Short Business: Even More Magical Cats
Jan. 26th, 2021 11:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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ladybusinessI hope everyone is enjoying my focus on softer stories with happy endings because it is not about to stop. I would love to see more of these types of stories make it into the SFF awards lists this year but even if that doesn't happen I hope writing these posts is helping to make some of my favourite stories more visible.
Monday
I started the week with "Texts from the Ghost Wars" by Alex Yuschik, a story recommended to me by![[twitter.com profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/e0caa790ec10/-/twitter.com/favicon.ico)
willowcabins and, oh, it was a delight. It's written as a series of texts between Five, a mech pilot, and Hyeon, the second son of an extremely important, wealthy family which kick off as Hyeon tries to keep Five from damaging his roses. Unaware that the texts come from a member of the prestigious House of Seven Sparrows Sleeping, and sure the texts come from a colleague, Five has some rather choice words to relay. Their relationship builds from there. Hyeon starts texting Five when he's bored, or drunk, or in need of help. Five, initially annoyed, inadvertently starts schooling Hyeon on the realities of a life spent fighting the 'ghost war', and eventually starts sharing personal parts of their life with less anger.
I like short fiction that uses particular formats, like lists, to build a story structure, and I found the idea of writing this whole story in text conversations really interesting, and impressive. Yuschik finds solid reasons for each text conversation to take place, and creates situations that resonate as realistic; even managing to write the biggest action scene of the story entirely in texts. This could have felt awkward and less realistic, but instead feels well thought out especially as the pair have by that point grown so used to communicating all their thoughts in texts. And I thought the world-building was detailed, and well communicated to the reader; especially considering that it's all built in brief text messages.
"Texts from the Ghost Wars" is also funny (the drunk texting scene was so good), and sweetly romantic. For anyone who really needs to know everything works out ok in stories right now, trust that everything works out ok here for Hyeon and Five (who I believe is a non-binary character).
Tuesday
As Maria Haskins said in her recommendation for "Open 27 Hours" by LP Kindred 'prepare to be hungry'. This story is about the experience of being magically returned to a childhood food memory. Yanese is searching for a specific dish, 'Nobavgo casserole', which is the last dish she ate with her mother, but no one has ever heard of it. Until, that is, Yanese's friend Citrine hears about her memory, and directs her to the magical restaurant outside of time and space where the dish is served. I thought this story was extremely well-built because it's not just the themes, or the description of the food, or the underlying sci-fi concept that makes this story; all the little bits work in harmony to create a world the reader wants to inhabit for a little while.
Wednesday
I'm continuing to follow up on forestofglory's recommendations from our cosy SFF fiction post, so this week I read "The March on Heartful" by Lynn O'Connacht this week. This story about a charity walking race, and the connections one participant makes along the way, feels so original. There's a strong emphasis on including a strong cast of different fantastical beings, and on developing the main character's background and culture throughout the story from the beginning where they set up a stage for traditional storytelling to near the end where they joint call their extended family. I enjoyed the focus on community and support that rises off this story. And I thought the fact that O'Connacht managed to communicate the idea that an experience can be both enjoyable and worthwhile, and real hard work was smart.
Thursday
"Magnificent Maurice, or the Flowers of Immortality" by Rati Mehrotra is a great story for anyone who has been enjoying my recent forays into reading about magical cats. If you enjoyed "The Cat Lady and the Petitioner" or "A Star Without Shine" you'll love "Magnificent Maurice, or the Flowers of Immortality". Maurice lives with a witch and guards a tree whose flowers contain galaxies. He's fiercely protective of his job, but he's also getting on in years. Maurice is determined to die on the job, using his one last life to save the tree, but the witch wants him to retire and has adopted new kittens in an effort to help Maurice. One particularly persistent kitten named Buttercup is the bane of Maurice's life.
"Magnificent Maurice, or the Flowers of Immortality" is a really interesting mix of a story because not only does it detail Maurice's life, and his struggle with the kittens, it also pops off occasionally to look at the details of certain flower galaxies so there's some macro worldbuilding thrown into the story pot as well. There's also an action sequence towards the end for readers who like a good helping of plot with their lovely stories about magical cats. More recommendations for stories about magical cats would be appreciated.
