Asakiyume mita

When I first came online in 2006 and fell in with the SFF... H writing community, a name that kept on coming up was Ellen Datlow's. I became aware that she was an editor and that she published best-of anthologies. I used to whisper her name to myself with strong emphasis on the first syllable of her surname. Ellen DATlow, Ellen DATlow...

Nothing of mine ever ended up in a best-of anthology, but it's okay--other good things came my way.

Then this afternoon, Vanessa Fogg (a writer I love; her novella The Lilies of Dawn was published by the same small press that published my Tales of the Polity) mentioned that a poem of mine was on Ellen Datlow's long-list of recommendations for Best Horror No. 14. I thought, Vanessa must be wrong. I haven't written a poem in a thousand years, and I don't write horror.

But my friends, she wasn't wrong! It was a poem I had written in December 2020 (so, indeed: a thousand years ago) that was published in Not One of Us in 2021. I had to go back and find the poem and read it--then it all came back to me.

I've been feeling pretty resigned about my writing's lack of reach (not depressed, just, well, that's how things are<--that sort of feeling), so this was a welcome surprise. 2006 me would be dancing around, saying Ellen DATlow! Ellen DATlow in a spirit of affirmation!

...I guess I write horror after all!

A lot of what we saw and learned in the Amazon is taking me a while to digest because it's filtered through Spanish: I scribbled things down that people told me, but now in slow time I have to check what I wrote, find out if I heard things correctly and understood them correctly.

I just discovered a wonderful thing. While we were in Puerto Nariño (the other major town, other than Leticia, in the Colombian Amazon)--a town, incidentally, with a large number of Tikuna (Magüta) residents, including our guide that day, Edgar--we heard some birds singing, birds that Edgar told us were called paucares. "They imitate the sounds of other birds. Like just now, they're imitating oropendola birds." He pointed to long, hanging nests up in a tree. "They make those nests, and when they're finished with them, people like to use them for decorations."



(Pretty terrible photo; I must have been shooting into the sun)

"Because they're such clever imitators, indigenous people used to [or still do--I didn't catch the tense on this] feed their children the brains of the bird, so the children would grow up smart too, like the bird," he said.

I wanted to chase down what bird this is in English/Latin nomenclature, and lo and behold, it is the very bird that I picked for Káurë New Day to be named after in my story "New Day Dawning." I picked the bird because it was pretty and because I could find the Tikuna/Magüta name for it--and it turns out to be a very significant bird!

For example: we also learned that clans among the Tikuna/Magüta are divided among those with feathers and those without (traditionally, if you were in a clan with feathers, you could only marry someone from a clan without, and vice versa--this is not so much the case nowadays). I knew one of the feathered clans was the garza (Spanish word, not Magüta word), or heron, but it turns out paucar is another!

So Káurë New Day's name has all this extra resonance now--and I got to hear some of their namesake birds!

Another paucar story, popular in Peru: a little boy who loves spreading rumors and gossip about people is turned into a chatty bird--the first paucar. As a paucar, he continues spreading stories, but according to this version of the story, "Con el correr de los años, este pajarraco se ha convertido solo en anunciador de buenas noticias, de tal manera que cuando canta, la gente dice que algo bueno va a ocurrir"--over the years he takes to spreading only good news, so that people say that when he sings, something good will happen.

You can listen to another version of the story here (5-minute video in Spanish), and if you jump to 3:59, you can see káurë's familiar and pretty form. In this version too, he switches to spreading good news, so that seems to be the reputation of the bird.

This all makes me very happy!

These questions are a mix of Tetun and English. Where they're in Tetun (probably riddled with errors), I've supplied English, but I haven't attempted to translate my English-language questions into Tetun. Similarly, where Nando answered in Tetun, I've translated the answers into English, but where he answered in English, I haven't ventured a translation. Ha'u husu deskulpa tanba la bele tradús hotu ba Tetun 😓

Nando da Costa Pires


Nando da Costa Pires is the author of "Mr. Mau Leki Meets an Eel," which you can read here.

