As I receive contracts and final edits from authors, I’ll post a teaser from their story here and on our Facebook page. You know where to get the rest, right? Comments are welcome.
The Good Daughter
By
While Evie labored at her morning chores, she dreamed of crushing her sister’s skull. The dream came in short, simple bursts and often ended before blood spilled. It was enough to imagine the act without consequence. Each morning, Evie lugged heavy buckets of feed for the calves, cleaned five stalls, and collected fresh eggs from the hens, all while her sister, Lanie—Lanie the angel—slept in her warm cocoon, nestled snugly in the only bedroom with a southern exposure. Even during the long, cold drag of winter, Lanie’s room faced the sun. It was warmest room in the house.
Evie hated Lanie the angel.
She bent to the hard, frost-abused ground, and pulled a stone from packed earth. A cold, smooth stone as grey as Papa’s eyes. She imagined what it might feel like to smash her sister’s skull with this stone. She supposed it wouldn’t crack like an egg. Not exactly.
So, why did we take this story? We were drawn to the world building and particularly the way much is left unsaid; we get enough context to understand the situation and character and, while it’s a “small” story in the sense that it deals with a single family’s dilemma, there are hints of real world issues that raise the stakes for those of us living in a gender-unequal world. The emotional core is quite solid too. We had some issues with vagueness and incomplete escalation. Aaron dealt effectively with these problems in rewrite. The original was 2000 words; the rewrite came in at 2300 words; final edit is 2240 words.
Tune in tomorrow for our next tease. The full Table of Contents is here.
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