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Category: Writing

If you’re not into any kind of writing, then this is highly likely to not be the blog for you.

Ya think???

How and Why Does Writing Speak to Us?

The written word is something that we have in common with the ancient Egyptians, with people on the other side of the planet, and with celebrities who we will never meet.

Fiction writing, in particular, bridges gaps in the world, and through time. Have you ever read something written by an author who is long dead?

Whether it’s Jane Eyre or The Art of War, we can hear the author’s voice as we read (and yes, I am well aware that The Art of War isn’t fiction. I’m kind of tired, okay?).

But I digress.

Independent Writers Do It All

When we do it well, and we do it right, the indie author wears many hats. Researcher. Editor. Planner. Marketer. Cover artist (or at least hirer of the cover artist). Bookkeeper. Advertiser. Tax Preparer.

Indy writing is a small business. So, like it or not, you’ve got to know these things, or be able to hire someone who does.

Past, Present, and Future Authoring

One of the best things about authoring is the concept of eternity. Now, I don’t honestly expect anything I write to end up being studied in college or becoming movie fodder. But it is still  there, and it can be there forever if you can (and are willing to) preserve it.

This is why I encourage publishing, by the way, even if you never make a dime.

Eternity.

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Do You Have Enough Spoons? Do I?

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on March 21, 2024

How Many Are Enough Spoons, Anyway?

Relatively recently, I wrote about not having enough spoons to query my work, get it to beta readers, and so on. But what the heck does that all mean?

The concept of spoons, and having enough of them, is a shorthand way of referring to mental energy. That is, does a person (you, perhaps) have the emotional strength do perform certain tasks, or any tasks at all?

And while I am not considered to be a disabled person, so I don’t want to misappropriate this term, I think the term applies well to the query trenches.

Trenches. Now, there’s an excellent word for it.

What Does Not Having Enough Spoons Mean in the Context of Querying?

The biggest problem and the biggest triumph of querying are the same thing. It’s that you put yourself out there. And, as a result, this means you will be judged. More often than not, we indie writers are found wanting. But why?

Blame it on Volume

Does everyone have a book in them? Maybe. Does everyone have a good book in them? Heh, probably not. But what does “good” mean in this context? Often, it means less that you have a page turner, and more that you have a book which can be marketed well and will hit popular taste at just the right time.

A book about the life and times of a blacksmith would, right now, have an uphill climb when it comes to querying. Many readers would not find that person to be relatable. But they can be made so. It’s not impossible. But change that blacksmith to a mommy blogger and you’ve just crossed the first hurdle.

Now, you may not cross any other hurdles. If the book’s not relatable for other reasons, then you’re probably out of luck.

Blame it on Changing Tastes

We’ve all got the attention spans of gnats these days. As a result, what was in two years ago is out now. Hell, what was in two weeks ago may very well be out. Yes, already.

Case in point. Consider stock photos. The images of people masking up were all over the internet in 2020 and 2021. You saw them in blogs, brochures, and online advertising.

Now? They just look dated. This doesn’t mean the pandemic is over (it’s not). It doesn’t mean there are no good reasons to mask up anymore. Of course there are. But what it does mean is to ditch the masking in stock images unless you’re writing about something like medical care, nursing homes, or sick kids.

When Ambition Meets Fatigue, Busyness, and Anxiety, it Crushes Your Spoons

I had wanted to start to put out a newsletter, and I had wanted to start it today. Yes, on the vernal equinox. It feels like a momentous day!

But alas, I did not have enough spoons. Because the ramp-up is somewhat steep. There’s a lot riding on it, because it’s a marketing tool.

But as I think more and more about this, I feel I was putting the cart before the horse. After all, a marketing tool isn’t really necessary if, right now, I have very little to really market.

It would be better for me to get my act in gear on beta readers, an ARC team, a street team (maybe). Understanding how to format for self-publishing, or at least who to hire to do so, would also be good. Maybe I just need to let querying go completely, and strike out more or less on my own.

I don’t know.

But one thing may very well be true.

I may have had enough spoons all along. I was just spending them on the wrong stuff.

Thanks for listening.

