Blonde on Escape Pod

“When did you go bald?”
Only Clarice would ask such a forthright question.
“Leave her alone,” Jake drains his beer. Only he would dare contradict his sister.
The clock hands have gone from late at night to early in the morning. Jake’s bar is empty of customers. The staff, who are sitting round the table, fall silent, intent on their drinks.
“It’s okay,” Rapunzel says. “I was sick and it all fell out.”
Her scalp is shiny, every follicle devoid of life. Nor does she have any eyebrows. Or hair elsewhere for that matter.
“What colour was it?”
“Blonde.”
There’s a pause, then laughter.
Jake nudges her. “You’re a joker after all.”
She knows what he thinks of her. That she’s vague and evasive and hasn’t a clue what’s going on most of the time.
“Lucky you’re beautiful enough to be bald,” he adds.
Rapunzel touches the nape of her neck where she feels most exposed and tries not to smile.

From “Blonde”

This story originally appeared in Issue 250 of Interzone Issue in 2015. It’s now available on Escape Pod, as text and audio.

It’s narrated by Mur Lafferty and hosted by co-editor S.B. Divya

I dislike fairy tales, which long ago lost any worthwhile cultural resonance. Due, no doubt, to the ceaseless commercialization a la Disney princesses and a million other Hollywood sins, all of which removed the bloody edge of birth and death from what were once tales imparting life lessons across generations. When I see a fairy tale these days I run the other way unless convinced otherwise by someone whose judgement I trust.

And I trust the storytelling judgement of Priya Sharma. Which is why I read her new brilliant new short story “Blonde” in the Sept./Oct. 2015 issue of Interzone.

“Blonde” is a retelling of the traditional Rapunzel fairy tale. Yet instead of being trapped in a mythical tower in a forest, here the titular character is thrown into a dystopian modern world of poverty and criminals and starvation and life among the ruins. In Sharma’s retelling — which can be read equally as science fiction or fantasy — Rapunzel’s ever-growing locks are valuable solely because they’re blonde, an almost mystical hair color which has nearly passed from the human gene pool. But humanity’s fixatation on blond hair is in no way healthy, as Rapunzel discovers to her horror.

“Blonde” is a gripping, eerie, well-written tale with the most compelling Rapunzel I’ve ever read. And unlike any Disney reworking of the fairy tale, this story retains its razor-slice edge as it presents a thought-provoking examination of the stereotypes and beliefs which influence the world around us.

I’ve long loved Sharma’s stories — for my money she’s one of the most underappreciated short fiction writers in the SF/F genre. She’s also one of the few writers who could convince me to take a chance on a fairy tale retelling. In this case I’m glad I did.

Review by Jason Sandford

 

Best of the Year for Vector by Nina Allan

I am absolutely delighted to get an honourable for “All the Fabulous Beasts” in Nina Allan’s round-up for Best of the Year in her blog post for Vector. Her list includes amazing writers like Simon Ings, Tade Thompson, Jac Jemc, Catriona Ward and Marian Womack.

https://vector-bsfa.com/2018/12/01/best-of-the-year-2018/

Vector is the critical journal of the British Science Fiction Association, publishing articles and features on genre fiction across the world, with some focus on UK science fiction.

Nina Allan’s Best of 2018

 

Nina Allan’s Honouble Mentions 2018

Mithila Review Issue 9

Issue 9 of Mithila Review, the journal of international science fiction and fantasy, is now out.

It contains interviews, roundtable discussions, reviews, essays and poetry.

I am proud to be included with a reprint of “Blonde”, a story which originally appeared in Interzone (Issue 260 / Sept 2015). I’m also part of the roundtable on Women in Colour in Speculative Fiction alongside S.B Divya, Mary Anne Mohanraj, Shveta Thakrar, Mimi Mondal and Isha Karki

Read “Blonde”  and Women of Color in Speculative Fiction online.

Down epub/mobi of the entire issue at:

Gumroad | Amazon
Smashwords | Instamojo
Weightless Books

Reviews of Interzone 260 stories by Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford, passionate advocate for short sci fi and fantasy fiction, has chosen two stories from issue 260 of Interzone to review on his blog as “story of the week”.

