#I've already written about thirty thousand words on this story

[pouralaura]

writer interview game

tagged by @pricemarshfield, thank you as always for giving me the opportunity to talk about myself

When did you start writing?

pretty much as soon as I could hold a pencil tbh - I was always the kid who had notebooks full of stories featuring my friends as characters; said friends would always be eager to read my latest updates. I started trying my hand at fanfiction around age 11 or 12, always written in a shitty wide-ruled notebook.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

themes/genres? not really. I write what I want to read. I'd say the biggest difference between what I write and what I read is length - I don't write plot well for more than a couple of chapters. I can do vignettes, shorts, or a few chapters up to 20k words or so and that's as far as the plot part of my brain gets, oops

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

here's a link to my favorite fic of all time. be warned; it's Mad Men stepdad/stepdaughter (very distant, everyone is of age). I've read it a thousand times and it's influenced my writing style so fuckin much. this author writes a lot of stupidly good shit too if you like this one

I don't really get compared to anyone (at least, not to my face) which is fine. I don't know if I want to be.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

it's wherever I am, but mostly at my office desk in our spare bedroom with my rainbow glowy mechanical keyboard and a nice-smelling candle. sometimes I listen to nine inch nails

What's your most effective way to muster up a muse?

read something else, by someone else. look at somebody else's art. find something that speaks to you in something you didn't do. search for that point of connection, that thing that you feel too, and let it make you think differently about something you've been looking at the same way for a while

also watch a horny tv show or movie that helps too

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

indecision, reluctance, stubbornness, hot old men. this is not surprising to me

What is your reason for writing?

to entertain myself, first and foremost. like I said, I write the stuff I wanna read. and I don't think I had a good reason for writing until I started doing that. I always used to write what I thought I was supposed to write, or what would make my friends ooooh and ahhhh. I guess I still do that to some extent but it's sickos only baby

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

I love when someone points out a favorite line. it's usually one that I had in my head for a super long time; one that I wrote first, before anything else. makes me feel Understood

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

as just some guy! because I am! I've made such good friends on the internet from writing my dumb bullshit, please feel free to be one of them! love to chat and share opinions and invent scenarios and what-ifs. I'm also just a thirty-year-old woman sitting in my little house doing my silly little job and it's really fun to meet people who are also doing Exactly That but make time to create in a similar way.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

I've been very kindly complimented on this numerous times and I think it's fairly accurate - if I write a character, I take Great Pains to ensure that their voice is accurate. I exploit their flaws for views. (raphael I am talking about you) I make it funnier and sadder until it feels real - or, as real as I can make it in a fantasy setting.

How do you feel about your own writing?

it's better than it's ever been because, again, I am finally writing what I want to read. it's visceral and silly and fun and horny in a way that makes me really proud of myself!

I think all my writer buddies on here have been tagged already, but if I missed you or you wanna participate please feel free!

[overenthusiasticcartoonlover]

Yeah, Sure

Chapter 3

  So I hate to ask a favor, but we need some extra practice time before competitions. Is there any way we could come to your school’s gym again? -Mona 15:30

  Louisa smiles softly at the text message, just finishing up some classwork in the library. She gathers her stuff and puts it away, before responding.

  It’s no trouble. Let me check with Prof. Yoko. -Louisa 15:35

  She heads out to the physical building, trying not to let it bother her, when one of the girls from her class goes out of their way to avoid her. No one’s talked to her at all in the past couple of weeks, and so she’s been doing their latest project alone, not that it really matters that much. She didn’t even want to come to school in the first place.

  She slips into Prof. Yoko’s office, knocking softly on her door, and heading inside when she gets the go ahead from the teacher.

  “Good afternoon, Louisa. How may I help you?” Prof. Yoko folds her hands on her desk, her aura lit up with a fondness that Louisa tends to associate with her. She’s definitely Louisa’s favorite teacher, and Louisa can tell Prof. Yoko likes her enough to be considered among her favorites as well.

