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ladybusiness2018-08-13 12:29 pm
bookgazing) wrote in ladybusiness2018-08-13 12:29 pm
Short Business: May 2018 Reading
It's a short, Short Business this month because, although there are lots of stories I'd like to talk about, over the last two months finding the time and energy to write has been difficult. So, instead of waiting until I've written about the whole heap of stories I read recently, and potentially never getting that giant post finished, I'm going to break down the stories I read into a few smaller posts in the hope of motivating myself to keep going. So, here are my thoughts on four stories I really enjoyed way back in May. As always, spoilers below the cut.
"Snake Season" by Erin Roberts (via![[twitter.com profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/e0caa790ec10/-/twitter.com/favicon.ico)
ac_wise)
"Snake Season" is one of those stories I saw touted around my timeline, but was sure would be too scary for me. It's hard to ignore so many recommendations from trusted sources though, and I finally decided to bite the bullet whenac_wise tweeted about it as well. There's no denying that "Snake Season" is one scary story, but much like my other ventures into The Dark's content, it's much more on the creepy side of horror than the gory side.
"Snake Season" tells the story of Marie, a woman alone, and worried about her new son. Marie's husband, Ray, is about to leave for a few days work 'grassing the rice fields over East'. While he is away, Marie fears the interference of the local Conjure man, and the ghost of her dead daughter, Sarah, will change her healthy child into 'a monster, eyes bulging out of a head no bigger than an overgrown tomato, arms and legs growing long and spindly like untamed weeds in a widower’s garden'. This is what happened to all her other children before they died.
When "Snake Season" begins, it seems to follow a feminist narrative about an isolated mother, plagued by outside forces, and wrongly doubted by the men around her. However, as the story reaches its climax, the shape of the world Marie and Ray live in becomes clearer, and that alters the way the reader views Marie's actions. And while I usually prefer the former narrative, I found this particular story absorbing and impossible to turn away from. If I had to compare the ending to something, I'd probably say it's like Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle because this story doesn't shy away from making Marie monstrous and placing her completely outside the bounds of acceptable morality, but it also never links her terrible behaviour with her femininity (a rare feat when it comes to stories about murderous women).
"Wild Ones" by Vanessa Fogg
Gawd, I loved this story! So, it's about the Fairy Hunt (which OMG, I KNOW RIGHT, WHO IS NOT BOTH TERRIFIED AND INTRIGUED BY THE FAIRY HUNT MYTH?!). In this story, the Hunt is an acknowledged happening, which all the young children in town take part in until the age of sixteen. Most of them return; a few don't.
The parents don't talk to their children about the Hunt, and the children don't talk to their parents, but everyone knows it takes place. And, of course, the parents were once teenagers themselves so everyone in town knows what it's like to fly with the Wild Ones. After riding around with the Hunt during her younger years, the narrator of the story returned to her regular life. Now a mother herself, she watches her own daughter, Amy, take part in the Hunt with heavy trepidation.
"Wild Ones" is a trickster of a story, and, even though its trick is small, to explain its final twist would be to spoil the emotional punch of the ending. So, let me just say that "Wild Ones" is a story about how women, even women living happy, contented lives, contain multitudes. It's about the pull of home and the pull of adventure. It's about how sometimes you have to choose, and how making a choice can hurt even if you end up winning something either way. If you're interested in reading a contemporary take on this idea (which I HIGHLY rate over the much more commonly told story about women who regret the path not taken because oh look their lives turned out shit) try The Mothers by Brit Bennett. If you're looking for an SFF comparison point, "Wild Ones" tells the family story Interstellar could have told, but sets it in the fantasy genre, and fills it with the poetry of nature and magic instead of the poetry of the stars.
"Wild Ones" is also about the tension inherent in parent child relationships. It's about wanting one thing for yourself, while desperately hoping that another person doesn't want to forge the same kind of independent path because they mean so much to you that you can't bear to let them go. I loved seeing this story writ in an SFF-nal form that cannot be reduced down solely to a symbolic take on a real life issue. And I particularly enjoyed the open nature of the ending where the story refuses to confirm which path the narrator will take, but clearly shows the appeal of both courses of action. I also appreciated that the draw of one particular course of action is all down to the strong mother daughter relationship at the centre of the narrator's life, rather than the romantic relationship between the narrator and her husband. Go, go - read it now.
"A Priest of Vast and Distant Places" by Cassandra Khaw
"A Priest of Vast and Distant Places" is one of those stories where my very emotional feelings are getting in the way of me writing any proper analysis. Like, hello, here is a thing that Cassandra Khaw wrote in this story:
How do I do proper words about a story that contains this passage; especially when it is such an original piece? It's about a priest of airplanes for frick's sake! How do words?
Cassandra Khaw obviously knows how to do words because she has written this astonishingly, precise, quiet story about a woman who travels around the world magically connecting with planes; soothing them in their times of crisis. At the same time, this story is as much about quietly revealing the life of the unnamed priest as it is about inviting the reader into this creative fantasy world. It's sensitively written with a light touch which coaxes a bittersweet emotion out of every line. You must read it.
"Five Functions of Your Bionosaur" by Rachel K. Jones
I've read four of the stories released under the Robot Dinosaur Fiction campaign so far, and I think this is my favourite so far. It's a touching story, done in five short sections, about a connection that forms over a lifetime, and about the implications of ageing technology when that technology is sentient. It's perfect for fans of "Fandom for Robots" and "Pipecleaner Sculptures and Other Necessary Work". It's also exactly the sort of robot dinosaur story I thought Rachel K. Jones would write, by which I mean it is well-structured, full of tiny touches of realism, and will fell you with the force of its emotion.
