The clockwork cat was running down, but its owners refused to visit the cat-maker’s shop to buy a new pet. Again and again, they wound up the cat.
No matter how often they turned the key, the cat’s heart ticked ever more slowly. Its gray pelt of fine wires, which once had felt like fur, was rough and uneven from years of petting. Its whiskers had long since snapped off. Its metal claws were dull. Its meow sounded like plaintive tin.
Barbara A. Barnett’s story “A Red One Cannot See” tells the story of Philibert, a lémur-homme who tries to return to his island home. I adored this one not just because of the lemurs, but because of the delicacy with which it explores the costs of “progress.”
“It will be a lonely ride, lémur-homme,” his mentor had told him before his departure — the human mentor who had taken him from the island years before and given him the name Philibert. “Have you not thought that there might be a reason so few of your kind return to the island?”
Mist hung over the island the way smoke hovered around the factory stacks in the mainland city of New Madagascar. The humans would be building those factories on the island soon, Philibert had heard. The forests would be razed, and when his family became too numerous for the enclaves into which they would be forced, they would be put in zoos or caged as pets — pets that would be hidden at parties whenever a lémur-homme like himself was in attendance.
I once swore I’d never publish a unicorn story, but Alethea Kontis made me change my mind. “The Giant and The Unicorn” tells the tale of what one brave unicorn does when the clockwork starts to wind down.
An excerpt:
It was seven more years before the Giant went mad; the animals knew this because their springs and gears always kept perfect time (apart from those of the wind-up monkeys, who never cared for time). First the Giant lost his reason, then his sanity, and then his sense of purpose. Some said a virus had scrambled his wiring. Some said he was losing his power. Some said he had lost it long ago. Some said the world would die without the Giant to lead them,but they did not die, and the world went on, perhaps only a little less harmonious than it should have been.
No one asked the Giant about his notable lack of sanity, mostly because he was so much bigger. He was too much stronger. He would tear them all to pieces, or stomp on them until they were nothing more than crumpled scrap, or grind their bones to make his crown. They were all afraid of him… all save one brave little unicorn.
It was twilight when the brave little unicorn came upon the Giant weeping in the forrest. It did not occur to him to be afraid. Now, you might think him silly — many would — but it was not ignorance that drew the little unicorn toward the deep, creaking sobs. What drew him was curiosity, and kindness. For this unicorn was the youngest unicorn, the last fashioned bythe Toymaker before his untimely demise, so his heart burned the brightest and the purest, the most compassionate of all.
When did you first know you were a writer? I have no idea, really… there have been glimmers: directing my own play, publication of my first short story, seeing the novel in bookstores… but I really believe on some level that I am just gleefully enjoying myself and someone will catch me sitting at the Big Kids’ table and boot me out.
But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison-house,
I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,
Thy knotty and combined locks to part
And each particular hair to stand on end,
Like quills upon the fretful porpentine. –Hamlet, Shakespeare
Beatrice Shakespeare Smith doesn’t necessarily live within a prison-house, and yet neither does she often leave the Theatre which she calls home. Within its walls, the players of every play ever written reside, and all seems happy, for these players were born to their parts and surely must love and appreciate them. Bertie loves the Theatre and its players with all her heart; it is all she has ever known, though as any young girl will, Bertie dreams. So, too, do some of the players dream, of escaping the Theatre and exploring the world beyond.
The Compleat Works of the Stage prevents this from being possible; the old book contains every play ever written, and thus, the beginning of every player within the Theatre. As the pages are bound into the book, so too are the players bound to the Theatre. Ariel, a spirit of the air and Bertie’s One True Weakness, believes that when a player’s entrance page is taken from the book, the player may escape the Theatre; he believes, too, Bertie has come to free them all.
