![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bookgazing posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
ladybusinessIt looks like the theme of this week's short fiction picks was short, short fiction. Out of the five stories I read, three were flash fiction pieces, and one was a really quick read from the Robot Dinosaurs website.
Monday
Flash fiction was the order of the day on Monday and Tuesday because I was in the middle of Mary Robinette Kowal's novel Ghost Talkers, and I didn't want to put it down for anything. If you like the thought of female mediums talking to ghost spies in WWI get on this book!
Anyway, moving back to short fiction, I started the week with "Silver and Shadow, Spruce and Pine" by Maria Haskins; a flash fiction piece forestofglory told me about last week:
"Silver and Shadow, Spruce and Pine" is an atmospheric story which both changes, and continues, the classic fairytale "Little Red Riding Hood". 'When Grandmother disappears from the nursing home, Marika is the only one who understands what’s happened.' Remembering the stories her grandmother told her about growing up, Marika tracks the 'deep paw prints' she finds until they lead her to her Grandmother's old house.
Throughout the story, Haskins slowly unspools little details which keep the reader connected with the fairytale. She makes the origins of her story clear, while also modernising and grounding the fairytale through images Marika's Grandmother's 'arthritic fingers tangled in the red yarn' and her Grandpa's 'huntsman’s rifle hanging on the wall and garbage bags full of empty vodka bottles'. I thought the way Haskins mixed in well-known details was so well done, and the imagery was often simple yet striking. I particularly liked Marika's memory of finding 'a red cloak, worn and faded, its hem torn and stained'. This short memory is full of so many sensory details that it really comes to life while also performing its task of signposting what story "Silver and Shadow, Spruce and Pine" is referring to.
While keen to flag to the reader that they are dealing with a familiar story, Haskins also keeps the reader guessing about what Marika will find when she tracks down her Grandmother and even about exactly what kind of story they are in. There's a lot of ambiguity in this story, and my favourite piece was Marika's Grandmother uttering the line "I have never been safe." Perhaps her Grandmother is just stating a fact about never having felt safe in her life, but to me it sounds like she's explaining that she has always been dangerous. I really liked that spin on the character of Red Riding Hood. And I loved how it thematically linked up with an earlier paragraph which addresses the idea that fairytales are often interpreted as instructional, and moral, stories designed to teach people how to be safe and to try and curb behaviours society saw as dangerous (including female independence):
In this context, Red Riding Hood, who strays from the path and in doing so "invites" the wolf to her Grandmother's door, has always been dangerous.
Anyway, a great recommendation from forestofglory, which leads us on to the next story I read.
Tuesday
On Tuesday, I read "Burning Bright" by Stephanie Burgis which is another flash fiction story that forestofglory said I might enjoy. Having read it this feels like a very on brand rec from her :D
"Burning Bright" takes a short, fantastical look at the idea that becoming a mother weakens a woman. Assuming that Mara's new life as a mother means she has neglected her power, and in doing so weakened her defences, Mara's cousin has come to take her magic:
Little does her cousin know, these 'twee little pictures' are magically charged. When her family is threatened, the lions and tigers Mara has drawn on the walls leap out to protect her and her children. Mara has lost none of her power by becoming a mother. She has simply shifted her priorities, and reconfigured her defences, into forms that her family underestimate because Mara's actions are so far removed from their own ideas of power.
"Burning Bright" is also a comment on how gendered assumptions affect fantasy writing. In this story, Burgis introduces magic which springs from the domestic sphere (and perhaps almost from the craft sphere considering these are amatuer drawings). Mara's magic has links to traditionally feminine areas. Burgis' choice to make the home the site of Mara's power, and amateur drawings her method, asks readers to question why magic so often looks a certain way in modern SFF. It's interesting to reflect that while in European history and folk tale magic is so often linked to women and "women's work" (the weavers of fate in Greek mythology, hedge witches, the cookery side of brewing potions etc.), magic drawn from traditionally female spheres can feel hard to find in mainstream, modern fantasy.