(Nando da Costa Pires mak hakerek na'in "Sr. Mau Leki Hetán Majiku Husu Tuna," ne'ebe mak bele lee iha ne'e (okos).)

I asked him some questions ...

Can you tell us about reading when you were growing up in Ainaro?

Tuir ha’u nia hanoin kona ba reading iha Ainaro ladun le’e livru barak tanba livre ba le’e la to.

(According to my view, many in Ainaro didn’t read books because books were not available for all, but some people did find a way to read books.)

When I was a child, I didn’t read any books because I didn’t have any. Sometimes I asked other people to show me some to help me do my homework, and sometimes I borrowed my friends’ books to read.

When you were a child, what things did you do each day?

When I came back from school each day, I spent my time helping my family a lot on the farm.

Follow-up Question:
Bainhira Alin Nando sei ki’ik oinsa mak ajuda ita-nia familia iha to’os?

(When you were little, how did you help your family on the farm?)

Wainhira hau sei kiik, hau ajuda hau nia familia mak hanesan hamoos duut ou kuru bee lori ba hau nia inan aman hemu no hili ai hodi tein ba meiudia sira han.

(When I was little, I helped my family by doing things like weeding, or fetching water for my parents to drink and gathering wood to cook everyone’s midday meal.)

In school, what subjects did you like? Were there any subjects that you did not like?

In my school, I liked math and science. The subject I didn’t like was talking about politics.

You told me that your grandmother told you the story of Mr. Mau Leki and the eel. Did she tell you many other stories?

Nia konta istória só iha tempu espesiál ka beibeik ka?

(Did she tell stories only on special occasions or all the time?)

When I was a child, my grandmother told me many stories. She would tell me stories two times a month, or sometimes three times a month.

Who else in your family told stories?

My parent and my uncle (my father’s brother).

You told me “istória nee realidade akontese duni” (“this story really happened”).
Ha’u fiar ita, tanba mundu ne’e misteriozu no buat hotu (ema, animal, ai-hun, rai, lalehan, klamar) mak ligadu malu

(I believe you because this world is mysterious, and everything (people, animals, trees, earth, heaven, spirits) is connected to each other.)

So, I want to ask: What important things do stories like this one teach us?

(Istória hanesan ne’e hanorin ba ita buat importante saida?)

Istória nia importante mak hanorin mai ita atu kuidadu ita nia natureza sira, no karik ita hetan milagre husi natureza nia forsa, ita bele uza forsa ne’e bele tulun fali ita nia maluk sira ne'ebé presiza ita nia ajuda.

(This story’s importance is that it teaches us to take care of our natural world, and that if we obtain miracles from the forces of nature, we can use that power to help our families and friends when they need our help.)

Liu husi istória ne’e ema bele hadomi liu tan sira nia ambiente.

(Through this story, people can come to love their environment more.)

Hanorin ami atu oinsá atu ajuda ema seluk, karik sira presiza ita nia tulun.

(It teaches us how to help other people, if they need our help.)

Follow-up question:
Alin Nando dehan, “karik ita hetan milagre husi natureza nia forsa, ita bele uza forsa ne’e bele tulun fali ita nia maluk sira ne'ebé presiza ita nia ajuda.” Alin Nando rasik iha esperiensia ne’e?

(You said, “if we obtain miracles from nature’s power, we can use that power to help our families and friends when they need our help.” Have you yourself had that experience?)

Iha, tanba hau nia avo hetan duni milagre balun husi natureza tanba nia kura duni ema balun ne’ebé hetan moras no nia tana hodi siik ema nia moras no nia fo aimoruk tradisional ba ema moras nee.

I have, because my grandfather has indeed experienced various miracles from nature, because he has truly cured a number of people who were sick, and he performs divinations in order to understand people’s illnesses, and he gives traditional medicine to these sick people.

