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ladybusinessI cannot thank ![[twitter.com profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/e0caa790ec10/-/twitter.com/favicon.ico)
forestofglory enough for alerting me to Marissa Lingen's work because every time I read a story by her it's such a treat. Each of her stories are so different, and her focus is so wide-ranging that I could easily read a bunch of them back to back.
This month I started with "After the Monster" which is a sharp story about mental illness in SFF stories. 'This is a story where all the crazies live', the opening line of this powerful, direct, quite angry story announces; making a defiant statement by letting the reader know that all the mentally ill characters in this story survive.
The narrator then proceeds to create a space that bucks the fictional trend of killing off mentally ill characters & pushes back against many other fictional tropes found in stories about mental illness. This space is both story & speech. It contains just enough detail to hint at the bones of a fictional story. However it is built with a directness, including one instance of breaking the fourth wall, a structure, and a universality (particularly in its decision not to name any of the people it describes) that makes it read like a rallying cry fit to be delivered on a stage. Either way, it feels designed to allow all kinds of readers to project themselves into this space, and to provide a place that allows people to imagine new stories.
"After the Monster" is tightly & strongly crafted to enhance the raw emotion behind what Lingen is describing. And it is thanks to that precise crafting, and to the use of a structure which at times builds to an intense crescendo and at times slows down to allows the reader to absorb possibilities, that this story hits so hard. The repeated assertion that 'they live' is incredibly powerful on its own, but Lingen also keenly reminds readers that there is an after; a 'what comes next' & that is just as big a deal as the fact that everybody lives. It is a fantastic corrective to the troubled way mental illness is sometimes written in to stories, and a a great way of making direct contact with readers who have been affected by mental illness and those stories.
"Addison and Julia Tell The Truth To Permaquid Beach" is the Marissa Lingen story I read most recently & I so enjoyed this short piece about two young people, adept at seeing the truth, selling their services like other kids sell homemade lemonade. There's a lovely level of small detail that makes this world come alive in the short time the reader visits it. And I really enjoyed the fact that this story shows that truth-telling can be a versatile endeavour; truth doesn't have to be all negative, or the portentous stuff of legendary seers. In fact, the seers would often prefer to give a positive truth. Also, who wouldn't like a story where a dog is blessed with the universal truth that he is a good boy?
"The Family Recipe" by Alexandra Grunberg has an ending I'm a little conflicted about. On my first read, I didn't like the way it changed the story but on my second read I found it intriguing (although still worrying).
The meat of the story is a lovely tale of magic & recipes handed down through the generations, and the story of a happy family shown in small flashes. It's also a story about the evolution of a document; a theme I love but don't see a lot of in fiction. Messy human life interacts with a recipe book as people spill on it, burn it, try to recreate things they've obscured & add their own details to the book.
If you like stories about magic & food I think you'll adore the main bulk of the story. I'd be interested to hear how people feel about the ending though as the story takes a turn towards a darker side of the fantasy genre. I've come around to it as it made me want more (& I think I've said before that I like short fiction where I find I want to know more about the world or what happens next). But the first time I read it I found the threat that hangs around this lively sounding family very upsetting. Please throw your own thoughts in the comments.
Let's finish this Short Business with "Dragon Years" by Juliet Kemp; a delicious story that will appeal to anyone who is still hashtag bitter about Susan getting barred from Narnia, or hates the disappearing door fantasy narrative. In this story a young girl misses her chance at riding away with a dragon, only to be repeatedly offered that chance through the years until as an older woman she is able to take up the adventure. I particularly loved the way the story addresses that one of the "obstacles" to the main character heading off with the dragon is a child. The narrator is described as:
I think that captures the way far-flung adventure & family, or motherhood, can both have an intense pull, and choosing one over the other involves both a loss and a gain. I thought this passage articulated the idea of choices you make yourself as paths to be followed with their own rewards rather than doors to be closed regretfully really well. And that theme is continued by the fact that (small spoiler) the narrator is able to pick up the adventure after her child is away at university because the dragon waits for her. I just loved the idea that magic can be patient and kind.
This month I started with "After the Monster" which is a sharp story about mental illness in SFF stories. 'This is a story where all the crazies live', the opening line of this powerful, direct, quite angry story announces; making a defiant statement by letting the reader know that all the mentally ill characters in this story survive.
