Two Fic Tuesday

Welcome!

So, guess who's on their death themed nonsense this week? In my defense, I found all three of these pieces this week, and I couldn't help but group them together. It was just too perfect.

We also have a returning author in this collection, which is really fun for me to see. I've featured work from a few people multiple times now, and every time I come up against that, it makes me smile. Having a record of work I enjoy has been great, and being able to find authors I know I can return to is really kind of delightful. Plus, I get to shout about their work again and again here, and that really does bring me joy.

Recs

The Riddle. - Sarp Sozdinler - ergot.
We're going to start with an author I've not featured before. I read this story first, and loved it pretty quickly. Death as a character will always appeal to me, and I love seeing the different things people will do with that. Whether they play off mythology or make their own depictions, I'll always find it fascinating. This story is a dialogue, and one that really worked for me. The format it's told in was a lovely choice. I loved how we could focus on the conversation, but also still get in bits of the setting. It painted this really great picture for me.

what spirits need on lonely nights - Ian Li - Abyss & Apex
Hotel for the Dead - Ian Li - Orion's Belt
And now we come to a double recommendation from someone whose work I have shouted about here before.

Ian Li is someone whose work I keep finding myself really adoring. As I've said, he's been featured here before, and I'm sure he'll come up again. I'm pairing these two poems together because I feel they're two sides of a lovely spirit-themed coin. Both of them feature the dead finding their way to certain places, but they depict them in different ways. Both are just stunning pieces of work though, and I feel like anyone who knows me is unsurprised that I'm a fan of both..

Be well, take care, and I hope you read something lovely this week,

Vale

PS: If you want to find me elsewhere, I'm on Bluesky at @howsweetthewords and I have a Ko-fi and Patreon where I post prompts, more personal/writing updates, micro-fiction, and miscellany. Tiers start at $1, but there is the occasional free post as well.