★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention
(Peter Pan Pastiche) In which we learn of the female pirate, Gerta, who sailed to Neverland with Captain Hook. (6,439 words; Time: 21m)
You'll enjoy this more if you've actually read Peter Pan or at least seen the Disney movie.
"Great Gerta and the Mermaid," by Mari Ness [bio] (edited by John Joseph Adams), appeared in Lightspeed Magazine issue 122, published on July 1, 2020.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Review: 2020.369 (A Word for Authors)
Pro: The Peter Pan stories are superficially about adventure, but they’re also about the loss of innocence that adults feel when they remember their childhoods. The adventure part of this story fits nicely, although the pirate’s behavior (particularly her tryst with the mermaid) certainly does not.
But the ending manages to capture that same bittersweet feeling that I remember from the original Peter Pan. The kisses born from adventure and laughter—kisses that both participants had long forgotten, but which were still cherished by the fairies.
Con: There’s no real plot to the story. Gerta has no specific goal through most of it—events just happen one after another. (See “And Plot.”)
Other Reviews: Search Web
Mari Ness Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
Pro: The Peter Pan stories are superficially about adventure, but they’re also about the loss of innocence that adults feel when they remember their childhoods. The adventure part of this story fits nicely, although the pirate’s behavior (particularly her tryst with the mermaid) certainly does not.
But the ending manages to capture that same bittersweet feeling that I remember from the original Peter Pan. The kisses born from adventure and laughter—kisses that both participants had long forgotten, but which were still cherished by the fairies.
Con: There’s no real plot to the story. Gerta has no specific goal through most of it—events just happen one after another. (See “And Plot.”)
Other Reviews: Search Web
Mari Ness Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
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