The New Orthodox Reformed Heaper's Hangout Short Story thread

Odradek · 2016-04-18 11:38:40

Let's try this again

1. The person whose turn it is will pick a short story on Monday, which must be accessible on the internet for free. If they have several stories they want to choose, they can have a poll beginning on Friday, and then officially announce the story on Monday.

2. There will be a READING PERIOD from Monday to Saturday during which you are allowed to comment on the story, but during which you should spoiler your commentary. After Saturday, spoilers are no longer needed.

3 We will rotate through the order. If a new person joins, they will be added after the current person, and take that order in the rotation from then on.

Current Order:

1. Aliroz

2. Eriophora Zia

3. Odradek

4. Sredni Vashtar

5. Alduin

6. Yarrun

7. Imipolex G

Odradek · 2016-04-18 11:39:42

The first story was announced by @Alduin and is The Woman in the Lighthouse by Cristina Pantajo Hidalgo.

Yarrun XIX · 2016-04-18 12:18:57

She has a beautiful grasp on location

Odradek · 2016-04-19 02:22:59

Making sure everyone saw this

Odradek · 2016-04-22 02:58:06

That was sad and sweet and pretty. I am glad I read it before I went to bed.

Odradek · 2016-04-22 14:23:58

Bump.

Reading period ends tomorrow, so unmarked spoilers become okay.

Alduin · 2016-04-22 15:03:22

She really does.

Sredni Vashtar · 2016-04-22 16:40:52

About halfway through and I am getting magical realist vibes. Specifically, the sense of quiet and the low-key ghostliness remind me of Murakami's "Thailand", albeit minus the wry humour and pervasive aura of grief... thus far.

Odradek · 2016-04-24 12:47:37

Okay, Yarrun will give us the next story. Anyone have any more thoughts on the current story?

Yarrun XIX · 2016-04-24 15:14:48

Did I already suggest Orientation by Daniel Orozco? I feel like I did, but I can't remember

Yarrun XIX · 2016-04-24 15:16:32

Ah yes, it appears I have. Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" then

Odradek · 2016-04-24 15:45:21

I remember Orientation from way back when.

Anyway be sure to provide a link.

Yarrun XIX · 2016-04-24 15:50:36

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1952/1952-h/1952-h.htm

Odradek · 2016-04-25 10:48:02

Okay the new story is The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Gilman. You can still talk about the last story, but if you want to talk about the new story in spoilery ways, use spoilers.

Odradek · 2016-04-29 02:53:16

Bumping this

Sredni Vashtar · 2016-04-29 22:22:09

A classic of the style, and all the more unnerving when you realise that people actually thought that sort of "rest cure" was a good idea.

Mandelbrot · 2016-04-29 22:31:12

i wrote a (bad) essay comparing this to "The Mark on the Wall" by Virginia Woolf

got an A, but it was not good

Odradek · 2016-05-01 18:02:57

Hey I haven't had much time to read this, and I feel others might have the same thing happening to them, so I will extend this an extra week because of finals week.

Odradek · 2016-05-08 11:24:19

Lol I kinda forgot about bumping this until today because of finals, proving my point I guess...

Odradek · 2016-05-12 20:57:00

Okay I will re-post the link to the story and bump this every day until Sunday, at which point we will move on to Imi's story

Yarrun XIX said:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1952/1952-h/1952-h.htm

Odradek · 2016-05-14 01:18:32

Odradek said:
Okay I will re-post the link to the story and bump this every day until Sunday, at which point we will move on to Imi's story
Yarrun XIX said:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1952/1952-h/1952-h.htm

Sredni Vashtar · 2016-05-14 22:17:25

OK, who here hasn't read this before? It's a really good one, but it is pretty well-known, particularly in horror circles.

Odradek · 2016-05-15 02:23:17

I never have.

The ending kind of snuck up on me, but it was very effectively creepy, and reminded me a bit of China Mieville's story Details

Imipolex G · 2016-05-15 02:39:09

I didn't like this story when I read it in school, and I still don't. Although I can't exactly figure out why.

Sredni Vashtar · 2016-05-15 07:19:14

Odradek said:
...and reminded me a bit of China Mieville's story Details

That's a great story, by the way.

Odradek · 2016-05-15 23:59:49

Imi do you have a story for us?

Imipolex G · 2016-05-16 15:24:21

I have nothing prepared, but maybe I can find something.

Odradek · 2016-05-16 23:05:30

Do you have anything yet?

Sredni Vashtar · 2016-05-16 23:07:58

The Free Speculative Fiction Online database is a good resource.

Imipolex G · 2016-05-17 01:34:44

Ok, here we go.

