SOLVED. Short story set in Sutro Heights Park (San Francisco), POV of a statue, in short story collection - contemporary fantasy. [s]

[Jane]

This is driving me mad - I read this collection of short stories about 3 - 4 years ago, I think. This particular short story could even have been the title short story, it's the only one I remember from the book. I don't even know if it was a collection of stories by the same person, or they were all different authors. I am pretty certain the genre was fantasy/sci fi, and that it was a modern/contemporary book.

The story does not, I think, name Sutro Heights, or the statue (although I thought it was the statue of Diana). The story is told through time, over hundreds of years (and into the future) about the history of the park, and incidentally glimpsed, broader history. It is the statue's point of view - literally what she sees. That is, the buildings that were there at different times, the people coming through the park, the changes over time.

One main part of the story she (the statue) follows the life of one human, who comes all though her life to sit at the seat near the statue, from when she was a little girl to when she is an old woman.

Sutro Heights Park is in San Francisco. I originally thought this story would be easy to find, on search engines, as it's quite unusual, but not so...

[Tab]

Jane, since the story didn't mention the park name, how did you figure out the location was Sutro Heights? Does the story reveal parts of San Francisco's history that helps to reveal the location of the statue?

What sorts of things does the statue narrate about the girl? Does the statue only mention things she observes the girl do? Or, does the statue have an omniscient point of view?

[Jane]

the statue moves through time just as we do, only is around for longer. Can only observe this girl/woman when she is right in front of the statue, there's a bench there, that all through her life she comes and sits on. She just watches her change through time.

I seem to remember the statue described various buildings that were once there, that burned down, it just seemed really obvious to me that it was Sutro. Perhaps it even described the wealthy man who had built it...

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Jane, are you still looking for this or did you find it?

[Jane]

Hi - amazingly, I found it, thank you for asking.

It is the short story 'The Carpet Beds of Sutro Park' by Kage Baker, and appears as the first story in her collection 'In the Company of Thieves', published 2013.

[Rainbowheart]

Glad you found it!

In the Company of Thieves for the link.