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lisamantchev's LJ, and was moved to do a blog review forjennawaterford's story that just went up at Allegory:
In a tale of "wine, women, and bacchanalias," Jenna Waterford regales her readers with a light yet poignant Labor Day treat in "The Accidental Mime." Beginning on the Santa Monica Pier, a woman is having relationship trouble's with yet another man in her life as a crowd gathers round. Combining tropes from classical antiquity with a modern-day sensibility, the narrative works well. Consider these lines:
They tell you over and over again in Classics 101: never, ever piss off a god.
Not that she'd known he was a god.
I thought he was an out-of-work drummer with a drinking problem.
Waterford's effortlessly humorous style easily snatched this reader. Though this is her first short fiction sale, I can only conclude that she's a novelist who also writes in the short form, as this is not the work of a beginner. No spoilers here, but the ending is a good one. This is exactly the sort of blithe yet thoughtful romance-fantasy story that I don't see enough of. Yes, I need to be reminded that people do fall in love. Or try to.
- Mood:
cheerful
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marshall_payne- Marshall Payne
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Comments
A great first review to go with a lovely first publication! :D
...because that's the sort of fiction I like to read as well.
I can certainly see that. Which reminds me of a couple of stories by another writer I really really like. I asked her a bunch of questons at the beginning of the year, but at the moment her name escapes me... *wink*
*bats eyelashes atchoo*
I run Google Analytics on my website, and I get quite a lot of hits off that interview! :D
Had to tell you that I did a double take on your title when I first saw it. I had a story up at Allegory last summer called "The Arachnid Meme." I know our titles are completely different, but there's an uncanny similarity that made me smile. :-)
I did a post here last week on titles, ones that work and ones we as writers have to settle on for various reasons. For short stories especially, one-word titles usually don't work well. Neither do titles with "The" and another word in them: "The Mime," "The Meme" just sort of lie there. But add the right adjective or noun modifier and voila! *G*