“I threw it in the fire,” he said. They kept the dogs tied up and their brash sons occupied. And on the half–moon, when new and full were balanced across the saguaro’s thorns, they’d come down to the desert and dance. The jackalope wife had tried, once, and the noises she’d made were so terrible that it had reduced them both to weeping. Great piece of work. “You get over what you can’t have faster then you get over what you could. Analysis : Vernon 's Jackalope Wives 1649 Words7 Pages Urslula Vernon’s Jackalope wives, is a combination of the fantastical and the mundane, which ends significantly around the theme of choice. Relax, child. Regardless, Wired points out that an ancient Persian geographic dictionary from the 1200s depicted a rabbit with a single, unicorn-esque spike on its head. Pull 'em up. I really loved this story.. My kin did it, it’s up to me to put it right.” It occurred to her that she should have left Eva a note, telling her to send the fool boy back East, away from the desert. “You goddamn stupid fool,” she said. 95. If you didn’t look directly at her, she might almost have been human. Deliciously mythopoetic. The fur across her breasts and belly was singed. “Oh yes, I do. It was first published in Apex Magazine and has been reprinted in the collection Jackalope Wives and Other Stories. The mouse he scooped up in two fingers and dropped into his mouth. “I suppose she can’t walk?”, “Not well,” said Grandma. She dumped the cat off her lap and stomped to the door. Beautifully written. When the wild music came through town, a couple of notes skittering on the sand, then people knew the jackalope wives were out. by T. Kingfisher | May 2, 2017. Thank you for this. Audience analysis; Website traffic statistics; Start Your Free Trial. Kelly Mousepad. There ought to have been one, at least, smart enough to know that you didn’t put on a half–burnt rabbit skin. Halfway through the story you had me wishing for the ending I wanted, and was happier with the one I got. Latest Posts. A jackalope is a cryptid from North American folklore. "The Tomato Thief" (sequel to "Jackalope Wives") features a foreign god who transforms people into birds and thereby forces them to do his bidding. I’d been — we’d — I watched her, and she knew I was out there, and she let me get up close — I thought we could talk —”. “What have you done?” she said. “But I’m a damn fool as well.”, Her daughter smiled. Posted Jul 19, 2017 If it was loose I could fix it up, maybe, but I couldn’t get it off her now with a knife.” He took another drag on the cigarette. Her first impulse was to slam the door and lock the sight away. “It happens I might have a spare skin,” said the Father of Rabbits. I grew up Texan and that kind of yarn-spinning, out-west style is in my bones, I guess. “It was easier that way,” she said. She let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. “Wake up.”. Keyword opportunities breakdown 3.1 k Total 1.8 k. Keyword Gaps 892 . Lucky daughter to miss out on the extremes. “And what do you call what you’re doing?”. What trouble had the young fool gotten himself into? “Yes, that’s the way of it, right enough.” She took the jackalope wife’s shoulders and turned her toward the lamp light. It's a little standard, featuring attractive nubile mythical beasties (the jackalope wives) and brooding young men ( Twilight ) and wise old grandmas (ubiquitous). “She’s gotten good with the crutch,” said Eva. Perhaps we shouldn’t always get what we think we want. His grandmother used to tell him that it was a miracle he hadn’t been drowned as a child, and for her he’d laugh, but not for anyone else. She pulled a dead mouse out of a mousetrap and took a half–dozen cigarettes down from behind the clock. Then he crouched there, for a long time. All I can do is pick up the pieces.”. Reminded in some ways of SPUD AND COCHISE by Oliver LaFarge, long a favorite of mine. You could go your whole life and see no more of them than the flash of a tail vanishing around the backside of a boulder. She was a horror. The closest naturally occurring equivalent is a rabbit infected with the Shope papilloma virus which causes horn-like protrusions to appear from the animal. He would slip away early, before the dance was ended, and never marked the eyes that followed him and wished that he would stay. They swung their hips and pranced and drank their fill of cactus–fruit wine. A raven croaked overhead and another one snickered somewhere off to the east. Psychotic professional hunter Buck Corona III, who caught every mythical animal out there, believes that jackalopes are real and plans to catch one. Down in the desert, the music played and the jackalope wives danced. Grandma had to half–carry the jackalope wife at the end. The jackalope wife stirred on the hearth and made a sound between a whimper and a sob. Grandma Harken nodded, content. You’ve got a human left over, not a jackalope wife.”, Grandma stared down at her bony hands. In " Jackalope Wives," there's something so seductive about the dance of the skin-changers in the desert. Beautiful story, and very classic in its style. Poetic, moving and utterly bizarre. She filled three water bottles and strapped them around her waist. A coyote watched them from up on the hillside. All the stories have a common theme of the fae, folklore and magic, about things like wood cuttings coming to life, shape-shifters, birds acting unlike birds, and Jackalopes - half woman, half rabbit beings (the titular story, and Nebula award winner). “He’ll kill you,” the old woman said. The sun went overhead and the level in the water bottle went down. You couldn’t even get too close or they’d take fright and run away. We’re nearly there.”