PC425: Flash Fiction Extravaganza! Transformations

[Talia]

PodCastle 425: Flash Fiction Extravaganza! Transformations

“Girl in Blue Dress (1881)” by Sunil Patel.
Read by Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali.

First appeared in Fantastic Stories of the Imagination.

Her dress is composed of blues from ultramarine to cerulean, a cascade of hues resolving into one. She stands askew, her expression unreadable, her mouth a blur. The colors in her dress have not faded but her name has. He asked for it, once, but he did not write it down.


“Mirabilis” by  Shannon Peavey.
Read by Jen R. Albert.

A PodCastle original!

No one’s really seen a girl turn to glass. It’s one of those things journalists make up when they’re bored, like the knockout game or the Russian heroin that rots your skin. They show these pictures of sick-pretty starving girls on the evening news, girls with slatted ribs and fierce eyes, and my mama clicks her tongue and I change the channel.

Meanwhile, Zola eats none of her peas.


“Portrait of My Wife as a Boat” by Samantha Murray
Read by Graeme Dunlop.

First appeared in Flash Fiction Online.

She smells of linseed, of citrus, the oil that she rubs into all of the little tiny cracks in her face. When she leaves she kisses me and I taste the sea.

 
Rated PG-13.

Listen to this week’s PodCastle!

[BionicValkyrie]

I loved "Girl in Blue Dress" from the first sentence. Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali has a wonderful voice, all honey and whiskey. I liked the gradual reveal of the girl being trapped ... and the final image of her kicking at that artist's signature so that he will be forgotten as well. The thought of being trapped, and still having the grit to wiggle your toe and do what you can.

[Devoted135]

Girl in Blue Dress Ahh! Beautiful, but so tragic! She's been kidnapped and had everything, including her identity, taken from her. Scary.

Mirabilis The narrator was so tender and observant of her twin's transformation. She understood the pain, but also the consequences that her twin was risking.

Portrait of My Wife as a Boat The line near right before the last little section, where the narrator cajoles themself: "Don't say I love you to a boat... Don't... Don't..." That was so beautiful and mournful.

This whole episode was a case of so sad, it hurts so good!

[Unblinking]

Girl in Blue Dress (1881)
Quite good, commentary on the treatment of women in art, and I admired her resolve to do whatever she could in her limited situation by kicking the artists signature to erode it.


I'm afraid I don't have much impression of the other two.  I think my brain is a little fried from lack of sleep and too much slushreading,  and forum break means that I'm too many episodes behind.

[bounceswoosh]

I'm afraid I don't have much impression of the other two.  I think my brain is a little fried from lack of sleep and too much slushreading,  and forum break means that I'm too many episodes behind.

I think all of the stories had a sort of ethereal quality that made them hard (for me) to follow. I was left with an impression rather than a solid picture of events. Some stories are so vivid that when I am done reading, I have created a movie in my mind. Others are more ephemeral, like a haunting melody that sometimes comes to mind in snippets ...