Short Stories: Michael Graves, Lewis DeSimone, Michael Carroll

June is Pride Month. I kicked off this month on June 1st by featuring LGBT short stories. I will continue to do so throughout the month by featuring short works written by gay authors, as well as  books with LGBT themes.

Today I would like to feature three short stories from With: New Gay Fiction edited by Jameson Currier (Chelsea Station, December 2013). This anthology features sixteen authors writing about all different types of relationships between gay men and others, including, but not limited to, lovers, family, friends, and acquaintances. I've been reading this book slowly and most likely will features other stories along the way. But today it is all about Michael Graves, Lewis DeSimone and Michael Carroll.

"Gold Mine" by Michael Graves
Gold Mine is an engaging and deeply emotional read written from two points of view. First, we have the boy anxiously waiting for his lover's return from the Iraqi War, and then we have boy's grandmother whose keen observations are shared with the reader. Graves uses both perspectives to explore the boy's relationship with his lover, the grandmother's love and acceptance, as well as the rejection he experiences from family members and the lover's family. This piece is engrossing in style with a political flavor that feels a bit dated, but not so much that it is not pertinent today. Particularly since there are lovers still waiting for their loved ones to come home safely.

"In Pride" by Lewis DeSimone
Lewis DeSimone's In Pride focuses on today's issue of gay marriage and all the changes that the new laws bring to individual lives and to the gay community as a whole. It's a beautiful thing and San Francisco is celebrating. But it all comes down to analyzing change and effect in the life of his main character, and as he joins the throngs of those celebrating, the effect it will have on a few of his friends who come from an older generation as opposed to the younger members of the gay community. There are questions: Is this something he wants in his life? Should he settle for the young lover who's already in his life or should he search for the right person? Does he want to? Is there still a chance for him? This is a fantastic piece by DeSimone who hits the right tone while addressing the new choices available to the modern gay man from the perspective of an experienced, mature generation.

"Werewolf" by Michael Carroll
Werewolf by Michael Carroll is one of those stories that just about anyone can relate to. It is about childhood friendships, you know, the ones that we let go with almost a sense of relief and later regret, usually when it's too late, because there are unresolved issues and feelings. In this case, Carroll's main character got there in time to say those last loving words to a dying friend and came to terms with rough realities. This is a deeply emotional, reality-based story that touches on the truth of those teen-year friendships that span years and in so many ways shape us.

May's Reads: Romance, Short Stories, SF & LGBT

My reading picked up significantly in May! A few things happened during the month. On the personal side of things, my husband went back to work and we are, slowly but surely, getting back on schedule. Blog-wise, my 5th blogiversary was May 8th and surprisingly I missed it this year! I guess it's time to stop celebrating.

In May, I also read 5 new contemporary (plus 1 reread) and 1 western historical romance which made me happy. It has been a long while since I read that many mainstream romances in one month. I guess I'm getting back in the "mood," and I'm hoping it lasts.

So, without further ado, here's my list of reads for the month of May 2014:

Total books read: 18
Contemporary (Romance/Fiction): 5
Historical (Romance/Fiction): 1
SF/F/Speculative Fiction: 3
LGBT: 8
Reread: 1

May's Favorite Books:

It Happened One Wedding by Julie James: A-
The Girl with All the Gifts (extended free preview) by M.R. Carey: A-
In Want of a Wife (Bitter Springs #3) by Jo Goodman: B+
The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere by John Chu: B+
Reverting to a Wild State by Justin Torres: B+ (Free Fiction at New Yorker Magazine)
Naming Ceremony: Stories by Chip Livingston: B
The Will by Kristen Ashley: B
Grunt Life: Task Force Ombra by Weston Ochse: B
Scrap Metal by Harper Fox: B

Superhero by Eli Easton: B

Superheroes is worth mentioning. It's a well-written LGBT YA romance with an emphasis on friendship and love that I enjoyed because of the sweet relationship between the two main protagonists -- childhood friends whose love for each other changes and grows as they grow. You can't go wrong with this one.

