#lily meyer

[judgingbooksbycovers]

The End of Romance: A Novel

By Lily Meyer.

[womenintranslation]

The sharpness and detail of [María Fernanda] Ampuero’s language and social observation are decisive in making Cockfight work as literary fiction, rather than cheap horror. This raises the stakes for Riddle’s translation in a big way. If her sentences were lifeless or lightless, Cockfight might seem like slasher fiction, which would entirely undermine the book’s agenda. It might also simply be unreadable. Thankfully, neither is the case. [Frances] Riddle’s translation brings Ampuero’s stories to English-language life.

Lily Meyer reviewing María Fernanda Ampuero’s Cockfight (Feminist Press), translated from the Spanish by Frances Riddle, in the May 2020 issue of Words Without Borders.

[ek-triptych]

About time these things were over... thank God for McDonald’s after a hard two months being stranded with a bunch of weirdos who keep making things awkward by proposing to each other. And thus concludes our series on Triptych: Simpswrecked!

You can read the stories for these comics here.

[ek-triptych]

The truth is out: Lily is the true llama queen, and there’s no stopping her, so stop being jealous and petty, Seth.

You can read the stories for the comics here.

[ek-triptych]

DON’T GO TOWARD THE LIGHT, SETH

read the stories for these pictures here.

[ek-triptych]

Welcome back to Triptych: Simpswrecked, based off the Sims 2 Castaway game. What a bunch of beloved idiots--

You can read the context and stories for these pictures here.

[ek-triptych]

Tenth Day of Triptych Christmas: Sugar Rush

//Happy day before Christmas eve! The third-to-last story of our series :’) Today, a collab. Let’s get high on sugar.

It was a beautiful winter day when Reyn pummeled gracefully on the door of her friend's house with a bag full of goodies and sugar and movies, her nose red from the cold, neck enveloped in the folds of a large scarf. Ice crystals gleamed from the tops of bare tree branches around and snow glistened in the streets behind Reyn, where someone had also been recently sliding apparently on their belly through the snow and where piles of brown precipitation were now piling up on the sides.

White frost dropped from the front of Reyn's coat as she knocked again on the door and shouted, "Special delivery! One friend, a bag full of junk, aaaaand... a frozen nose."

A loud pounding of socked feet down stairs heralded the arrival of Lily, who jerked the door open with a bang and a loud squeal.

“Reyn!” she practically shrieked. “You’re here!”

"Yes, hi," Reyn said nonchalantly. "I know you missed me, I know I'm great, it's freezing out here, I need hot chocolate."

Lily quickly stepped back and ushered her friend inside, shutting the door on the cold outdoor air.

"Okay, so I brought candy canes, gingerbread, a knife, gumdrops, gummies, candles, and a partridge in a pear tree," Reyn announced, setting her bag on the table. "And I have no idea how to bake, so you're going to have to supervise my every move."

“I didn’t tell you to bring anything,” Lily said, lifting the knife to inspect it. “Also, I have no idea what we are going to do with most of this stuff.”

"It's free real estate," Reyn said dismissively. "Also, I brought three movies.  Elf, Polar Express, and" --she pulled out the last movie with a flourish-- “It.”  Looking back at it again, she frowned.  “Oh. Wrong movie. But still the same gist.”

Giggling softly, Lily gathered up the movies and brought them to the living room.  “How festive!”  She spun around to face her friend and put her hands on her hips.  “Cookies first?”

"Sugar cookies." Reyn grinned. "I have no idea how to do this."

“That’s okay, I’ll show you how! Go wash your hands.”

As Reyn rinsed her hands in the kitchen sink, Lily began pulling out bowls, measuring cups, and ingredients.

“Why did you think anything that you brought would be appropriate for making cookies?” Lily snickered as she pulled flour out of her pantry.

Reyn shrugged as she pulled up her sleeves and walked up to stand beside Lily in a business-like stance. "Gingerbread peppermint gumdrop cookies. It sounded good to me. Also, the knife was an accident; I think I grabbed it because it was next to the candy canes."  

Lily laughed again in reply. "Let me see what you have!"

“A KNIFE!”

Both girls burst out in appreciative snorts as Lily began scooping out cups of flour and pouring them into a large mixing bowl. Reyn was just dumping a good amount of sugar into the bowl when she noticed a head of fluffy dark hair appear through the kitchen window to make its casual way across Lily’s white lawn.

"Hey." Reyn squinted at the person as he made his easy way through the backyard. "I know that guy."

Lily looked up. “Yeah, that’s Falcon.  He lives next door to me.”

"And apparently thinks he owns your backyard," Reyn remarked as he disappeared over the fence with a grin and a salute towards the kitchen.

“Don’t worry, it’s part of our deal,” Lily assured her. “He teaches me parkour and in return I let him use our yard as a shortcut.”

“Oh. Cool.”

“Yeah, right?  Did you know he’s like a gymnast?  He does this awesome flippy thing; it’s super lit.”