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Self-Review – ComplicationsShort Stories, Road, My Aliens, Last Patient, interview, Surprises, Props, shipwrecked, child, Killing Us Softly, Ditte, Band, three minutes, Longest Night Watch, Nothing Good Ever Happens, Complications, Your Call, Darkness into Light, canaries, gentrification, Cynthia, True Believer, Short Stories, Wilder Bloom, Dish, Mitalisque, kitten, Last Try, Minnesota Wish, Dominick and Angela, Alix, Alix’s Apocalypse, A Chance Encounter in Time, A Crime in Time, A Show for the Galaxy, Alien Justice, And the Band Played the Apocalypse, Babel 2.0, Side Pages, Frozen Assets, Julie's Dollar, Mandy Goes to Aspen, Martin's Choice, Mike’s Grades, Out of the Work Camp Frying Pan, Sarah’s Invention, Small Acts of Defiance, The Future Has No Foundation, Unexpected Help, You Will Drink Your Coffee and Like It, Unreliable, East Side of the Universe, Eros vs Thanatos, Dust Between Our Stars, A Show for the Galaxy, A Fairy Tale for Skeptical Adults, A School for Scavengers, Frozen Assets, Out of the Work Camp Frying Pan, 1960s Temporal Crimes, Lizzie Borden is Vital to the Timeline, Walls Came Tumbling Down Again, The End, Will's Dog, Building Trust, Message in an Odd Bottle, The New Kid, What's an Animal, A Touch of Gray Hair, Guilty of Imperfection, Jared's World Turned Upside Down, Caring for Carole, Nuremberg Redux, Art Has All Sorts of Effects, When Russia Invaded Texas, Failure, Tumble in a Tomb, Beauty is Only Earth Deep, Peddler, Escape Violinist, Shimmering Wasteland, Cave Canem and Cave, Skating, Uninformed, Stellar Stowaway, dinosaurs, fragments, none of this is real, buzz, quartz, water, verity, quarrel, rivalry, breakout,

Self-Review – Complications

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on March 14, 2024

It’s Time to Review Complications

So Complications is one of those stories where it takes me a moment to remember – oh, yeah, it’s that one. And that never bodes well for readers.

Background

So this was originally a het fan fiction story. But with a few changes, it could go in another direction. And both of the characters were wholly original. But in the published version, it’s two different characters anyway.

Essentially, the only thing I used was the scenario and some of the dialogue.

So it shows. This was, unfortunately, not exactly a big effort on my part. If I was to do it again, I would have worked harder on this. But when I needed to hand it in, I was pressed for time.

The Plot of Complications

The truth is, this story has very nearly no plot. Basically, it is a vignette with little plot, only sketches of characters, and no crisis or conflicts at all. Hell, it is barely even a scene.

Characters

The characters are the narrator, Suzanne, and her lesbian lover, Tellina. Tellina is not a human.

Memorable Quotes from Complications

“And you’ve never done this with a human before?”

“I’ve never done this with anyone before, Suzanne.” They kissed.

“And,” Suzanne asked, “When does it all, er, end?”

“I’m uncertain. I don’t know how much precedence there is for such things. What do you generally do after, uh, afterwards?”

“Get a snack, watch the viewer, go to sleep, hell, I’ve left on occasion.”

“Most of those are out of the question right now. Could you sleep, perhaps?”

Rating

The story has a K+ rating. While the action occurs “off screen”, there are certainly some allusions to it.

Upshot

So while it was great for Queer Sci Fi to publish it, Complications really did not deserve to be published anywhere. Because it is just not that good a story. I have written far, far better, both before and since. So be it. They can’t all be gems.

Complications could have been better. Ah, well.