The Enlightenment of Daniel (Sex in Seattle #2) by Eli Easton: B

This is a more complicated friends to lovers M/M romance by Easton. This time the male protagonists are adults, one married with children and the other, a man in his 30's who comes to the realization that he's gay. Well, being the type of man who does his homework, he actually goes to a sex therapist for confirmation and is rather hilarious in his pursuit of the truth -- I enjoyed those moments more than I can say. But the plot also involves a dying father, and a vicious wife as well as two children. Thankfully, Easton works all of these conflicts and the romance quite satisfactorily before the end.

Stranger on the Shore by Josh Lanyon: C

Motorcycle Man by Kristen Ashley: C

Sun-Kissed by Laura Florand: C

Sun-Kissed is my first try at a Laura Florand book, or in this case a novella. It covers the romance between Mack Corey and his long-time friend Anne Winters. The setting is the wedding between Mack's youngest daughter Jamie and Dominique (Snow-Kissed, Amour et Chocolat series). And of course other protagonists from Florand's series also make appearances, but, the novella is all about Mack and Anne.

Mack finally works up the gumption to to let Anne know that he's (has been) hot for her. They are both 53 year-old adults with grown, married children, so what's to stop them from changing what has basically been long-term platonic dating to dating with a physical relationship? Only Anne's need to fight stands in the way. First thing I thought when I began reading was that Anne's character was based on Martha Steward -- craft television mogul, convicted for lying about insider trading, blond, cool, collected, blah, blah, blah -- and unfortunately I couldn't erase that thought from my mind. However, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the dialogue, the romance, or the characters. I actually enjoyed the mature romance in this novella, particularly the emotions and feelings faced by Mack, the empty-nester. It's just too bad "info dump" in the guise of internal monologue was used so frequently to drive the story forward that it really slowed down the pacing of the novella down to a crawl for me. Not a good beginning to my exploration of Florand's works, but I will still try one of her full-length novels.

Fighting to Stay by Kasey Millstead: D-

I thought of this piece as a poor imitation of Ashley's Motorcycle Man. Enough said.

May's reread:
Slow Dancing on Price's Pier by Lisa Dale

Reviews to come:
Fairs' Point (Astreiant #4) by Melissa Scott
Best Gay Stories 2014 ed. by Steve Berman
------------
In bookish news: The Lambda Award winners were finally announced. Congratulations to all the winners! Particularly to Alex Jeffers, winner of the Gay Erotica category with The Padişah's Son, and to Melissa Scott & Amy Grisswold winners of the SF/F/Horror category with Death by Silver.

Review: Grunt Life: A Task Force OMBRA Novel by Weston Ochse

"You, you, and you. . . panic. The rest of you, come with me." -- Anonymous U.S. Marine Corps, Gunnery Sgt.

Grunt Life begins with a suicide attempt by the main character, Benjamin Carter Mason, from whose first point of view perspective the story is narrated. A survivor where all his men are dead, Mason has given everything he's going to give and is ready to call it quits by jumping off a bridge when a man, whom Mason dubs Mr. Pink, appears out of nowhere with a proposition he is not allowed to refuse until he has been given all the details.

Mr. Pink tells Mason about the Cray, aliens who have been sending spies to Earth for years to learn about human weaknesses. The world's governments knew about it, but found it too costly and did nothing to prepare. A private conglomerate took over the mission and are recruiting special grunts to join Task Force OMBRA to fight the Cray and save humanity when the time comes.

Mason is taken to a different kind of facility at a remote location where he finds other reluctant recruits who have also been given a second chance to train as a unit and fight the impending full-blown alien invasion -- one that takes place off the pages, quickly and with devastating results while the unit is still in training. They go on to fight the aliens, and attempt to figure out how best to defeat them. There are terrible loses, sacrifices, and sad wins, but by the bitter end of their first mission, they do have a better idea of how to deal with the Cray.

Grunt Life is a military science fiction novel with all the bells and whistles. It has the detailed military weapons and new gadgets, -- a powered exoskeleton suit! -- military strategy, suspenseful moments, and men and women with military experience capable of accomplishing the mission as central and secondary characters. Post-invasion, there are action-packed scenes of gruesome, bloody battles with some seemingly invincible aliens.