  “I just wanted to see if there are anymore available times for the aerial manifestation gym this week.” Louisa clasps her hands together.

  “There’s not a lot of times, especially since competitions are Saturday, but I’m sure I can find you a little extra time in the schedule.” Prof. Yoko taps on her computer, pulling up the gym times, “There’s an hour and a half tomorrow from four thirty to six, and five to six tonight. Would those work?”

  “Yes. We’ll take both of them. Thank you so much.”

  “Of course. I can’t wait to see you and your team at competitions.” Prof. Yoko plugs in the times, waving Louisa off.

---

  Rey flips off of Louisa’s manifested ring for her, and onto the branch stretched out in from of them, a ball of energy this afternoon, “Competitions are this weekend!”

  Louisa kicks her own ring into a lazy spin, the girls winding down for the evening, “Yep. We’re all staying the full four hours for Friday practice, right?”

  “Yes!” Rey spins across the branch, over to where Mona’s ring is set up, giggling the whole time.

  Mona watches her with a fond chuckle, leaning her head on the vine covered ring she’s in, “This is the most excited I’ve seen you, since I agreed to do aerial manifestation.”

  “I love performing!” Rey plops down on the branch, hooking her legs to steady her, as she hangs upside down, a squeal leaving her lips, “And this is such a cool sport! And you guys are letting me do it with you!”

  Louisa sucks in a breath at that, a smile spilling across her lips, “Well, of course we are. You really like aerial, and you’re honestly the best out of all of us.”

  Rey pulls herself up, her lip quivering as she looks at Louisa, “Do you really think that?”

  Louisa presses her cheek against her ring and nods, cooing when Rey launches herself over to wrap her in a hug.

  “Oh, I adore you, sol.” Louisa squishes her in a return hug, pressing a kiss to her cheek, “Do you two want to go to a restaurant with me for dinner?”

  Mona kicks her feet, thinking it over for a moment, before nodding, “Might as well. Let me just text our foster dads first.”

  Rey positively nestles into Louisa, her eyes watering, “You’re so sweet. Why are you so sweet?”

  Louisa strokes her hair with a bright smile, “You deserve it. I’m half considering adopting you as my sisters.”

  Rey starts crying at that, while Mona gets out her phone to text their dads, her own aura filling with love at that statement.

  Louisa has to steady Rey, when someone bangs loudly on the door, the brown-eyed girl startled by the noise. Louisa checks her watch, humming to herself, “We’ve still got, like five minutes.”

  “We aren’t doing anything anyway. Rey and I can drop to the ground level and head out that way.” Mona puts away her phone, holding out a hand to Rey.

  The two girls head down, while Louisa uses her manifestation to get back up to the tight wire, and head back over to the balcony. She undoes the lock on the door, opening it and setting a hand on her hip, “It’s five till. What’s with the unnecessary pounding on the door?”

  Gaige bristles at that, while the extremely long haired girl next to him tilts her head from side to side, “I mean, she has a point.”

  The other four with them just seem mildly irritated, aside from the redheaded guy that confronted Louisa a couple weeks ago, his aura is pissed.

  “Why do you lock the door to practice? Are you afraid someone’s going to steal your routine or something?” A girl with dark red hair leans her arms on a pink haired girl’s shoulder, her aura just coated in curiosity, despite the underlying anger in it.

  “I would be a dick and make you wait the full, now four minutes,” Louisa checks her watch, before shrugging her shoulders and throwing the door open, “but we just finished up, so you’re welcome.”

  She walks to the edge of the balcony and jumps off without saying anything else, knowingly leaving them frustrated.

  “Who needs that many spices on their food?!” Mona covers her mouth, a snort escaping it, as Louisa continues adding more spices from the tray their waiter gave them.

  Louisa’s eyes glitter teasingly, when she looks up from her meal, “Want me to season yours too?”

  “No thank you. I don’t think my ass could handle that.”