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Self-Review – Nothing Good Ever Happens at 3 AMShort Stories, Road, My Aliens, Last Patient, interview, Surprises, Props, shipwrecked, child, Killing Us Softly, Ditte, Band, three minutes, Longest Night Watch, Nothing Good Ever Happens, Complications, Your Call, Darkness into Light, canaries, gentrification, Cynthia, True Believer, Short Stories, Wilder Bloom, Dish, Mitalisque, kitten, Last Try, Minnesota Wish, Dominick and Angela, Alix, Alix’s Apocalypse, A Chance Encounter in Time, A Crime in Time, A Show for the Galaxy, Alien Justice, And the Band Played the Apocalypse, Babel 2.0, Side Pages, Frozen Assets, Julie's Dollar, Mandy Goes to Aspen, Martin's Choice, Mike’s Grades, Out of the Work Camp Frying Pan, Sarah’s Invention, Small Acts of Defiance, The Future Has No Foundation, Unexpected Help, You Will Drink Your Coffee and Like It, Unreliable, East Side of the Universe, Eros vs Thanatos, Dust Between Our Stars, A Show for the Galaxy, A Fairy Tale for Skeptical Adults, A School for Scavengers, Frozen Assets, Out of the Work Camp Frying Pan, 1960s Temporal Crimes, Lizzie Borden is Vital to the Timeline, Walls Came Tumbling Down Again, The End, Will's Dog, Building Trust, Message in an Odd Bottle, The New Kid, What's an Animal, A Touch of Gray Hair, Guilty of Imperfection, Jared's World Turned Upside Down, Caring for Carole, Nuremberg Redux, Art Has All Sorts of Effects, When Russia Invaded Texas, Failure, Tumble in a Tomb, Beauty is Only Earth Deep, Peddler, Escape Violinist, Shimmering Wasteland, Cave Canem and Cave, Skating, Uninformed, Stellar Stowaway, dinosaurs, fragments, none of this is real, buzz, quartz, water, verity, quarrel, rivalry, breakout,

Self-Review – Nothing Good Ever Happens at 3 AM

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on March 7, 2024

Review – Nothing Good Ever Happens at 3 AM

So Nothing Good Ever Happens at 3 AM was the kind of strange story which I often love to write but equally often can’t find an audience. Yet this one did.

So thank you to Unfading Daydream for publishing it!

Background

So my main idea with Nothing Good Ever Happens at 3 AM was to create a First Contact story that would be totally and utterly off the wall. Because, so far as I am concerned, there is just no way in hell that aliens are ever going to behave like us. They won’t think like us. I mean, we don’t think like pigeons—and they’re actually from here. Aliens have got to be different from us.

Whatever we think is logical, they might find wacky. Hence, wacky aliens.

Plot

Insomnia has our narrator in its nasty grip. So instead of trying to sleep, she gets up, in an effort to make the most of it. Until one day, she learns how – and why – she can’t sleep. And it’s got nothing to do with caffeine intake, exercise, or worry.

Characters

The characters are the unnamed narrator and the ‘people’ she meets. Some are human. Others? Not so much.

Memorable Quotes from Nothing Good Ever Happens at 3 AM

For the past year, I have woken up, without fail, at 2:58 AM and then not gotten back to sleep. It isn’t even that I’m so troubled or busy. I stopped using caffeine and all of that. I even – horrors – gave up chocolate. But it’s no use. I am destined to get up at that ungodly hour, even if I just got to bed not fifteen minutes previously.

Rating

The story has a K rating.

Nothing Good Ever Happens at 3 AM: Upshot

The notion of aliens doing something strange and, perhaps, the antithesis of what we would expect, was irresistible. Where we would see an enemy as wanting to decimate the numbers of its rivals, these aliens do the opposite.

Or maybe they just want to eat us. The truth is, I never really worked out exactly why they were there in the first place.

Oops.

Nothing good ever happens at 3 AM in reality. But what if that was the time when the aliens come out to play?

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Self-Review – The DishAdventures in Career Changing | Janet Gershen-Siegel | The Dish

Self-Review – The Dish

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on February 29, 2024

A Review of My Short Story – The Dish

The Dish came from a dirty plate in our kitchen sink. Therefore, it proves you can get writing inspiration from just about anywhere. Seriously.

Background

Also, without a doubt, it serves as an utterly passive-aggressive study of human nature. Essentially, you first. No, you. I insist. I’m not gonna until you do it first. Etc. You get the idea.

Plot

The main concept behind this plot serves to almost warn couples but also provide a bit of a primer on how to really be passive-aggressive. I never name the narrator, and I only barely describe her as being female. But there is nothing else.

Hence she remains a cypher, as does the cause of whatever the argument was initially all about. Also, the husband remains a cypher.

A plate is an odd place for inspiration, but the truth is that a plate had been sitting in our sink and I was getting annoyed by that. However, I didn’t make any moves to take care of this tiny mess. Neither did my husband.

We are only talking about a few days here. The plot, of course, takes some liberties with the time, as this is fiction and not reportage.