"The relationships in war are like none other. When you're scared and the world is shooting at you, your love for the soldier next to you is so transfigured that only those who've been there can really understand. […] warriors on the battlefield love their friends more than their own lives. We do this without knowing it or acknowledging it. We'd rather we died so that they might live. So the idea that I'd survived eleven instances of friends dying, eleven separate times where someone I'd loved more than myself passed forcibly from this life into another, felt like a God-wilded ball-peen hammer to the soul. And they wanted me to talk about it?" -- Mason

However, Grunt Life also has the inner perspective of a man (the narrator), and a close group of people whose experiences in war led to suicidal attempts due to PTSD. Ochse delves into both subjects throughout the novel and as a result his characters, the grunts, become more than just characters on a page. This is where this novel really shines because although he weaves in bug-like aliens, action-packed battles, and neat military toys and strategy, this story is really about the effect fighting and war has on the men and women who do the fighting. Ochse achieves a stronger impact by setting his science fiction novel in present times and making most characters either active soldiers or veterans of current conflicts in places such as Afghanistan and Iraq.

The end of Grunt Life: Task Force OMBRA is left open. This is the first battle and there's a post-invasion war happening. Mason and the rest of the grunts have more to do, and I for one am looking forward to reading the next installment in Ochse's series.

Category: Military Science Fiction
Series: Task Force OMBRA
Publisher/Release Date: Solaris/April 29, 2014
Grade: B

-----------------
About the Author: Weston Ochse is the author of twenty books, most recently SEAL Team 666 and its sequel Age of Blood, which the New York Post called 'required reading' and USA Today placed on their 'New and Notable Lists.' His first novel, Scarecrow Gods, won the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in First Novel and his short fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. His work has appeared in comic books, and magazines such as Cemetery Dance and Soldier of Fortune. He lives in the Arizona desert within rock throwing distance of Mexico. He is a military veteran with 29 years of military service and currently returned from a deployment to Afghanistan.

Review: In Want of a Wife (Bitter Springs #3) by Jo Goodman

I absolutely loved The Last Renegade, but was not crazy about True to the Law. Thankfully, with In Want of a Wife the third book of her Bitter Springs western historical series, Jo Goodman returns to the kind of romance I've come to expect from her.

Jane Middlebourne is an orphan whose wealthy New York family rejected since childhood and barely tolerate as an adult. She finds her way out by answering an ad for a mail-order bride from Morgan Longstreet, a rancher from Bitter Springs, Wyoming. After exchanging letters and photographs, Jane works on an escape plan and takes a train West.

Having survived a rough, shady past, Morgan Longstreet is finally making a go of the Morning Star cattle ranch with the help of four hired hands, but he also needs a strong wife to help with work and hopefully be there for him through the good and the bad. Morgan is ready to propose when he finally meets Jane at the train station. Her beauty and delicate appearance, however, shock him into doubting that she is the right woman for him. Having burned all bridges behind her, Jane is determined to prove him wrong -- she is confident in her strength and the knowledge that she can be Morgan's perfect wife. But once they do marry, unshared secrets and unexpected revelations about their mutual pasts may ruin all hopes for a happy future.

In this novel, Goodman utilizes the mail-order bride trope to build the romance between Jane and Morgan, and she does it so well! Jane and Morgan are both direct, plain-spoken people who, as most of us tend to do, put their best foot forward while corresponding, but once they meet face to face, begin building a relationship by taking tentative steps. It all begins with conversations and questions that each answers with as much honesty as they allow themselves.

Both Jane and Morgan led a hellish sort of life before meeting. And yes, they have issues to work through, but what I loved about this pair is that they are both hopeful and still believe that they can find happiness. These are not bitter unforgiving souls. On the contrary, as all their secrets begin to surface in a well-timed progressive manner, each holds back but slowly reveals hidden depths to the other that strengthens what began as a fragile connection. These conversations lead to intimacy, and intimacy leads to desire.

