Djéli Clark (in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly) – a fun epic tale of air pirates and music. I enjoy it when music is used to further plot.
Monsters in Space by Angela Ambroz (in Shimmer) – featuring an extremely entertaining narrator, such an awesome voice.
The Girl, the Ghul and the Gift-Keeper by Rhea Daniel (in Silver Blade) – a cool Middle Eastern influenced ghul story.
Here’s some stories I’ve read and really enjoyed these past few days:
Forestspirit, Forestspirit by Bogi Takács (in Clarkesworld) – a great SF piece, and superyay for nonbinary character and nonviolence!
The Cure by Malinda Lo (in the new issue of Interfictions) – feat. a great atmosphere and creepy (based on history) hysteria cures.
Grandmother-nai-Leylit’s Cloth of Winds by Rose Lemberg (in Beneath Ceaseless Skies) – oh this one made me especially happy. Rose Lemberg’s writing is utterly gorgeous, and I am soooo into hopeful fantasy stories. Also, the novelette form is excellent for more intricate worldbuilding and really getting into a story; Rose uses it to great effect here.
Two poems and a story today.
First, an oldie but goodie from 2010: “Art Lessons” by Yoon Ha Lee (in Stone Telling). This is a really good poem, witches’ daughters transforming into a great feminist punch.
Then something more recent, from February this year: “Limestone, Lye, and the Buzzing of Flies” by Kate Heartfield (in Strange Horizons). This story is vivid, strange and lovely. Such a strong summer atmosphere, with the weirdness creeping slowly in.
Finally: “Chant for Summer Darkness in Northwest Climes” by Neile Graham (in Goblin Fruit, the same summer 2014 issue I have “Sorrow-stone” in). This is utterly gorgeous! The atmosphere reminds me of a Finnish summer (which is finally almost upon us!), the mysterious white-night countryside and berries bursting on the tongue.
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Bonus book rec – well, series rec actually – Jo Walton’s Small Change series (Farthing, Ha’penny, Half a Crown). I just finished reading Half a Crown today and was in tears at the end. A chilling vision of an alternative Britain where fascism has reared its ugly head. But they weren’t depressing books, although they did make me feel that heart-clenching horror I always do when I think how inhuman people can become because they simply don’t care enough to defend those who are weaker.
I’ve had a flu for the past eight days and it doesn’t seem to be going away. I think it’s going and then… back it comes, mostly in the form of a sore throat. So, I haven’t had any extra energy to spare. I’ve tried to keep up with PhD work, but creativity has been difficult. I tried to get a story submitted to a fairytale anthology but missed the deadline because my energy levels have just been too low for creative work. It sucks, and I’m tired of this lurgy.
Still, I thought I’d post because it’s been a while since the last rec post! Here’s a wonderful story that made my day brighter when I read it:
Under Wine-Bright Seas by A. Merc Rustad (in Scigentasy) – this gorgeous story brought me to tears by the end. Sisters being sisterly, yay (one of my favourite things)! Awesome trans protagonist, yay! Hopeful ending yay! Merc’s writing is so beautiful. Also, the artwork (by Jake Giddens) is fantastic and really suits the atmosphere of the story.
I probably should’ve spent this evening recovering from a busy three-day medieval studies conference and a day of active exploring. Instead, I submitted poetry to quite a few places. Not very restful, but useful – I’ve been lax with submitting poetry, or anything really, the past month.
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My recs for tonight:
Myrrha by Mari Ness (in Through the Gate): This poem made me feel tight-throated and aching. It’s based on a fairytale that I’ve written a novelette about (currently on submission), and so it somehow hit me extra hard. The rest of the issue is wonderful too.
The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu (in Fantasy & Science Fiction): This is from a few years ago but I just read it a few days ago. So good, in an aching way. I love fiction about family and the challenges of immigration, and this story really delivers.
Arm’s Length by Rosemary Badcoe (in the March issue of Snakeskin that I had a poem in too): Beautiful vision of the end of the world, with an ending that touched me with its poignance.
Three fairytale-tinged recs for you tonight.
First, two tales from Daily Science Fiction, new takes on traditional tales, from points of view forgotten in the originals:
Beans and Lies by Mari Ness: an incisive super-short piece with a proper punch at the end.
Toadwords by Nathaniel Lee: a tale that really made me think about the consequences of words turning into slimy creatures or jewels.
Finally, a story that draws from many fairytales:
Hunting Monsters by S.L. Huang (in The Book Smugglers Publishing): a beautiful, epic tale with relationships between women as its focus.
I’m especially pleased that this story has been published, because it’s set in a forest world I’ve been developing for a while. As I think I mentioned here before, my poem “Boat-husk” in Through the Gate is also set in that world. As is my (terrible zero draft of a) 2014 Nanowrimo novel.
“The Ruin” was one of the pieces inspired by the abandoned places pictures that I wrote a post about. In particular, this picture (i.e. the picture above). Sometimes writing exercises become something more!
Just wrote a ~3,000-word story in two hours, yay! With some editing, I think this will be fine for submitting to Lightspeed’s Queers Destroy Science Fiction! special issue. It’s been so long since I came up with a story idea and actually wrote it in this short a time – I got the idea last night just before bed, and started writing today after breakfast. New story yay!
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And now for some stories I’ve enjoyed from others this past week:
The Truth About Owls by Amal El-Mohtar (in Strange Horizons, originally published in the Kaleidoscope anthology): This story is utterly wonderful. It contains many of my favourite things, such as multilingualism (Welsh, Arabic, yay!), Welsh mythology, and a solid emotional punch. Also, owls!
Pockets, also by Amal El-Mohtar (in Uncanny Magazine): A charming story with subtle strangeness.
archival testimony fragments / minersong by Rose Lemberg (in Uncanny Magazine): This is a poem, but it has a subtly developing plot that is just awesome. I highly recommend listening to C.S.E. Cooney’s reading of this poem in the Uncanny Magazine podcast – it gives the poem a whole new level of brilliance. I got shivers from the reading.
Around the end of December 2013, I came upon a post with pretty pictures of the 33 most beautiful abandoned places in the world. One of those clickbaity list posts, but this one struck a chord. I love the desolate beauty of abandoned things.
And so I decided to write something about all 33, inspired by the pictures but not necessarily relating to the real-world location or function of the place. I had thought I’d finish it all by the end of January 2014, but I didn’t keep at it diligently enough. I had a months-long pause and forgot all about it, but in mid-December I finally kickstarted my project again. And now, I have just finished writing a poem about the 33rd picture.
I didn’t manage to finish this project in the time frame I’d initially set myself, but I did finish in the end! And now I have 33 pieces of flash fiction and poems based on the pictures. Some of them will never make it past the initial draft phase; some of them I’ve already edited and sent off; some of them are rough now but contain interesting kernels of plot and character that might grow into proper stories one day; one of them will be published this year (as “The Ruin” in Luna Station Quarterly). Most excellent.
I’ve discovered that writing prompted by a picture is a good way for me to get my brain jogged into action. Will have to keep finding interesting pictures to leap into and write about. I should keep doing writing exercises of other sorts as often as I can, too – they’re a great way of building up writing muscle.