"Laudate Dominum (for many voices)" by D. P. Watt

Appears in Shadows and Tall Trees (editor Michael Kelly).

Stephen Walker is a curmudgeon, a grumpy old man who requires of others what he does not of himself:  military service, no humming.  He is on vacation in Looe.  He plans to take in the wishing well and Mechanical Music Museum, but he can't find the well, and he stumbles on the museum where a large choir is practicing.  He lets himself in but cannot find the choir--a recording, no doubt.  The curator initially brushes off the visitor but becomes curious in Mr. Walker's voice....

An interesting tale with a horrific device at its core.  Mr. Walker seems to be just a random victim.  The beginning of the tale quotes Wittgenstein:

"How things are in the world is a matter of complete indifference for what is higher. God does not reveal himself in the world."

Interesting quote.  However, the tale is not as resonant because of it.  Why Walker?  No reason, except he's unpleasant.  He is, though, well characterized at the story's outset, and organically placed in his denouement.

"A Cavern of Redbrick" by Richard Gavin

Appears in Shadows and Tall Trees (editor Michael Kelly).

Playing by the gravel pit, a young boy encounters a blonde girl... who's dead, hair full of ice--a ghost who challenges his being there.  The boy talks with his grandparents who poo-poo the idea, but then the grandfather goes into a shed with a freezer.  When the grandfather's caught, he explains that some jinn are fire and need to be frozen....

This appears to be an ambiguous tale if leaning toward a slightly realistic interpretation.  Some highlights of writing and emotional tone raise this above most stories.

"Casting Ammonites" by Claire Massey

Appears in Shadows and Tall Trees (editor Michael Kelly).

For the lit'rary set.  The narrator lives by the sea, near a hidden labyrinth.  A woman stops by and immediately spots it, to the narrator's surprise.  She asks pointed questions.  They discuss ammonites and snakestones and she probes deeper that he imagines.  The ammonite becomes more than a metaphor.

Interesting work that intrigues me to investigate more of her work.  This may not even be dark fantasy, but it sparks thought and from the foreshadowing, it seems clear the author put some work into this one.  If she has more in this vein, I'd like to mine it--a collection, even better.  The kind of writer that writers like to read.  A writer to watch.

"New Wave" by Gary Fry

Appears in Shadows and Tall Trees (editor Michael Kelly).

Here's a chilling tale by Gary Fry.  Lee is haunted by the loss of his wife, who was carried off by a current while learning how to swim.  Even though she predicted such a death, she suffered from paranoid schizophrenia.  Lee worries that his son, Jacob, may be going through similar travails.  The boy's seeing things.  He seems to have interpreted the scarecrow in the wheat field as a boneless woman, coming for him.  Lee has already moved once.  He hopes this time it will work.

It's not clear why Lee did what he did when teaching his wife to swim, but why do we do some of the foolish things we do?  I bounced off the opening a time or two, but the tale gave me literal chills by its end.  That's the name of the genre, right?  Success.

Reading Update: Power Structures

David Farland kept asking about "power structures."  At first I resisted:  "I care more for people than for politics," but I relented to Farland's greater wisdom, and I'm glad I did. Among online investigations, I dug up two books of note--one for its usefulness, one for its dubiousness.  Both fascinating.  They answer Farland only indirectly, however.

Here are their slide-show summaries:

Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don't Hardcover by Jeffrey Pfeffer

The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

Ebooks:

Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don't Hardcover by Jeffrey Pfeffer

The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

Reading Update: Fiction

-- Rereading Anne McCaffrey's 1st award-winning Pern stories that made up the first of the novels. Still potent.

--Kim Stanley Robinson's Shaman (actually was reading it when my Kindle died)-- survival among the early hominids.

--Dan Krokos' Planet Thieves -- finished awhile ago and was in the writing throes of a review when a triptych of tech woes steered me off course.  The book's a fun YA romp with "alien" baddies.

--Scott Nicholson's Transparent Lovers, a PS Publishing noir-flavored novella about a detective coming back to life to find his murderer and stopping another in process.

--Cate Gardner -- short stories mostly.  Often takes a situation--sometimes common trope, sometimes not--and milks out the emotion of such a scenario.  This and her sometimes startling imagery are her strengths.

--J Kathleen Cheney's The Golden City -- approaching 1/2 way mark.  A cross between Tim Powers, Jane Austen, and a mystery--an original confection set in early 20th century Portugal--both familiar and sufficiently strange.  The love story's kicking in.


--Robert Heinlein (finished Menace from Earth collection -- I just need a stretch of time to write.

--Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer.  Loved as a boy.  Still delightful.  It begins as a picaresque tale, but slowly events shape others.  Wonderful studying how Twain twists his turns.  I still remember thinking, "Man, if Tom's this ornery, imagine Huck's Adventures!"  And then Huck wasn't near so bad.  His was still a good story, but for different reasons.

Reading Update: Lying

I'm reading various items.  Of note are books and videos on lying.  When do people do it?  Here are three TED talks on lying:

Jeff Hancock: The future of lying

Pamela Meyer: How to spot a liar

Dan Ariely: Our buggy moral code

Fascinating stuff.  Especially fascinating is when they disagree.  Several said you can't see lies in peoples, but others said you can.  What's the truth?  Are they lying?

Maybe.  More likely the paradox is resolvable.  Paul Ekman in his book on lying, Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage, said that lies change over time as the liar begins to believe his/her lies.  Also, knowledge makes liars more slippery, but presumably still catch-able.

Dan Ariely's ebook is on sale.