The Black Monk by Anton Chekhov.

It's kinda long...ish...but that doesn't scare anyone, does it? Of course not

Odradek · 2016-05-19 17:23:20

Bump

Odradek · 2016-05-21 02:53:39

Bump

Odradek · 2016-05-26 14:15:15

I gave us an extra week, but forgot to mention it until now because I'm terrible

eriophora zia · 2016-05-26 15:44:58

oh dang I had the old one bookmarked so I'd see new posts and didn't even see this one :X

Whoo for new short stories, though :D Gonna read tonight~

eriophora zia · 2016-05-27 05:03:25

That was a rather interesting one. As Kovrin's self-absorption grew, so did his illness - initially, constrained to the mental realm, but then furthering itself to the physical as soon as he decided that he was, yes indeed, quite mad. As soon as the delusion no longer catered positively to his thoughts about himself, the symptoms instead became physical. In a large sense, it seemed to pander to him.

I found it a little odd how Kovrin's initial love interest, "Tatiana," is only mentioned once before being discarded. It fits with the Russian writing style and the tone of the story (especially when considering it in light of Kovrin's supreme disregard for others), but nevertheless.

eriophora zia · 2016-05-27 05:04:46

Also, not really a spoiler since it's like the first paragraph, but espaliered trees are cool. Have some bonus imagery

Odradek · 2016-05-29 16:46:04

I thought that story was very very sad. Also I would also have liked to have seen the garden at the very start of the story.

eriophora zia said:
That was a rather interesting one. As Kovrin's self-absorption grew, so did his illness - initially, constrained to the mental realm, but then furthering itself to the physical as soon as he decided that he was, yes indeed, quite mad. As soon as the delusion no longer catered positively to his thoughts about himself, the symptoms instead became physical. In a large sense, it seemed to pander to him.

I found it a little odd how Kovrin's initial love interest, "Tatiana," is only mentioned once before being discarded. It fits with the Russian writing style and the tone of the story (especially when considering it in light of Kovrin's supreme disregard for others), but nevertheless.

Maybe I read it wrong, but I assumed "Tanya" was a nickname for "Tatiana"

Imipolex G · 2016-05-29 16:57:49

I felt pretty bad for Tanya and her father

/deep insight

eriophora zia · 2016-05-29 18:14:56

Odradek said:
I thought that story was very very sad. Also I would also have liked to have seen the garden at the very start of the story.

eriophora zia said:
That was a rather interesting one. As Kovrin's self-absorption grew, so did his illness - initially, constrained to the mental realm, but then furthering itself to the physical as soon as he decided that he was, yes indeed, quite mad. As soon as the delusion no longer catered positively to his thoughts about himself, the symptoms instead became physical. In a large sense, it seemed to pander to him.

I found it a little odd how Kovrin's initial love interest, "Tatiana," is only mentioned once before being discarded. It fits with the Russian writing style and the tone of the story (especially when considering it in light of Kovrin's supreme disregard for others), but nevertheless.
Maybe I read it wrong, but I assumed "Tanya" was a nickname for "Tatiana"

Oh, you are correct. Probably doesn't help that I was pretty sleepy when I read it. I was reading it as an aside, him thinking about how he shouldn't fall for her because he had someone back home. Whoops.

Odradek · 2016-05-30 01:06:39

Next up is @Aliroz incidentally

Odradek · 2016-05-30 14:24:04

Ahem @Aliroz

Aliroz · 2016-05-30 15:28:05

Eep! I'll post my story by two, Eastern Time.

Aliroz · 2016-05-31 04:13:07

http://www.online-literature.com/hawthorne/125/

The Birthmark, by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Odradek · 2016-06-02 01:16:36

Bump

Odradek · 2016-06-03 20:17:20

Bump

eriophora zia · 2016-06-05 07:55:24

Spoiler:

Fairly straightforward, but overall I liked it! Moderately awful that Georgiana was sacrificed just so her husband could learn a lesson, but that does tend to go along with the traditional archetype of women being nature/mothers/creation. It had a good message, as far as stories go - you ruin all of your happiness when you can't look past the superficial.

Odradek · 2016-06-08 19:59:18

Bump.

I think I'm just gonna perma-extend this to two weeks unless someone has a very short story

Odradek · 2016-06-10 15:54:31

Bump

Odradek · 2016-06-11 15:36:29

Bump

Aliroz · 2016-06-11 16:15:21

Poor, poor Georgiana.

Odradek · 2016-06-12 22:55:10

Okay: Guys, what do I need to do to get people to read these stories. Is it me? Because I really want to know

The New Orthodox Reformed Heaper's Hangout Short Story thread

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