And the same can be said of motherhood. It can be difficult to find mothers who even survive in SFF, let alone mothers who are strong because they are mothers. They are there, but they're perhaps not in the mainstream SFF rec lists. Forestofglory has certainly worked hard to highlight, and unearth, more and more of these mothers, and I partly love getting recs from her because I know that often her recs will have interesting things to say about women, mothers, and magic. "Burning Bright" is no exception, as it creates a space for motherhood in fantasy while also talking about family, and encouraging the reader to think about the way magic is typically depicted.
Wednesday
Continuing with the theme of reading quite short, short fiction, I went back to the Robot Dinosaurs online anthology and read "Regarding the Regretful Repercussions of Robot Reptiles" by Michael M. Jones. Two words - hella cute!
Daphne makes a bunch of robot dinosaurs for her girlfriend's birthday, and maybe makes them a little too well. Imagine Jurassic Park's 'nature finds a way' line with more mechanics and less serious consequences. The tone is really fun and playful, with a similar vibe to something like Jodi Taylor's The St. Mary's Chronicles. This is probably one of the most fun stories I've read from the Robot Dinosaur project so far.
Jones' bio mentions that Daphne and Camille appear in a couple of other stories as well. Their backstory sounds like a real sci-fi rom-com romp, and one of the stories is about octopuses so I look forward to checking that out later. Just a quick note that I was a little surprised to see the narrator use the term 'mad scientist' to refer to Daphne, but your mileage may vary on that term.
Thursday
"Lipstick for Villains" by Audrey R. Hollis is yet another flash fiction fantasy story. A witch who can mix powerful makeup flees a series of queens who want to use her magic for evil. She hopes to find a quieter life by setting 'up shop not as a witch, but as a woman, talented in powders and pigments.' Sadly, it's not long before the queen of the new realm finds the narrator and commands her to create makeup that troubles the witch's conscience.
Like "Burning Bright", "Lipstick For Villains" includes magic linked to a traditionally feminine sphere; makeup. It also features a world run by women; queens who are cruel, and who want to use this traditionally feminine magic as a weapon. Hollis never implies that it is the fact that the world is ruled by women, or their decision to use a form of magic with ties to traditional femininity, which makes for such a cruel monarchy. However, I think it's just testament to how much baggage stories about evil queens have to grapple with that I could easily see someone interpreting the story as a cautionary tale about women ruling.
Personally, I don't think "Lipstick For Villains" is about how female power uniquely corrupts absolutely. I think this story's big theme is about the way the powerful, in general, abuse their power, it just happens to be set in a world ruled by women:
After all, the witch's magic makes her a powerful woman, and she doesn't set out to harm anyone. In the end, she uses her power to unseat a monarchy. Still, I really wished this story had a longer treatment with more space to develop its themes, even though it was still a thoroughly satisfying piece of flash fiction.
Friday
"Escaping Dr Markoff", written by Gabriela Santiago, was published in The Dark Magazine - a horror magazine I like to dip in and out of, and a place which publishes stories that work really well for me, a reader who flinches at 85% of horror. The stories I've read so far in The Dark tend to be more eerie and atmospheric than gory, or horrifically violent, and the editors have an eye for really different, exciting perspectives and stories.
"Escaping Dr Markoff" is no exception. The first section of the story seems to clearly set out a situation the reader may feel they are very familiar with from old films and stories. The charismatic, handsome man described in dangerous, gothic imagery. The inexperienced assistant in love, or in thrall, to a man who controls her:
And the reader may feel they know how this dynamic might be critiqued by a story with feminist leanings, and they may see some of that expected critique as the story progresses. However, they will also see a story which departs from what they might expect in a lot of places; one which brings considerations about race, and queer life into the story, while breaking the fourth wall. The ending, in this context, is wonderful.
