Short fiction
Sep. 24th, 2023 07:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nineveh_ukWith the exception of He Who Drowned the World, and even that will need a re-read, I have not been up for epic volumes lately. My recent purchase of The Priory of the Orange Tree remains unread at 800 pages. However, among the shorter things are some of of note.
(1) The Summer Book, by Tove Jansson. This has been on my shelf for years - twenty years? - a second-hand copy that somehow it was never quite the right moment for. That came a fortnight ago when the weather was boiling and I was exhausted and the meditative routine of grandmother and granddaughter on an island in the Finnish archipelago was perfect. Beautiful descriptions, a thoroughly convincing six-ish year old, and exquisitely-written. Though the modern version would involve a lot less weighing down your rubbish before you sank it, and more recycling. One day I'll get round to the Moomins.
(2) The Empress of Salt and Fortune, by Nghi Vo. Jianghu-set novella of a wandering cleric collecting stories in ancient not!China, this one told by a former womanservant of the titular Empress. Light world-building, there is fantasy (including a talking bird), but not much made of it. Rather the story lies in the smaller details of people and objects, and a narrative that achieves the sort of 'timeless fable effect' without being either dull or hokey. I'll certainly read the others in the sequence.
(3) Dear Enemy, by Jean Webster. A sort-of sequel to Daddy Long-Legs, in which one of Judy's friends becomes manager of the orphanage, there is much that is light and entertaining about it. Unfortunately, this one is a true curate's egg, and the obsession with eugenics is surely a large part of why it is obscure today - a fun style and deft characterization does not make up for the feeling of "yuck" about the ultimate worldview. Also, I feel the previous superintendent is rather hard done-by - unimaginative she may have been, but it's a lot easier to provide children with better food etc on twice the budget. There's a different book there that I'd like to read - what does the highly-educated daughter of the upper/upper-middle class do with her time while she's waiting for the marriage for which she is presumably destined, or even after it? Glimpses of that pervade.
(4) Bloodchild, by Octavia Butler. Human/alien parasitic centipede dubcon mpreg. What price is fair to exact from the descendants of the human would-have-been-colonisers of the alien world? I would love to read more Butler, but I don't think I've a strong enough stomach for the body horror. I might manage the vampire one, but Xenogenesis is almost certainly beyond me. A shame, because even in such a short story, you can see her strength as a writer.
(1) The Summer Book, by Tove Jansson. This has been on my shelf for years - twenty years? - a second-hand copy that somehow it was never quite the right moment for. That came a fortnight ago when the weather was boiling and I was exhausted and the meditative routine of grandmother and granddaughter on an island in the Finnish archipelago was perfect. Beautiful descriptions, a thoroughly convincing six-ish year old, and exquisitely-written. Though the modern version would involve a lot less weighing down your rubbish before you sank it, and more recycling. One day I'll get round to the Moomins.
(2) The Empress of Salt and Fortune, by Nghi Vo. Jianghu-set novella of a wandering cleric collecting stories in ancient not!China, this one told by a former womanservant of the titular Empress. Light world-building, there is fantasy (including a talking bird), but not much made of it. Rather the story lies in the smaller details of people and objects, and a narrative that achieves the sort of 'timeless fable effect' without being either dull or hokey. I'll certainly read the others in the sequence.
(3) Dear Enemy, by Jean Webster. A sort-of sequel to Daddy Long-Legs, in which one of Judy's friends becomes manager of the orphanage, there is much that is light and entertaining about it. Unfortunately, this one is a true curate's egg, and the obsession with eugenics is surely a large part of why it is obscure today - a fun style and deft characterization does not make up for the feeling of "yuck" about the ultimate worldview. Also, I feel the previous superintendent is rather hard done-by - unimaginative she may have been, but it's a lot easier to provide children with better food etc on twice the budget. There's a different book there that I'd like to read - what does the highly-educated daughter of the upper/upper-middle class do with her time while she's waiting for the marriage for which she is presumably destined, or even after it? Glimpses of that pervade.
(4) Bloodchild, by Octavia Butler. Human/alien parasitic centipede dubcon mpreg. What price is fair to exact from the descendants of the human would-have-been-colonisers of the alien world? I would love to read more Butler, but I don't think I've a strong enough stomach for the body horror. I might manage the vampire one, but Xenogenesis is almost certainly beyond me. A shame, because even in such a short story, you can see her strength as a writer.
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Date: 2023-10-03 06:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-10-04 12:50 pm (UTC)I can only hope that Sophie's dad is overwhelmed by his wife's death and burying himself in work, but will improve. Maybe.