Characters

The only character is the unnamed narrator although she does refer to her husband, who I didn’t name, either.

Memorable Quotes

I am, despite my flaws, what they used to refer to in the old days as a ‘good woman’. And I am! But then there’s that dish again.

Story Postings

This story is only available as The Dish on Wattpad.

Rating for The Dish

The story is Rated K.

The Dish: Upshot

As I noted previously, inspiration can come from nearly anywhere. And while this little story could perhaps stand some improvement, people tend to like it wherever I have posted it. For I did use it as a sample of my non-scholastic writing for a course when I was getting my Master’s.

By the way, yes, that’s really one of our dishes. And I think I was the one to rinse it off and put it into the dishwasher.

Can a dirty dish inspire writing? Why yes, it can! Kinda wacky, eh?

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Self-Review – The Boy in the BandShort Stories, Road, My Aliens, Last Patient, interview, Surprises, Props, shipwrecked, child, Killing Us Softly, Ditte, Band, three minutes, Longest Night Watch, Nothing Good Ever Happens, Complications, Your Call, Darkness into Light, canaries, gentrification, Cynthia, True Believer, Short Stories, Wilder Bloom, Dish, Mitalisque, kitten, Last Try, Minnesota Wish, Dominick and Angela, Alix, Alix’s Apocalypse, A Chance Encounter in Time, A Crime in Time, A Show for the Galaxy, Alien Justice, And the Band Played the Apocalypse, Babel 2.0, Side Pages, Frozen Assets, Julie's Dollar, Mandy Goes to Aspen, Martin's Choice, Mike’s Grades, Out of the Work Camp Frying Pan, Sarah’s Invention, Small Acts of Defiance, The Future Has No Foundation, Unexpected Help, You Will Drink Your Coffee and Like It, Unreliable, East Side of the Universe, Eros vs Thanatos, Dust Between Our Stars, A Show for the Galaxy, A Fairy Tale for Skeptical Adults, A School for Scavengers, Frozen Assets, Out of the Work Camp Frying Pan, 1960s Temporal Crimes, Lizzie Borden is Vital to the Timeline, Walls Came Tumbling Down Again, The End, Will's Dog, Building Trust, Message in an Odd Bottle, The New Kid, What's an Animal, A Touch of Gray Hair, Guilty of Imperfection, Jared's World Turned Upside Down, Caring for Carole, Nuremberg Redux, Art Has All Sorts of Effects, When Russia Invaded Texas, Failure, Tumble in a Tomb, Beauty is Only Earth Deep, Peddler, Escape Violinist, Shimmering Wasteland, Cave Canem and Cave, Skating, Uninformed, Stellar Stowaway, dinosaurs, fragments, none of this is real, buzz, quartz, water, verity, quarrel, rivalry, breakout,

Self-Review – The Boy in the Band

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on February 22, 2024

Review – The Boy in the Band

The Boy in the Band came about because I wanted to write something special for an LGBTQ+ anthology.

So the first person I thought of, immediately, was Richard Holmstrom.

Background

So at the time I wrote the story, I had no idea what had happened to Rich. As it turned out, a mutual friend did some sleuthing. And so, I learned the truth. It was what I had been afraid of; he was dead.

Rich was the first gay man who ever came out to me. And I consider that to be one hell of an honor.

The Plot for The Boy in the Band

So the story is more or less accurate. Hence it wrote itself. And I was merely there to take mental dictation. And the title, of course, comes from the film.

In 1981 or 1982, my friend Rich asked me to the movies. And I had a crush on him and thought – this is great! He chose the films: Cabaret and The Boys in the Band. So I had no idea what I was in for. My innocent nineteen or twenty year old soul thought we were going to see a pair of musicals.

I swear to God this is true.

Characters

The characters are the narrator, Rich, and Paul. He was Rich’s boyfriend at the time. But unfortunately, I have no idea if they stayed together. Since I do not know Paul’s last name, I can’t even look him up.

Memorable Quotes

I gamely watched with Richard. Maybe he meant for it to be artsy? I had no idea, but then the Cowboy character showed up – a male prostitute. And so Richard asked, “What do you think of him?”

I replied, “He reminds me a bit of Rocky from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

“Which do you think is cuter?”