  Rey nearly chokes on her tamale, having to take it out of her mouth, before bursting into raucous laughter, earning a fond look from one of the guys cooking behind the counter.

  Louisa soon starts laughing with her, Mona joining in after a beat, until the whole table has dissolved into a fit of giggles.

  The girls continue eating, soon getting on the topic of books, since they’ve all got a shared interest in stories. Louisa accidentally slips into full Esñan for a sentence, Rey letting out a chuckle, while Mona just seems confused.

  “Rey, did you understand that?” Mona raises an eyebrow at her friend, tilting her head with it.

  Rey tucks her head and nods, reaching up to rub the back of her neck, “I’m fluent in Esñan, Lire, and Respu.”

  “Wow. That’s awesome!” Louisa takes a bite of her vegetables, swallowing before speaking, “It took me forever to relearn Lire, and I’m not even going to bother keeping up my Respu.”

  “How do you know Respu?” Mona’s already finished with her food, way too quick of an eater.

  “I was raised in a small Esñan magic community, about a two hour bus ride from Novurbs, by my abuela, before I even knew that I was unwillingly adopted by Kiara. My sisters and I went into the city a lot, because our library had a very limited collection of books.” Louisa pushes her food with her fork, her heart giving a sad beat.

  Rey reaches over and wraps Louisa in a hug, “What happened to them?”

  Louisa looks over at her, then hugs her back tightly, ignoring how her eyes are starting to water, “Nothing happened to them. Something happened to me. I- My father, my biological father, found me about three years ago and took custody of me. He kind of cut off all my communication with them, and I didn’t realize it until last year. I thought they were mad at me, or something. I tried to get in contact with them again, but they had up and moved. No one from our old barrio knows where either, or how to get a hold of them, so it’s possible I’ll never see them again.”

  Mona sucks in a breath at that, before scooting over to hug her as well, “Well, you’ve got us, if you want us.”

  Louisa actually starts crying at that, squishing them both in a hug, “I’m more than okay with that. I love you two.”

  Rey starts crying with her, happily nuzzling her shoulder, her and Mona speaking at the same time, “We love you too.”

---

  Louisa, Rey, and Mona head into the gym for their last practice before competitions. Louisa’s been trying to convince the girls to switch to this school, after hearing a bit about their current school. She can tell that it’s starting to work. Rey’s completely on board, but she won’t say so, continuously looking back at Mona, who’s been asking Louisa a bunch of questions, her aura seeming a bit more accepting with every answer.

  Louisa opens the door to the balcony, giggling softly, after Rey makes a pun about space, “That was bad, hermana.”

  Rey positively beams, while Mona just raises an eyebrow, her sight turned toward the gym.

  Louisa follows Mona’s eyesight, rolling her eyes at Gaige and his group working still, “And we’re even a little late today. Hey! It’s sixteen fifteen, you guys! Your practice time is up!”

  A few of them still in their spots, everyone’s eyes turned to Gaige, who’s aura is extremely smug, even though a little confusion lights in it, when he sees Rey and Mona, Rey tucking into Mona’s side worriedly.

  Gaige and his redheaded friend use two sets of manifestations to swing over to them, “It’s not actually. Prof. Tate said, since we need the extra hours to practice, your group and mine can just share the practice space, until eighteen.”

  “My agreement with Prof. Yoko, was that we’d have the gym to ourselves, and Prof. Yoko has ultimate decision in the schedule.” Louisa sets a hand on her hip, raising an eyebrow at him.

  “Actually, Prof. Yoko and Prof. Tate both have decision over the schedule, so either share the gym with us, or get lost.” The redheaded boy bares his teeth at Louisa, instantly setting her off.

  Louisa balls her fists, her aura reaching dangerous levels of anger. Mona just reaches over and sets a hand on her shoulder, looking the boys over calmly, “We can’t practice, if you’re in the gym with us.”

  Gaige’s aura at least seems to relax with an explanation, turning to look at Mona instead, “If you can’t practice with us in the gym, then how do you plan to do competitions.”