I really enjoyed reading this story because of the writing style, which is full of strong imagery, structural play, and has a way of creating a disturbing, intriguing tone by using clipped, short sentences. I feel like it's inevitable that I would come away from this story not entirely sure I knew what was going on as Santiago uses a jumping timeline, and cut scenes, to show that the "true" sense of the story is obscured even from the narrator (if it can be said there is any kind of "true" version at all). Happily, I feel like it's the kind of story where you come away intrigued, rather than frustrated, by all the different threads that are available for you to follow.
By the way, both "Lipstick for Villains" and "Escaping Dr Markoff" were featured in Alex Brown's recent Tor column Must-Read Speculative Short Fiction: March 2020, a post I'll probably keep popping into for recommendations. There's so much short fiction out there, and it really helps me to have round-up posts bookmarked that I can go back to for recommendations.
Ideas for supporting these short fiction authors at this time
You can order books by Stephanie Burgis (Snowspelled, The Dragon With The Chocolate Heart, and others) anywhere online that's still shipping. On a personal note, if you're buying physical books, please support book shops by ordering through their sites, as long as you're sure these shops are able to work safely at this time. Alternatively, Hive and Bookshop.org are set up to pass a portion of profits along to indie book shops.
Maria Haskins has a Patreon.
You can find out more about Michael M. Jones, Audrey R. Hollis, and Garbriella Santiago via their Twitter accounts.
Finally, a great way to support short fiction authors in general is to support the places that publish them. Consider picking up a subscription to a short fiction magazine, or buying an individual issue.
Feel free to use the comments to recommend short stories you'd like to see written about here.
Monday
Flash fiction was the order of the day on Monday and Tuesday because I was in the middle of Mary Robinette Kowal's novel Ghost Talkers, and I didn't want to put it down for anything. If you like the thought of female mediums talking to ghost spies in WWI get on this book!
Anyway, moving back to short fiction, I started the week with "Silver and Shadow, Spruce and Pine" by Maria Haskins; a flash fiction piece forestofglory told me about last week:
"Silver and Shadow, Spruce and Pine" is an atmospheric story which both changes, and continues, the classic fairytale "Little Red Riding Hood". 'When Grandmother disappears from the nursing home, Marika is the only one who understands what’s happened.' Remembering the stories her grandmother told her about growing up, Marika tracks the 'deep paw prints' she finds until they lead her to her Grandmother's old house.
Throughout the story, Haskins slowly unspools little details which keep the reader connected with the fairytale. She makes the origins of her story clear, while also modernising and grounding the fairytale through images Marika's Grandmother's 'arthritic fingers tangled in the red yarn' and her Grandpa's 'huntsman’s rifle hanging on the wall and garbage bags full of empty vodka bottles'. I thought the way Haskins mixed in well-known details was so well done, and the imagery was often simple yet striking. I particularly liked Marika's memory of finding 'a red cloak, worn and faded, its hem torn and stained'. This short memory is full of so many sensory details that it really comes to life while also performing its task of signposting what story "Silver and Shadow, Spruce and Pine" is referring to.
While keen to flag to the reader that they are dealing with a familiar story, Haskins also keeps the reader guessing about what Marika will find when she tracks down her Grandmother and even about exactly what kind of story they are in. There's a lot of ambiguity in this story, and my favourite piece was Marika's Grandmother uttering the line "I have never been safe." Perhaps her Grandmother is just stating a fact about never having felt safe in her life, but to me it sounds like she's explaining that she has always been dangerous. I really liked that spin on the character of Red Riding Hood. And I loved how it thematically linked up with an earlier paragraph which addresses the idea that fairytales are often interpreted as instructional, and moral, stories designed to teach people how to be safe and to try and curb behaviours society saw as dangerous (including female independence):
There was always a wolf and always a girl in those stories; always the safe path through the woods to the shelter of the house, always the beast lurking if you strayed. Everyone else called it a fairy tale, but Marika knew it was more than that; she knew the stories had the ring of truth and memory, not fiction.
