“Jeremy’s feelings about his father are complicated. His father is a cheapskate and a petty thief, and yet Jeremy likes his father. His father hardly ever loses his temper with Jeremy, he is always interested in Jeremy’s life, and he gives interesting (if confusing) advice when Jeremy asks for it. For example, if Jeremy asked his father about kissing Elizabeth, his father might suggest that Jeremy not worry about giant spiders when he kisses Elizabeth. Jeremy’s father’s advice usually has something to do with giant spiders.”
I’d forgotten how good F & SF could be. I’m not even halfway through the novella in the September issue* and it’s amazing, like a story about high schoolers watching the TV show of Hitherby Dragons. (Imagining Hitherby Dragons as a pirate TV show that takes place in the context of another story actually helps Hitherby Dragons make more sense.)
The novella is “Magic for Beginners” by Kelly Link, and I’ve already decided to buy its comprising collection when I can. I am also going to buy Leonard’s book. You should buy Leonard’s book! Leonard’s book will teach you to program computers.
While I’m talking about people who write stuff, I will tell you that histoires exists, and that its author very kindly claims to have been inspired by Anacrusis. Histoires comes in 101-word form, but it has multiple entries on most days, it is (unlike Anacrusis) free of lasersharking, and I don’t understand it. I want to be clear on that: I have no idea what is going on in histoires, but I read it anyway! I just enjoy the gestalt feeling of a world popping up around me, and Ms. Gaderian’s prose is like fancy citrus ice cream.
Newer and shorter is 55 Words by Rosemary Mosco, although you could argue that it’s longer, if illustration really does count for a thousand words. There are only four such stories up right now, and I wish it had an RSS feed, because I want to read more.
* The September issue came out in July. No one knows why the September issue came out in July. Take courage, my friend. We are not alone.