  “That’s different, tú gilipolla.” Louisa’s voice comes out in a low hiss, her arms waving in frustration, “You’re our competitors, and no one knows who we are for competitions; unless, one, they’ve seen the person’s routine and recognize it, or two, they tell them.”

  “You don’t want to share the gym, because you’re worried we’ll recognize you?” Gaige raises an eyebrow at them, his arms coming across his chest, “Just put up a curtain then.”

  Louisa opens her mouth at that, then crosses her arms and looks at the ground, “I can’t focus on holding up that big of a manifestation for so long, and still work through our routines.”

  Rey chuckles fondly at that, reaching over and rubbing Louisa’s back gently. Mona scrunches her nose and looks up at Gaige, “We can’t share the gym with you, and we need the full practice time. I’m sorry. Isn’t there another place you can practice?”

  “I could ask you the same question.” The redheaded boy glares down at Mona, still fiercely against them.

  Mona looks back at him, her face blank, “Louisa would kill me if I suggested we work in the park again, so no, there isn’t.”

  “We’re not going to another gym, and we also need the practice time. I’m sorry, but I’m not budging.” Gaige reaches up and pinches the bridge of his nose.

  Louisa balls her fists, twisting on her heel, “I’m going to cool down, and then we’ll discuss this with Prof. Yoko and Prof. Tate.”

  Rey sighs softly and shares a look with Mona, before following Louisa out of the room. Mona nods at the two, then turns to look at the boys, “Do you really need the extra practice time, or are you just trying to piss Louisa off? You know this is our time. She informed you last time you requested to take up our practice time.”

  Gaige just runs a hand through his hair, letting out a breath, “We really do need the practice time. I didn’t know she had a team, or friends. She’s really standoffish.”

  “That’s an understatement. She’s a complete asshole. How in the world are you friends with her?” The redheaded boy throws his hands to his sides, glaring viciously out the door.

  Mona eyes him over, then decides to ignore him, turning back to Gaige, “She was kind enough to give me a genuine place to practice, even before we became a group. From our point of view, what you’re doing is extremely rude.”

  “We’re being rude?! Y-”

  “Nash.” Gaige holds up a hand to cut off his friend, looking so ready to be done with this conversation, “Look… Um, what’s your name?”

  “I don’t see why you need to know that.” Mona scrunches her nose, when she sees the other four members of their group head over to them, “Anyway, if you won’t leave in the time Louisa specifically blocked out for us, then I need to find her, so we can bring this discussion to someone else.”

  Mona waits for a response, Gaige opening his mouth for a moment, before closing it and tilting his head, “I’m sorry, but what? Why won’t you tell me your name?”

  “My reasons are my own.” Mona takes a step back, deciding that she’s not going to get a direct response.

  Prof. Yoko leans against her chair, Prof. Tate pressing a hand to his forehead next to her, “I mean, Louisa did technically block out the space for a closed practice. Louisa, are you sure you can’t share the space? It’s a full four hours.”

  “Well, it’s closer to three hours now, and yes. We can’t practice with other people in our space.” Louisa crosses her arms across her chest, still rather frustrated, despite her cool-down with Rey.

  “Then we’re going to have to give the time to Louisa. I’m sorry, Gaige. Next time, you’ll just need to block out the space ahead of time.” Prof. Tate sighs heavily, sinking back against his chair.

  Gaige lets out a long breath, before nodding his head, “Okay, Prof. Tate. Thank you for your time.”

  Gaige bows to the professors, before heading out of the room. Louisa sticks back for a moment, running a hand through her hair, “I’m sorry we had to have that mediated. Thank you for listening to us.”

  “It’s no problem Louisa. Thank you for trying to solve the issue, before coming to us.” Prof. Yoko smiles at her warmly, “Good luck with your practice.”

  Louisa bows to her, before heading out of the office and back the practice room, where the other group is leaving, most of them giving Louisa rude looks.

