SEAL Book Club

[thiskurt]

Ok, it's past midnight GMT so here are the stories for this week.

This session is going to feature stories from tor.com, they don't work in issues so I picked a few of the last posted stories to add up to roughly 10.000 words.

The stories are the following:

Short Stories (10.915 words total):

1. A Better Way of Saying by Sarah Pinkster
Content Note: N/A
Wordcount: 6140
Link: https://www.tor.com/2021/11/10/a-better-way-of-saying/

Introduction: The year is 1915, and a young man hired to shout the words on title cards for silent films experiences the magic of movies. This spurs him to edit some of the worst dialog, leading him in a weird direction that utterly changes his life.

2. The Station of the Twelfth by Chaz Brenchley
Content Note: N/A
Wordcount: 2841
Link: https://www.tor.com/2021/09/08/the-stat ... brenchley/

Introduction: In this Martian city, each stop along the monorail has a purpose behind its namesake. However, none are quite like the Station of the Twelfth, and if you decide to visit, you’ll be sure to learn why.

3. The Wonderful Stag, or The Courtship of Red Elsie
Content Note: N/A
Wordcount: 1934
Link: https://www.tor.com/2021/09/01/the-wond ... -jennings/

Introduction: In a fairy tale equal parts gorgeous and gruesome, village couples seek approval for marriage from a stag with golden rings adorning its horns. That is until one suitor, determined to convince a woman to fall in love with him, makes a rash decision.

Poems (824 words total):

1. The Death of Araweilo by Sofia Samatar
Content Note: N/A
Wordcount: 824
Link: https://www.tor.com/2014/04/13/the-deat ... a-samatar/

[Bee]

Bumping to remind folks who might've forgotten 8o

[InspectorCaracal]

Ah I read the first one but haven't read the others yet, whoops. I'll do that tonight

[thiskurt]

I only just got around to reading them.

I must say none of the stories did that much for me this time, except for The Wonderful Stag.

The first story apparently happened for real, at least the part where Douglas Fairbanks accidentally shot someone on the street with a stray arrow when he was showing off his skills on a rooftop: http://www.retroremote.com/2012/05/viol ... hoots.html

We'll never know when if someone with magic powers saved the man's life that day, but that's kinda funny.

I liked The Wonderful Stag, or The Courtship of Red Elsie; it really did feel like an old-time fairy tale the way they used to be before they were toned down. Or at least it felt somewhere between fairy tale and a modern horror movie which is probably what it was going for and I think it did a good job. I could easily imagine a folk tale like this having been told.

I don't have much to say about Station the Twelfth right now and haven't yet read the poem.

[thiskurt]

"Standing near an open window in his furrier's shop on the fourth floor of 557 Fifth Avenue ... Abraham Seligman felt a sudden, sharp sting in his chest. A steel-tipped arrow, twenty-six inches long, had winged its way silently through the window, pierced his coat and vest and buried its point in the chest wall.... Atop a building under construction nearby they [detectives] found another arrow, but workmen could not tell whence it had come. Assured by Seligman that he had not been concerned in a recent furriers' strike and that he had no enemies who might seek to slay him -- novel-wise -- with curare-poisoned arrows, the detectives finally put the incident down as a prank of a boy with a good bow and a lusty arm."

"The mystery surrounding the source of the arrow which sped across Madison Avenue roofs and struck Abraham Seligman ... cleared somewhat yesterday, when Douglas Fairbanks called at the Seligman home ... and explained that he and several other persons had been "fooling with a bow and some arrows" on the roof of the Hotel Ritz-Carlton on Tuesday.

[Bee]

NGL, this week's texts feel a lot harder to engage with?

A Better Way of Saying was absolutely delightful, and I'm glad I saved it for last. Had anyone heard of the incident that inspired it?

The Station of the Twelfth isn't bad but I didn't care for its topic or world building. Can we please move on from Mars = wars?

As for The Wonderful Stag, or The Courtship of Red Elsie... Okay, that one is creepy AF, and not just because of George-the-wolf. Did anyone else feel like Red Elsie was the only one who "profited" from the whole thing?

TBQH I had no idea what to make of The Death of Araweilo besides something-something-feminism, but I have read Sofia Samatar before and guessed it might be based on African or Arab folklore or mythology, so I did some Research and confirmed it. There's a recounting of the tale here (page 169 of the book, 254 of the display). The poem is significantly less brutal.

[thiskurt]

As for The Wonderful Stag, or The Courtship of Red Elsie... Okay, that one is creepy AF, and not just because of George-the-wolf. Did anyone else feel like Red Elsie was the only one who "profited" from the whole thing?

Yes, there's definitely more to Red Elsie than just her being the girl George-the-wolf wants to court. Especially with the way they all listen to her when George comes back.

But when they had laid hands on him, Red Elsie said, “No.”

Just a word, but they all listened. Even George-the-Wolf.

They all follow her lead and she seems very determined about what to do from the moment George arrives back in the village, she clearly had a plan.

I don't think it was hinted at before that she held any sort of leadership position in the village and I don't think that's why they followed her. Makes you wonder where the initial Stag came from and how long Red Elsie has been around.

