"Pretty Little Thing" on Apex Online

Here it is, another place to enjoy the product of a sick mind.

Enjoy.

Cosita Preciosa

"Cosita Preciosa" the Spanish translation of "Pretty Little Thing" is up at La Idea Fija.

La Idea Fija is an Argentinian ezine which calls itself a "pretty literary magazine".

Finally, I have a Spanish translation of one of my stories to show to my non-English speaking friends.

"Clapping for the Fairies" in Helix #8

Helix #8 is up and my story "Clapping For The Fairies" is in it. This is my second story in Helix, coming exactly a year after "Pretty Little Thing". was published.

I'm a bad self-pimp, but I'll say this: it's a weird little story, told from a weird perspective. If you like the idea of a second person, choose-your-own-adventure, lesbian horrortale, this might just be the thing for you.

Incidentally, I've been contacted about translating "Pretty Little Thing" into Spanish. This will give my non-English speaking friends an opportunity to find out what that writing thing is all about and, possibly, defriend me.

Helix SF

Check out this review of the first year of Helix SF.

Three novelettes were among my favorite stories. John Barnes’s "Rod Rapid and His Electric Chair" (January) is a very mordantly funny send up of a Tom Swift-like series of books and the racist and fascist views expressed therein. Also from January, "The Narcomancer", by N. K. Jemisin, tells of a man who brings peace to those who need it by easing their way to death -- at considerable personal cost. "The Snake’s Wife", by Ann Leckie (October) is a story of dynastic struggles between two regions in a fantastical world, and also as legitimately shocking as any Helix story so far. It's a story of war, forced marriage, mutilation, and revenge: ultimately suggesting that the promises of gods may come true but ought to regarded with great suspicion. Other particularly strong novelettes came from William Sanders and from Jennifer Pelland.

Of the short stories I liked Esther Friesner’s sharply satirical "A Sacred Institution" (July), in which a slimy politician marries his dog but runs into trouble when aliens show up who demand that promises like marriage be kept. And N. K. Jemisin’s "The Brides of Heaven" (July), set on a harsh alien world in which an Islamic colony seems doomed because all their male colonists died in an accident, until one colonist decides that true obedience to God requires a particular, chilling, solution. And Robert Reed's "The Hoplite" (April) is an effective and dark variation on the "eternal soldier" theme. Other good short stories came from Sara Genge, Vylar Kaftan, Michael Payne, Samantha Henderson, and Jay Lake.

Indeed, on looking over the magazine's sum of stories I am again impressed -- there is a lot of nice work here.

Yeah, baby. I've gotten quite a bit of love for Pretty Little Thing. I think Helix has done a great job getting good work and putting it out there and I am glad that Clapping for the Fairies has landed me a second publication in this ezine.

"Clapping for the Fairies" sold to Helix SF

Helix SF has agreed to buy "Clapping for the Fairies", a second person, choose-your-own-adventure, lesbian horrortale written for the Liberty Hall Shimmer sponsored contest.

This is the second story I've sold to Helix (check out Pretty Little Thing) and I'm happy that it's found such a good home.

IROSF reviews "Pretty Little Thing"

The IROSF review of Helix #4 is up!

Here's what Lois Tilton has to say about "Pretty Little Thing"

A young woman stalks a psychopathic murderer by using herself as bait. But she ends up with two stalkers following her instead of the one she intends to trap.

This piece is told from the alternating points of view of all the characters. The thought processes of the psychopath and the obsessive are both interesting, but I can't help thinking the story would have worked more effectively without the woman's point of view, explaining her scheme.

She praises this issue of Helix and recommends "Gherem" by Mike Allen and Charles Saplak

As always, thanks for the review.

Critical Ink

David de Beer reviews Helix #4 on his blog.

This is what he has to say about me:

Sara Genge wrote a clever little story for Mytholog, that I enjoyed enough to place on my MAM of the Flashies list.

Anitta is being followed by two distinctly different men.

A story told in three contrasting pov's, all in first person and rather cleverly working on the premise of thought-diaries, a, I suppose, theoretical advancement of online blogging to some extent.
Very clever, entertaining, and more than a little creepy at times. The dark, savage undercurrents are skillfully executed, and the story never loses its intrigue.
Two nits - 1, the Darwin references is a bit of a wrong perception of what Darwin and natural selection actually means, but can be forgiven since they belong to Claude, and his understanding of natural selection is the same misguided perception held by the public at large.
2, some inconsistency with Claude's pov, and a few stretches of credulity in the plot.
Overall, a thump of a good read, well worth the time and one really can't say too much about this for fear of spoiling the plot.

I'm glad he got the Darwin references. I tried to use the totally screwed up Darwinism as a way to show that the character is seriously sick.

Thanks for the review! Glad you liked the story.

Keep 'em coming.

Critical Ink

Marshall Payne from Tangent has reviewed "Pretty Little Thing"


Sara Genge uses multi-viewpoint first person in "Pretty Little Thing." While Claude is a charming narrator at first, it quickly becomes clear that he is a psychopath stalking Annita, a young black woman who’s been rejuvenated to look like a teenager. The speculative element is provided with a future replete with nanos and thought diaries, the latter figuring into the structure of the narrative. Genge is a new writer and I remember her vivid story, "Godtouched," in Strange Horizons. "Pretty Little Thing" isn’t as strong, but still interesting enough. Genge is definitely a talent to watch.

Nice!

While we're at it, here's what has been said about "Godtouched"
From Tangent, but this time from Ellisabeth A. Allen:

Moving on to "Godtouched" by Sara Genge, we find a vividly depicted postapocalyptic setting and the disturbed (or "godtouched") country girl, Denise. Mostly a sketch of Denise's raw and virulent world, the story boasts a small plot in the form of Denise's choice—city sophistication or rural poverty?—but the atmospheric tale, promising enough for a novel's lead, doesn't need high-octane events to draw you in.

IROSF is harder on "Godtouched". This is Lois Tilton's opinion:

As an ecocatastrophic Cautionary Tale, the vision of the Waste intrigues, but Denise's story is too slight, not sufficiently original to be of as much interest as its setting.

Thanks for the reviews, both good and bad.

"Pretty Little Thing" up at Helix SF

My story "Pretty Little Thing" is up at Helix-SF.

www.helixsf.com

This story was easy to start but hell to finish. I wrote it last year in Paris. I got the idea returning home late-ish at night by Metro and then joined a party in my Residence where I talked to interesting people who helped me flesh it out. I had fun "researching" this one. Then I was stuck and it took me several months of tinkering to finish the story.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and tell me what you think.