In this context, Red Riding Hood, who strays from the path and in doing so "invites" the wolf to her Grandmother's door, has always been dangerous.
Anyway, a great recommendation from forestofglory, which leads us on to the next story I read.
Tuesday
On Tuesday, I read "Burning Bright" by Stephanie Burgis which is another flash fiction story that forestofglory said I might enjoy. Having read it this feels like a very on brand rec from her :D
"Burning Bright" takes a short, fantastical look at the idea that becoming a mother weakens a woman. Assuming that Mara's new life as a mother means she has neglected her power, and in doing so weakened her defences, Mara's cousin has come to take her magic:
"All the magic you'd gathered, all your skills and your fortune--you were the strongest of our generation!--but you've let yourself sink into changing nappies and drawing twee little pictures for your children.
Little does her cousin know, these 'twee little pictures' are magically charged. When her family is threatened, the lions and tigers Mara has drawn on the walls leap out to protect her and her children. Mara has lost none of her power by becoming a mother. She has simply shifted her priorities, and reconfigured her defences, into forms that her family underestimate because Mara's actions are so far removed from their own ideas of power.
"Burning Bright" is also a comment on how gendered assumptions affect fantasy writing. In this story, Burgis introduces magic which springs from the domestic sphere (and perhaps almost from the craft sphere considering these are amatuer drawings). Mara's magic has links to traditionally feminine areas. Burgis' choice to make the home the site of Mara's power, and amateur drawings her method, asks readers to question why magic so often looks a certain way in modern SFF. It's interesting to reflect that while in European history and folk tale magic is so often linked to women and "women's work" (the weavers of fate in Greek mythology, hedge witches, the cookery side of brewing potions etc.), magic drawn from traditionally female spheres can feel hard to find in mainstream, modern fantasy.
And the same can be said of motherhood. It can be difficult to find mothers who even survive in SFF, let alone mothers who are strong because they are mothers. They are there, but they're perhaps not in the mainstream SFF rec lists. Forestofglory has certainly worked hard to highlight, and unearth, more and more of these mothers, and I partly love getting recs from her because I know that often her recs will have interesting things to say about women, mothers, and magic. "Burning Bright" is no exception, as it creates a space for motherhood in fantasy while also talking about family, and encouraging the reader to think about the way magic is typically depicted.
Wednesday
Continuing with the theme of reading quite short, short fiction, I went back to the Robot Dinosaurs online anthology and read "Regarding the Regretful Repercussions of Robot Reptiles" by Michael M. Jones. Two words - hella cute!
Daphne makes a bunch of robot dinosaurs for her girlfriend's birthday, and maybe makes them a little too well. Imagine Jurassic Park's 'nature finds a way' line with more mechanics and less serious consequences. The tone is really fun and playful, with a similar vibe to something like Jodi Taylor's The St. Mary's Chronicles. This is probably one of the most fun stories I've read from the Robot Dinosaur project so far.
Jones' bio mentions that Daphne and Camille appear in a couple of other stories as well. Their backstory sounds like a real sci-fi rom-com romp, and one of the stories is about octopuses so I look forward to checking that out later. Just a quick note that I was a little surprised to see the narrator use the term 'mad scientist' to refer to Daphne, but your mileage may vary on that term.
Thursday
"Lipstick for Villains" by Audrey R. Hollis is yet another flash fiction fantasy story. A witch who can mix powerful makeup flees a series of queens who want to use her magic for evil. She hopes to find a quieter life by setting 'up shop not as a witch, but as a woman, talented in powders and pigments.' Sadly, it's not long before the queen of the new realm finds the narrator and commands her to create makeup that troubles the witch's conscience.
