Selfies by Lavie Tidhar
My rating: 3/5 cats
In the last picture, I’m dead.
this is one of the best “covers” that these delightful tor shorts have produced so far, but in this case, the artwork is better than the story. don’t get me wrong, it’s not at all bad; it’s a great idea, but i just thought its execution was a little unfocused. i loved the fact that the story was mostly told in shuffled snapshots—the descriptions of the selfies one girl took with a spooooky camera forming the shape of the narrative. and i thought the demonic compulsion to take these selfies was hilarious, and a clever little jab at, you know, “these kids today” and all.
My finger itches. I hold up the phone in front of me and press the camera button and it’s like something in me wakes up for the first time and something inside me dies—I can’t describe it. I don’t need to. I press the button and there’s the image, instead.
my only complaint is that when the narrative is fragmented like this one is, there are too many loose ends, too many dropped pieces of the story. and usually i have no problem filling in the gaps myself, but i found the character of farnsworth perplexing, and i’m not sure how he fits into the larger story, except as a device to give ellie (and therefore, the reader) some arcane factoids. i wish he had been more integrated into the story instead of just being “that which infodumps,” but it’s hard to complain too strenuously about free stories. even the shorts i haven’t swooned over have at least been a nice brief entertainment—a little snack in between the larger meals of books. i will never stop reading these. NEVER!
read it for yourself here:
http://www.tor.com/stories/2014/09/se…
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