I was just thinking about Janet Kagan’s Mirabile today because of a line in Gail Collins’ NYT column, which is a sort of FAQ about the Texas and Ohio primaries:
While we’re at it, would you please explain the Texas primaucus?
The primaucus is a large, featherless bird that feeds on roadkill and ethanol.
Oh, I meant to ask you… Have you read “The Last Wish” by Andrzej Sapkowski? It’s a so-called ‘mosaic novel’, i.e. a series of short stories stitched together by another one. I could easily see Morlock given the same treatment.
I haven’t–I guess I’ll have to check it out; thanks for the tip. That’s sort of what I’ve been trying to do with the Morlock stories in Black Gate: most of them fit into a plotline that I’ve been keeping semi-secret, so as to not scare off new readers. I’m afraid the cat will be out of the bag with the next installment, though.
Lucky for me then, I haven’t missed any of the episodes! Or at least those in BG. Have there been others?
There are some episodes from his earlier career scattered around the web; I think I’ve got most of them linked from the stories page of my rather inactive website.
I wish I could create a standalone story as searing as you’ve done, though. I’m thinking particularly of “Where Beauty Lies in Wait.” The worldmaking there lent such dramatically different meanings to common words that the reader (I guess I mean me) was constantly getting surprised.
You are kind indeed! But the whole thing was just based on the sex lives of certain fish…
Interesting to know! I guess everything is grist for the fantasist’s mill. My son claims that whenever something odd or unusual comes up I say, “I can use that in a story!”