Is this the first time you have ever written a story?

Yes. It is the first time for me to write a story.

Do you read many stories? If yes, what types of story do you like?

Yes, I do read stories, but not many. I read some stories in Tetun from Revista Lafaek.

In your opinion, what is the difference between reading a story and listening to someone tell a story?

In my opinion, reading stories improves our comprehension about the things the story is talking about. We learn something from the story, and we come to know about interesting places. And also, we can read the story to our family.

In my opinion, when we listen to someone tell a story, we must listen carefully to the person so that we can understand the meaning of the story.


You studied math at university and now help students learn math. What methods do you use?

Yes. My experience is this: first I must prepare worksheets for the students, and then give them some examples and explain it to them. I must give exercises for student do in the class, and then I must check if they understand how to do it. And I must give them homework to reinforce what I taught, and later I must check their homework.

Follow-up question:
Kona-ba estudante ita-nian: sira-nia idade saida?

(About your students: what are their ages?)

Kona-ba estudante sira nia idade husi idade 8 to 17.

(About the students: they range in age from 8 to 17.)

Obrigada barak ba intervista ne’e no ba istória furak ne’ebe mak ita hakerek.
Ha’u hein katak ita hakerek istória barak tan!

(Thank you very much for this interview and for the wonderful story that you wrote.
I hope that you write lots more stories!)

Two exciting things!

First, Strange Horizons is doing a special issue featuring Southeast Asian writers, and on Twitter they mentioned especially that they'd love to get someone from Timor-Leste. So on Facebook I posted about that and one of my acquaintances from when I went there in 2013 messaged me! He wanted details, and he said he'd try writing something if I could help him translate it. I said yes! And the other day he sent me a 3,500 word story. And now I'm working on translating it!

I can't convey sufficiently how exciting this is for me. I daydreamed, when I was over there, about how great it would be to hear local stories and tales--or even to read them. But it seemed worlds away, requiring so much study, and was I likely to do all that work for a place I might never go back to? But I did it! And now I can help someone share his stories with the world! So there's that thrill, but then there's the thrill of the tale itself. It seems very folktale-esque so far (I'm not quite a third of the way through it), but all the little details! Details about how to clear a patch of forest to make a field (bring your axe and your machete--which, amusingly, in Tetun is called a katana), put little stones around the perimeter, cut all the grass, weeds, and other plants, let them dry, then burn them. It was the tools and the little stones that I was especially excited about. And then details about what they eat for lunch, and bathing in a stream... all of it. Now maybe these are just folktale elements, but they're new-to-me folktale elements. I love them.

Now I'm waiting for a promised magical eel to appear.

Second, my ESL tutee and I are going to experiment with making Salvadoran chicha! She was telling me her mother sometimes makes this alcoholic drink to sell to people, and I was asking how she did it, and I thought... why don't we try it? So we're going to. Ingredients are seed corn, panela (unrefined sugarcane juice, condensed into a brick), a pineapple rind, and water. And time ;-)

I'll let you know how it turns out.

For once I can make a reading post on a Wednesday, remarkable.

My ESL tutee is a Stephen King fan, and to practice her English, she bought the most recent (or must at least be close to the most recent) Stephen King book, called Billy Summers. I've never read **any** Stephen King--not anything--but of course I know him from reputation and from books and stories of his that have turned into movies. Anyway, I bought the ebook of this so I could read along with her, ask reading comprehension questions, etc.

I was just idly following along until like the middle of ... the first chapter, at which point I desperately wanted to know more and began reading ahead, totally absorbed.

( five observations )

I guess I can see why Stephen King is a best-seller, is what I'm saying.

"Duplication" is now available on all the platforms I sell on! If you'd like to get a copy for 99 cents, below are the relevant links (and as I said last entry, I'm happy to send a PDF or a Word doc free of charge if you'd like to read it that way).