Once intimacy and desire are recognized by Jane and Morgan, a passionate connection is established between this couple. Initially, Jane displays insecurities about her person as a result of her upbringing and past events, just as Morgan is doubtful as to how he should approach Jane physically because his past experiences don't lend themselves to understanding a woman like Jane. Yet, once they are together, Jane is honestly open in her desire for Morgan and he is just bowled over by Jane. A Jane whose passion in bed only rivals her inner strength out of it.

Revelations about Jane's and Morgan's deepest secrets are necessary to build trust and intimacy. Did I have any problems with those revelations? No. However toward the end, there is a "miracle" that affects one of Jane's confessions. It bothered me enough to mention it. SPOILER ALERT (highlight to read): Jane and Morgan are both orphans. I am not a fan of "miracle pregnancies," but if they do happen, they should come with a viable explanation. Jane's miracle pregnancy did not make sense to me. In this case, I feel that adoption would have been a fantastic, more believable, alternative to her situation, and a missed opportunity.

Most of the story takes place at the Morning Star Ranch with few key scenes taking place in Bitter Springs. This limits the amount of secondary characters who impact the romance to the four hired hands and one caring but rather intrusive female character from town. However, throughout the whole story, there is a dangerous plot brewing that concerns Morgan's past. As this thread progresses, a different, less active supporting cast of characters from the town -- the Sheriff, a few limited townspeople, Finn and Rabbit -- actively participate up to its final western-style climax. And yes, Finn and Rabbit are as adorable as they have been from the beginning of this series. Providing light, chuckle-worthy moments, sometimes in the middle of some pretty tense scenes.

This is a character driven romance with a focus on the building relationship between the main couple throughout the majority of the story. The setting for In Want of a Wife is really the Morning Star Ranch and that right there made this a worthwhile romance read because although Goodman uses a dangerous plot with an exciting western-style climax and a mail-order bride trope to set up the western atmosphere, by the end there is no question that the love, passion, and peace shared by Jane and Morgan are all there to stay. Highly recommended.

Category: Western Historical Romance
Series: Bitter Springs
Publisher/Release Date: Berkeley/May 6, 2014
Grade: B+

Series:
The Last Renegade, Book #1
True to the Law, #2
In Want of a Wife, #3

My June 2014 "Must Read" List

I have my list of "must reads" ready for the month of June. There's a little SF/F here and a little paranormal romance there, mainstream contemporary fiction,  historical fiction, and of course LGBT reads. What you won't find in this post are straight up mainstream contemporary or historical romance reads. I will be picking those up as the mood strikes.

Some of these books (like Shield of Winter and Cibola Burn) have been on my list since last year, but the rest are all recent additions.

Check out The Girl With All The Gifts by M. R. Carey, I read the extended preview and now I'm waiting anxious to read the novel. And, The Girls at the Kingfisher's Club by Genevieve Valentine caught my attention the first time I saw the cover and blurb -- a fairy tale with Roaring 20's flappers? Yes! With The Rise and Fall of Great Powers by Tom Rachman, the cover didn't grab me, but the book summary caught and kept my interest.

I'm determined to catch up with Gabaldon's Outlander series and Written in My Own Heart's Blood is definitely on my list of reads this summer! Then there's favorite author Meljean Brook, reading Frozen is a given and the same thing goes for L.B. Gregg's Men of Smithfield series. I love it, so Sam and Aaron will be an automatic buy for me. And, last year Berman's Best Gay Stories 2013 anthology was filled with quality stories. I wasn't planning on missing the 2014 edition.
-----------

SHIELD OF WINTER by Nalini Singh (Psy/Changeling Series)
Print Edition releases June 3, 2014/Digital edition releases June 5, 2014 (Berkeley)

Assassin. Soldier. Arrow. That is who Vasic is, who he will always be. His soul drenched in blood, his conscience heavy with the weight of all he’s done, he exists in the shadows, far from the hope his people can almost touch—if only they do not first drown in the murderous insanity of a lethal contagion. To stop the wave of death, Vasic must complete the simplest and most difficult mission of his life.

