Five Short Stories and One Poem
Apr. 28th, 2020 06:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
forestofgloryWelcome to five fandom 5+1s and a meme! This is a series of posts about stuff that’s important to my own personal fandom history. I wanted some space to talk about happy and whimsical stuff and explore the different ways I’ve experienced fandom over time. I thought it would be fun to borrow the popular fanfic structure of 5+1 things. I’m using the word fandom very broadly here, to include SFF book fandom, transformative fandom, and just liking things. The things I’ve picked to talk about might not be the best or my favorites but they are fundamental to my experience and have shaped my thinking.
1. “Immersion” by Aliette de Bodard I first read this story online, as part of my first time voting in the Hugos. Although I don’t remember if I read it during the nomination period or after the story became a finalist, I do remember being blown away by this intense story about food, memory and belonging. This story helped get me hooked on reading short stories online, and it was also the first Xuya story that I read.
2. “The Witches of Athens” by Lara Elena Donnelly Two sisters, dinners, coffee shops, and a queer love story! This was another story I read when I was getting into online SFF shorts, and it remains one of my very favorite stories, and comfort reread.
3. ”The House of Aunts” by Zen Cho I discovered Zen Cho’s writing because she was writing for a wedding blog while I was planning my own wedding. I always enjoyed her posts, and , when I learned from her bio that she also wrote SFF, I immediately tracked down her stories. I can’t remember for sure if “The House of Aunts” was the first of her stories I read, but it was one of the first and it remains a favorite today. As I said in the last post Cho writes excellent older women, and this story about Maylsian teen vampire and the Aunties she lives with really showcases that.
4. Fandom for Robots by Vina Jie-Min Prasad This an adorable story about a robot that gets into online fandom and makes a friend. I read this before I was really into transformative fandom but I loved it all the same, and it was one of many nudges that helped me eventually start reading and writing fic.
5. ”Flow” by Marissa Lingen Marissa Lingen is one of my favorite authors and this my favorite of her stories. It’s about grief and nature and caretaking and it's just so good.
+1 poem When we Were Robots in Eygpt by Jo Walton I don’t often read poetry, and when I do I often feel I don’t really understand it, but I really like this poem. It's in my Passover Haggadah after the four questions, because it just captures something about the meaning of the ritual for me.
1. “Immersion” by Aliette de Bodard I first read this story online, as part of my first time voting in the Hugos. Although I don’t remember if I read it during the nomination period or after the story became a finalist, I do remember being blown away by this intense story about food, memory and belonging. This story helped get me hooked on reading short stories online, and it was also the first Xuya story that I read.
2. “The Witches of Athens” by Lara Elena Donnelly Two sisters, dinners, coffee shops, and a queer love story! This was another story I read when I was getting into online SFF shorts, and it remains one of my very favorite stories, and comfort reread.
3. ”The House of Aunts” by Zen Cho I discovered Zen Cho’s writing because she was writing for a wedding blog while I was planning my own wedding. I always enjoyed her posts, and , when I learned from her bio that she also wrote SFF, I immediately tracked down her stories. I can’t remember for sure if “The House of Aunts” was the first of her stories I read, but it was one of the first and it remains a favorite today. As I said in the last post Cho writes excellent older women, and this story about Maylsian teen vampire and the Aunties she lives with really showcases that.
4. Fandom for Robots by Vina Jie-Min Prasad This an adorable story about a robot that gets into online fandom and makes a friend. I read this before I was really into transformative fandom but I loved it all the same, and it was one of many nudges that helped me eventually start reading and writing fic.
5. ”Flow” by Marissa Lingen Marissa Lingen is one of my favorite authors and this my favorite of her stories. It’s about grief and nature and caretaking and it's just so good.
+1 poem When we Were Robots in Eygpt by Jo Walton I don’t often read poetry, and when I do I often feel I don’t really understand it, but I really like this poem. It's in my Passover Haggadah after the four questions, because it just captures something about the meaning of the ritual for me.