The narrator then proceeds to create a space that bucks the fictional trend of killing off mentally ill characters & pushes back against many other fictional tropes found in stories about mental illness. This space is both story & speech. It contains just enough detail to hint at the bones of a fictional story. However it is built with a directness, including one instance of breaking the fourth wall, a structure, and a universality (particularly in its decision not to name any of the people it describes) that makes it read like a rallying cry fit to be delivered on a stage. Either way, it feels designed to allow all kinds of readers to project themselves into this space, and to provide a place that allows people to imagine new stories.
"After the Monster" is tightly & strongly crafted to enhance the raw emotion behind what Lingen is describing. And it is thanks to that precise crafting, and to the use of a structure which at times builds to an intense crescendo and at times slows down to allows the reader to absorb possibilities, that this story hits so hard. The repeated assertion that 'they live' is incredibly powerful on its own, but Lingen also keenly reminds readers that there is an after; a 'what comes next' & that is just as big a deal as the fact that everybody lives. It is a fantastic corrective to the troubled way mental illness is sometimes written in to stories, and a a great way of making direct contact with readers who have been affected by mental illness and those stories.
"Addison and Julia Tell The Truth To Permaquid Beach" is the Marissa Lingen story I read most recently & I so enjoyed this short piece about two young people, adept at seeing the truth, selling their services like other kids sell homemade lemonade. There's a lovely level of small detail that makes this world come alive in the short time the reader visits it. And I really enjoyed the fact that this story shows that truth-telling can be a versatile endeavour; truth doesn't have to be all negative, or the portentous stuff of legendary seers. In fact, the seers would often prefer to give a positive truth. Also, who wouldn't like a story where a dog is blessed with the universal truth that he is a good boy?
"The Family Recipe" by Alexandra Grunberg has an ending I'm a little conflicted about. On my first read, I didn't like the way it changed the story but on my second read I found it intriguing (although still worrying).
The meat of the story is a lovely tale of magic & recipes handed down through the generations, and the story of a happy family shown in small flashes. It's also a story about the evolution of a document; a theme I love but don't see a lot of in fiction. Messy human life interacts with a recipe book as people spill on it, burn it, try to recreate things they've obscured & add their own details to the book.
If you like stories about magic & food I think you'll adore the main bulk of the story. I'd be interested to hear how people feel about the ending though as the story takes a turn towards a darker side of the fantasy genre. I've come around to it as it made me want more (& I think I've said before that I like short fiction where I find I want to know more about the world or what happens next). But the first time I read it I found the threat that hangs around this lively sounding family very upsetting. Please throw your own thoughts in the comments.
Let's finish this Short Business with "Dragon Years" by Juliet Kemp; a delicious story that will appeal to anyone who is still hashtag bitter about Susan getting barred from Narnia, or hates the disappearing door fantasy narrative. In this story a young girl misses her chance at riding away with a dragon, only to be repeatedly offered that chance through the years until as an older woman she is able to take up the adventure. I particularly loved the way the story addresses that one of the "obstacles" to the main character heading off with the dragon is a child. The narrator is described as:
partly regretful, partly not, with no idea which part was larger and no wish to find out. She was here, now. It was what it was.
I think that captures the way far-flung adventure & family, or motherhood, can both have an intense pull, and choosing one over the other involves both a loss and a gain. I thought this passage articulated the idea of choices you make yourself as paths to be followed with their own rewards rather than doors to be closed regretfully really well. And that theme is continued by the fact that (small spoiler) the narrator is able to pick up the adventure after her child is away at university because the dragon waits for her. I just loved the idea that magic can be patient and kind.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-23 04:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-11-13 03:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-11-13 06:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-10-24 04:58 am (UTC)I felt similarly about "The Family Recipe." The thing is, it's such a wonderful story to begin with, and it's saying so much already about the importance of the mundane, and the complicated personal messy way things and memories and feelings get passed down in families, that it almost doesn't need the "twist" ending? It almost feels like a disruption to the very important and loving thematic work the story is doing. I'm still happy this post pointed me towards it, though, and I look forward to reading the rest!
no subject
Date: 2020-11-13 03:58 pm (UTC)Yes, this is a really good way of expressing the issue. I think once you know the twist it becomes easier to accept, but on my first read through I was really thrown off.