“Bird Count” by Jane Yolen
12.20.12
Story 359d/366
I knew Yolen only for her children’s books and this is very much an adult story. The narrator lives with a beautiful man who lives only for birds. And then a hawk as big as a man appears and he has no interest in the bird watcher at all. This story appears in Sirens and Other Demon Lovers, edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling.
See you tomorrow!
“Mirrors” by Garry Kilworth
12.19.12
Story 359c/366
A man awakes in a city not his own and follows neon lights and narrow alleyways to a house of erotic fantasy. And then…it gets strange. This story appears in the anthology Sirens and Other Demon Lovers, edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. I bought my copy of this book from Datlow herself last year when she was having a Christmas clean-out sale. I’ve never been disappointed by one of her anthologies.
See you tomorrow!
“To Feel Another’s Woe” by Chet Williamson
12.04.12
Story 334/366
Sometimes in the theater it’s not enough to just be talented…This story appears in the vampire-themed Blood is Not Enough edited by Ellen Datlow.
See you tomorrow!
“Good Kids” by Edward Bryant
11.30.12
Story 340/366
Four young girls in a group home take on their new night caretaker, a vampire. “Good Kids” appears in Blood is Not Enough, the vampire-themed anthology edited by Ellen Datlow.
See you tomorrow!
“A Flock of Lawn Flamingos” by Pat Murphy
09.13.12
Story 253/366
Patrice Ann “Pat” Murphy is a scientist and a science fiction writer who has won multiple Nebulae (winning for a novel and a novella in the same year). She is co-founder of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award. “A Flock of Lawn Flamingos” is about a battle of wills and balancing order with chaos. It’s delightful. This story was originally published in 1996 as part of the anthology Lethal Kisses edited by Ellen Datlow. You can read it here at brazenhussies.net.
See you tomorrow!
“Time Lapse” by Joe Haldeman
09.08.12
Story 248/366
This is actually a story told in a narrative poem, a tale of loss that morphs into a dark need. It’s really something different from SF author Haldeman, both in form and subject. “Time Lapse” is found in the anthology Blood is Not Enough edited by Ellen Datlow. or more info, check out Haldeman’s web site (Haldeman’s Tangled Web).
See you tomorrow!
“A Sound, Like Angels Singing” by Leonard Rysdyk
09.03.12
Story 243/366
Rysdyk is a 1990 Clarion West graduate and this is the second story he wrote there. He has the smallest Internet footprint of any writer I’ve ever come across. He is a member of Library Thing and GoodReads, but almost all that’s there on his “profile” is a mention that he wrote this story, which appeared in Snow White, Blood Red, an anthology of adult fairy tales edited by Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow. So there’s no bio or picture of the author today. (Even the author’s intro in the book is extremely spare—Rysdyk is clearly a man who relishes his privacy.) This story is short and strange, a reworking of a well-known tale from a very unusual point of view.
See you tomorrow!
“A Child of Darkness” by Susan Casper
09.02.12
Story 242/366
Susan Casper is married to science fiction writer/editor Gardner Dozois and has said in print that she began writing in order to “fit in” with him and also with her writer friends. I couldn’t find a picture of her without Gardner and they look like they’re having a good time in the picture to the left (they were on their way to the Hugos), so today’s author picture is a two for one. “A Child of Darkness” is an odd story about a delusional outsider of a girl who is fascinated by blood nd thinks she’s a vampire. It appeared in Ellen Datlow’s anthology of vampire tales Blood is Not Enough.
See you tomorrow!
“The Sea Was Wet as Wet Could Be” by Gahan Wilson
05.25.12
Story 145/366
This story originally appeared in Playboy Magazine and can best be described as Lewis Carroll fan-fic. It is a riff on “the Walrus and the Carpenter” from Through the Looking Glass,” the story of an alcohol-soaked beach party, a couple of strangers, and one man whohas a bad feeling. It appears in the anthology Blood is Not Enough edited by Ellen Datlow. By the way, if you haven’t read the sequel to Alice in Wonderland, it is available free in one of those stripped-down freebie editions on Kindle.
See you tomorrow!
“The Traveler and the Tale” by Jane Yolen
04.25.12
Story 115/366
Writer/editor Jane Yolen is one of the most prolific writers in speculative fiction. This is a science fiction story told in a style that feels fantastic with a story in a story that’s familiar to anyone who’s ever read a changeling story. It begins when a young woman in 16th century France mistakes a time traveler for the Virgin Mary and what follows is as much a story as it is a reverie about the power of stories to transform. The story appears in the anthology Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears edited by Ellen Datlow and Terry Windling. View her website here.
See you tomorrow!