Jason is a writer himself and his accolades include being a Nebula Best Novella finalist, a multiple Interzone Readers’ Poll winner and a BSFA nominee. He cofounded literary journal, southStory. His essays and reviews have been published in SF Signal, The New York Review of Science Fiction and The Pedestal Magazine.

Jason says of  “No Rez” by Jeff Noon–

The rez in the title refers to resolution, as in the number of pixels available for seeing in this futuristic world. Thanks to artificially enhanced eyes humanity can access not only our own limited field of vision but also the countless cameras and devices recording everything in life. This creates an overwhelming range of what you can see, a high-rez view of the world which both overwhelms and subsumes what it means to be human….This is what science fiction short stories should be. The closest I can come to describing this story is to say it combines the narrative urgency of Samuel R. Delany’s “Aye, and Gomorrah…” with the all-encompassing world creation of William Gibson’s Neuromancer. But “No Rez” is also totally different than these examples, a story like no other. “No Rez” is a primal scream of a story swallowing the reasoned insanity of today’s ever connected world.

Full review here.

Of my story, “Blonde”-

“Blonde” is a gripping, eerie, well-written tale with the most compelling Rapunzel I’ve ever read. And unlike any Disney reworking of the fairy tale, this story retains its razor-slice edge as it presents a thought-provoking examination of the stereotypes and beliefs which influence the world around us.

I’ve long loved Sharma’s stories — for my money she’s one of the most underappreciated short fiction writers in the SF/F genre. She’s also one of the few writers who could convince me to take a chance on a fairy tale retelling. In this case I’m glad I did.

Full review here.

Blonde

“When did you go bald?”
Only Clarice would ask such a forthright question.
“Leave her alone,” Jake drains his beer. Only he would dare contradict his sister.
The clock hands have gone from late at night to early in the morning. Jake’s bar is empty of customers. The staff, who are sitting round the table, fall silent, intent on their drinks.
“It’s okay,” Rapunzel says. “I was sick and it all fell out.”
Her scalp is shiny, every follicle devoid of life. Nor does she have any eyebrows. Or hair elsewhere for that matter.
“What colour was it?”
“Blonde.”
There’s a pause, then laughter.
Jake nudges her. “You’re a joker after all.”
She knows what he thinks of her. That she’s vague and evasive and hasn’t a clue what’s going on most of the time.
“Lucky you’re beautiful enough to be bald,” he adds.
Rapunzel touches the nape of her neck where she feels most exposed and tries not to smile.

From my story, “Blonde”, Issue 260 of Interzone, now available from TTA Press.

Thanks to Andy Cox for including this story.

The September-October issue of Britain’s longest running science fiction and fantasy magazine contains new stories by John Shirley, Jeff Noon, Priya Sharma, C.A. Hawksmoor, Christien Gholson. The 2015 cover artist is Martin Hanford, and interior colour illustrations are by Richard Wagner, Dave Senecal, Martin Hanford, Warwick Fraser-Coombe. Features: Where O Where Has My Hugo Gone? by Ian Sales; Ansible Link by David Langford (news and obits); Mutant Popcorn by Nick Lowe (film reviews); Laser Fodder by Tony Lee (DVD/Blu-ray reviews); Book Zone (book reviews); Jonathan McCalmont’s Future Interrupted (comment); Nina Allan’s Time Pieces (comment); and Shaun Green interviews Becky Chambers.

 

 

 

 

Interzone’s sister magazine, Black Static is also out at the same time, and it promises to be a great issue with the line-up listed below.

The September-October issue contains new novelettes and short stories by Jeffrey Thomas, Cate Gardner, Steven J. Dines, Andrew Hook, and Stephen Bacon. The cover art is by Martin Hanford, and interior illustrations are by Joachim Luetke, Tara Bush, and Richard Wagner. Features: Coffinmaker’s Blues by Stephen Volk (comment); Notes From the Borderland by Lynda E. Rucker (comment); Case Notes by Peter Tennant (book reviews and an interview with Simon Kurt Unsworth); Blood Spectrum by Tony Lee (DVD/Blu-ray reviews).

 

 

 

 

Blonde

Andy Cox has sent me the preliminary layout for “Blonde” which will be out in September’s issue of Interzone magazine. The artwork is by Martin Hanford.

Thanks Andy and Martin!

Story Acceptance : Interzone

Thanks to Andy Cox for accepting my short story, “Blonde”, for Interzone.