Like "Burning Bright", "Lipstick For Villains" includes magic linked to a traditionally feminine sphere; makeup. It also features a world run by women; queens who are cruel, and who want to use this traditionally feminine magic as a weapon. Hollis never implies that it is the fact that the world is ruled by women, or their decision to use a form of magic with ties to traditional femininity, which makes for such a cruel monarchy. However, I think it's just testament to how much baggage stories about evil queens have to grapple with that I could easily see someone interpreting the story as a cautionary tale about women ruling.
Personally, I don't think "Lipstick For Villains" is about how female power uniquely corrupts absolutely. I think this story's big theme is about the way the powerful, in general, abuse their power, it just happens to be set in a world ruled by women:
A queen born into power, after all, will never rest content with the kingdom she possesses. Every queen wants more. Power gives no satisfaction, only an insatiable hunger. My queen, like all queens, wanted the world. I could not believe she would leave me be.
After all, the witch's magic makes her a powerful woman, and she doesn't set out to harm anyone. In the end, she uses her power to unseat a monarchy. Still, I really wished this story had a longer treatment with more space to develop its themes, even though it was still a thoroughly satisfying piece of flash fiction.
Friday
"Escaping Dr Markoff", written by Gabriela Santiago, was published in The Dark Magazine - a horror magazine I like to dip in and out of, and a place which publishes stories that work really well for me, a reader who flinches at 85% of horror. The stories I've read so far in The Dark tend to be more eerie and atmospheric than gory, or horrifically violent, and the editors have an eye for really different, exciting perspectives and stories.
"Escaping Dr Markoff" is no exception. The first section of the story seems to clearly set out a situation the reader may feel they are very familiar with from old films and stories. The charismatic, handsome man described in dangerous, gothic imagery. The inexperienced assistant in love, or in thrall, to a man who controls her:
You love Dr. Markoff.
You have always loved Dr. Markoff, even before the film began.
He is unlike any man you have ever met. Have you met many other men? It is so difficult to remember. His hair is black as jet. His eyes are as deep as night. When he speaks in his low accented voice you hear red wine being poured slowly into a crystal glass.
“You are only my assistant,” he says. He is a mountain in winter. “Never forget that.”
And the reader may feel they know how this dynamic might be critiqued by a story with feminist leanings, and they may see some of that expected critique as the story progresses. However, they will also see a story which departs from what they might expect in a lot of places; one which brings considerations about race, and queer life into the story, while breaking the fourth wall. The ending, in this context, is wonderful.
I really enjoyed reading this story because of the writing style, which is full of strong imagery, structural play, and has a way of creating a disturbing, intriguing tone by using clipped, short sentences. I feel like it's inevitable that I would come away from this story not entirely sure I knew what was going on as Santiago uses a jumping timeline, and cut scenes, to show that the "true" sense of the story is obscured even from the narrator (if it can be said there is any kind of "true" version at all). Happily, I feel like it's the kind of story where you come away intrigued, rather than frustrated, by all the different threads that are available for you to follow.
By the way, both "Lipstick for Villains" and "Escaping Dr Markoff" were featured in Alex Brown's recent Tor column Must-Read Speculative Short Fiction: March 2020, a post I'll probably keep popping into for recommendations. There's so much short fiction out there, and it really helps me to have round-up posts bookmarked that I can go back to for recommendations.
Ideas for supporting these short fiction authors at this time
You can order books by Stephanie Burgis (Snowspelled, The Dragon With The Chocolate Heart, and others) anywhere online that's still shipping. On a personal note, if you're buying physical books, please support book shops by ordering through their sites, as long as you're sure these shops are able to work safely at this time. Alternatively, Hive and Bookshop.org are set up to pass a portion of profits along to indie book shops.
Maria Haskins has a Patreon.
You can find out more about Michael M. Jones, Audrey R. Hollis, and Garbriella Santiago via their Twitter accounts.
Finally, a great way to support short fiction authors in general is to support the places that publish them. Consider picking up a subscription to a short fiction magazine, or buying an individual issue.
Feel free to use the comments to recommend short stories you'd like to see written about here.