  Louisa closes the door behind her, then sinks to the floor and presses her face into her hands, “I’m so sorry.”

  Rey and Mona both blink at that, before Rey plops down and scoops her up in a hug, “Hey, hey. It’s not your fault. They were the ones that knowingly tried to take our time.”

  Louisa nestles against her, starting to cry, “I-I just hate dealing with pe-eople so much, and wh-y would they do that? Why d-don’t they just leave me alone?”

  Mona plops down next to them with a soft sigh, reaching over to rub her back, “People are strange creatures. It’s their fault if they’re upset.”

  Louisa wipes her eyes and nods, still feeling a little overwhelmed, “Th-thanks. Just gi-ive me a minute to clear myself, and then we can get to practice.”

  “Take your time. Rey and I can go through our routine first, so you can clear without worrying.” Mona pats her head and straightens up, sharing a smile with Rey.

----------

Chapters one and two are on my blog, under the Over’s Stories tab.

(Author’s Note: If you haven’t read the other chapters yet, and want to know why they really can’t share the practice space, it’s because Rey is a non-magic, and if it got out that she’s doing Aerial Manifestation with Mona and Louisa, then they’ll kick her out of competitions, and won’t let her perform.)

[azelda-scroggs]

Alright alright.

3, 5, 18, 20- Go!

:D

3. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)

Ack, it's in moments like those I hate my Wildbrain. I can't really think of anything? Usually it's more concepts that come to me first in fics - I've grown pretty good I think at "targeting" my ideas so that I end up writing no more, no less than what I really want to write. So if there's one scene I want to write, I'll write it. (I still end up with plans of thirty-two chapters for stories that I estimate to end up around one hundred and twenty thousand estimated words but I stand by my statement -). I draw sometimes when it's just a static scene, too. It takes me a ton more time but yeah.

One exception to that rule is the Bells of Notre-Dame AU (yes I am absolutely naming it like that), in which I have a one-shot planned out in much more detail than the main story. But I absolutely refuse to write the one-shot first.

However there are a couple of things that I have written and never shared outside of a closed circle because, simply set, nobody except those people would understand them. Those are snippets I wrote for the Swapped Species AU, in which each of the LU boy is basically not Hylian (and if they are, then they have some kind of special status or abillity). Yes, it's that one AU you hear so much about because of Guardian Wars lmao We have a whole server worth of lore, plot ideas, and headcanons and it's. Tough to put all that into a story so that anybody can just come in and understand what it's all about.

Anyway, since the question encouraged to share such scenes anyway, I'm going to do that in a separate post, so I'm sorry you're going to be spammed with pings tonight. (It's gonna be whumpy and depressing. Surprise surprise. x))

5. What character that you’re writing do you most identify with?

Okay, that one is tough. (I say this for every question lmao) I don't tend to identify with characters so so much? To the contrary I try to put myself in their shoes. It's kinda the other way around. The projection I do is usually strictly curated and because of the vision of the character I have. It's rare that I go "omg this is so me."

That being said I had such a moment when I wrote Resilience. It's from Sky's POV and I wrote it while I had a similar moment of discouragement and drop in self-confidence. It took me completely by surprise but the thing basically wrote itself because of that. (The pacing was a mess. I've never edited a thing so much. But it wrote itself.) And there's a lot of things about Sky where I can relate to or empathise with him a lot, so yeah, I guess I'd say Sky.

18. Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them.

I answered this one here!

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

I'm going to talk about And My Eyes Are Open again for this one :D

There's a lot I could talk about because there's a lot I'm trying to do in this fic, and I still have no idea if it'll work out - but there's one piece of symbolism I really really want to include in it and it's the comparison between Link and the sword. In the manga this idea is already there - the Master Sword is described as being "melted down, beaten and reborn from suffering," which is a rather personified way of speaking about a weapon, and later Hylia speaks of Link's spirit being "like a sword hammered and honed so that it would never break" (I love the overblown drama of the manga like it's not even funny), so that's where the idea came from. In every Zelda game the sword is Link's weapon from day 1, it's such an iconic part of the game; but Link is also, you could argue, a weapon himself, being sent by Hylia/Zelda/the king of Hyrule (in WW) or others on his quest, at great personal risk for himself. The two are very closely associated.