Blurb for the story:

What happens when your child suddenly becomes two children, and both of them are equally real?

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Apple Books

Kobo

Offering up my diffident gratitude to readers! (ETA: And disabling comments--this entry is here just for the links; I appreciate all the good wishes from the previous entry.)

I finished CSE Cooney's The Twice-Drowned Saint, the first (and longest) of four novellas in the collection A Sinister Quartet, which I'm hoping to read and review in its entirety before it comes out--in two weeks or so!

I think this may be my favorite thing I've read by Claire--and I've read lots, all of which I've enjoyed. But this was just--it was a whole other level. It reaches for something really big and achieves it.

It starts out an acrobatic tale of an angelic city that's really a kind hell hole--(most of) the angels are creepy abominations who delight in human sacrifices offered them by starving refugees desperate for the safe haven the city represents in a war-torn world. OVERTONES, right?

(I say "acrobatic" because Claire has this prodigious imagination and she lets it run all over the place--it darts hither and yon like fireflies and then holds you fixed while it dances on a high wire like Philippe Petit. She's a roller coaster, but if you just let yourself ride the roller coaster, it's actually taking you to a destination.)

So the angelic city is pustular and awful, but there's more beneath the surface waiting to erupt than at first meets the eye. Our narrator, for instance is a secret saint (in this story, saints are humans who can see angels and who have a special relationship with one particular angel). And then another saint is revealed, and. Well, stuff happens. In the end I was left with the impression of Hieronymus Bosch blended with CS Lewis--in the best possible way.

Here are some quotes that run the gamut:

He'd sung to me that day, in that way angels have of singing (which was a little like having your head held under water and your feet set on fire, while being tickled)

...

Mom was born with an ineffable talent to make herself and everyone else around her believe her every lie, and if she wanted to teach me how to bake our ancestral benison cake from a recipe that didn’t yet exist, who was I, merely her daughter, to argue with her?

...

He was like a cricket some kid had poured diatomite over. He was a murderer. A fanatic for the angels. Worse, a teenager.

And the two that are words to live by:

“Weakness is killin’ someone for their bread. Strength is splittin’ your last loaf with them.” --Right? RIGHT?!

and

“it is never good for gods or angels or human-kin to forget the world beyond their walls.” --AMEN

and hell, one extra, because it's a great benediction:

“Be safe, my sister; be swift and sly!”

On the strength of this story alone, A Sinister Quartet is worth purchasing, but from the excerpts I heard the other day, the other three stories will also be wonderful. Now I'm on to Jessica Wick's An Unkindness--with ancient-ballad-level menacing faery folk.

"The Gown of Harmonies" was a story of mine that was included in Sherwood Smith's anthology It Happened at the Ball--various stories centering on or involving a ball. The exclusivity period is over, so I thought I'd offer it as as an ebook. (Actually, I had wanted to do a paperback too, but that turned out not to be possible, or at least not possible using the store of energy that I have available to pursue the matter.)

Here is the cover!



Any minute now... or anyway, in the next couple of days... it will be available across the digital universe! There will be dancing and music in the digital spheres!

(I'll let you know when it's truly available--just thought I'd share the fancy cover, which the ninja girl helped me with.)

I said I'd mention when "The Boy on the Roof" was available for free reading at Fireside Fiction, and it's up now, along with *amazing* narration by CSE Cooney. She got everything about the mood just right; she really brings the story alive.

The Boy on the Roof

The land is very low down on Aqua Vitae road, where they have the ancient narrow fields. Give the Connecticut River a chance, and it will flood them, and the road will close, as it has the past week. I went and took pictures, and nudged by a friend, I wrote a poem.

road closed





come to me, river
come
you have covered the fields
wrapped yourself around standing trees
crept up this old road
come closer
here I stand, like a tree
wrap around me
press your body against mine
let us be heart to heart, cheek to cheek
come!
take my breath away