Alika Yarnell's Writing (5 stories) (showing 1-5 of 5)

It is 1986, before email and mobile phones, and we follow Sable throughout her sophomore year of high school grappling with modes of communication. She can’t explain why she doesn’t have any real frie...moreIt is 1986, before email and mobile phones, and we follow Sable throughout her sophomore year of high school grappling with modes of communication. She can’t explain why she doesn’t have any real friends despite her close proximity with her classmates. We see her dangerous encounters with fire, sex, criminal behavior, alcohol, a partial skeleton, voyeurism, and the dark and mysterious places in which she often finds herself—intentionally or otherwise. She invents projects to help her piece her world together, searching for clues around the “outlets” of her town. These clues are anything she feels is mysterious and meaningful that can somehow help her to find her place in the world and the tribe of friends she longs to be with. She is especially attached to a quartz crystal which contains triangle etchings that she believes carry messages for her sent from another world.

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With hints of Daniel Clowes’ Ghost World and David Lynch’s Blue Velvet, Raindrop Parade is charged with fascination, sexuality, curiosity, longing, and fear, with a paranormal cherry on top. Through the episodic chapters, we latch onto Sable’s sharp, idiosyncratic voice, which tells a genre-bending story with an ’80s soundtrack in the background. On one level, it’s a coming-of-age mystery as we see teenagers struggle with identity and finding their place in the world. On another level, it’s a complex metaphysical love story based on uncertainty and obsession. It’s about searching for solutions to unsolvable riddles and the ramifications of inventing answers to the unexplained. Is it admirable to find meaning in everything? What happens when answers are based on misunderstanding? How does love, in all its many forms, fit in with the quest for purpose? Sable aims to find out, her quirks and subtle charms leading the way.(less)
chapter 1: Record Keeper (added 2008/05/28 )

How a new color affects one man's quest for love.
chapter 1: I. Crystal (added 2008/05/28 )
chapter 2: II. The Death of the Rainbow (added 2008/05/28 )
chapter 3: III. Huetech RLX System (added 2008/05/28 )
chapter 4: IV. Rebirth (added 2008/05/28 )
chapter 5: V. Wheel of Fortune (added 2008/05/28 )
chapter 6: VI. Instructions for Extinguishing (added 2008/05/28 )
chapter 7: VII. The Shield (added 2008/05/28 )
chapter 8: VIII. Periodical (added 2008/05/28 )
chapter 9: IX. Refuge (added 2008/05/28 )
chapter 10: X. True Blood (added 2008/05/28 )

"Ear Scars" was originally published in February 2008 (Issue 161) of Thieves Jargon.
chapter 1: Ear Scars (added 2008/05/28 )

“Sugarhouse” was originally published in the Spring 2005 issue of Switchback.
chapter 1: Sugarhouse (added 2008/05/28 )

This award-winning short story was published in the Spring 2005 issue of Backwards City Review.
chapter 1: S (added 2008/05/28 )