For if the Psy race is to survive, the empaths must wake…

Having rebuilt her life after medical “treatment” that violated her mind and sought to suffocate her abilities, Ivy should have run from the black-clad Arrow with eyes of winter frost. But Ivy Jane has never done what she should. Now, she’ll fight for her people, and for this Arrow who stands as her living shield, yet believes he is beyond redemption. But as the world turns to screaming crimson, even Ivy’s fierce will may not be enough to save Vasic from the cold darkness…

THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS by M. R. Carey
Releases June 10, 2014 (Orbit)

The Girl With All the Gifts is a groundbreaking thriller, emotionally charged and gripping from beginning to end.

Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class.

When they come for her, Sergeant keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite, but they don't laugh.

Melanie is a very special girl.

THE GIRLS AT KINGFISHER CLUB by Genevieve Valentine
Releasing June 10, 2014 (Atria Books)

From award-winning author Genevieve Valentine, a "gorgeous and bewitching" (Scott Westerfeld) reimagining of the fairytale of the Twelve Dancing Princesses as flappers during the Roaring Twenties in Manhattan.

Jo, the firstborn, "The General" to her eleven sisters, is the only thing the Hamilton girls have in place of a mother. She is the one who taught them how to dance, the one who gives the signal each night, as they slip out of the confines of their father’s townhouse to await the cabs that will take them to the speakeasy. Together they elude their distant and controlling father, until the day he decides to marry them all off.

The girls, meanwhile, continue to dance, from Salon Renaud to the Swan and, finally, the Kingfisher, the club they come to call home. They dance until one night when they are caught in a raid, separated, and Jo is thrust face-to-face with someone from her past: a bootlegger named Tom whom she hasn’t seen in almost ten years. Suddenly Jo must weigh in the balance not only the demands of her father and eleven sisters, but those she must make of herself.

With The Girls at the Kingfisher Club, award-winning writer Genevieve Valentine takes her superb storytelling gifts to new heights, joining the leagues of such Jazz Age depicters as Amor Towles and Paula McClain, and penning a dazzling tale about love, sisterhood, and freedom.

WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART'S BLOOD (Outlander) by Diana Gabaldon
Releasing June 10, 2014 (Delacorte Press)

1778: France declares war on Great Britain, the British army leaves Philadelphia, and George Washington’s troops leave Valley Forge in pursuit. At this moment, Jamie Fraser returns from a presumed watery grave to discover that his best friend has married his wife, his illegitimate son has discovered (to his horror) who his father really is, and his beloved nephew, Ian, wants to marry a Quaker. Meanwhile, Jamie’s wife, Claire, and his sister, Jenny, are busy picking up the pieces.

The Frasers can only be thankful that their daughter Brianna and her family are safe in twentieth-century Scotland. Or not. In fact, Brianna is searching for her own son, who was kidnapped by a man determined to learn her family’s secrets. Her husband, Roger, has ventured into the past in search of the missing boy . . . never suspecting that the object of his quest has not left the present. Now, with Roger out of the way, the kidnapper can focus on his true target: Brianna herself.

THE RISE & FALL OF GREAT POWERS: A NOVEL by Tom Rachman
Releasing June 10, 2014 (The Dial Press)

Tooly Zylberberg, the American owner of an isolated bookshop in the Welsh countryside, conducts a life full of reading, but with few human beings. Books are safer than people, who might ask awkward questions about her life. She prefers never to mention the strange events of her youth, which mystify and worry her still.

Taken from home as a girl, Tooly found herself spirited away by a group of seductive outsiders, implicated in capers from Asia to Europe to the United States. But who were her abductors? Why did they take her? What did they really want? There was Humphrey, the curmudgeonly Russian with a passion for reading; there was the charming but tempestuous Sarah, who sowed chaos in her wake; and there was Venn, the charismatic leader whose worldview transformed Tooly forever. Until, quite suddenly, he disappeared.

Years later, Tooly believes she will never understand the true story of her own life. Then startling news arrives from a long-lost boyfriend in New York, raising old mysteries and propelling her on a quest around the world in search of answers.

