“Happily Ever Awhile” by Ruth Nestvold
07.31.12
Story 211/366
Her story “Mars: A Traveler’s Guide” was a finalist for the Nebula Award. “Happily Ever Awhile” appeared in Strange Horizons in June of 2005. It’s a story of what happened to Cinderella after she married the Prince. Read it here. Read more about Nestvold on her site.
See you tomorrow!
“Cockatrice Girl meets Statue Boy” by Willow Fagan
07.27.12
Story 207/366
This is the story of a most unusual relationship and Fagan seems to be having a good time playing with his words. (Statue Boy, for example, is not a person turned to stone but a statue come to life and the difference matters.) You can read the story here at Lightspeed Online, where it was published in 2008.
See you tomorrow!
“Gryphon Rider” by Cherith Baldry
07.26.12
Story 206/366
A woman warrior is taken prisoner when her mount, a gryphon with black and copper feathers, is killed in battle. The story is reminiscent of Anne McCaffrey’s Dragon Rider stories except Baldry’s heroine is a lot more bad-ass. The story was written in 1998 and reprinted in 2003. You can read it here on Infinity Plus. You can read an interview with her here.
See you tomorrow!
Sometimes you just run across a story that tickles your funny bone. “Big Alabama and the Chained Refrigerator” is about parents taking drastic measures to help their daughter lose weight, without success. You can read the story here http://www.upthestaircase.org/issue18jamesvalvis.htm
#212 Gilchrist wrote these marvelous stories over five volumes of stores and then collected them here. Rhoda is a handful. In this story, she quits piano lessons but finds, through a recently bereaved widow, she can make lovely music with a martini stirrer and a row of glasses.
A boy learns just what sort of family he has.
“Tumbling Nancy” by Ian R. MacLeod
07.25.12
Story 205/366
This is a hilarious story about an ambitious literary agent, a Big Lie, and the state of publishing. I don’t know MacLeod’s work but having been to his website, am delighted to know he’s written a lot, so I have much to look forward to in discovering his work. “Tumbling Nancy” appeared in the Summer 2012 edition of Subterranean Online Magazine. You can read it here.
See you tomorrow!
“Man Changes Mind” by Jason Armstrong
07.24.12
Story 204/366
An unnamed narrator rambles on about his career plans, seriously considering the pros ad cons of becoming a serial killer. Theh story is from the collection Bad as Fuck. I first read about this collection on Chris Rhatigan’s blog and bought it immediately (it’s only 99 cents) but it took me awhile to get around to reading it. Which is too bad. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
See you tomorrow!
186/366 from the anthology Deadfall (Level Best Books, 2008)
An elderly woman in a bad neighborhood has a gun for protection, and she’ll use it, no matter where the threat comes from.
185/366 from the anthology Deadfall (Level Best Books, 2008)
A man is torn between helping his bank-robber son and doing the right thing. A well-written, heartfelt story.
A short story a day review 