The Litany of Earth by Ruthanna Emrys
My rating: 4/5 cats
“Some people think that ‘power’ is a good answer, and it isn’t. The power that can be found in magic is less than what you get from a gun, or a badge, or a bomb…What magic is for is understanding. Knowledge. And it won’t work until you know how little that gets you.”
this was a surprisingly good story. my surprise has nothing to do with either the author, who is completely new to me, or the free tor shorts themselves, despite our on-again/off-again relationship. it has everything to do with my general dislike of lovecraft, which i may have mentioned on here once or twice or forty-seven times. me and lovecraft sit in no trees. however, miriam guided me towards this particular story with assurance:
I think you might like it despite the Lovecraft. It’s just using his mythos, not written with his purple prose.
and she was correct, i DID like it. i’m not sure i appreciated it with the same fervor as someone who was really into lovecraft would, which only means that if you do like lovecraft, and you are more familiar with the references here, you’re probably going to dig this one like butter, so go prove me right!
because let’s get something straight—my dislike of lovecraft is well-documented, but it’s built on a pretty flimsy foundation. i read exactly one collection of his stories in my teens, and went—NOPE! which reaction was later reinforced by reading, and disliking, several books by authors described as “lovecraftian,” whose use of his tone and vocabulary and frustratingly obscure manner of storytelling strengthened my NOPE assessment.
this one doesn’t fall into that category—it’s just creating a spokesperson out of one of the brands of beasties in the cthulhu mythos and giving her the opportunity to speak for her people, which lovecraft never did. aphra is one of the deep ones, which i have learned from internet are described as being an ocean-dwelling race, as evidenced by their name, with an affinity for mating with humans and they look a little something like this:
this story gives them a little more…gravitas in both the physical and intellectual realms. not that i know what the intelligence of a deep one is in lovecraft’s hands, but that thing sure looks dumb. and sticky. whereas aphra is intelligent, proud, and totes passing for human, enough to infiltrate a group of dilettante-humans appropriating the faith of her people, hoping to become godlike and immortal themselves. silly humans.
it’s a well-written story, with actual social themes and not just eldrich ichor or whatever it is lovecraft is always going on about.
so thank you, miriam! with the two strikes of “lovecraftian” and “novelette” going against it, i never would have read this on my own!
read it for yourself here:
http://www.tor.com/2014/05/14/the-lit…
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