A Letter From A Work of Fiction #12
The End of Year Edition
Welcome to the end of year letter from A Work of Fiction. These letters usually go out on a weekend when we have enough published stories to warrant a letter, so they have been sporadic this year as we tried to grow, but this year-end letter was moved to be closer to the last day of the year.
In 2021, we will be recruiting fiction writers to add to our small stable of great writers as we open up our submissions portal again. A Work of Fiction is a fiction publication brought to you by Assemblage. These newsletters always have friend links so everyone can read them whether they have a paid Medium account or not.
Our first story debuted on Medium on March 20th of this year. We weren’t sure what to expect in terms of growth, but any way you slice it, it was slower than anticipated. We think it’s mainly because fiction is a completely undervalued genre on Medium. People are used to reading books and haven’t found the fiction niche to be worthwhile on Medium.
But that’s why we created this publication. It’s just fiction here. Nothing else. And we hope to grow the right way in 2021, with your help. Thank you to all of our readers, and of course, to our fiction writers who have helped get us off the ground.
Stories of the Year
The man who built his House by Siân Griffin
“This man, returning from his commission to tie down the seas, had sickened of the song that the other men sang. The tongue of this song was to lick the sea flat. Calm. But it had rattled the bones over his soul and he looked once again to the path lying backward. And then he took it.”
“I will tip the flute to my lips and taste its sweet nectar. I will bring petals to nose and inhale the smell and perhaps it will bring a flash of her, that olfactory combination that was hers alone. And I will smile knowing I’ve found her smell again.”
The Sacred Object at Misty Mountain by Lance Baker
“For three years, King Isidore oversaw the training of this youthful boy. They simulated the flying beast and practiced how to defeat it. He dueled with every swordsman in the barracks until he was unmatched. He trained with the archers until he could hit a target by sound alone. The youthful boy trained until his youth dissipated and only the warrior remained.”
Mercury Rising by Samantha Lazar
“She had needed to figure out the ascent, which trails to avoid. The first time had been when she was six. Her mother insisted on a night hike. Minding your senses in the dark is just basic life skills.”
You Haven’t Changed a Bit by Brian Fehler
“Ty hadn’t thrown those things away, of course. He’d packed them in his dorm for his return. His return from his so-called home to his real home, from his biological family to his found family. His return, eventually, to the university, to that ivy-walled safe-zone where the lead-bolted door had been blown off his asphyxiating closet, at last.”
She Was There All Along by Megan Holstein
“Specifically, she wanted to be so distracting that Chris had to look away from his phone. With a sleek white dress that hugged her form and complimented her warm brown eyes, she looked every inch the woman Chris married.”
“In the evenings they opened the windows and the remnants of an autumn breeze waved the curtains like flags and the sound of absence outside filled their apartment, a constant reminder of the wounded metropolis.”
Ripping Innocence From Butterfly Wings by Delta B. McKenzie
“Her clothing collapsed in on itself as she shrank down to nothing and morbid curiosity had David stepping closer when something small moved beneath the fabric.
The butterfly that crawled free of the pile of clothes was a dark splash of colour against the white floor and for a moment, David just stared at it.”
The Last Book Speaks by Bradley J Nordell
“There is a moment of silence that a fool interprets as safety. But not in this world. I know I’m dead, the moment I step outside. But I’ve prepared for this — you have to in a world like this.”
Through the Ears of a Child by Jonathan Greene
“The difference now was the silence. They long ago gave up the pleasantries and the 8 o’clock family show ideal in favor of silence. They did not talk. They sometimes nodded, but they were passing ships in a port. But she was the lighthouse. And she had the light shining on them even if they didn’t know it.”
Seven Minutes by Estrella Ramirez
“I can’t help but laugh to myself; the irony is not lost on me. I’ve spent all my life planning my next step when I’ve never given much thought to how I would spend my final moments. The truth is, there is no way I’d rather spend them, even though I never imagined it would be like this.”
Still Turning by Cassius Corbin
“Her sculptor shaped her feet to resemble a human foot. She had toes and plastic toenails. Someone had once loved her a lot, Pyron thought. He would show her what love was like again.”
A Year-End Quote
“There’s no such thing as perfect writing, just like there’s no such thing as perfect despair.” — Haruki Murakami
A Year-End Message
Fiction on Medium is not dead. I mean, it can’t be, because it was never alive. But maybe in 2021 we can breathe some life back into this story corpse and give online readers a break from the listicality and science-backed rigamarole that is overwhelming even discerning readers.
