PC169: The Duke of Vertumn's Fingerling

[bluetube]

If you dig Tina Connolly's readings, you should check out her current project Toasted Cake. Weekly flash stories for a year.

Thanks Fenrix. Yes, I heard Toasted Cake mentioned on a recent Escape Artists podcast and am enjoying Tina Connelly's bite-sized readings.

[Unblinking]

This reminded me of another story that I vaguely remember (it's partly why I had to listen to this in the first place), but I just can't recall the details. There were small assassins with similar weapons, possibly flying on dragonflies or small birds.  Does anyone know which story that could be?  I'd love to know 

Perhaps you are thinking about the Gallivespian race in Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy (the first of which was adapted into the movie The Golden Compass).  They were little people who rode on dragonflies, had poisonous spurs on the backs of their heels.  Because they were small and hard to detect and had inborn weapons, they make good assassins.

(I am not a fan of the trilogy in general, and could rant for a long long time about it)

[bluetube]

Thanks Unblinking. I heard a 6-hour radio dramatisation (BBC) of the His Dark Materials trilogy and read the books about ten years ago... I don't recall the characters you describe, but that must be it. Mystery solved. 

I enjoyed the books with all the alternative worlds and witches and polar bear warriors    The BBC version of it was excellent... very atmospheric.  I have the CD set... must listen to it again, sometime.

[hronir]

Beautifully crafted and read. All the criticisms made above are valid. The prose and the reading however enchanted me beyond caring.

I loved this wonderful line: I bled a trail of dreams and impossibilities behind me that even a blind man could follow.