So that's definitely something I want to put into this story. At the start of the fic Link is in dire need of a better weapon, his own is too small, too weak, and overall very unsuited to his purpose. His friend Orville makes him a new one, which fits him much better; on the first mission on which he uses the sword, he has an apparition of the goddess Hylia sending him on his quest (which, to his chagrin, involves more frustrating politics than fighting and puzzles). The act of taking care of his sword soothes him when his mind is in turmoil please wipe that smile off your face. I didn't manage to include the sword in one key scene, but in the scenes that are yet to be written, there's another one where he accidentally dents the sword, immediately after which he undergoes a bit of a crisis of faith. When he is arrested and imprisoned, which of course marks the beginning of the end for him, his sword is broken (the broken sword being mentioned in the manga). He tries to prove his innocence by going through a trial by fire, I mean that literally. And at the end of the fic, his blacksmith friend reforges his sword as he resolves not to give up on hope. It's not the best symbolism ever written but I'm having a lot of fun thinking it up and putting it there; when I say Eyes is an incredibly self-indulgent fic this is exactly what I mean.

Oh, and this is supposed to be pre-Skyward Sword, I've tried to include some bird oracles à la Ancient Rome in my worldbuilding.

If you are not interested in Eyes too bad because I just wrote 300 words about it I would say I'm still pretty proud of the way I built The Longest Night, the fact that I open the story at dawn and close it at night on the same day with a revelation of what happened the night before (it's not a big ooo revelation but people have remarked on this! so it worked! I was so happy). I'm also proud of its title, considering it was supposed to be a direct continuation of Sunset pt. 3 (before, of course, we got the next parts).

Thank you so much for your ask! It was so fun to answer and I hope it's gonna be fun to read too, even though I was verrrry long-winded (but by now you should know that's how I am aha)

[justsomeoneunordinary]

You? In awe of me? No way! 😳 It's just four thousand words! The real bad thing about it though is that I just know this fic is gonna be long. Maybe even thirty thousand plus? I'm scared? I've never written a long fic before? Oh boy, but I'm so excited. I've never been this inspired before! So happy to write! It's actually been three years since I wrote something, so this feels...incredible? 😅

As for the content in it, no, there will be no a/b/o, mpreg, or knotting. I'm not against those things, hell, I read them often! But I just wanted to keep to basic werewolves for this fic. Other than that, I know that this fic will mainly be a case fic--or is it mission fic? I'm sorry I'm from the SPN fandom, we call them case fics and I'm used to that--mostly told from Sam's POV, and I'm sure there will be angst, with lots of fluff of course. Last thing though, I guess you can say petplay is involved? I think that depends on how you look at it, though. So if that's not your thing that's plenty okay, you are not obligated to read anything you don't want to, okay? 🙂

And I actually tend to write my summaries before I start on my fic, so I can use it as a guideline for the whole story. So you're in luck if you still want a summary for the fic because that bit has already been written! Do you still want it? Remember, you aren't obligated to read anything you don't want to! --Ice Lily

oh yeah, i love the rush you get when you haven't written for long and suddenly feel inspired. that's how i felt after infinity war since it's been somewhere around 3 years for me as well the last time i wrote smth and then iw came out and i instantly got the itch to write after i walked out of the theaters. it's such an amazing feeling! you just feel so excited and giddy and happy, realizing the interest you once had still isn't gone. i'm really happy for you and that you're so inspired rn! ♥️

30+k tho? that's gonna take some while, can't believe you gonna make me wait this long til i can read it! :O

idk what a case fic is but i imagine i's smth action-packed? and i don't have any strong feelings towards pet play, esp when you say it isn't pet play in the traditional sense anyway.

