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I wrote a treat story for an unusual fic and art exchange, Jukebox. The stories are based on or inspired by songs, so they're closer to original fiction than to fanfic in the usual sense.
The whole collection is worth checking out; in most cases knowledge of the songs adds to the enjoyment of the stories but you can enjoy them without it. But songs are easy to pick up. Here's a playlist. I found some great new songs on it, from hiphop (This Is The Opposite Of A Suicide Note) to French traditional songs (J'ai Vu Le Loup, Le Renard Danser.)
Some of the highlights of the collection include a Tarot card for Leonard Cohen's The Stranger Song and a beautiful moonlit scene for Loreena McKennitt's Courtyard Lullabye.. Of the stories, I especially enjoyed the post-apocalyptic fantasy Midnight, like a lost Stephen King story written between The Gunslinger and The Stand, and the excellent sf story Trajectory with cool aliens and immense sense of wonder. But there were really a lot of excellent stories in the collection. If you have time, it definitely rewards browsing. If you do, comment with your favorites!
My story, i swear by all flowers, was inspired by Simon & Garfunkel's wistful April Come She Will. Spoilery story notes below cut.
MiraMira made the inspired prompt of making the lyrics literal, so the woman really did fall in love every April and die every August. This was such a classic theme for me - brief lives, mono no aware, and even a seasonal link - that my main challenge was not rewriting stories I'd written already.
My first thought was a spirit of the seasons. My second thought was Persephone. Looking over MiraMira's request again, I saw that one of the other songs she'd requested was The Pogues' "A Fairytale of New York." So I decided to write Persephone in New York City. This worked perfectly, as New York has very distinct seasons. Hence the Farmers Market setting with the produce only available at specific times of year, and an equivalent of Demeter's "strike" in the garbage collectors' strike, timed for the worst possible season to have the city piled with garbage.
And in New York City, so famously full of eccentrics, who would blink an eye at a goddess?
The whole collection is worth checking out; in most cases knowledge of the songs adds to the enjoyment of the stories but you can enjoy them without it. But songs are easy to pick up. Here's a playlist. I found some great new songs on it, from hiphop (This Is The Opposite Of A Suicide Note) to French traditional songs (J'ai Vu Le Loup, Le Renard Danser.)
Some of the highlights of the collection include a Tarot card for Leonard Cohen's The Stranger Song and a beautiful moonlit scene for Loreena McKennitt's Courtyard Lullabye.. Of the stories, I especially enjoyed the post-apocalyptic fantasy Midnight, like a lost Stephen King story written between The Gunslinger and The Stand, and the excellent sf story Trajectory with cool aliens and immense sense of wonder. But there were really a lot of excellent stories in the collection. If you have time, it definitely rewards browsing. If you do, comment with your favorites!
My story, i swear by all flowers, was inspired by Simon & Garfunkel's wistful April Come She Will. Spoilery story notes below cut.
MiraMira made the inspired prompt of making the lyrics literal, so the woman really did fall in love every April and die every August. This was such a classic theme for me - brief lives, mono no aware, and even a seasonal link - that my main challenge was not rewriting stories I'd written already.
My first thought was a spirit of the seasons. My second thought was Persephone. Looking over MiraMira's request again, I saw that one of the other songs she'd requested was The Pogues' "A Fairytale of New York." So I decided to write Persephone in New York City. This worked perfectly, as New York has very distinct seasons. Hence the Farmers Market setting with the produce only available at specific times of year, and an equivalent of Demeter's "strike" in the garbage collectors' strike, timed for the worst possible season to have the city piled with garbage.
And in New York City, so famously full of eccentrics, who would blink an eye at a goddess?
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