Short & Sweet: Marissa Lingen
Oct. 26th, 2017 08:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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ladybusinessMarissa Lingen is a fabulous author whose work I adore. She has written many things that I love to pieces. I try to check out her new work as soon as it is released. I squee excitedly when I see her name on a publication. I love her writing because it satisfies both my desire to feel all the feelings and my desire for the details to be done right. Yet, there’s a good chance you’ve never heard of her because she writes primarily short form and has never published a novel. But her work is awesome and should be more widely known.
Lingen’s stories are all over the SFF spectrum, from domestic fantasy to alternate history with frequent stops in science fictional territory. Wherever she takes her readers, she always pays close attention to the details that matter most to me, like what people eat, who washes the dishes and other aspects of daily living. These kind of domestic details may be considered women’s work by some but to me are what make a story feel real and lived in. (Besides women live in real worlds.) Her characters are not lone heros but people with families and friends. Lingen does excellent cross generational relationships including grandparent-grandchild relationships and big families. She has a background in physics so given her attention to detail the physics of her stories are probably correct (it's not something I care about —now ecology details on the other hand...), but they aren’t the focus, which instead remains on the characters.
Here is sampling of her work for you to try:
"Points of Origin" — I love this story so much. This one really showcases Lingen’s ability to portray complex emotional relationships between family members. It also has great details of daily life for people living on Mars.
"It Brought Us All Together" — This is not a cheerful story (one might even call it apocolyptic) but it's well worth reading. One of the best stories I’ve read about grieving; also one on the best depictions of high school.
"The Many Media Hypothesis" — This very short story about social media and alternate universes touches on how our networks support us.
"The Suitcase Aria" — I always enjoy backstage stories. In high school I worked as a theater tech on school plays and while I haven’t done any of that recently I enjoy reading about it. This story takes place in an opera house with all kinds of trap doors and strange hallways. But that’s not the main reason I like it; I like it because it focuses on characters outside the norm who work together to solve their problems. Lingen manages to pack a ton of character into small details, making everyone stand out.
"Armistice Day" — I’m not sure if this story was written in response to the house elves in Harry Potter but it really made me think about them. She looks at what it might be like to be magical kitchen servants from the servant’s point of view. This story also seems relevant to the current discussion of immigration in the US.
"A House of Gold and Steel" — So what I love about this fantasy piece is the main character’s strong relationship with her grandmother, which is really central to the story. The story also features class issues, something I wish more fantasy dealt with. It's a story where kindness is valued, and that's something I always need more of.
Short fiction authors like Marissa Lingen often fly under the radar, but her work is really good and you should check it out. I love how she builds characters and worlds form small details and also that much of her work focuses on family relationship and features domestic work and food. Also she has a blog and talks about her writing process, living in Minnesota, baking, living with vertigo, and what she reads, including providing short fiction recs.
Lingen’s stories are all over the SFF spectrum, from domestic fantasy to alternate history with frequent stops in science fictional territory. Wherever she takes her readers, she always pays close attention to the details that matter most to me, like what people eat, who washes the dishes and other aspects of daily living. These kind of domestic details may be considered women’s work by some but to me are what make a story feel real and lived in. (Besides women live in real worlds.) Her characters are not lone heros but people with families and friends. Lingen does excellent cross generational relationships including grandparent-grandchild relationships and big families. She has a background in physics so given her attention to detail the physics of her stories are probably correct (it's not something I care about —now ecology details on the other hand...), but they aren’t the focus, which instead remains on the characters.
Here is sampling of her work for you to try:
"Points of Origin" — I love this story so much. This one really showcases Lingen’s ability to portray complex emotional relationships between family members. It also has great details of daily life for people living on Mars.
"It Brought Us All Together" — This is not a cheerful story (one might even call it apocolyptic) but it's well worth reading. One of the best stories I’ve read about grieving; also one on the best depictions of high school.
"The Many Media Hypothesis" — This very short story about social media and alternate universes touches on how our networks support us.
"The Suitcase Aria" — I always enjoy backstage stories. In high school I worked as a theater tech on school plays and while I haven’t done any of that recently I enjoy reading about it. This story takes place in an opera house with all kinds of trap doors and strange hallways. But that’s not the main reason I like it; I like it because it focuses on characters outside the norm who work together to solve their problems. Lingen manages to pack a ton of character into small details, making everyone stand out.
"Armistice Day" — I’m not sure if this story was written in response to the house elves in Harry Potter but it really made me think about them. She looks at what it might be like to be magical kitchen servants from the servant’s point of view. This story also seems relevant to the current discussion of immigration in the US.
"A House of Gold and Steel" — So what I love about this fantasy piece is the main character’s strong relationship with her grandmother, which is really central to the story. The story also features class issues, something I wish more fantasy dealt with. It's a story where kindness is valued, and that's something I always need more of.
Short fiction authors like Marissa Lingen often fly under the radar, but her work is really good and you should check it out. I love how she builds characters and worlds form small details and also that much of her work focuses on family relationship and features domestic work and food. Also she has a blog and talks about her writing process, living in Minnesota, baking, living with vertigo, and what she reads, including providing short fiction recs.
forestofglory.
no subject
Date: 2017-10-27 02:30 pm (UTC)Her Short Fiction is Good Too
Date: 2017-10-27 03:38 pm (UTC)Any of these have queer characters?
Date: 2017-10-27 04:51 pm (UTC)Re: Any of these have queer characters?
Date: 2017-10-27 10:42 pm (UTC)Re: Any of these have queer characters?
Date: 2017-10-27 11:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-10-27 07:34 pm (UTC)