(Fairy Tale) In which we learn that there’s more than one way for a fisherman to find a selkie wife, and lots of ways it can turn out. (3,100 words; Time: 10m)
Rating: ★★★★☆ Light and Funny, with an Edge
"The Selkie Wives," by Kendra Fortmeyer [bio] (edited by Maurice Broaddus), appeared in Apex Magazine issue 95, published on April 4, 2017.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Pro: Lots of good laughs. E.g. one guy puts up a “Selkie Bathing Area” warning, and by the next week, they’ve all been “wived.”
The original selkie story seems to harken to an age when young girls were often married off against their wills. Like the Beauty and the Beast story, except with a very different ending.
This piece explores all sorts of unexpected outcomes, such as the neglected wife who takes the selkie’s skin and goes to the ocean herself.
The final story suggests that even if all these stories are unsatisfactory, simply staying home and being alone isn’t an answer either. If we want to live at all, we have to live in an imperfect world.
Con: Maybe, but young girls definitely don’t have to marry old men and wait on them hand and foot.
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 95)
Kendra Fortmeyer Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
The original selkie story seems to harken to an age when young girls were often married off against their wills. Like the Beauty and the Beast story, except with a very different ending.
This piece explores all sorts of unexpected outcomes, such as the neglected wife who takes the selkie’s skin and goes to the ocean herself.
The final story suggests that even if all these stories are unsatisfactory, simply staying home and being alone isn’t an answer either. If we want to live at all, we have to live in an imperfect world.
Con: Maybe, but young girls definitely don’t have to marry old men and wait on them hand and foot.
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 95)
Kendra Fortmeyer Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
Amusingly cutting -- more a series of vignettes than a story though.
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