“Rocky.”

“So we will agree to disagree.”

And then I knew.

Rating

The story has a K rating.

Upshot for The Boy in the Band

So this one was highly emotional for me. And then when I learned, later, that I had been right, it all hit me rather hard. See, because of when we knew each other, it was the dawn of the age of AIDS. And I knew he was, let’s just say, a bit loose. Since no one really had any idea what was in store, and AIDS was a 100% painful death sentence at the time, being ‘loose’ was being foolish.

Yet it apparently did not kill him. At least, I can tell myself this. I think I’m right. I hope I’m right. But there is only so much the internet can tell me.

He did not even live long enough to see 9/11, President Obama, or even the Red Sox win the World Series (:)). So he is frozen in time, at age 39. And before I knew this much, he was frozen at age 21. Forever young.

The Boy in the Band — this one’s for you, Richard.

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Self-Review – Three Minutes Back in TimeShort Stories, Road, My Aliens, Last Patient, interview, Surprises, Props, shipwrecked, child, Killing Us Softly, Ditte, Band, three minutes, Longest Night Watch, Nothing Good Ever Happens, Complications, Your Call, Darkness into Light, canaries, gentrification, Cynthia, True Believer, Short Stories, Wilder Bloom, Dish, Mitalisque, kitten, Last Try, Minnesota Wish, Dominick and Angela, Alix, Alix’s Apocalypse, A Chance Encounter in Time, A Crime in Time, A Show for the Galaxy, Alien Justice, And the Band Played the Apocalypse, Babel 2.0, Side Pages, Frozen Assets, Julie's Dollar, Mandy Goes to Aspen, Martin's Choice, Mike’s Grades, Out of the Work Camp Frying Pan, Sarah’s Invention, Small Acts of Defiance, The Future Has No Foundation, Unexpected Help, You Will Drink Your Coffee and Like It, Unreliable, East Side of the Universe, Eros vs Thanatos, Dust Between Our Stars, A Show for the Galaxy, A Fairy Tale for Skeptical Adults, A School for Scavengers, Frozen Assets, Out of the Work Camp Frying Pan, 1960s Temporal Crimes, Lizzie Borden is Vital to the Timeline, Walls Came Tumbling Down Again, The End, Will's Dog, Building Trust, Message in an Odd Bottle, The New Kid, What's an Animal, A Touch of Gray Hair, Guilty of Imperfection, Jared's World Turned Upside Down, Caring for Carole, Nuremberg Redux, Art Has All Sorts of Effects, When Russia Invaded Texas, Failure, Tumble in a Tomb, Beauty is Only Earth Deep, Peddler, Escape Violinist, Shimmering Wasteland, Cave Canem and Cave, Skating, Uninformed, Stellar Stowaway, dinosaurs, fragments, none of this is real, buzz, quartz, water, verity, quarrel, rivalry, breakout,

Self-Review – Three Minutes Back in Time

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on February 15, 2024

Time to Review the Short Story, Three Minutes Back in Time

Three Minutes Back in Time is a sequel of sorts to a fanfiction story I wrote called Crackerjack. It is also a bit of a sequel for a second fan fiction story, Concord. But for this particular short story, I took out all of the fan fiction elements, except for the names of the characters. So it is essentially a wholly original piece.

Background for Three Minutes Back in Time

Science fiction often seems to be in the realm of today or the future. As I was also writing Real Hub of the Universe, the idea of setting sci fi in an unexpected time period became irresistible.

Hence the story takes place in the very beginning of the American involvement in the Second World War.

Plot

When Rosemary Parker and James Warren go to a fair outside Washington, DC, they do not expect to find a time machine. And they really don’t expect it to work.

But it can only work for three minutes at a time. So Rosemary decides to go to the one place and date and time she has ever wanted to – just before the death of her beloved brother, Freddie.

Characters

The characters are Rosemary Parker, James Warren, and Freddie Parker. Plus there is a carnival ticket taker, who doesn’t get a lot of “screen time”.

Memorable Quotes from Three Minutes Back in Time

At least the fair wasn’t segregated, like so many other places were. Its grounds were open to all, including James and Rosemary. And once they had determined the fair had little to offer, they had sat down on a bench and talked. He had wanted to discuss W.E.B. Du Bois and the recent allied raid on Rome. But Rosemary had wanted to talk about the upcoming premiere of Stormy Weather with Lena Horne and Fats Waller. He didn’t even want to discuss the recent All-Star game.