“Bottle flips are pretty lit,” Reyn agreed.  She grabbed the nearest bottle -- her own metal water bottle that seemed to be empty -- and chucked it into the air, letting it bounce off the ground with a clang.  “How to Be a Cool Kid 101.  Rule Number 1: Flip bottles.  Rule Number 2: Trespass through people's yards.  Rule Number 3: Parkour."

She thought for a moment. "Oh," she added, "and Rule Number 4: Get stalked by creepy random guys in the park but brush it off as normal."

Lily immediately turned to her with a concerned look.  “Stalked?” she questioned.

"I'm just being dramatic," Reyn said dryly. "Because he's fine. And they're super in love and something about being written in the stars."

“Who?” Lily asked, looking even more confused. “What?”

Reyn sighed, mixing the ingredients together ferociously and spilling flour all over the counter. "It's weird. They're weird."

“Who? Give me the tea, girl!”

Reyn gave her a weird look. "Tea or teaspoon?"

“No, the tea!  The word on the street!  The gossip!”

"The word in the park," Reyn said, scowling at the mixing bowl like it was sinning against her, "is that there's a new kid in town who was looking for Falcon for some reason. And apparently found him, but the thing is -- well, do you ever feel like Falcon's a little... weird? Or off?"

“I mean, yeah,” Lily replied, putting a hand on the mixing spoon to prevent Reyn from flinging all the ingredients over the counter, “sure.  I don’t know why I get that feeling, but I figure it’s his story, yanno?  He’s a nice guy, and I like him, so I guess it doesn’t matter to me that much what his deal is.”  She paused.  “What makes you feel like something’s off about him?”

Reyn shrugged, stepping back with a wipe of her hands to wisely let Lily take control of the mixing. "Everyone seems to be waiting for him to slip up or something. Even if the two of us haven't been around here for that long, I feel like people are waiting for something bad to happen around him, like something was weird before.

"I know," she went on, "that people like the Dewhursts and all seem to like him, but at the same time, it's like they're protecting him from something. I don't know what it is, but sometimes I almost feel like they're trying to protect him from himself. It's… weird. And then the other day there was this other guy, Seth, who came from out of nowhere, and he was really weird. Like he could do something bad and not even think twice about it and still smile like everything's okay and nothing has changed. You know?"

Lily stuck a cookie-dough covered finger in her mouth and shrugged.  “Isn’t everyone kind of weird?  If anything, I want to get to know Falcon because I think he’s interesting.  I don’t think he would hurt anyone, intentionally at least.  I don’t know this Seth guy you’re talking about, but it might be the same for him?  People like that interest me more than scare me, I think.”

"Usually, yes," Reyn agreed. "And I'm not saying Falcon is that way; I'm just saying he's a weirdo with some kind of funky past that we'll probably never find out."

“Oh yeah, for sure,” Lily said with a nod.  “He’s like a superhero: highly athletic student by day, and masked vigilante by night.”

Reyn huffed. "So you've seen him pull Batman stunts, huh?"

Lily lit up.  “Have you seen him do his acrobatic thing?  He just goes swoosh!-” she mimed swinging through the air- “and then he just goes flip flip flip!” She jumped excitedly, then paused and sighed wistfully.  “I wish I could do that.”

"Have him teach you that on top of parkour," Reyn suggested with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "But really, Seth isn't like Falcon. I mean, something about them both is weird, but Seth seems like the dangerous type. Like the kind of person a neighbor might say, 'He was such a nice kid' of after he's murdered ten people."

“Pepper spray him,” Lily said.

"Only if I can borrow yours." Reyn leaned down to study the raw cookie dough with an impressed look. "I think... we're baking geniuses and we should start a bakery."

“Oh, without a doubt,” Lily agreed. “We can call it ‘Reyn or Shine’.”

"I was thinking something like 'Lily's Lil Lovelies' or something stupid like that. That way when we take over the world, it'll be really funny."

“Hmm, I like the way you’re thinking,” Lily replied, blobbing spoonfuls of dough onto a cookie sheet.  “We need a super cutesy cheesy title that has both of our names.”

"'Lily's Lovely Reyn and Shine,'" Reyn suggested. "'Reyn of the Lily,' like 'reign' but 'Reyn' so that everyone should know we're taking over the world, but by the time they recognise our punny genius, it'll be too late!"

“Perfect, I love it!” Lily giggled.

Reyn took the pan as Lily plopped the last dough ball onto it, then opened the oven door and shoved the pan noisily in. "It also sounds like I come from a place called Lily. 'Reyn of the City of Lily.' But that's less relevant."

Lily quickly turned the oven temperature from 500 back down to 300 and set a timer.  “Okay, they’ll be done in like ten minutes!”

"I think," Reyn started out slowly before her speed began to pick up, "we should first spread the reach of our dominion to the people I trust the least so that we can get them under our control before they destroy the world we're trying to conquer. If that's the case, we should get the frosting ready to lather on as sloppily I mean beautifully as possible so they can appreciate the skill of our hypnotism and amazingness. What say you, companion?"