What short fiction have you been reading lately? As always, feel free to drop recs, or comments on any of these stories, in the comments.
"Snake Season" by Erin Roberts (via
"Snake Season" is one of those stories I saw touted around my timeline, but was sure would be too scary for me. It's hard to ignore so many recommendations from trusted sources though, and I finally decided to bite the bullet when
"Snake Season" tells the story of Marie, a woman alone, and worried about her new son. Marie's husband, Ray, is about to leave for a few days work 'grassing the rice fields over East'. While he is away, Marie fears the interference of the local Conjure man, and the ghost of her dead daughter, Sarah, will change her healthy child into 'a monster, eyes bulging out of a head no bigger than an overgrown tomato, arms and legs growing long and spindly like untamed weeds in a widower’s garden'. This is what happened to all her other children before they died.
When "Snake Season" begins, it seems to follow a feminist narrative about an isolated mother, plagued by outside forces, and wrongly doubted by the men around her. However, as the story reaches its climax, the shape of the world Marie and Ray live in becomes clearer, and that alters the way the reader views Marie's actions. And while I usually prefer the former narrative, I found this particular story absorbing and impossible to turn away from. If I had to compare the ending to something, I'd probably say it's like Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle because this story doesn't shy away from making Marie monstrous and placing her completely outside the bounds of acceptable morality, but it also never links her terrible behaviour with her femininity (a rare feat when it comes to stories about murderous women).
"Wild Ones" by Vanessa Fogg
Gawd, I loved this story! So, it's about the Fairy Hunt (which OMG, I KNOW RIGHT, WHO IS NOT BOTH TERRIFIED AND INTRIGUED BY THE FAIRY HUNT MYTH?!). In this story, the Hunt is an acknowledged happening, which all the young children in town take part in until the age of sixteen. Most of them return; a few don't.
The parents don't talk to their children about the Hunt, and the children don't talk to their parents, but everyone knows it takes place. And, of course, the parents were once teenagers themselves so everyone in town knows what it's like to fly with the Wild Ones. After riding around with the Hunt during her younger years, the narrator of the story returned to her regular life. Now a mother herself, she watches her own daughter, Amy, take part in the Hunt with heavy trepidation.
"Wild Ones" is a trickster of a story, and, even though its trick is small, to explain its final twist would be to spoil the emotional punch of the ending. So, let me just say that "Wild Ones" is a story about how women, even women living happy, contented lives, contain multitudes. It's about the pull of home and the pull of adventure. It's about how sometimes you have to choose, and how making a choice can hurt even if you end up winning something either way. If you're interested in reading a contemporary take on this idea (which I HIGHLY rate over the much more commonly told story about women who regret the path not taken because oh look their lives turned out shit) try The Mothers by Brit Bennett. If you're looking for an SFF comparison point, "Wild Ones" tells the family story Interstellar could have told, but sets it in the fantasy genre, and fills it with the poetry of nature and magic instead of the poetry of the stars.
"Wild Ones" is also about the tension inherent in parent child relationships. It's about wanting one thing for yourself, while desperately hoping that another person doesn't want to forge the same kind of independent path because they mean so much to you that you can't bear to let them go. I loved seeing this story writ in an SFF-nal form that cannot be reduced down solely to a symbolic take on a real life issue. And I particularly enjoyed the open nature of the ending where the story refuses to confirm which path the narrator will take, but clearly shows the appeal of both courses of action. I also appreciated that the draw of one particular course of action is all down to the strong mother daughter relationship at the centre of the narrator's life, rather than the romantic relationship between the narrator and her husband. Go, go - read it now.
"A Priest of Vast and Distant Places" by Cassandra Khaw
"A Priest of Vast and Distant Places" is one of those stories where my very emotional feelings are getting in the way of me writing any proper analysis. Like, hello, here is a thing that Cassandra Khaw wrote in this story:
You said no even though it hurt you both to hear it.
You said no because you weren’t done with the human world and its half-broken things, its yearnings, its small comforts. You couldn’t say goodbye to your mother, her skin growing age-mottled, or your sister, her eyes already bracketed with lines. You couldn’t bear the thought of giving up your best friend.
They are only three, the god had said.
And you had laughed at its answer, your voice a moment’s distance from breaking. Only three, you repeated, as if galaxies could be built on home-cooked food and long nights watching the world through a glazing of sweet smoke.
How do I do proper words about a story that contains this passage; especially when it is such an original piece? It's about a priest of airplanes for frick's sake! How do words?
Cassandra Khaw obviously knows how to do words because she has written this astonishingly, precise, quiet story about a woman who travels around the world magically connecting with planes; soothing them in their times of crisis. At the same time, this story is as much about quietly revealing the life of the unnamed priest as it is about inviting the reader into this creative fantasy world. It's sensitively written with a light touch which coaxes a bittersweet emotion out of every line. You must read it.
"Five Functions of Your Bionosaur" by Rachel K. Jones
I've read four of the stories released under the Robot Dinosaur Fiction campaign so far, and I think this is my favourite so far. It's a touching story, done in five short sections, about a connection that forms over a lifetime, and about the implications of ageing technology when that technology is sentient. It's perfect for fans of "Fandom for Robots" and "Pipecleaner Sculptures and Other Necessary Work". It's also exactly the sort of robot dinosaur story I thought Rachel K. Jones would write, by which I mean it is well-structured, full of tiny touches of realism, and will fell you with the force of its emotion.
What short fiction have you been reading lately? As always, feel free to drop recs, or comments on any of these stories, in the comments.