FROZEN by Meljean Brook
Releasing June 15 (Self-published)

For a year and a half, Olivia Martin has tried to forget Erik Gulbrandr, the glacial man who’d scorched her mouth with a single kiss. But when Olivia finds herself snowbound with Erik on the winter solstice, she discovers that the man who set her body aflame is cursed by abominable needs — and a desire that might destroy them both…

SAM and AARON (Men of Smithfield #5) by L.B. Gregg
Releasing June 16 (Carina Press)

With our family's legacy, Meyers B&B, in the flailing hands of me, Sam Meyers, and my sister Wynne, we're determined to revive the place. We've started a series of blind-date cooking classes, and taken on our first boarder. Granddad is even now rolling in his grave.

Signed up for the class is our new guest, Aaron Saunders, a Californian transplant who's distractingly handsome and clearly up to no good. I can't quite figure him out. He blew into town and has been relentless in his search for…something.

The sexy sneak is intriguing. And we've had a steamy moment. Or two. But now I can't stop wondering why he's searching in secret. From the library, to the historical society, to my own backyard, Aaron leaves no stone unturned or record book unopened. He's definitely gotten my attention. But that might not be the only thing he's after.

CIBOLA BURNS (The Expanse) by James S.A. Corey
Releasing June 17 (Orbit)

"An empty apartment, a missing family, that's creepy. But this is like finding a military base with no one on it. Fighters and tanks idling on the runway with no drivers. This is bad juju. Something wrong happened here. What you should do is tell everyone to leave."

The gates have opened the way to a thousand new worlds and the rush to colonize has begun. Settlers looking for a new life stream out from humanity's home planets. Ilus, the first human colony on this vast new frontier, is being born in blood and fire.

Independent settlers stand against the overwhelming power of a corporate colony ship with only their determination, courage, and the skills learned in the long wars of home. Innocent scientists are slaughtered as they try to survey a new and alien world. The struggle on Ilus threatens to spread all the way back to Earth.

James Holden and the crew of his one small ship are sent to make peace in the midst of war and sense in the midst of chaos. But the more he looks at it, the more Holden thinks the mission was meant to fail.

And the whispers of a dead man remind him that the great galactic civilization that once stood on this land is gone. And that something killed it.

BEST GAY STORIES 2014 edited by Steve Berman
Releases June 20, 2014 (Lethe Press)

In the 2014 edition, fiction, essays, and memoirs by: Michael Alenyikov, Richard Bowes, Michael Carroll, Lou Dellaguzzo, Michael Thomas Ford, L.A. Fields, Guy Mark Foster, James Gifford, Trebor Healey, Andrew Holleran, Ed Kurtz, Dmitry Kuzmin, Tommi Avicolli Mecca, Sam J. Miller, James Powers-Black, Jason Schneiderman, Max Steele, Stefen Styrsky, Josef Winkler, Mario Alberto Zambrano.

The rest of my June reads will be a surprise (to you and me). How about you? Do you have a list of "must reads" for June?

Short Stories: Naming Ceremony by Chip Livingston

In the sixteen short stories and profound essays that comprise Naming Ceremony, Chip Livingston examines the worlds we create for ourselves by exploring the names we are called and those we call ourselves. Livingston’s characters express in word and deed the names that confirm their individuality as well as validating their roles in family, culture, politics, and sexuality.

My previous acquaintance with Chip Livingston's works was limited to one short story and his poetry volume Crow-Blue, Crow-Black. In this collection of short stories the quality of Chip Livington's writing cannot be questioned. He is a fine poet and writer. However, for me, the power of some pieces stand out with unqualified force.

First we have a selection of connected short pieces that collectively complete one story -- "Naming Ceremony," "What Calls You Home," "Owls don't have to mean death," "One Hundred Kisses," and "Ghost Dance." These stories depict moments in the life of Peter Strongbow, his HIV positive lover Elan, with Native American culture and family playing key roles in Peter's lifestyle and relationships. Livingston captures moments filled with love, hope and laughter, dreams and fear, loss and grief with a deep sense of truth and powerful honesty.

That same sense of honesty is found in Livingston's "Anthology of Spoon River AIDS Walk" which is composed of small, verse-like snippets that convey thoughts of lovers, friends, family, and acquaintances participating in an AIDS Walk for Tim Kelley who died of AIDS. This powerful piece hits the reader with raw reality and a myriad of emotions.

