Lorina Stephens's Blog, page 3
November 3, 2023
Review: A Dream Wants Waking, by Lydia Kwa
A Dream Wants Waking by Lydia Kwa
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
A Dream Wants Waking is a speculative fiction novel set in the ancient city of Luoyang, China, ostensibly in the year 2219 CE. This is a complicated story, with a considerable cast of characters, and a mythology woven around genetic AI beings and modifications. There’s a lot going on here. You’d better stay sharp when reading. This isn’t a story written for bedtime somnolence.
The overarching narrative revolves around a chimeric fox/human spirit Yinhe, who time-jumps through eras to find her lost soulmate. Sounds relatively simple, but as I stated earlier, this is a complicated story. Kwa tosses around concepts and timelines like a cook gone berserk with seasonings, with the result being an overloaded dish of unidentifiable flavours. There are so many names, so many time-jumps, I felt very much as though I needed to create an Excel spreadsheet in order to keep things straight, and I like to think I’m a fairly sharp individual, capable of complicated analysis. Apparently not. Kwa lost me fairly quickly, to the point I had to keep skipping back several pages in order to again pick up the thread of the story.
I think part of that problem is not only the complexity of the plot, and the bombardment of character names and places, but of the lack of character development and world building. At this point, I still have no clear idea regarding Yinhe’s character, other than they’re utterly driven to find their lost love. None of the nuances of character traits, of internal thinking, of reaction are present. It’s all very expository.
The same holds true for the environment through which Yinhe travels. There’s no sense of weather, or quality of light, of smells and sounds, and what scant environmental detail is provided is clinical, stark, and, again, very expository so that there’s no sense of character involved in environment. It’s just all very pantomime, cardboard figures manipulated across a shadowy curtain.
Even the creatures of the whale-brain-become-AI, and the demon that slides in and out of possessions are, well, vague, insubstantial, a bit predictable.
So, this leaves me wondering why it is authors Larissa Lai (The Tiger Flu), and Jenny Heijun Wills (Older Sister, Not Necessarily Related: A Memoir) used phrases like: This is a fantasy that remembers with a purpose, and …a masterpiece of knowledge, dream and imagination. In fact, CBC listed Kwa’s novel among 74 works of fiction to read for fall 2023.
What am I missing? I keep feeling like I’ve had a Michelin Star chef’s presentation of a fragrance bubble as an amuse-bouche, and my palate is more attuned to antipasto, which then leads me to Kwa’s phraseology, which is, well, as insubstantial and ephemeral as that fragrance bubble. There is no elegant sentence structure, a lack of metaphor and literary device. It’s all rather stark writing until the last phrase, which is stunning in its beauty and simplicity.
And maybe that was the whole point of this difficult, complicated, sensory-deprived novel: that beauty lies in the destination, rather than the journey, and that concept, for me, is arresting and contrary to everything I know.
Despite my own antipathy to Kwa’s latest novel, I think you should read it for yourself. Art is subjective, and what one person praises, another disdains.
November 1, 2023
Short Story Publication
In the latest issue of On Spec, one of my favourite speculative fiction magazines, and a publication for which I review, one of my flash fiction stories makes a debut appearance: “The Keening of the Sparrow”.
I’m rather pleased with this short, sharp, shocking story which was inspired by the Industrial Revolution child-labourers known as chimney swifts. And given the human predilection for using and abusing their own, I transplanted that concept into the future of asteroid mining. The rest I leave for you to read in Issue 125.