hell yeah, i wanna read that summary! you can't just tease me and then not give me anything!! gimme!!! *grabby hands*

[lizabethstucker]

Asimov's Science Fiction (March/April 2017)

Digging into my backlot of science fiction magazines. A mixture of verse and stories. I've only reviewed and rated the stories. This particular issue is the 40th Anniversary one! 3.8 out of 5 "Soulmates.com" by Will McIntosh Daniel wants someone to share his life with, to love and be loved by. When he meets Winnie through a dating app, he thinks she could be the one almost immediately. Emily, his former girlfriend and current best friend, is more suspicious, doing a deep dive on who Winnie could be. Which, considering they never meet in person despite Winnie being in Atlanta and Daniel in Athens, not that long a drive, is valid. Starts extremely slowly, assumingly to establish the characters. Not my favorite way as most writers don't do a good job at it. I'm not entirely certain that this is actually science fiction, despite the use of Artificial Intelligence. As to Daniel, I found him to be incredibly childish, blind, immature, and boring. He learned absolutely nothing from his experience. I struggled to complete this novella. 2.5 out of 5 "Number Thirty-Nine Skink" by Suzanne Palmer It started simply enough, an expedition designed to bring life in balance to an empty planet. Then the humans left suddenly, leaving Mike willingly behind with Kadey whose programming makes the creatures populating the area. When Mike dies of cancer, Kadey continues her work. Until the night something changes. Poor Kadey, struggling with loneliness, possibly incomplete programming, and the knowledge hidden from her regarding why the humans left. Sad, yes, but with a more hopeful ending that is also a beginning. Lovely story, so well written. 4.5 out of 5 "Three Can Keep a Secret..." by Bill Johnson & Gregory Frost A convoluted tale of assassins, misdirection, love, greed, and con-artistry with an almost noir feel to it. It's almost impossible to give a synopsis that isn't chockful of spoilers. The first person narrator isn't totally reliable, but still intriguing in what he shares. I loved this more than I expected with this strange little story. FYI, in case you don't know, the title is from an old saying. Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead. 4.5 out of 5 "The Ones Who Know Where They Are Going" by Sarah Pinsker A child must suffer so the city can be happy, or so they say. One particular child is taken from her mother, locked away in the dark with no social interaction beyond the delivery of food. As time passes, language is lost and memories of a happier time begin to fade. Then one day the door isn't shut tightly and the child gets out of the tiny dark room. She crawls up the stairs, each step bringing back a particular memory, heading for freedom. But at what cost? Rip my heart out, why don't you? Two and a half pages of the most gut-wrenching narrative. The tightly woven writing is painfully descriptive. And the ending! Oh, the ending. I just cannot deal with it. 5 out of 5 "Invasion of the Saucer-Men" by Dale Bailey Teenagers have been foiling alien invasions for some time. After all, the adults are either locked in their homes consuming television or would dismiss the very idea of aliens. The newest landing of a flying saucer bonds together teens out at the local make-out point. Per the author, his idea was to take the cheesy sci-fi and horror movie titles of the 1950s and treat the core idea with some emotional and thematic nuance. Here we have a group of teen archetypes, from the football star to the nerds to the beauty. There are also the followers that are always found in high school. This brings back memories of too many cheesy nights at the drive-ins in my county. I've always found my sympathies fell with the aliens most of the time, faced with humans whose first response to the unknown was always violence. Horrible ending to this story. Horrible. CW: extremely graphic attack. 3 out of 5 "Kitty Hawk" by Alan Smale After receiving word of her brother's death, Katharine Wriht travels from Ohio to North Carolina to help her other brother. Instead of Orville preparing to pack up for the trip home with his beloved

