Rachel Swirsky's Blog, page 9

Thoughts on “Compassionate Simulation”, from PH Lee

Lee and I did have a very intense process while writing this story. There were a lot of craft questions but because the subject matter of this is so intimate and intense — a child’s relationship with abusive and authoritarian parents from whom they’re alienated — that the story is integrally tied into beliefs about family and children and norms and abuse. Lee has a more pessimistic view of some of these things than I do, which sometimes makes me feel like Polyanna, and sometimes feels like just a different background, and which may well be both. I’m also immunized to the artificiality of several literary techniques that are deployed for this subject matter since I’ve been working for so long. Lee did a good job of calling out contrivances, although some remain because literature is still literature. Like Lee, I enjoy how this fell. It was a rewarding collaboration.


https://twitter.com/P_H_Lee/status/11...

“Your Face” in Spanish

It is so cool to see my story in other languages! I can’t read most of them, but it’s still really fun to know the story has a life beyond the words I chose. My story “Your Face” has already been translated into Chinese and Spanish — here’s the Spanish version on Cuentos para Algernon, a nonprofit blog and anthology run by Marcheto, who also wrote the translation. https://cuentosparaalgernon.wordpress.com/2019/11/01/tu-cara-de-rachel-swirsky/

A Haiku for Saturday, November 1st

The cold that nestles,

knits a blanket, lights a fire,

turns you toward yourself.

A Haiku for Monday, October 28th

Cold, like Santa Cruz























in deep winter; Mike and I


walking now as then.

If You Say So

[image error]

She’s pretty sure you’re full of shit, though.

A Haiku For Saturday, October 19th

The cold rain shivers.

I dart, indoors to indoors,

generous shelters.

“Where to Find Free Short Stories Online”

Really flattered to see that “Memory of Wind” is one of Sarah Ullery’s favorite stories on Tor.com! I really bled over that one; it ended up intersecting some very personal issues. Sarah Ullery lists a bunch of places to find free short stories online — give it a glance. [link]

Cloud-Haired Woman

[image error]This reminds me of the art my parents had from the sixties, feminist with interesting proportions and bodies. I called it cloud-haired woman after a character in Marianne, the Magus and the Manticore, my favorite of Sheri Tepper’s books which made a strong impression on me as a child. (I haven’t read it since.)

A Haiku For Friday, October 4th

The cold rain shivers.

I dart, indoors to indoors,

generous shelters.

A Haiku For Friday, September 27th

God, it is so dark.

My throat closes like the night,

kaleidoscopic.