Friday
I finished up the week with "Southside Gods" by Sarah Grey. This piece of flash-fiction, about gods committed to ordinary tasks which keep their territory in balance, was definitely built around an interesting concept. However, as with a lot of city fantasy, part of me feels like I would have gotten more from this story if I knew the area the gods are from. Like I said though, the idea of bringing the gods of elements to life, and setting them up to keep dishwashers and air-conditioning going, is a really interesting main concept. And I liked the epic feel of Oretga's energy.
Monday
I started the week with "Texts from the Ghost Wars" by Alex Yuschik, a story recommended to me by
I like short fiction that uses particular formats, like lists, to build a story structure, and I found the idea of writing this whole story in text conversations really interesting, and impressive. Yuschik finds solid reasons for each text conversation to take place, and creates situations that resonate as realistic; even managing to write the biggest action scene of the story entirely in texts. This could have felt awkward and less realistic, but instead feels well thought out especially as the pair have by that point grown so used to communicating all their thoughts in texts. And I thought the world-building was detailed, and well communicated to the reader; especially considering that it's all built in brief text messages.
"Texts from the Ghost Wars" is also funny (the drunk texting scene was so good), and sweetly romantic. For anyone who really needs to know everything works out ok in stories right now, trust that everything works out ok here for Hyeon and Five (who I believe is a non-binary character).
Tuesday
As Maria Haskins said in her recommendation for "Open 27 Hours" by LP Kindred 'prepare to be hungry'. This story is about the experience of being magically returned to a childhood food memory. Yanese is searching for a specific dish, 'Nobavgo casserole', which is the last dish she ate with her mother, but no one has ever heard of it. Until, that is, Yanese's friend Citrine hears about her memory, and directs her to the magical restaurant outside of time and space where the dish is served. I thought this story was extremely well-built because it's not just the themes, or the description of the food, or the underlying sci-fi concept that makes this story; all the little bits work in harmony to create a world the reader wants to inhabit for a little while.
Wednesday
I'm continuing to follow up on forestofglory's recommendations from our cosy SFF fiction post, so this week I read "The March on Heartful" by Lynn O'Connacht this week. This story about a charity walking race, and the connections one participant makes along the way, feels so original. There's a strong emphasis on including a strong cast of different fantastical beings, and on developing the main character's background and culture throughout the story from the beginning where they set up a stage for traditional storytelling to near the end where they joint call their extended family. I enjoyed the focus on community and support that rises off this story. And I thought the fact that O'Connacht managed to communicate the idea that an experience can be both enjoyable and worthwhile, and real hard work was smart.
Thursday
"Magnificent Maurice, or the Flowers of Immortality" by Rati Mehrotra is a great story for anyone who has been enjoying my recent forays into reading about magical cats. If you enjoyed "The Cat Lady and the Petitioner" or "A Star Without Shine" you'll love "Magnificent Maurice, or the Flowers of Immortality". Maurice lives with a witch and guards a tree whose flowers contain galaxies. He's fiercely protective of his job, but he's also getting on in years. Maurice is determined to die on the job, using his one last life to save the tree, but the witch wants him to retire and has adopted new kittens in an effort to help Maurice. One particularly persistent kitten named Buttercup is the bane of Maurice's life.
"Magnificent Maurice, or the Flowers of Immortality" is a really interesting mix of a story because not only does it detail Maurice's life, and his struggle with the kittens, it also pops off occasionally to look at the details of certain flower galaxies so there's some macro worldbuilding thrown into the story pot as well. There's also an action sequence towards the end for readers who like a good helping of plot with their lovely stories about magical cats. More recommendations for stories about magical cats would be appreciated.
Friday
I finished up the week with "Southside Gods" by Sarah Grey. This piece of flash-fiction, about gods committed to ordinary tasks which keep their territory in balance, was definitely built around an interesting concept. However, as with a lot of city fantasy, part of me feels like I would have gotten more from this story if I knew the area the gods are from. Like I said though, the idea of bringing the gods of elements to life, and setting them up to keep dishwashers and air-conditioning going, is a really interesting main concept. And I liked the epic feel of Oretga's energy.