Rating

The story has a K rating.

Upshot

I think this one stands alone rather well. And I was so happy Three Minutes Back in Time was published by Mythic Magazine.

In particular, I think it evokes something of the mood of the time, not just through music, but also how Rosemary behaves. She’s a woman of color, and she has a decent education, but this is also way before Rosa Parks, who I swear I wasn’t thinking of when I wrote the piece. In fact, it’s even before Jackie Robinson.

As for what originally happened to Freddie, unfortunately, that is all too common these days.

Three minutes is just enough to change the world. Or, at least, a piece of it.

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Self-Review – The Resurrection of DitteThe Resurrection of Ditte Adventures in Career Changing

Self-Review – The Resurrection of Ditte

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on February 8, 2024

A Look at The Resurrection of Ditte

The Resurrection of Ditte came to me in a rush. I think it is one of the best things I have ever written. For sure, it is one of my best ever short stories. Yes, it is that good (in my opinion).

Background

I have written Holocaust era stories before. And I have even written them in a science fiction setting. Untrustworthy in particular is a science fiction style of the Holocaust (more specifically, Kristallnacht). But this setting is so different and I hope it hits home.

Plot of the Resurrection of Ditte

On December 8, 2041, a girl named Ditte sees a train come to her village, which has the same name as her. And no, that year is not a typo. You’ll see what it means.

Characters

The characters are the narrator, who writes in her diary. Also Anna, Levi, and the narrator’s parents, who have no names. The narrator just calls them Papa and Mama.

Memorable Quotes from Ditte

But I should start a little at the beginning. My name is Ditte—well, it’s really Edith, but no one’s called me that ever. I got this diary two years ago when I was eleven. I guess my grandmother thought a girl would want to write down her secrets. The diary has a lock and key and everything. But nothing has ever really happened here that was worthy of recording, until now.

My name is the same as the village—Ditte. We are near Görlitz, on the German side of the border, near the Lusatian Neisse river. Our village is small—a square with houses around it, a church on a hill, some shops, that sort of thing. And a railway crossroads.

The railway was supposed to bring in jobs. At least, that’s what Papa says. And he’s always right, you see.

Rating

The story has a K+ rating. While the violence is never shown “on screen”, there are plenty of references to it. And in the second version of events, the language is particularly nasty.

Upshot

It was so great to see this one published in Unrealpolitik.

Ditte — not just a person or a place, but a state of mind.

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Self-Review – The Courtship of Jeremy and MitalisqueShort Stories, Road, My Aliens, Last Patient, interview, Surprises, Props, shipwrecked, child, Killing Us Softly, Ditte, Band, three minutes, Longest Night Watch, Nothing Good Ever Happens, Complications, Your Call, Darkness into Light, canaries, gentrification, Cynthia, True Believer, Short Stories, Wilder Bloom, Dish, Mitalisque, kitten, Last Try, Minnesota Wish, Dominick and Angela, Alix, Alix’s Apocalypse, A Chance Encounter in Time, A Crime in Time, A Show for the Galaxy, Alien Justice, And the Band Played the Apocalypse, Babel 2.0, Side Pages, Frozen Assets, Julie's Dollar, Mandy Goes to Aspen, Martin's Choice, Mike’s Grades, Out of the Work Camp Frying Pan, Sarah’s Invention, Small Acts of Defiance, The Future Has No Foundation, Unexpected Help, You Will Drink Your Coffee and Like It, Unreliable, East Side of the Universe, Eros vs Thanatos, Dust Between Our Stars, A Show for the Galaxy, A Fairy Tale for Skeptical Adults, A School for Scavengers, Frozen Assets, Out of the Work Camp Frying Pan, 1960s Temporal Crimes, Lizzie Borden is Vital to the Timeline, Walls Came Tumbling Down Again, The End, Will's Dog, Building Trust, Message in an Odd Bottle, The New Kid, What's an Animal, A Touch of Gray Hair, Guilty of Imperfection, Jared's World Turned Upside Down, Caring for Carole, Nuremberg Redux, Art Has All Sorts of Effects, When Russia Invaded Texas, Failure, Tumble in a Tomb, Beauty is Only Earth Deep, Peddler, Escape Violinist, Shimmering Wasteland, Cave Canem and Cave, Skating, Uninformed, Stellar Stowaway, dinosaurs, fragments, none of this is real, buzz, quartz, water, verity, quarrel, rivalry, breakout,

Self-Review – The Courtship of Jeremy and Mitalisque

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on January 25, 2024

Review – The Courtship of Jeremy and Mitalisque

This was a fun little story to write, and it ended up with four parts! The Courtship of Jeremy and Mitalisque brings together two species.