Also the fact that it is 'safer' to ask permission of Red Elsie is interesting.

it is safer, all in all, to ask the permission of Red Elsie, and accept her terms.

[Bee]

As for The Wonderful Stag, or The Courtship of Red Elsie... Okay, that one is creepy AF, and not just because of George-the-wolf. Did anyone else feel like Red Elsie was the only one who "profited" from the whole thing?

Yes, there's definitely more to Red Elsie than just her being the girl George-the-wolf wants to court. Especially with the way they all listen to her when George comes back.

But when they had laid hands on him, Red Elsie said, “No.”

Just a word, but they all listened. Even George-the-Wolf.

They all follow her lead and she seems very determined about what to do from the moment George arrives back in the village, she clearly had a plan.

I don't think it was hinted at before that she held any sort of leadership position in the village and I don't think that's why they followed her. Makes you wonder where the initial Stag came from and how long Red Elsie has been around.

Also the fact that it is 'safer' to ask permission of Red Elsie is interesting.

it is safer, all in all, to ask the permission of Red Elsie, and accept her terms.

Right? There's just so much going on behind the scenes

[InspectorCaracal]

NGL, this week's texts feel a lot harder to engage with?

Yeah I felt that way too. We read A Better Way of Saying first and I kinda wish I'd done it the other way 'round too.

Let's see, thoughts.

The Station of the Twelfth was, I mean, maybe I've just read too much, but I thought it was boring. I felt kinda bad about think it's boring because it's supposed to be a metaphorical story about loss and World Wars and remembering sacrifices but y'all. I'm pretty done with stories celebrating imperialist warfare. The only points of the story I liked were the brief rambling about names of places at the beginning, and the detail of "Emperor of All the Russias" implying the existence of Multiple Russias which would indicate potentially interesting history that's absolutely not touched on anywhere else. I did not like the later implication that everyone is either Russian or British. I dunno. It all felt like a bad tired metaphor celebrating British Imperialism and there wasn't enough good space worldbuilding to justify it.

The Death of Araweilo was... interesting. The mix of the traditional legend and modern life and issues and such, I don't think I could really put the pieces together enough to appreciate it myself. There's a comment on the post which I really liked that I think describes how I felt about the tone really well:

This is a poem like a 30 minute prog rock epic. The irresistible surreal imagery.

The Wonderful Stag, or The Courtship of Red Elsie: Holy Shit. That was brutal and left me with so many questions. It was extremely fairy tale, but like, the dark gruesome ones not the fluffy ones with people's feet being torn to shreds and hearts being eaten and shit.

Also, especially after reading the exchange between the two of you, I made a mental analogy to Disney's Beauty and the Beast and I kinda can't unsee it lol. But it's like a horrifying inversion of it. Red Elsie is both Belle and the Enchantress, while George is both Gaston and the Beast. At the end, instead of Gaston leading a mob to assault the Beast, George/Gaston is led by the mob to the stag, and then Red Elsie turns him into the Beast. Or you could say the Stag is the Beast and that George/Gaston does wind up killing him out of his possessive jealousy and then is turned into a Beast himself but it's worse.

[thiskurt]

The Station of the Twelfth was, I mean, maybe I've just read too much, but I thought it was boring. I felt kinda bad about think it's boring because it's supposed to be a metaphorical story about loss and World Wars and remembering sacrifices but y'all. I'm pretty done with stories celebrating imperialist warfare. The only points of the story I liked were the brief rambling about names of places at the beginning, and the detail of "Emperor of All the Russias" implying the existence of Multiple Russias which would indicate potentially interesting history that's absolutely not touched on anywhere else.

I had a hard time with this one too and it kind of killed the momentum for the others.

It should have been about the civil war between the Sultanate of Mexican Russia and Moon Russia, really.
Hmm, "Emperor of All the Russias" could be a EU4 goal...

The Wonderful Stag, or The Courtship of Red Elsie: Holy Shit. That was brutal and left me with so many questions. It was extremely fairy tale, but like, the dark gruesome ones not the fluffy ones with people's feet being torn to shreds and hearts being eaten and shit.

Yeah, it did a great job emulating old school gory fairy tales. Having let that one sit for a while, I think I kind of love it.

Also, especially after reading the exchange between the two of you, I made a mental analogy to Disney's Beauty and the Beast and I kinda can't unsee it lol. But it's like a horrifying inversion of it. Red Elsie is both Belle and the Enchantress, while George is both Gaston and the Beast. At the end, instead of Gaston leading a mob to assault the Beast, George/Gaston is led by the mob to the stag, and then Red Elsie turns him into the Beast. Or you could say the Stag is the Beast and that George/Gaston does wind up killing him out of his possessive jealousy and then is turned into a Beast himself but it's worse.

Ooh, wow, yeah, Red Elsie does feel like combination of Belle and the witch that cursed the beast and the same for George-the-Wolf being Gaston the town jerk combined with being cursed because of his misdeeds like Beast, but turned up to 11. That is a very apt comparison.