Susan

I picked Mason in Charleston.
It happened that I was there for a meeting.
Good timing. Right.
Thank you Universal Forces of Love and Light.
I met Mason through Tim.
I'll walk with Mason in memory of Tim.
    And for my Father.


Tom Girl

I used to live with Tim in Columbia
I wanted to come up but I just couldn't
I wanted to see Mason and the Kelley's
It's too hard
I can't deal with it
I wonder how many people
will wear shirts and walk for me
I still feel great but Tim went so quick

----------
About the Author: Chip Livingston has received awards in fiction from Native Writers’ Circle of the Americas, Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers, the University of Colorado, and the AABB Foundation. As a faculty member of the low-residency MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts and at Gotham Writers Workshops, Chip teaches nonfiction, fiction and poetry writing.

Short Stories: M.R. Carey, John Chu, Justin Torres

I read countless short stories yearly but I rarely feature them on their own. Today I'm highlighting three single shorts that are not only excellent reads, but also free downloads. Check it out.

"Melanie was new herself, once, but that's hard to remember because it was a long time ago. It was before there were any words; there were just things without names, and things without names don't stay in your mind. They fall out, and then they're gone.

Now she's ten years old, and she has skin like a princess in a fairy tale; skin as white as snow. So she knows that when she grows up she'll be beautiful, with princes falling over themselves to climb her tower and rescue her.

Assuming, of course, that she has a tower."

I read the extended free preview of "The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey" (9 chapters!), and it turned out to be an absolutely fabulous speculative fiction read! I'm not saying much more about the story at this point because I believe it should be approached from a fresh perspective, but know this: if you give this book a try the main narrator and central character, a ten-year old whose name is Melanie, will snare you into reading the whole thing.

I am salivating to continue reading but have to wait until the whole novel releases on June 10th! I have high expectations for the rest of the book. As a teaser this preview is the perfect hook, but it also works really well as a short story. It gets an A- from me ONLY because I know there's more to come. Highly recommended.

In the near future water falls from the sky whenever someone lies (either a mist or a torrential flood depending on the intensity of the lie). This makes life difficult for Matt as he maneuvers the marriage question with his lover and how best to "come out" to his traditional Chinese parents.

I strongly recommend John Chu's The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere, a short piece nominated this year for a Hugo Award. I think what needs to be said about this piece has already been said. But personally what I like most about the story is how effectively, albeit sparingly, Chu uses the falling water. I like how this device affects the characters and plot which main focus is on family, love, and relationships. The writing style is both beautiful and concise, making this SF short story a personal favorite.

This story is also included in Some of the Best From Tor.com, 2013 Edition: A Tor.Com Original. Also available as a free download.

Reverting to the Wild State by Justin Torres was published in The New Yorker Magazine, August 1, 2011, but I just read it this past week.

Justin Torres is a fabulous writer whose 2011 novel We the Animals was acknowledged widely and garnered positive attention and reviews. This short piece gives the reader a taste of his writing style and a different sort of story.

Reverting to the Wild State is not much more than a broad sketch of a relationship that is related in reverse by the author. That first step as the story goes back in time is confusing but quickly becomes clear. This piece is unique, sad, and rather haunting, and leaves the reader wanting more. Free online read

Maya Angelou (April 14, 1928 to May 28, 2014)

It has been announced that Maya Angelou: poet, civil rights activist, dancer, film producer, television producer, playwright, film director, author, actress, professor, and renowned author of "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" (1969) died today. A three-time Grammy winner, nominated for a Pulitzer, a Tony, and an Emmy for her role in the television mini-series "Roots," Angelou was a woman whose works are admired, not only in America, but world-wide. On a personal note, Angelou is one of few authors/poets whose written works my daughter and I have shared, loved, and admired throughout the years.


From Maya Angelou's poetry collection I Shall Not Be Moved (Random House, 1990)

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise

I rise
I rise.



Memorial Day

Reading this weekend:
Grunt Life: A Task Force Ombra Novel by Weston Ochse (Military Science Fiction)