I share the table of contents with the following:
A Fairytale for Sofie Antony Paschos
Oh Exemplary Restraint, So Rare in the Modern World! R. Keelan
The Chameleon Pascal Raud
The Trombone, The Pianist, The Four-Wheeler, and the Zombies Carolyn Watson
The Written Future A.J. Wells
Alien Anthropologist A. Reid Johnson
The Keening of a Sparrow Lorina Stephens
Folklore Brenda Tremayne
And if Venice is Sinking Fiona Moore
Also, check out this great cover by Lynne Taylor Fahnestalk & Steve Fahnestalk
October 29, 2023
Untold Stories, cover reveal and release
I’m very pleased to present the cover reveal and launch date of November 28, 2023 for the Dublin Creative Writers‘ fourth anthology: Untold Stories: an Anthology. I’m further pleased because one of my stories makes an encore, “For A Cup of Tea”, originally published in On Spec, Issue 23, Winter 1995. It’s an alternative history, and a bit of a romp, examining the famed race between the tea clippers, Cutty Sark and Thermopylae. I’m also very pleased to be sharing the table of contents with legendary Canadian author, Jean-Louis Trudel.
Sometimes the greatest stories, the truest stories, are the ones that nobody hears. Tales that would shock or delight or horrify you, if only you knew how things really were. Truths that have lain undiscovered beneath the surface, behind the mask, beyond the history books, or just around the corner… until now.
Featuring:
A. Howitt, Anne Johnston, Chris Vannes, Cliff McNish, Daryn Wilde, e rathke, Franco Amati, Gabrielle Gold, James Hancock, Jean-Louis Trudel, J.H. Schiller, Kristen Whitney, Liam Hogan, Lorina Stephens, Marilia Bonelli, Martin Vian, Michael Whitfield, Rebecca Grubb, Sarah McHatton, & Thomas Brown
Untold Stories is a collection of short stories & flash fiction written by established and emerging authors of the Dublin Creative Writers, as well as some new friends they’ve invited along. Spanning a range of genres and styles, these works depict new perspectives on the myths and history we’ve grown up with as well as the hidden stories we keep to ourselves.
An overview from Editors Chris Vannes and Anne JohnstonWe live in a world constructed of stories. From tales of national origins and lost empires, to behemoth movie franchises, iconic athletes, charismatic business founders, and aspirational brands, our lives and identities are interwoven with the stories we embrace. Stories help us make sense of chaos, remind us that growth and change are inevitable, and provide us with models for courage and leadership. Stories are powerful, beautiful, and necessary.
But they are also, by definition, a singular perspective and version of the world–-a useful simplification, certainly, but still, a simplification. Behind the familiar myths we recite, beneath the daily masks we wear, are another class of tales. New perspectives, unvoiced emotions, lurking terrors, and unexpected vistas, all waiting to cast a strange new light on the familiar world.
Dublin Creative Writers (DCW) presents our fourth collection, Untold Stories: an Anthology. Contributors were given only the mysterious title as their premise. In a first for us, our Kickstarter project for publishing expenses also exposed our call for submissions to a much broader segment of writers. We received a torrent of terrific stories from across the English-speaking world. What emerged from that process is a collection we’re proud to share with you: Twenty original works covering a range of genres from history, fantasy, and mythology to humor and memoir, ranging in length from flash fiction to more substantial narratives, written by our own DCW authors as well as some fantastic new friends.
We hope you enjoy reading them as much as we enjoyed writing and collecting them. May they inspire you to examine the stories all around us a bit more closely—if you peer through the cracks, at just the right angle, there may be secret depths waiting within!
Where to Find Dublin Creative Writers and the Anthology?Dublin Creative Writers can be found on their website, which is linked several places within this post. They also have an Instagram presence @dublincreativewriters.
Untold Stories will be available in trade paperback and ebook through Amazon November 28, 2023.
October 1, 2023
Bad Day Book has landed
Do you ever feel like life’s a joke and you’re the punchline? The Bad Day Book is for people looking for a solution to life’s many bad days; one that doesn’t include curling up in fetal position while crying, or pretending it never happened. You know the days we’re talking about. When your plans get ruined. You think you’re a superhero, and you’re not. Or you have to deal with… people — no explanation necessary. We all have them. And frankly, the number of healthy reactions available is quite limited. In this collection of real-life bad day experiences, you will find comfort knowing that you are not alone. And learn to laugh at life’s unexpected comedy. By the time you finish The Bad Day Book, you’ll understand that if your life is going to be a joke, you’re better off making it funny.
