Stories! Curses and gifts

[sonia]

The Witch’s Child by rubynye, minoanmiss. "Someone — I’ve never known their name — cried it out that on our fair island of Ecoushia, a witch’s child would bring down the castle." I love the writing in this and the way the story flows. I've been arguing with self-fulfilling prophecies since I read Oedipus in school, but that doesn't make this story any less well-crafted.

Cursed Motives by Marissa Lingen, mrissa. A short story of hers I hadn't seen before, from 2012.

It reminded her of her cousin Tur, who would never be the Imperial heir because the Electors found him too pompous. This was not like Safy, who would almost definitely never be the Imperial heir because the Electors found her too frivolous.

The only thing that was really unsatisfactory about the situation, Safy reflected, was that she had no opportunities to use her great gift, which was the laying of curses. It seemed rude to complain about that, since the entertainment, the company, the scenery, and the food were first-rate.

The Thing, With Feathers by Marissa Lingen, mrissa. A more recent one, that I had read before and still like, about a grimly determined lighthouse keeper. The ending made me wistful.

The Badger’s Digestion; or The First First-Hand Description of Deneskan Beastcraft by an Aouwan Researcher by Malka Older. The pompous voice at the beginning almost put me off, but it was worth continuing. A story about shifting perspectives.

Comments

[asakiyume]

Oh I'm glad you ended up liking the Malka Older one--I agree it was a little hard to enter, but once in, how imaginative! I really enjoyed it. I haven't read the others; looking forward to reading them.

[sonia]

Did you recommend that one? Happy to give credit. I open tabs and then lose track of where I found them. I think the distant voice at the beginning was part of the point, but maybe a little too well done.

[asakiyume]

I don't remember myself if it was me--if it was, no need to credit me; the fun is in seeing other people read it and have opinions and talk about it :-)

[minoanmiss]

"The Thing With Feathers" was so gorgeous. Thank you for pointing us to it.

[sonia]

Isn't it? Glad you liked. And thank you for your lovely story!

[runpunkrun]

Thanks for the links! I especially enjoyed Lingen's Cursed Motives.

[sonia]

Glad you liked! I'm the layers in Lingen's short story titles, too.