Rackus

A nerd cult(ure) blog.

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Story of the Week: Valley of the Girls by Kelly Link

This is a story that needs very little introduction. When I taught it to my creative writing students last spring, they said, “What the fuck?” If you’re not reading Kelly Link yet, here’s a great place to start. If you are, read this (again).

We’re dropped directly into a world where virtual reality escapism is rampant. These characters try and navigate the choices they make in a simulated world, and their posturing has large-scale effects. Explore identity, technology, and Egyptian mythology with Kelly Link as your guide.

Read the story here via Subterranean Press: https://subterraneanpress.com/magazine/summer_2011/valley_of_the_girls_by_kelly_link

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Arrival teaches us that plot is an opportunity to make a story more than a string of events.

Spoiler Alert!

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What Becomes of the Third-Hearted, by A. Merc Rustad | via Shimmer

How does the world end? “No panic, no fear. Gentler, perhaps, than any of us deserved.”

This story begins as a nightmare in vivd language. The present is a confusing, desolate whirlwind, through which the narrator is trying to locate their daughter. The past, however, is clear.

As we uncover moments that teach us how the narrator relates their childhood to their parenthood, their romantic past to a present chaos, and how they relate to their dying mother, we realize we’re not just on a quest for survival, but one that explores identity and love.

Read the story here: https://www.shimmerzine.com/what-becomes-of-the-third-hearted/

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Let’s unpack character development choices in Westworld and see what Jonathan Nolan has to teach us.

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Can Jonathan Nolan write a Sci-Fi serial narrative that appeals to an adult mega audience?

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Story of the Week: Life in Stone, Glass, and Plastic by José Pablo Iriarte

I found this one in the archives at Strange Horizons.

Follow Sergio, a maintenance worker, as he is tasked to clear away graffiti. He finds a mosaic image that is trying to tell him a story, really trying. In fact the story becomes more real to Sergio than the mosaic. It follows him home.

This short story weaves multiple pasts into the present. As we learn about Sergio’s life and how committed he is to taking care of his ailing wife, we also uncover the story of a shooting. There is a lesson demanding to be learned. 

Want to find out where it goes? I did too. Read the story here: http://www.strangehorizons.com/fiction/life-in-stone-glass-and-plastic/

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Story of the Week: Younger by Brian Evenson

I’ve been reading Brian Evenson’s work since he released Fugue State in 2009, so it’s a personal point to share this disturbing and fascinating story of horror and memory with you. 

“Younger” is a story of siblings. We find twins and siblings in horror and, more specifically, in gothic fiction all the time. They open the door to a schism in identity. When two characters first appear implicitly connected, it’s what separates them that raises tension. Being two parts of a whole often implies a kind of privation for each, a split that cannot be mended.

What separates the two sisters in “Younger” is how they recall a specific day from their childhood. A day that was forgettable, run-of-the-mill for one is horrific for the other. An imprint left that cannot be smoothed out. What happens when one sister tries to reconcile the difference?

Read the full version here: https://arthurmag.com/2009/08/11/younger-a-new-short-story-by-brian-evenson/

Note: For the most part, I’m going to post newer online fiction from lesser known authors. But I was thinking about Halloween and this is the kind of horror that I sit up at night fearing.

I also would like any submissions of recent fiction published online from you. Email me here.

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Story of the Week: A Cup of Salt Tears by Isabel Yap

When I sit down with a coffee and lunch for the mandatory 30-minute unpaid break (in California), I’m looking for a story to grab me. I want atmosphere and character to take over and, though it might seem odd, I want the story to demand my attention so deeply that my shrill phone timer alerts me to the end of my break before I’ve had a chance to finish my sandwich.

A Cup of Salt Tears nails atmosphere and character.

We follow Makino so closely that this very short story offers great depth. Managing the impending death of her husband, Tetsuya, she encounters a Kappa–a river demon–in her bath tub.

The Kappa assures her that, in fact, it is her love in another form. Or, at least that it also loves her. Mourning is beautiful. Makino returns to the Kappa despite knowing that it may want to drown her or trick her, a curiosity about the demon, about death, perhaps her own.

As we jump between Makino’s memories of childhood, her caring for Tetsuya, and her rendezvous with the Kappa, we wonder: who will survive this story, and how? Where is the true horror located?

Read the story and find out: http://www.tor.com/2014/08/27/a-cup-of-salt-tears-isabel-yap/