My story, “The Blessing of Survivalist Skills” appears in this collection of bad days that end up in laughter. Available now in paperback and ebook through Amazon.
September 24, 2023
News, News!
Just in time for the close of September, two exciting occurrences here.
The first Is I’ve been asked by Diane Walton, managing editor at On Spec Magazine, to be a reviewer for this award-winning quarterly periodical of Canadian fantastica. My short stories have appeared in On Spec previously, and I am thrilled to be part of the reviewing team.
The second bit of news is my story, “Remember”, appears in the latest issue of Polar Borealis magazine, which is now available for free. This is another award-winning Canadian publication I’m pleased to appear in.
Hoping to have more good news to share in the coming weeks, as there are plans afoot.
September 18, 2023
Review: The Third People, by Lee Burton
The Third People by Lee Burton
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Lee Burton is a new author to me, one I came to, I must admit, because he is a Canadian writer, living and working in Newfoundland. He has garnered a few accolades in his time, most notably the Percy Janes First Novel Award, and a finalist in the Writers of the Future contest.
In his biography, it’s noted: Though his stories are diverse, they all revel in the music and harmony of words and celebrate imagination.
That statement is a bit of a curiosity to me, having now read his novella, The Third People, and perhaps that curiosity, better termed incredulity, lands directly around the words: the music and harmony of words. Music and harmony? Perhaps those artistic sensibilities are very much subjective, because to my taste there was only silence and void. I sound harsh, I realize, and I do apologize, because I know what it is to labour in solitude to craft a story, to hope someone will read the pages you slide out into the world. Even like the story.
Allow me to elaborate. The novella ostensibly deals with a tribe of pseudo-humans who are fighting for their lives against another tribe known only to them and the reader as the Third People. Why they are the third people is never explained, and thus the worldbuilding Burton undertakes is pretty much nonexistent. We know the tribe around whom the novella revolves are perhaps the first people. The tribes with whom they trade and sometimes intermarry are seemingly also first people, and the tribes go by totemic or animistic names such as the Bird People. So who are the Second People? Maybe I missed that.
We are given only few and fragmentary hints as to the physiology and nature of these people. Apparently some are hairy, a minute clue given in one description of hair to their eyes. We are given to understand this is very a patriarchal, even misogynistic society in which nubile females are hidden in caves to protect them from being stolen and bred by other tribes. But that clue is never fully drawn.
And there is an allusion to a society of perhaps werewolves or shapeshifters (the first people?) and vampires (the third people?). That latter is left in breadcrumbs referencing having to stake the third people through the heart with a wooden spear, of the victims of the third people having been torn limb from limb and blood slurped. But those hints are never clearly defined. So, again, the worldbuilding fails and leaves the reader unsure of exactly what’s going on.
There is also a power-struggle between one of the members of the hunting party and the chieftain, which is for the most part pretty standard good vs evil scenario, and utterly boring.
As to the environment of this place, there are even fewer hints. We are given to understand the sky changes from green to pink given time of day. There are apparently trees, even woodlands, flowing water, rocks. It is alluded the first people are hunter/gatherers. But are they? It’s never quite clear. They hunt a creature for meat known as a bounder. Is that an elk-type of creature, a deer, a moose? Kangaroos could be bounders. So, what is this bounder?
Character development, like the worldbuilding, is slight. The story is told through an unreliable narrator, the son of the chieftain (my term), and other than he being a loyal son and an indefatigable runner, soon to be united with a female of the Bird People, there’s nothing there. No personality. No quirks, or mannerisms that would make him lift from the pages and enter the reader’s mind. At this point, he was so utterly grey and flat I can’t even remember his name. That’s a pretty sad statement (perhaps of my own mental capacity) of the lack of development in this very, very short novella.
