Diabolical Plots has reviews up for the April Daily Science Fiction stories, including mine. This is exciting for me because it’s the first time I’ve ever had a story reviewed by an impartial third party. Plus, they have some nice things to say:
“A Special Day” by Shannon Fay (debut 4/18 and reviewed by Frank D). A ski bunny takes a sudden interest in the protagonist and buys him a coffee. The ensuing conversation drifts to an unlikely subject.
The subject matter in “A Special Day” is about the day no one celebrates, the pre-anniversary date of their death. It is a day only the snow bunny can appreciate. The tale has a twist that comes out of nowhere yet isn’t surprising when it is revealed. I found the story to be sound but was one where the protagonist became a third wheel in the tale. Interesting.
Very cool, and they’re right about the main character becoming less relevant as the story goes on (though I kind of like that). But they’re wrong about the main character being a guy. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen someone make that assumption. I can see how it could happen. The main character’s gender isn’t central to the story and since it’s a first person narration people are going to project a lot onto the character in order to fill in the gaps. It’s understandable that a man reading the story would imagine that the narrator is also a guy (heck, a woman reading the story might think the main character is a guy, seeing how male is still seen as the ‘default’ gender).
But at the same time, I do include things to show that the narrator is a girl. There’s her name for one (‘Moria’ may not be a popular girl name, but it’s still a girl’s name) and the fact that another character refers to her indirectly as ‘she’ (‘Even a keener like you would take a break on her birthday’).
Like I said, it’s not central to the story, but it is there. I really believe that female characters are under represented in fiction and it’s important to me to write worlds populated by woman characters. One thing I like about ‘A Special Day’ is that at it’s heart it’s just two very different girls talking at a coffee shop. Story-wise it’s not a world of difference if, instead, it’s a guy and a girl talking in a coffee shop, but while it might not mean a big deal to the story it makes a big difference to me.