brother's body, he is trying to continue with the flight experiments that killed Wilbur. Katharine finds herself engaged in helping, even learning to fly herself. This is a complete AU of the Wright Brothers and the birth of flight, through World War I and the suffrage movement. The writing is evocative of the time period and the dangers of experimental flight. I don't know why it didn't click with me, but I struggled quite a bit in reading this imaginative tale. I can see others enjoying this greatly, just not me. 3 out of 5 "Cupido" by Rich Larson Marcel is a genius at chemistry. He came up with a way to make pheromones specific to the pair he's paid to bring together, either by one of the potential couple or by a third party. The majority of the money he charges goes to pay for his grandmother's colon cancer treatment. As word gets around, he finds himself moving to smaller cities to avoid identification. As yet, what he does isn't illegal. He didn't expect to find himself attracted to his potential mark. Frankly, I don't consider this to be science fiction at all. The science is already viable. Add the consent issues which would be called dubcon (dubious consent) and I'm too busy cringing to enjoy. In my mind, Marcel is anything but a hero. 3 out of 5 "A Singular Event in the Fourth Dimension" by Andrea M. Pawley Olive was removed from the reducer pile, adopted by a childless couple to help stave off loneliness. Now that the second grandmother is living with them and Mama was pregnant, Olive is worried that she will be sent back to the pile, no longer needed. A loving, imaginative little android who believes in fairy dust, even if the fairies never seem to do anything magical like in the stories. Love doesn't have to be limited to just humans or blood relations. Sweet and touching. 4.5 out of 5 "The Wisdom of the Group" by Ian R. MacLeod There are theories and studies about group-think, how certain groups can intuit a trend or coming situation without any real knowledge. With the right group, the members could get wealthy or probably save the world, depending on their inclination. Samuel has been part of such a group since brought in by his professor while still in university. Now, years later, Samuel is wealthy, has a liv-in lover, three dogs with unfortunate names, and a gorgeous house in Washington state. But something is wrong, something that seems to be originating from Samuel. The response is usually to cut the wrong out of the group. A complicated basis for a disturbing story. I had to sit on this one for a while in order to determine what I felt about it. Definitely strong writing, could almost be considered psychological horror. I don't know if I would ever say that I liked it, but I recognize the work done and the uniqueness of the story. 3.5 out of 5 "After the Atrocity" by Ian Creasey Abu Hameed, the terrorist behind the attack that left ten thousand people dead, has also died during interrogation. The solution? A machine that can make exact copies, complete with memories, of an individual. Violet Ruiz, operator and creator of the machine, even made a duplicate of herself in order to work 24/7. As Hameed's copies die during the enhanced interrogation, more copies are needed. Soon Violet II wonders about the ethical implications. Well thought out consideration of just how far a nation is willing to go in search of revenge wrapped in the disguise of intel. Patriot Act, enhanced interrogation the Greater Good, dismantling both Habeas Corpus and the Geneva Convention, anyone? 4 out of 5 "Goner" by Gregory Norman Bossert In order to explore space, humans had to be converted from flesh into nanotechnology based creatures. The pilots call themselves Goners. Char's best friend's father is a Goner. Already fascinated with the idea of flying, Char uses a sliver of Pilot Clark to begin changing. While this is complete in itself, the story also begs for more. What is happening to Char? Will he be allowed to live his dreams despite his age? S fascinating a concept. 3.5 out of 5 "We Regret the Error" by Terry

Bisson A series of news corrections from the future. So many corrections, even some corrections of corrections. Taken individually, these are amusing. Pieced together, there is a much deeper story playing out. Oh, and a nice dig at Disney's well-known history of not paying some of their artists for their work. 3 out of 5 "Tao Zero" by Damien Broderick Teenagers, incredibly smart ones, have unprotected sex after winning $370 million in the Mega Millions lottery. The celebration leads to a child, the narrator, and the money to try to trap the Tao, the Way that cannot be named, inside a machine. I tried, I really tried to read this without success. After rereading the first two pages over and over in an attempt to struggle through, I put the story aside, hoping to pick it back up when refreshed. Didn't work. DNF