Swift, Brutal Retaliation by Meghan McCarron
My rating: 3/5 cats
This stupid reading confirmed her suspicions that God was like any other adult who lied and told you horrible things were for your own good.
this one was a bit flat, so i was surprised to learn it had gotten nebula and world fantasy award nominations. it’s not horrible—there’s some nice detail about the grieving process:
Sinead and Brigid felt as alone as it was possible to feel while smushed up against someone on a pew, unaware that the other person was also furiously contemplating God
but the story itself, where the ghostly apparition of a brother becomes a silent, judgy observer to the escalating prank war his sisters embark upon in the aftermath of his death and their parents behave shittily, doesn’t really go anywhere. which makes this story exactly like the ghost of ian: just hanging around and no one’s really sure why or what he’s trying to get across because no one can understand him and things end messily. not a terrible story, but i WOULD kick it out of the bed for eating crackers.
read it for yourself here:
http://www.tor.com/2012/01/04/swift-b…
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