The application form is seventy-two pages long, and they require nine copies. These people want to know everything. They also want to make sure you aren't doing this as a joke.

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I am not the sort of person who habitually writes second-person present-tense stories about filling out application forms; in fact, most of my fiction is pretty mainstream as far as fantasy goes. So when I did write a second-person present-tense story about filling out an application form, my first thought upon its completion was "where the hell am I going to sell this?" The answer, I'm pleased to say, is Electric Velocipede. "Selection" was published in issue #13, in November 2007.

Reviews

Rich Horton, Locus/The Elephant Forgets -- recommended story, Electric Velocipede 2007

Rachel, My Very Own Blogetary -- The first piece was by Marie Brennan and was called "Selection". One of the reasons I was drawn in was that the piece was told almost exclusively (until the very end) from the second person narrative voice. The only other writer I think I've read who did this in such a mesmerizing way was Italo Calvino. I love Calvino and this choice in voice and some of the details in the story evoked his style and flair, while still remaining in Brennan's voice and style of writing. The last story I read by Brennan was in On Spec and was titled "Nine Sketches in Charcoal and Blood". I loved that particular story because of the exacting detail in atmosphere, diction, setting, and character that she used. In "Selection" she is again very good at being extremely detailed, yet in a particularly vague sort of way that pulled me all the way through the story wanting to know more about what she was telling me. And the end, well lets just say it made my ghoulish little heart leap for joy. I really liked it. I really need to get her novels and read them some time (after I've gone through my already burgeoning TBR pile). I really enjoyed "Selection".