And it all starts with just a one-word prompt: novelty.

Background

In 2021, I made it a point to try to write something or other every single day. And, I kept to it pretty well!

In order to make life easier and add some structure, I decided the first month of any given quarter would be for a daily one-word prompt. These would all go in alphabetical order. I chose most of these prompts on a whim.

Then (if I’m remembering correctly), I would write some more for the second month but as little sequels or extras. Then the third month would be for whatever. When the quarter turned to the next one, I would start again, from A.

This particular story comes from the second quarter of 2021.

Plot

So, this was mostly a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants story. I didn’t really have a plot in mind to start. It wasn’t until the second section, Wax, when I decided it would be a romance.

The basic premise is a kind of ‘getting to know you’ scenario. Because I have to figure something like that will happen, for real, in the future.

Characters

The characters are Jeremy Slayton, a human, and Mitalisque (pronounced a lot like Middle East but with a k at the end, rather than a t), a genetic facilitator alien that is neither male nor female. Also, I never actually name the species.

Memorable Quotes (this is the entirety of the first part, Novelty)

“I have never tried this before.”

“Oh?”

“Never. We don’t freeze food.”

“Surely you sometimes have a surplus. What do you do with the extras? Do you can them? Smoke or salt them?”

“Neither. Any excess goes to those who are still hungry. If appropriate, extras may be fed to food animals.”

“But you do have refrigeration. Er, right?”

“Not the way you do. We don’t shop for a week, or anything like that.”

“How do you get food, then?”

“If we’re not hunting or growing it, we will purchase it, yes. But we don’t store anything edible for more than a day—two on the outside.”

“So, you’re just constantly going to the supermarket?”

“It sounds odd when you say it that way.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“It does take up a lot of our time to get food, yes. However, this is the way we get fresh foods nearly a hundred percent of the time.”

“I suppose. So, even though you don’t normally eat frozen things, do you like it?”

“It’s an interesting flavor.”

“It’s called chocolate.”

“I see. And what about your other frozen foodstuffs?”

“What about them? I’ve got fish sticks, assorted vegetables, and some TV dinners. Bachelor, you see.”

“Ah. Hence my question. Can we partake of—you called them fish sticks?”

“Sure. Just give me a chance to heat them up first. I’ll even make you fresh tartar sauce.”

“And all humans eat these things?”

“More or less. Next time, let’s try something native to your people.”

“Sure. I hope you don’t mind hunting.”

Rating for The Courtship of Jeremy and Mitalisque

The story has a K rating. Nothing untoward happens.

Upshot for The Courtship of Jeremy and Mitalisque

Whenever we do meet aliens (and I firmly believe that we will), if they are pleasant at all, then humans are going to hang out with them. A lot. And, anyone vaguely humanoid who doesn’t fall under the category of a taboo of some kind could very well become a romantic partner.

By taboo, I am talking about aliens who look too much like children, or who are grotesque in appearance but kind, or who are shaped or sized in a way that the mechanics of it seem impossible. Such as ten foot and taller aliens, that sort of thing.

Essentially what I am saying is, if we can make peace with them, then there are going to be some people who want to make love, too.

If Jeremy and Mitalisque can fall in love, then who’s to say we can’t all learn to love aliens, too? Although not necessarily romantically.

Want More of my Short Stories and Novellas?

If this story resonates with you, then check out my other articles about my shorter works.

Short Stories

Finally, for a complete list of my shorter works, please be sure to check out the Hub Page—Short Stories.