If I’m completely honest, the novella felt like an outline begging to be given the spark of creation.
However, as always, I encourage you to read The Third People for yourself. It’s always wise to gain your own perspective rather than rely upon that of someone else.
August 9, 2023
Bad Day Book Cover Reveal
Now isn’t that exciting? The publishers of The Bad Day Book have revealed the cover of their new anthology, which is all about how to have a bad-er-funny day. My story, “The Blessing of Survivalist Skills” is included in this hilarious romp of bad days turned comical. Release is scheduled for this summer of 2023, which means any day. For more information visit their website.
July 1, 2023
I’m still here
Sorry about that. Life, you know? Seems it’s been since March that I’ve posted anything here, and what a journey it’s been.
Why AWOL?Well, to be succinct, it was all about eldercare of my 93-year-old mother-in-law who has dementia. That will have to suffice as explanation for the high-drama and stress which has overshadowed our lives since March. We think we’re on track to better care for her. The next few weeks will tell.
All I can say to anyone out there approaching senior or elder status is to get your legal and financial house in order along with any assignment of power of attorney and end-of-life arrangements. Just do it. Don’t leave it to your family because that places an unnecessary burden on them, and may not have the result you wish.
Moving alongIt now looks like our lives are evolving into a new phase, one which allows not only for my mother-in-law’s improved care, but allows for a return of quality of life for ourselves. That means that today, for the first time since March, I can, without guilt or abandonment of responsibilities, spend time updating this website, marketing stories, and catching up with life.
That has resulted in me having 15 short stories out on submission as of today. Most of those stories are flash fiction, even micro-fiction, perhaps a result of the very narrow window of creative opportunity I’ve had. I’ve learned a great deal about packing punch into short, sharp phrases, of building precise character and plot. All and all, I’d have to say it’s been good exercise of writing skills. Whether or not any of those stories sell is another matter. But even so, I will call those pieces excellent time spent honing my craft.
Painting?I haven’t picked up a brush since March. There just hasn’t been the calm, contemplative energy to apply to the demands of composition and media. I did, however, sell one of my paintings, Meux Creek in Spate. I am ever so please it’s gone to a home where it will be enjoyed.
Meux Creek in SpateHowever, the creative process is slowly waking up, and I’m contemplating a new direction, a new vision for a series tentatively called Memories of Earth. In a way, I’m imagining this as a requiem to the planet as we know it, and a cautionary vision of our desire to populate and perhaps harvest the celestial bodies near us. I suppose part of that vision has arisen out of a series of short stories I’ve started, tentatively titled The Lamentations of Mars. There are presently two stories under that vision. I don’t know where that vision will lead me, but it’s a journey I’m compelled to undertake.
Mental Health RemediesDuring these past month, I do have to admit my mental health has been taxed. Just as I said my mother-in-law’s dementia is informed by the traumas of her youth, so has my own response to many of the stressful situations in which I’ve found myself. I said to my doctor just two weeks ago that we can heal from physical wounds, but the wounds we experience to our psyches rarely heal; we learn coping strategies, ways in which we can conduct some semblance of a normal life. But those strategies often crumble in the face of similar traumas which occur in the present.
So, for me, one of the mental health remedies to which I’ve turned, quite surprisingly, has been gardening. And this, in turn, has put me very much in mind of my own mother, who throughout her life plunged her hands into the dirt in order to cleanse her mind of traumas and fears. I remember very clearly when I was a girl of about 10 her being in a very fragile state, spending the day out in the vegetable garden hoeing weeds, and then later that day standing over the kitchen sink washing dishes while I dried, the tears streaming down her face, and then abruptly abandoning that task to go and hoe the garden all over again.