“I only registered like half of what you just said, but yeah!” Lily cheered. “Let’s do it!”

By the time the smell of cookies permeated the kitchen, the two were working diligently on decorating the golden discs of delicious yumminess on the table, leaving traces of frosting everywhere as they tried their pitiful best to make the cookies look somewhat presentable. In the end, they had a couple plates stacked with some cookies whose frosting designs vaguely resembled random Christmas-y things like trees, stockings, Santa Claus's, and wreaths. Reyn surveyed the work with her hands on her hips, critical eye apparently rather satisfied with the result as she announced, "We are ready."

Cackling quietly to herself, Lily carefully transferred some of them to a festive bag and stuck a bow on it.  “Our preparations are complete!”

"Complete with a bow on top." Reyn wiped away a nonexistent tear and skipped to the front door. "Let us bestow the gift of conquestment onto the beautiful world outside, starting with the weirdo next door."

Snatching up the bag, Lily was quick to follow, and the two made their way along the snow-covered sidewalk to Falcon’s house next door. Reyn strode confidently up to the front door and rang the doorbell with a flourish.

After a few moments, the door opened to a tall man, his dark hair in disarray and the faintest shadows of purple smudged under his brown eyes.  “Oh,” the man said, “Hello.”

"Hi Mr. Rynn," Reyn greeted cheerfully. "We're just here to drop off some Christmas cookies. Home-made. Which is kind of evident by the design, but they'll still taste great."

Lawrence Rynn took the proffered bag of cookies with a slight raise of his eyebrows.  “Thank you very much.  Are you, by any chance, friends with my son?”

Reyn shrugged and jabbed an elbow at Lily, who nodded emphatically.  “Yeah!” she chirped. “Fal’s my friend!”

“Would you like me to tell him you are here?”

“Yes please!” Lily replied as Reyn shrugged again.  “Is he in right now?  We saw him pass by a while ago.”

Lawrence nodded.  “He returned a while ago by the main gate,” he explained as he turned back into the house.  “Falcon!” he called into the warm interior.

A faint shout of “Yeah?” floated from the kitchen to the right.

“Friends of yours,” Lawrence replied, stepping aside as his son appeared in the kitchen entrance.

“Oh!” he exclaimed, “Hi, Lily!  Hey, nice to see you again, too.  Reyn, right?”

Reyn saluted him with a knowing grin. "Mr. Gay Lover."

His jaw dropped.  “I can’t believe-” he spluttered as Lawrence burst into laughter.

“Who?” asked Gabe, entering the room.

“Oh, the angel of the Lord!” Lily called happily, her face lighting up.  A few seconds later, Seth appeared in the kitchen doorway as well.

"Ho, Mr. Emo Kid," Reyn greeted, to which Seth just raised a hand in reply. "The angel of the Lord's been third-wheeling?"

“For the last time,” Falcon bemoaned, “Seth’s not my boyfriend; I am straight!”  He wheeled around and pointed an accusatory finger at him.  “This is all your fault!  Now even the neighbors are saying it!”

Seth just shrugged as Reyn gestured to the offering of cookies. "We brought cookies for you guys because they're amazing and we're great people. Try them; they're great. Though we weren't expecting it to be for this many people, so the couple might have to split one or something."

Falcon threw up his hands in despair.  Gabe snorted and said, “It’s okay, I’m a guest here so the Rynn’s and Seth can have them.

"Seth's not just a guest, but he's family already?" Reyn asked.

“He’s just visiting,” Falcon practically wept.  “He’s my cousin.”

"Cool story, bro." Reyn grinned. "Either way you have our blessing in the form of cookies. Enjoy them greatly."

“Thank you very much,” Lawrence said graciously, ushering them out to spare them from the chaos erupting inside as Gabe tried to keep Falcon from football-tackling a smirking Seth.  “We will enjoy them.”

Reyn laughed as she and Lily headed out to walk the short distance back to Lily's house.

“Wait a minute!” they heard from behind.  Turning, they saw Gabe trotting quickly up the path, steam puffing from his mouth and nose and a plainly-decorated gingerbread house in his hands.  “Would you like a gingerbread house?” he asked, offering it to them.

Reyn looked it over. "Did you guys drop it or something? Why don't you want it? All the candy already fell off."

“It’s Seth’s,” Gabe said by way of explanation.  “A thank you for the cookies.”

"He's so much more generous than I thought." Reyn took the house. "I didn't realise he had such a nice, good, thankful heart."

Gabe rolled his eyes.  “The thank you is more from me and the Rynn’s.  Seth just provided the house.”

"Well, thanks," Reyn answered. "And tell Seth thanks. I guess."

“You’re welcome,” Gabe replied, turning to head back to the house, where Falcon was waiting in the doorway.  “Merry Christmas.”

"Merry Christmas!"

[eckleburgreview]

SELFIE INTERVIEW | Lily Meyer

SELFIE INTERVIEW | Lily Meyer

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