Se7en

Every so often, I end up doing something on a dare. That's how I ended up doing a guest-post for Starlight a little over a month ago. This time, I got asked-okay, I took it as a dare-by Mister London Street, who is a storyteller I happen to admire, to do the Seven Links thingy-which, ironically, Starlight did a few days back too.


Basically, here is where I answer inquiries, or try to, about seven of my stories. A couple of the ones I'll mention, you can see the links to under my Tales that Bear Retelling column over on the left. I can own up to being a little bit of a luddite when it comes to posting links. Supposedly, after the fact, I should double-dog dare five other storytellers of whom I admire to do the same thing.

1. Your most beautiful post

 This one is kind of a neck and neck presently. Apparently, Resonance was considered rather pretty and/or poetic. It was a one-shot about one man's recollection of what he considered to be a perfect day with an object of his desire.

Personally, though, I think my most beautiful would be Carol, which was about a childhood friend who had muscular dystrophy and walked on entirely too early in life. My father told me that one stirred up a lot of old memories for him and my friend, Jezebel, told me it just about brought her to tears.

As a bit of  trivia, I have been toying with the idea of submitting one my stories to Hippocampus Magazine. Worry of being called a talentless hack is one of the things staying my hand. Be that as it may, if I do go for it, Carol will be the one that's offered up like a sacrificial lamb.

2. Your most popular post

Obviously, Dinner with Dad. At least, that's what the stats tell me, and statistics never lie. The whole story revolves around one dinner I shared with my father before going to pick my daughter up for a visit. It was composed a little over a year after my mother's death, and her phantasm, how she still gets talked about, and the way we still miss her is touched on.   

3. Your most controversial post  

What an excellent inquiry, since I've never really received a you suck, you pigfucker comment. Yet.

This would be another neck and neck, I think. Either Tea Time with Demons, or Put Hands, from my Chronicles of Joshua Storm storyline. Both deal with violence in rather macabre ways.

4. Your most helpful post

I am not a saint or superhero, so the idea anything I've ever purged has helped seems almost laughable. Most recently, I was told Strength in the Weeds, lesson was one that one of my readers could bear to learn.

5. A post whose success surprised you

Sickhouse Waltz, which was done during the time my friend, the bruja of my acquaintance was being kept alive on machines after a horrific rollover accident. This particular installment was when there was a very small spark of hope, and I was hoping to be proven wrong of the sick feeling I had that she was already dead, but the friends and family were deluding themselves and keeping a hunk of meat alive on machinery.

She'll have been dead-dead and buried a year in three months, which speaks to how that played out...

This tale was my first 5-Star Friday award, which, whilst incredibly flattering, was a total shock.

6. A post you feel didn’t get the attention it deserved

This is is a tough one. I don't get a huge amount of comments. Well, not in the context of some of the other storytellers I admire do, though I do have couple followers who say something to almost everything I put up, for which I am grateful. The bruja once told me she's read everything I've put out for public consumption, but shared a viewpoint similar to another of our mutual friends, Madam Lung;

"What can you say to that?"

"Well, either I'm that good or ya'll are that gullible," I snarked.

"You're that good and you know it," the bruja said.

I still think she was lying in the interest of sparing my feelings...

7. The post that you are most proud of

A sarcastic man would bring up that pride is a sin, but I am morally and psychologically incapable of sarcasm, cynicism, speaking with a sharp, biting wit, or any sense of irony. And stop fucking laughing. Besides, I do not believe in sin any more than I do salvation.

Presently, I'm feeling pretty good about The Chronicles of Joshua Storm storyline. I think it came together fairly well, and, whilst I worried the ending might be a little too syrupy, it was well received, and that's kind of neat.

Next?

So, who wants to play lemming with me? I will say I'd love to see Nessa Roo  and Light208's answers, but I get curious like that. Yes, I realize it's said curiosity kills cats, but given cats are said to have nine lives, why should a single death be so scary?

Anyone else who decides to play along, go for it. If anything, it grants one a moment of introspection. I'll leave that bit for a spot of free will.