Flash
“The Me of Perfect Sight”
The hall of the Abzu-temple was impossibly vast, and impossibly full. On shelves to either side, on tables down the center, stood the holy me: the decrees of Anu, the supreme god of the land between the rivers, which made all things of the world come into being. As you may have noticed, this is […]
“Then Bide You There”
That afternoon there had been a fair, with jugglers and dancing and the storyteller plying her trade. When night fell the fair did not end, but the storyteller was tired, and the blacksmith insisted on walking her home. This might be the closest I’ve come to writing hatefic. It’s inspired by the folksong “The Two […]
“Guidelines for Using the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library”
1. Unlike when visiting Fairyland, you need not worry about the perils of eating or drinking while inside the library. It’s always an extra delight when you manage to sell a piece you feared might be unsellable. This piece of flash fiction, in listicle format, is basically my love letter to the main library at […]“Never to Behold Again”
Beauty is a consumable thing. I owe thanks to the author Isabel Yap for this flash story. Her collection Never Have I Ever introduced me to the tradition of binukot — and while this flash piece isn’t actually about that tradition as practiced in the real world, reading up on it gave me the idea […]“The Old Woman and the Tea”
When the soldiers arrive, the old woman is waiting. Although I couldn’t resist giving this story that title, it doesn’t have anything to do with Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea (a novel I never particularly liked). Instead this is a bit of mythology and history, wrapped up in a flash package. It […]“Cruel Sisters”
The harp is a gruesome thing. Long bones for the pillar; breastbone for the board; the curve of a spine for the instrument’s neck and knee. At the head sits a skull, grinning eyelessly at all who flinch away. The song variously known as “The Cruel Sister,” “Twa Sisters,” “The Bonny Swans,” “Binnorie,” and […]
“Dying Old”
Strychnine is bitter, but the most pleasant to work with. This story began life as a gift for the 2012 Yuletide fanfiction exchange. The definition of fanfiction used there is very broad; the “fandom” this tale fits into is Classical Greece and Rome History & Literature RPF, which is the current unwieldy tag for stories […]
“A Thousand Souls”
The ships always hurry away when they see me. Or rather, they try to; I try to make sure they can’t. I wish I could call out to them and explain. I’m not some horrible thing, luring men to their deaths simply for the pleasure of it. Killing them is just something I have to […]
