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A mixture
Choose what you're in the mood for and what you'd like to avoid.
My story "The Bee Wife
I'm just about ready to release "The Bee Wife"--I'm hoping to have it out in the world by the end of the month. Here is how the cover looks now, with the title on:
Briefest story summary: A swarm of bees tries to console a grief-stricken beekeeper.
Heard and seen in the woods behind my house
In the deep night, the coyotes yipping and singing. What a haunted, beautiful sound.
In the morning, a deer nosing through the leaves to find something green and tender to eat.
A grimmer find in other woods
There's some open woods nearby--not big at all, but big enough to have a couple of sizable hills--and I was walking there yesterday, off the trail, and I came upon a sagging bright-red tarp strung between trees, and other wadded-up cloth and stuff underneath, all with an abandoned feel (I think the tarp had a tear in it). It radiated trouble-misery-death.
... A month or so ago there were helicopters hovering over these woods for two days, and dog teams and cops, searching for a young man reported missing. A body was eventually recovered.
I couldn't help but think this was where that man was found. That was precisely the psychic energy the spot was giving off.
A fun moment from the public elementary schools of Japan
The ninja girl, who teaches English in the public schools in Japan, was in the staff room, and the science teacher showed her a teeny tiny scrap of paper, folded over, with teeny tiny writing on it.
"What's this?" she asked.
"I told the students I was going to be collecting the notes they took in class today, but one student forgot his notebook. I said he'd have to borrow a piece of paper from a classmate ... but apparently he just tore off a tiny scrap of paper. These are his notes."
some recent microfictions
for the word project
Marina was always projecting herself onto other things-- the sad-looking signal box, for example, or the stoic crow.
This made her an ideal target for psychic cowbirds. Ordinary cowbirds are nest parasites. Psychic cowbirds are consciousness parasites--but they can only take hold if the original consciousness is elsewhere. Marina always struggled to evict the cowbirds, so you never knew when you were talking to real Marina and when you were talking to cowbird Marina.
for the word root
"We're covering roots in class today," said Temis, miming a noose around her neck.
"Math class? Or botany?" asked Ignis.
Temis yanked the invisible noose. "Neither. Doctrine class. 'What are the three heroic roots? Martyrdom, which is the root of Glory; Tenacity, which is the root of Victory; and Strength, with is at the root of Power.' And then there are the Illuminating Roots, the Sublime Roots, the Fortunate Roots--on & on! I don't want any more roots--I want wings!"
for the word sake
Right before the execution they came with a strip of black cloth to blindfold Djez, the condemned man.
"For whose sake is this?" Djez demanded. "Because if it's for me, I don't need it. And if it's for you, I'll tell you what you already know: that you're cowards afraid to look into the eyes of the man you're murdering."
Thus goaded, they left the blindfold off, and forever after were haunted by Djez's gaze, staring at them even as he crumpled under the hail of bullets.
I'm just about ready to release "The Bee Wife"--I'm hoping to have it out in the world by the end of the month. Here is how the cover looks now, with the title on:
Briefest story summary: A swarm of bees tries to console a grief-stricken beekeeper.
In the deep night, the coyotes yipping and singing. What a haunted, beautiful sound.
In the morning, a deer nosing through the leaves to find something green and tender to eat.
There's some open woods nearby--not big at all, but big enough to have a couple of sizable hills--and I was walking there yesterday, off the trail, and I came upon a sagging bright-red tarp strung between trees, and other wadded-up cloth and stuff underneath, all with an abandoned feel (I think the tarp had a tear in it). It radiated trouble-misery-death.
... A month or so ago there were helicopters hovering over these woods for two days, and dog teams and cops, searching for a young man reported missing. A body was eventually recovered.
I couldn't help but think this was where that man was found. That was precisely the psychic energy the spot was giving off.
The ninja girl, who teaches English in the public schools in Japan, was in the staff room, and the science teacher showed her a teeny tiny scrap of paper, folded over, with teeny tiny writing on it.
"What's this?" she asked.
"I told the students I was going to be collecting the notes they took in class today, but one student forgot his notebook. I said he'd have to borrow a piece of paper from a classmate ... but apparently he just tore off a tiny scrap of paper. These are his notes."
for the word project
Marina was always projecting herself onto other things-- the sad-looking signal box, for example, or the stoic crow.
This made her an ideal target for psychic cowbirds. Ordinary cowbirds are nest parasites. Psychic cowbirds are consciousness parasites--but they can only take hold if the original consciousness is elsewhere. Marina always struggled to evict the cowbirds, so you never knew when you were talking to real Marina and when you were talking to cowbird Marina.
for the word root
"We're covering roots in class today," said Temis, miming a noose around her neck.
"Math class? Or botany?" asked Ignis.
Temis yanked the invisible noose. "Neither. Doctrine class. 'What are the three heroic roots? Martyrdom, which is the root of Glory; Tenacity, which is the root of Victory; and Strength, with is at the root of Power.' And then there are the Illuminating Roots, the Sublime Roots, the Fortunate Roots--on & on! I don't want any more roots--I want wings!"
for the word sake
Right before the execution they came with a strip of black cloth to blindfold Djez, the condemned man.
"For whose sake is this?" Djez demanded. "Because if it's for me, I don't need it. And if it's for you, I'll tell you what you already know: that you're cowards afraid to look into the eyes of the man you're murdering."
Thus goaded, they left the blindfold off, and forever after were haunted by Djez's gaze, staring at them even as he crumpled under the hail of bullets.
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The micro fictions are all gripping, especially that first one.
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Woah.
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Some totally optional Qs that occurred to me:
I'm also curious re whether the story of Djez was inspired by recent news from Idaho &/or South Carolina.
And I hope that the sadness of the spot in the woods fades from the place and from your memory. I wonder if leaving a small gift for his spirit might help. And I wish the people who found the body had cleaned up the other things you found. I wonder why they didn't...
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The tarp in the woods... Gosh, if that was where the young man's body was found, you'd think they'd clear away the tarp and things... But I guess not. A strange memorial that almost no one will see.
That third microfiction is haunting.
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I believe you about the site you found. The day after the knifings at the Hollywood MAX station in Portland in 2017, I went to the Hollywood Farmers' Market, and felt an unfamiliar silent ringing of tension in the air. Then I remember what had happened just a block away. I wonder if you found the young man's camp, but he died elsewhere?
You're right, odd that no one has cleaned that up. If it felt right, you could choose to do that... At the Hollywood Transit Center, Sarah Farahat (the sister of a friend) painted a beautiful beautiful tribute on the stairs to get to the station.
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I'd like to think and hope the encampment was an abandoned kids' hangout. If officials had had to remove a man's body there would have been lots of footprints and disturbed ground there too.
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It looks wonderful. Thank you for the rest of all of these snapshots, even the scarred-earth one.
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hugs you warmly
Micronotes, hee!
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