Men Who Wish to Drown

A man could suffer with his death, and I daresay most do, but mine had no agony. Have you wondered what dying is like? I shall tell you the end of it, the release, which must be the same for all men: Darkness folds around you, just as soft water closes around a stone tossed into a pond, claiming it.

Karen's review has me in a review-by-poetry frame of mind. I had a high school English teacher who argued that "The Road Not Taken" was the most misinterpreted poem in all of American literature:

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

that the choice the poet makes is of no consequence and makes no difference show more at all, as all roads end in death.

I lay motionless for hours, disappointed that I lived.

Here is a story that says otherwise, and even in its deep regret, it is beautiful, hopeful in passing wisdom down, urging the new generation to avoid the safe shallows, to really live.

Choose wisely when your time comes. Live—or die—without regret.

The road, it matters. show less

"In my nineteenth year I tasted the nectar of truly living, and I might have leapt over the chasm of the ordinary into the ravishment of an ecstatic extraordinary, but I turned away from it."

Beautiful, melancholy, and well-written short story about cowardice, the sea, and a love that could never be. Read it here. I just discovered Tor short stories, and they've been quite good. Also, I often read to music in the background, and I read this to the song Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by XYLØ, which was AMAZING! Really added some atmosphere to the story.

Choose wisely when your time comes. Live—or die—without regret.

Mermaids are amazing, and it's hard to get enough of their legends. At least I haven't had my personal fill of them yet, they seem hard for me to find other than mere glimpses in stories. This is a short story - again, only a mere glimpse of a mermaid tale. The writing is haunting and lovely, the main character a weak man who lives to regret not taking a chance. The writer's pause between reflective thought and her subtlely in dialogue that says it all is skillful.

The mermaid is easy to fall in love with - subtle and sweet but clever. I do think the old hag's story would prove true and to love her is to meet your death, as so many other mermaid legends go, but that show more brings together the haunting charm of the mermaid tales and voyages in the epic, vast sea.

It's haunting, it's whimsical, it's mind-bending - perfect reading. The tone is almost gothic and works well to give me reading willies.

At the end of the story there are some questions I wondered though.

Why was it dangerous to say her name? Because it would bring the hag?
Was the hag who she would become one day, as a result of age?


Read the story here - Men who wish to drown show less

A short story written in the form of a letter about one mans regrets. The letter is to his great-grandson and tells the story of how when he was a young man was rescued by a mermaid and spent some time with her until being rescued by a ship. He meant to return and find her again but instead went on to live a successful life. Despite the great life the man lived he could never forgot the girl who rescued him and the thought of what could have been.

This is a short story prequel to Monstrous Beauty. It is very short but I loved it.

Beautiful.

Excellent supplement to Monstrous Beauty.