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Self-Review – This is My Childshipwrecked, child, Mitalisque, Alien Justice, Hot Time in the Alien Town, Alien Entertainment, Shimmering Wasteland, Leave Your Tone at the Message, Your Planet Smells Like Wet Dog, Miss Milky Way,

Self-Review – This is My Child

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on January 18, 2024

Let’s take a look at This is My Child.

A child is born. And that kid is not human.

This is My Child puts together just what it would be like if we humans ever had to save a sapient alien species.

Background

In truth, this story was written as a wholly original version of some fan fiction. While the exact plot was not from fan fic, the scenario is most definitely from there. But otherwise, it is rather different, and I did not carry over any names or species or the like.

The Plot of This is My Child

In some future time on Earth, we become allies with a dying sapient species. So, in order to help save their race, human women (or anyone assigned female at birth) volunteer to become surrogate mothers.

Characters

The characters are the narrator and, eventually, the baby she bears. So, there are no names, not even a name for the alien race. Hence the reader just has to take it on faith.

And all we learn is the eyes of the baby are gold and violet. So, you will have to use your imagination for this one!

And the truth is, the child would not necessarily have to be humanoid. Although I suspect it would be a far tougher sell to try to get readers to suspend disbelief for an alien that was really out there. You know, like a noncorporeal alien, or something like that.

Memorable Quotes

I never planned on becoming a mother. I never met anyone I liked, and I just didn’t want the pain and the heartache and all of the work it would have entailed. If that makes me selfish, then call me selfish. I am, or at least I was.

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Rating

The story has a K rating. This is about as wholesome and sweet as my stories can get.

There are no jump scares here, so you can relax.

I imagine one sweeter story would, potentially, be A Kitten.

Takeaways for This is My Child

I have loved this idea for quite a while. It is an exceptionally intimate act. And for us to do this for an alien species would have to be based on a strong alliance and kinship.

For it is not just an alliance. Instead, it is a lot more like love.

And it was published! Many thanks to Asymmetry Fiction which, alas, is no more. Ah, well. Perhaps I will find another place to query it.

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Self-Review – Almost Shipwreckedshipwrecked, child, Mitalisque, Alien Justice, Hot Time in the Alien Town, Alien Entertainment, Shimmering Wasteland, Leave Your Tone at the Message, Your Planet Smells Like Wet Dog, Miss Milky Way,

Self-Review – Almost Shipwrecked

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on January 11, 2024

A Review of My Short Story – Almost Shipwrecked

This story is one of those I desperately want to read with a Queens accent. It just seems like the heroine of Almost Shipwrecked is someone who maybe isn’t what anyone would call a Rhodes Scholar. And that is okay.

Background to Almost Shipwrecked

When our narrator (Cheryl Frasier) gets out of her failing space ship, her escape pod takes her in an unexpected direction.

My main idea was to show more of a “below decks” character in a decidedly unheroic situation. There was to be no technobabble.

Plot for Almost Shipwrecked

The action starts with the narrator complaining more than anything else. And the first fact for the reader is: this was negligence. It wasn’t some fancy malfunction or an interstellar war.

Instead, the engineer got drunk one too many times, and did not do all of the necessary maintenance. The narrator and any of her shipmates who made it out, is damned lucky to be alive at all.

Characters

So the characters are really just the narrator and the folks she meets.

Memorable Quotes

I’m a payload specialist, or at least I guess I was. That’s a fancy way of saying I was in charge of inventory. I wasn’t a doctor like Mendez or an engineer like stupid Rogers or a leader like Ng. I’m more like a glorified box lifter upper and putter downer and counter and orderer.

Rating

The story has a K rating.

Takeaways and Future Plans

I am so grateful that Almost Shipwrecked was a story in the January 2019 edition of Empyreome. But alas, the site is no more.

And I also like how there is a slight bit of hopefulness at the end. But only slight. And it is only maybe. Because the narrator’s life could end that night, or a few days later if she can’t eat anything on the planet.

Also, there is a prequel to this story, Hot Mess, where I reveal the narrator’s name, Cheryl Frasier.

Cheryl is Almost Shipwrecked — and definitely at sea….

And so, I’ve worked on combining these two short stories into one longer one to give her more of a character arc. I am calling it Cheryl and the Lizard Elves. But, as of the end of July of 2025, the ending is not yet in sight.

Sorry, Cheryl, but in real life, I’ve had to deal with a ton of house repairs!

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