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The Girl and the Goldfinch.

July 1, 2016 by Exangel

by Rose Jermusyk.

A girl lay on the forest floor with her eyes closed, and her hands over her heart. She was not under any sort of enchantment, but she was very much of the opinion that waiting so would draw her true love to her.

She had taken other such precautions: the spot where she lay was just under where the trees opened a bit to the sky, and all around this was the usual charming affect of sun-dappled woodland; her lips were held in a modest pout to provoke her hero’s tender kiss; and, she wore the daintiest pair of glass slippers you ever saw.

These quite saved her from boredom, to say the least. Boredom being quite tiresome, she passed the time tapping the tips of her toes together just to hear them tink.

            Tink.                She looked to the West on a Wednesday, but there was no sign of true love.

            Tinkity.              She looked to the East on a Sunday, but there was no sign of true love.

            Tink-tink.          She looked to the North on a Monday, but there was no sign of true love.

            Tink.                She looked to the South on a Friday, still there was no sign of true love.

It was on a Tuesday, with her eyes shut tight, that everything changed.

            Tink went her toes and tap went something else. She opened her eyes just to peek to the West, but there was no one.

            Tinkity went her toes and tappity went something else. She opened her eyes just to peek to the East, but there was no one.

            Tink-tink went her toes and tap-tap went something else. She opened her eyes and took a good long to the North, and a good long look to the South. Still, no one.

            Tink went her toes and tap went something else. She opened her eyes and looked straight up. There, just above the treetops, was a bright little goldfinch.

            Tink went her toes and tap went the goldfinch. She looked straight up, trying to see what the gold finch was tapping just above the treetops.

            Tinkity went her toes and tappity went the goldfinch. She wondered if there was a pane of glass just above the treetops.

            Tink-tink went her toes and tap-tap went the goldfinch. She wondered if a pane of glass just above the treetops meant her forest were really an immense greenhouse.

            Tink.                Tap.

            Tink.                Tap.

            Tink-tink.          Tap-tap.

            Tinkity.              Tappity.

            Tinkity-tink.        Tappity-tap.

            Tink-tink.          Tap-tap.

            Tink.                Tap.

            Tink.                Tap.

            Tink.                Tap.

She leapt to her feet now furious at the thought of having been trapped for so long, waiting for someone to save her when she did not even realize she had needed saving. She was waiting for someone who might never come, might not think to venture into a greenhouse while out in the world seeking his fortune.

She tore her glass slippers from her feet, reared back, and launched them toward the goldfinch. She threw her shoes high and hard.

When glass touched glass, the pane shattered. She ducked beneath the closest tree and watched as the shards blanketed the ground.

They fell like so many dazzling, cutting snowflakes.

When all was calm and still, she opened her eyes to the skies just above the treetops. She had never seen such a blue.

She spread her wings and flew away, gold.

Filed Under: EAP: The Magazine, Summer 2016: I Want the World.

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In This Issue.

  • Who Was Dorothy?
  • Those Evil Spirits.
  • The Screaming Baboon.
  • Her.
  • A Tale of Persistence.
  • A Conversation with Steve Hugh Westenra.
  • Person Number Twelve.
  • Dream Shapes.
  • Cannon Beach.
  • The Muse.
  • Spring.
  • The Greatness that was Greece.
  • 1966, NYC; nothing like it.
  • Sun Shower.
  • The Withering Weight of Being Perceived.
  • Broken Clock.
  • Confession.
  • Francis Coppola’s Apocalypse.
  • Sometimes you die, I mean that people do.
  • True (from “My Life with Dogs”).
  • Fragmentary musings on birds and bees.
  • 12 Baking Essentials to Always Have in Your Poetry.
  • Broad Street.
  • A Death in Alexandria.
  • My Forked Tongue.
  • Swan Lake.
  • Long Division.
  • Singing against the muses.
  • Aphorisms from “What Remains to Be Said”.

In The News.

That cult classic pirate/sci fi mash up GREENBEARD, by Richard James Bentley, is now a rollicking audiobook, available from Audible.com. Narrated and acted by Colby Elliott of Last Word Audio, you’ll be overwhelmed by the riches and hilarity within.

“Captain Sylvestre de Greybagges is your typical seventeenth-century Cambridge-educated lawyer turned Caribbean pirate, as comfortable debating the virtues of William Shakespeare, Isaac Newton, and compound interest as he is wielding a cutlass, needling archrival Henry Morgan, and parsing rum-soaked gossip for his next target. When a pepper monger’s loose tongue lets out a rumor about a fleet loaded with silver, the Captain sets sail only to find himself in a close encounter of a very different kind.

After escaping with his sanity barely intact and his beard transformed an alarming bright green, Greybagges rallies The Ark de Triomphe crew for a revenge-fueled, thrill-a-minute adventure to the ends of the earth and beyond.

This frolicsome tale of skullduggery, jiggery-pokery, and chicanery upon Ye High Seas is brimming with hilarious puns, masterful historical allusions, and nonstop literary hijinks. Including sly references to Thomas Pynchon, Treasure Island, 1940s cinema, and notable historical figures, this mélange of delights will captivate readers with its rollicking adventure, rich descriptions of food and fashion, and learned asides into scientific, philosophical, and colonial history.”

THE SUPERGIRLS is back, revised and updated!

supergirls-take-1

In The News.

Newport Public Library hosted a three part Zoom series on Visionary Fiction, led by Tod.  

And we love them for it, too.

The first discussion was a lively blast. You can watch it here. The second, Looking Back to Look Forward can be seen here.

The third was the best of all. Visions of the Future, with a cast of characters including poets, audiobook artists, historians, Starhawk, and Mary Shelley. Among others. Link is here.

In the News.

SNOTTY SAVES THE DAY is now an audiobook, narrated by Last Word Audio’s mellifluous Colby Elliott. It launched May 10th, but for a limited time, you can listen for free with an Audible trial membership. So what are you waiting for? Start listening to the wonders of how Arcadia was born from the worst section of the worst neighborhood in the worst empire of all the worlds since the universe began.

In The News.

If you love audio books, don’t miss the new release of REPORT TO MEGALOPOLIS, by Tod Davies, narrated by Colby Elliott of Last Word Audio. The tortured Aspern Grayling tries to rise above the truth of his own story, fighting with reality every step of the way, and Colby’s voice is the perfect match for our modern day Dr. Frankenstein.

In The News.

Mike Madrid dishes on Miss Fury to the BBC . . .

Tod on the Importance of Visionary Fiction

Check out this video of “Beyond Utopia: The Importance of Fantasy,” Tod’s recent talk at the tenth World-Ecology Research Network Conference, June 2019, in San Francisco. She covers everything from Wind in the Willows to the work of Kim Stanley Robinson, with a look at The History of Arcadia along the way. As usual, she’s going on about how visionary fiction has an important place in the formation of a world we want and need to have.

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