I didn’t find myself in quite that state these past months, but there were days I ferociously planted, weeded and cultivated in an attempt to bring some serenity and sense to the drama of the day. And I do recognize my dear partner in life has sought out similar strategies.
going forwardLife always brings speed bumps. That’s just a fact. But for now, with this particular patch of life, I think we’ve set in motion some very sound, safe strategies for everyone, which will result in us all being in a more content phase of life. I am looking forward to writing more short stories in that proposed Martian series over the next few months as a way of exercising my literary creative muscles, and to exploring that series of paintings to expand that vision. Of course there’s also the garden. And let’s not forget evenings spent on the porch in the rain, or morning coffee on the balcony while birds careen through the air.
And, hopefully, I will find the wherewithal to visit you here on my blog, or through my Facebook presence.
Wherever you are, whatever your situation, I do hope you find some serenity this day.
March 10, 2023
Murder on Her Mind
The Murder on Her Mind anthology series is now live and populating the world with tales of murderous women, edited by Rasiika Sen.
My story, “A Case of Time” I’m pleased to announce, makes an appearance here. It’s a twisted tale about criminal rehabilitation, and first appeared in my collection, And the Angels Sang.
The blurb for Murder on Her Mind, Volume 01:
Step into the thrilling and twisted world of murderous women in MURDER ON HER MIND, an international anthology of modern fiction featuring a diverse array of brilliant authors from around the world. This fascinating collection of stories explores the complex and varied motivations of murderous women, delving deep into the shades of their intentions.
From shockingly primal to deftly subtle, the 22 pieces of fiction in this first volume will leave you breathless and baying for more. The stunning and richly illustrated paperback edition adds an extra layer of immersion to this captivating anthology.
Prepare to meet a fierce mother who murders her evil husband after he threatens to sell their child, before diving into a time-bending fantasy that will leave you questioning whether NOT saving someone can make you a murderer. Righteous reasons intermingle with wicked motives in this collection, as women serial killers and their pursuers take center stage in multiple tales, alongside other women who kill with malice.
From poisoning a victim, hurling a former lover’s wife off a cliff to weaving a tapestry of blood and violence that leaves nothing but destruction in its wake, these stories will keep you on the edge of your seat. Murder on Her Mind is a must-read for anyone who loves thrilling and thought-provoking fiction.
Authors featured in Volume One are: A. Joseph Black, Andrew Kurtz, Anna Hallett, Destiny Eve Pifer, Dibyasree Nandy, Ed Friedman, Fariel Shafee, John Di Donna, Jonah Jones, Lawrence Dagstine, Lorina Stephens, Maggie D Brace, Matt Martinek, Pauline Chow, Rob D. Smith, Robb T. White, Robert McDermott, Seán McNicholl, Stephanie Scissom, Tanja Cilia, Toshiya Kamei, Urmi.
Where you can purchase the anthology:
Buy Murder on Her Mind VOL. 01 Paperback & Ebook from Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXN41ZR6(Available on Amazon worldwide)Paperback from Lulu.com: https://www.lulu.com/shop/rasiika-sen/murder-on-her-mind-vol-01/paperback/product-n2d5qy.htmlPaperback from Pothi.com (INDIA only): https://store.pothi.com/book/rasiika-sen-editor-murder-her-mind-vol-01/Ebook from Lulu.com: https://www.lulu.com/shop/rasiika-sen/murder-on-her-mind-vol-01/ebook/product-8ezqjd.htmlEbook from Pothi.com (INDIA only): https://store.pothi.com/book/ebook-rasiika-sen-editor-murder-her-mind-vol-01/
March 6, 2023
MetaStellar story publication
My short story, “Occupational Hazards, or The Quite Curious Tale of Ástridr Grimsdottir”, appears today at MetaStellar. It’s a weird bit of urban fantasy fiction about an artist who has been drinking scotch-er-tea. It’s a five minute read which should have you snickering in your scotch-er-tea.
The story first appeared in Neo-opsis Magazine, Issue 25, May 1, 2015.
Happy reading!
