A brilliant weaving of a tale, one that deserves to be memorized and told to children at bedtime. Or perhaps around a campfire far from the pollution of electronic wattage, making it impossible to see the beauty of the full night sky. This is why I adore Substack - the creativity is so fresh it’s like an outdoor farmers market when the crops are first starting to bear their delicious fruits, except here you have an endless selection of knowledge, whimsical tales, and speculations on the current state of our world.
Oh goodness, I’ve made myself hungry for unprocessed, non-preserved fruits and veggies.
Thank you for sharing your talents once again. 😌🌕🌙
Thank you for reading. Flash fiction is haaard, but fun, and I'm glad you enjoyed it. Do you remember the film Stardust? I remember reading the book and being swept along, because stars are magical, even if they are giant balls of gas.
Looks like a good story you know. I'm going to have a look for it here. Seems to only take me to US amazon via goodreads. I didn't know about the Tolkein poem. I always forget he wrote other things than the obvious trio, the Silmarillion and The Hobbit 😄
Thank you, Liz. I kept shaving it down and thinking 'ok, what really matters here?' and we need that pain of love. There's something reassuring about it.
This one is rich, in description, in feeling, in depth. The moon, as a person, is mysterious, a being and not a being. Read, and reread. Thank you for the story!
Totally. And I am guessing it can’t be that long until you have enough of your shorter fiction for a collection? I think you should definitely consider that if you haven’t already. And of course if you have sections within the collection/anthology, then one of them can be these fairytales. That would definitely work.
Oh, you think I could add more to the same collection? I was thinking I'd have to have a fairytale collection, and then publish the other stories in horror/sci fi collections separately. That might actually work. I don't know where to put things like The Shabti. I thought that would have to go in its own book with Six Geese a-laying. Doing collections is hard! Harder than a novel. What goes in? Why? Why not?
It is a good question of course - it probably is best to have a sort of theme for a collection, even if that theme is quite loose.
But I do think two or three themed sections would also work. Perhaps in the end it will depend on how many words for each theme (or genre, even) you have. My Immigration Control collection for example is about 100k or so, but it’s split into three sections. So if you make it proper book length (let’s say min. 60k) then it would be ok to have, say, 3 sections of 20k each. It would be a great intro to your work, and people can dip in and out sort of thing. Especially if people read stuff while they’re commuting and stuff like that. From a certain point of view, it’s not just a collectible for your fans, but it’s also a great and accessible introduction to your work.
Mind you - bear in mind I am the most useless person in the world when it comes to promotion and marketing.
You're not. You have some valuable insight. I think the sampler is quite good. Even if people don't usually read horror, they might still read my horror if they like my sci fi, and so on. It would be hard to market because it doesn't have a clear category or subcategory, but looser themes are still worth exploring. Thanks Evelyn.
A brilliant weaving of a tale, one that deserves to be memorized and told to children at bedtime. Or perhaps around a campfire far from the pollution of electronic wattage, making it impossible to see the beauty of the full night sky. This is why I adore Substack - the creativity is so fresh it’s like an outdoor farmers market when the crops are first starting to bear their delicious fruits, except here you have an endless selection of knowledge, whimsical tales, and speculations on the current state of our world.
Oh goodness, I’ve made myself hungry for unprocessed, non-preserved fruits and veggies.
Thank you for sharing your talents once again. 😌🌕🌙
Thank you for the kind supportive words, Meg. I love the organic culture of substack, too. I know what you mean.
This is absolutely delightful
aching and beautiful and mystical.
really well done.
reads like a timeless fairy tale
and even betternon the 2nd read when you understand the clues.
Thanks Hanna ☺️
Thank you for reading. Flash fiction is haaard, but fun, and I'm glad you enjoyed it. Do you remember the film Stardust? I remember reading the book and being swept along, because stars are magical, even if they are giant balls of gas.
Loved this!
Thank you ❤️
Reminds me of Tolkien’s poem “The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon” and an obscure little book by Steven Bauer called Satyrday.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1605608.Satyrday
Looks like a good story you know. I'm going to have a look for it here. Seems to only take me to US amazon via goodreads. I didn't know about the Tolkein poem. I always forget he wrote other things than the obvious trio, the Silmarillion and The Hobbit 😄
Gorgeous!
Thank you, Steve. Have a lovely weekend.
Oh, Hanna! This is so painfully beautiful! A fairy tale to squeeze the heart, a little spice of terror, the pain of love. It is perfect!
Thank you, Liz. I kept shaving it down and thinking 'ok, what really matters here?' and we need that pain of love. There's something reassuring about it.
This one is rich, in description, in feeling, in depth. The moon, as a person, is mysterious, a being and not a being. Read, and reread. Thank you for the story!
Thank you so much. I'm glad you enjoyed it 😃
lovely indeed!
Thank you. Have a lovely day!
This one is just lovely...
Thanks, Evelyn. I am addicted to fairy tales at the moment. Glad you're here riding this wave of enthusiasm with me.
Totally. And I am guessing it can’t be that long until you have enough of your shorter fiction for a collection? I think you should definitely consider that if you haven’t already. And of course if you have sections within the collection/anthology, then one of them can be these fairytales. That would definitely work.
Oh, you think I could add more to the same collection? I was thinking I'd have to have a fairytale collection, and then publish the other stories in horror/sci fi collections separately. That might actually work. I don't know where to put things like The Shabti. I thought that would have to go in its own book with Six Geese a-laying. Doing collections is hard! Harder than a novel. What goes in? Why? Why not?
It is a good question of course - it probably is best to have a sort of theme for a collection, even if that theme is quite loose.
But I do think two or three themed sections would also work. Perhaps in the end it will depend on how many words for each theme (or genre, even) you have. My Immigration Control collection for example is about 100k or so, but it’s split into three sections. So if you make it proper book length (let’s say min. 60k) then it would be ok to have, say, 3 sections of 20k each. It would be a great intro to your work, and people can dip in and out sort of thing. Especially if people read stuff while they’re commuting and stuff like that. From a certain point of view, it’s not just a collectible for your fans, but it’s also a great and accessible introduction to your work.
Mind you - bear in mind I am the most useless person in the world when it comes to promotion and marketing.
You're not. You have some valuable insight. I think the sampler is quite good. Even if people don't usually read horror, they might still read my horror if they like my sci fi, and so on. It would be hard to market because it doesn't have a clear category or subcategory, but looser themes are still worth exploring. Thanks Evelyn.
Nice one :-)
Thanks, Helen. ♥
I’m one of those who can’t read graphic horror, but this is lovely.
Excellent first line. Excellent ending line. Rock on
P.S. - The in-between parts are also excellent