"Strange Playmates" up at Coyote Wild!

[lagilman]

read it here

Yeah, I think it holds up (even with the typo I just found. Ugh.). I also think I was in a particularly bitter and fey mood when I wrote this story.

Actually, I was in a fey and bitter mood when I wrote every story in this series ("Dragons," 'In the Aftermath of Something Happening," "End of Days," etc). Some day I'll convince a publisher to collect them all in one place, and someone will read it and go "man, this is the woman who wrote all those HEA fantasy books? Wow...."

(EtA: I should note for the uninitiated that a lot of my short fiction is, um...not exactly HEA, no.)

Anyway. There it is. No excuses -- go, read.

EtA2 And if you like what you read, think about donating them a buck or five... they're a paying market that relies on donations, which is a real tough row to hoe, and to be supported for good work...

Comments

[fakefrenchie.livejournal.com]

Well, if they all get pubbed together, I don't think I'll be buying that book. Powerful stuff, but way too intense for me.

[lagilman]

The series is called "The Dragon Virus' and it's pretty intense, yeah. My short fiction tends to be...

[fakefrenchie.livejournal.com]

I hate bad shivery feelings for almost an hours after reading it. So you done good. But I'm a wimp.

[pearlformance.livejournal.com]

Powerful stuff. It seems like allegorical of social rejection and attempts to surgically "correct" the variations of down syndrome.

[lagilman]

Each reader brings their own interpretation to the text. Not saying you're wrong, just not saying that you're right. ;-)

If there's interest, I'll talk about this story, and the series overall, but I don't like to prejudice peoples' experience with stories before the first reading....

[equesgal.livejournal.com]

HEA?

[lagilman]

Happily Evah Aftah

[windrose.livejournal.com]

I really liked this, and it definitely makes me want to read the rest of the stories.

[lagilman]

pleasure to please, ma'am. Now go tell others... *grin*

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Good Story.

Dark.

[lagilman]

Dark, yeah. Ironically, the only story in the series (written so far, anyway) that I would say is NOT dark is "Aftermath" -- which is also the one with the most overt violence. Go fig....

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Probably the darkest thing I've ever worked on is also less violent than anything else I've yet written. A curious conundrum.

So, give us details of the trip as it pleases you.

I may return to LJ tomorrow. We'll see how the day goes.

[jesterjoker.livejournal.com]

Hi!

I read the story. I'm not completely sure what happened at the finale, but the story held my attention for 4K words on the computer screen and that's cool. Dark, definitely.

(Found your journal from the Retrievers series; I glance here once in a while. I'm a lurker. ;)

[lagilman]

Welcome, lurker!

Hrm, not sure what happened in the story, or after, to the characters? I'd hate to think I left too much open to interpretation... (there's always some left, otherwise it might as well be spoon-fed, but too much means I didn't do my job properly....)

[jesterjoker.livejournal.com]

Well, I did read the story kind of faster than usual. I didn't expect to get into it!

I was a little fuzzy on just what the characters chose to do. Did Jordan and Carly turn sides on the other Changed or on the normals?

Ah ha.

It's the "Not freaks like us" sentence fragment that confused me.