. “Yes,” said Grandma Harken, curling her lip. Ursula Vernon is the winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Mythopoeic Awards. Saw this story recommended on io9 (I think), and mistook it for Ursula LeGuin at first, marking it to read later. He moved quick then slow and his eyes didn’t blink. “Well. The jackalope wife sat down, slowly, in the shadow of the scarlet runner beans. Nine pages in all. Though by the look of his hands, he’d done just that in the end. He picked up the cigarettes that the Patterned Man had left behind and offered one to Grandma. The desert chews its secrets right down to the bone.). The cigarettes he ignored. This story read like a poem. “There’s those would say that was more than enough.” He exhaled another lungful of smoke. And even that might not knock some sense into him. Grandma slid and slithered down the slope to the far side of the water and refilled the water bottles. Jynx. Better he’d bashed her head in with a rock than this.”. In an additional twist, it's customary to burn the skin of a captured jackalope wife, thus forever locking her in human form. Grandma Harken, who lived down past the well, said that the jackalopes were the daughters of the rain and driving them off would bring on the drought. He sat down beside her on his heels. “It’s my life he’d be getting. Absolutely magnificent. And when my internet was flickering out, I read it twice more. And the jackalope wife had one thought only and pulled on the burning hide —. Short Fiction Spotlight Short Fiction Spotlight: The Second Life of the Jackalope Wife. They shared another cigarette under the standing stone. Sure, maybe it isn't a perfect jackalope, but pretty similar. by jackalope. Though the author has little sympathy for the boy with which the thing begins, “Jackalope Wives” is an extraordinary short story with a captivating protagonist in … It’s one of the only short stories I come back to and read again and again. Jackalope Wives contains the titular award-winning short story as well as another Grandma Harken short which I love, the Tomato Thief, and a host of tales and wry poems about wily, stubborn women and wondrous (& sometimes moderately horrific) circumstances. Stars: Bill Switzer, Daniel Clark, Deborah Odell, Lindy Booth. Now, it happened there was a young man in town who had a touch of magic on him. They sat in silence at the top of the bluff. Maybe we smell alike, thought Grandma. She lit her cigarette off his. Look at me! It was her own grandson, her daughter Eva’s boy. Buyer Keywords. by jackalope. “Grandma! And there was one — he’d seen her. “She doesn’t have a jackalope skin anymore.”, He grinned. An Analysis of Dialogue Tag Use by Marcus Vance Some writers will tell you that “said” is all you need—that your dialogue itself should answer any questions as to how the character speaks, and their tone. Thank you. Includes The Tomato Thief winner of 2017 Hugo Award - Best Novelette From award-winning author T. Kingfisher comes a collection of short stories, including Jackalope Wives, The Tomato Thief, Pocosin, and many others. She could see it now, as clear as if she’d been standing there. “He taught me how to swear. For the jackalope wives were shy of humans. They meet at their home, a three-story, modern-looking building on a grassy bluff overlooking the ocean, then head to his beach club by teleporting, or instantly moving to a … Does anyone have the themes of this story? a creature that is thought to be a strange jackrabbit and deer or antelope hybrid Ursula, you have quite the way with words. Something flaked off her in long strands, like burnt scraps of paper, like a snake’s skin shedding away. “It’s not so bad, being a human,” she said. “Did you come out here for a little wild company?”. Well, if you can find a place where they’ve been dancing, you might see something like sidewinder tracks in the dust, and more than that I cannot tell you. She has written a number of children’s books, short stories, and comics, and writes for adults under the name T. Kingfisher. “It’ll do,” she said. I loved it. He himself had one thought and one thought only — to catch a jackalope wife. You have a wonderful understanding of the dark side of fairy tales. [4], Tor.com called it "soulful" and "extraordinary", praising Grandma Harken as a "captivating protagonist". Beautiful in every way. The Mary Sue is pleased to present strange, beautiful new fiction from Apex Magazine each month. “I ain’t got the patience for coyotes. Because the skin is still connected to the creature, it causes her unbearable pain. P.S. “Maybe it runs in families.”. You should have let it burn. Optimization Opportunities 76 . I’m glad to read a good American faerytale. Between Grandma’s hands, the pulse beat steady and strong. Mitchell and Stanley try to stop him. The town got into the habit of having a dance that night, to keep the boys firmly fixed on human girls and to drown out the notes of the wild music. “You think you can have your skin and your freedom burned away in front of you and not scream? I so much ambition in him, because the Patterned man had left and. And horror may limit the number of people we allow into our buildings if there is genre... “ pulled it out of hell for the door and lock the sight away for..., his Second life of the jackalope wife cigarettes down from behind the clock the offer. ” her long! That kind of yarn-spinning, out-west style is in my bones, I know. he! 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