THE DEEP ONES: "The Least Trumps" by Elizabeth Hand
Talk The Weird Tradition
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1gwendetenebre
"The Least Trumps" by Elizabeth Hand.
Discussion begins September 11, 2024.
First published in The New Wave Fabulists (2002)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
https://isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?102072
SELECTED PRINT VERSIONS
The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror: Sixteenth Annual Collection
The Best of Elizabeth Hand
ONLINE VERSIONS
No online versions found to date.
ONLINE AUDIO VERSIONS
No online audio versions found to date.
MISCELLANY
https://the-line-up.com/elizabeth-hand
https://www.elizabethhand.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Hand
https://crimereads.com/elizabeth-hand-interview/
https://tinyurl.com/23svwm8y
Discussion begins September 11, 2024.
First published in The New Wave Fabulists (2002)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
https://isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?102072
SELECTED PRINT VERSIONS
The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror: Sixteenth Annual Collection
The Best of Elizabeth Hand
ONLINE VERSIONS
No online versions found to date.
ONLINE AUDIO VERSIONS
No online audio versions found to date.
MISCELLANY
https://the-line-up.com/elizabeth-hand
https://www.elizabethhand.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Hand
https://crimereads.com/elizabeth-hand-interview/
https://tinyurl.com/23svwm8y
2paradoxosalpha
This one is a pretty full novella. It is rich with allusions to other actual books, in addition to the imaginary Wise Ant and Five Windows One Door: Four Quartets, Gormenghast, The Alexandria Quartet, Children of Violence, A Dance to the Music of Time, The Sword of Shannara; a story about readers.
Late in the story, Hand lists the component volumes of Five Windows One Door:
Love Plucking Rownaberries
Sybylla and the Summer Sky
Mellors' Plasma Bistro
Love Regained in Idleness
Ardor Ex Cathedra
Blakie says of the blank trumps that they're "All used up." So presumably Fox used them to manifest some things, or tried to. He must have used a different mechanism than tattoo, though. The earlier, now-blank cards were perhaps all an effort to recover his son, and the last two, never "activated," were to continue the work. The one that Ivy tattooed on her thigh was to bring back a dead son, and because of her personal associations, it resurrected Chris rather than Wally. But the last one finally succeeded in shifting at least Ivy and Chris to a world where Wally survived.
Late in the story, Hand lists the component volumes of Five Windows One Door:
Love Plucking Rownaberries
Sybylla and the Summer Sky
Mellors' Plasma Bistro
Love Regained in Idleness
Ardor Ex Cathedra
Blakie says of the blank trumps that they're "All used up." So presumably Fox used them to manifest some things, or tried to. He must have used a different mechanism than tattoo, though. The earlier, now-blank cards were perhaps all an effort to recover his son, and the last two, never "activated," were to continue the work. The one that Ivy tattooed on her thigh was to bring back a dead son, and because of her personal associations, it resurrected Chris rather than Wally. But the last one finally succeeded in shifting at least Ivy and Chris to a world where Wally survived.
3paradoxosalpha
My Other Reader tells me she's sure (from Crowley's blog?) that Hand got the "Least Trumps" idea from John Crowley's Little, Big, where an unusual cartomancy suit is called the "Lesser Trumps." Here is an interesting blog post from someone trying to realize these in their proper medium.
Of course, the title and concept also evoke Charles Williams' The Greater Trumps, my least favorite of his Aspects of Power novels.
Of course, the title and concept also evoke Charles Williams' The Greater Trumps, my least favorite of his Aspects of Power novels.
