Flash Fiction Online #134, November 2024

“To Curse with Needle and Thread” by Vijayalaxmi Samal

“Hazards of Being Related to the Chosen One” by Emmie Christie

“The Inside of the Outside” by Angus McIntyre (reprint, not reviewed)

“An Acre a Year” by Gregory Marlow

“Little Bird” by Aggie Novak

Reviewed by Mina

This issue focuses on rural fantasy. All the stories depict survival in tough circumstances.

In “To Curse with Needle and Thread” by Vijayalaxmi Samal, the narrator is a woman who is the ‘spoils of war’. She is given to a soldier as little more than a chattel, to warm his bed and mend his clothes. It is a tale of slavery, survival and quiet resistance as she teaches her daughter how to sew curses: “If our hand can draw the grace of a god, I am betting on the ire of a demon.” A sad tale reminding me of my childhood passion with the books of Rosemary Sutcliffe.

“Hazards of Being Related to the Chosen One” by Emmie Christie is full of humour, yet has a very real note of pathos at the end. We learn what it’s like to be the hero’s sister and what happens to the hero once the final fight is done. And it leaves you with a fondness for roosters.

In an “An Acre a Year” by Gregory Marlow a farmer’s wife makes a deal with the fae, so that her husband won’t work himself into an early grave. It is a tale about love, loyalty and hard bargains.

“Little Bird” by Aggie Novak is clearly influenced by Slavic mythology. It’s a tale about friendship and survival. The village outcast befriends a spirit and the spirit repays her kindness. A simple and surprisingly sweet tale.