Saturday, September 12, 2015

The Deepwater Bride, by Tamsyn Muir

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Things from the deep ocean invade a small American town, and a 16-year-old girl who can glimpse the future seeks the cause of it all. (8,453 words; Time: 28m)

Rating: ★★★★☆, Recommended
Recommended By: RHorton:5 SFEP

"The Deepwater Bride," by , appeared in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction issue 07-08|15, published on by .

Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)

Pro: Very satisfying. Didn't see the ending coming until just a couple of paragraphs before the end of the story. Liked the little "slipstream" touches that keep reminding us that this is all happening in the real world.

Con: Heather isn't the most sympathetic character. Given the ending, it's hard to decide whether to be happy for her or sad, but the truth is we don't feel either one.

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5 comments (may contain spoilers):

  1. Isn't it a pretty classic teenage thing to despise all the world, and fall in love with someone who does too, and want to go off to a kingdom just for the two of you, to which the destruction of the world provides at best an intetesting backdrop? I'm not a teenager and can hardly sympathize with that, but it sure makes sense of Hester's point of view (if "not even the light will be allowed to touch you" sound appealing....eesh). The only problem is the Deep Lord is not a teen, why would he or she come courting a teenage bride in the shape of one? Unless living forever means never aging means never growing up, that might rxplain a few things.

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    1. Did you think that made her a more sympathetic character, though?

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  2. Hell no! The idea of Cthulhu and co. as permanent disaffected sixteen-year-olds (and vice versa, really) may not be quite the kind of horror Lovecraft had in mind, but it is horrifying.

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  3. I found this story hard to read, meaning I'm not sure if I fully understood it all when I reached the end. Part of it was due to sleepiness after a long day at Norwescon :-) but the mix of modern teen-girl talk and ancient evil/prophecy talk didn't work for me. I see connections to Lovecraftian lore(?), though I've not read any Lovecraft, so maybe that's a requirement for enjoying it.

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  4. I like the Lovecraftian-ness of it, the family tradition. And the teenagers ring very true :)

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