Young Bertie has problems beyond the wants of the seductive Ariel. She’s been given a task of her own: prove her worth to the Theatre, or get out because she is full of mischief and trouble-making. Out? The Theatre is all she loves and the only place she wants to be. Backed by a quartet of fairies–Cobweb, Moth, Mustardseed, and Peaseblossom–Bertie sets out to retell Shakespeare’s Hamlet, set this time in Egypt. The players are horrified, but little does everyone know that nothing will go as planned and in attempting to prove her worth, Bertie will discover some of what she’s always dreamed: who she is, who her mother is, and maybe even the name of her One True Love.
Pirates, cake, costumes, romance, disaster-prone fairies, sea witches, mysteries, and histories; Mantchev’s debut novel has a little bit of everything–as you might expect to find in a theater. Bertie’s tale is captivating and charming, and my only complaint is that I didn’t want the curtain to fall when it did. The Theatre Illuminata is filled with stories yet to be told; Perchance to Dreamis Act 2 (May 2010), and I can’t wait for the curtain to rise.
Lisa Mantchev says she’s “a temporally-displaced Capricorn who spends a lot of time wondering what other time periods I’d rather have lived in, all the while very much enjoying my wireless internetz and push-of-a-button espresso machine.” We’re thankful she’s part of our time period, allowing us to enjoy Eyes Like Starsand its sequels when they’re hot off the presses.
From South Pacific to Coraline, Lisa takes the time to answer a few questions for Shimmer. If you’d like to catch the author and her books in person, look for her at the Port Angeles Library on April 14th, plus reading and signing on June 11 at 7:0 0pm at the University of WA Bookstore for the release of Perchance To Dream. Eyes Like Stars will be issued in paperback on April 13.
When did you first know you were a writer? I have no idea, really… there have been glimmers: directing my own play, publication of my first short story, seeing the novel in bookstores… but I really believe on some level that I am just gleefully enjoying myself and someone will catch me sitting at the Big Kids’ table and boot me out.
Tell us about the first play you took part in (acting/directing/etc). When I was seven, I got a call from a local director who knew me through the school I attended… he wanted to remind me about auditions for the local community college production of South Pacific. My mom left a half-crimped pie crust on the kitchen counter to take me down to the theater (hence the dedication to her in Eyes Like Stars.) I was cast as one of the children on Bali Ha’i, got to dye my hair black and learn Polynesian dancing. It was fabulous.
Eyes Like Stars
What was the most frustrating thing about writing Eyes Like Stars? I had no idea what I was doing… it was like bumbling down a really dark hallway, banging my head into low hanging beams and tripping over exposed pipes. Looking back on it, I had no agent, no contract… and no pressure, other than what I was putting on myself at the time. (I still don’t like that dark hallway feeling of the first draft, and I’ve really come to appreciate the work that gets done in revisions!)
What draws you to writing fantasy? Limitless possibilities. I like the idea of other worlds down-the-rabbit-hole.
What do you know now that you didn’t know before the writing and publication of Eyes Like Stars? How awesome the Young Adult writing community is, not just the other authors but the librarians and reviewers and bloggers… everyone is just so enthusiastic! They love to read! They love to tell people about good books!
Your short story, “Six Scents,” was inspired by scents from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. What would Beatrice Shakespeare Smith’s blend smell like? How about Nate? *glee* I love this idea. If they could manage it, I think Bertie’s would smell faintly of cloves, velvet curtains, hair dye (*L*) and new ink. Nate would definitely smell like clean linen, leather, rum, and salt.
What favorite book do you wish you could forget, so you could have the pleasure of reading it for the first time again?
Tanith Lee’s Biting the Sun. That was an utter revelation for me.
We’re dropping you on a desert island with: three books, two DVDs, and one CD. What are the titles? Three books: Anne of Green Gables, The Complete Works of Shakespeare (yeah, that’s probably cheating!) and “Building Coconut Rafts For Dummies.”
Two DVDs: Copies of David-as-Doctor-Who episodes like “The Shakespeare Code” and “The Girl in the Fireplace.”
One CD: Something Cirque du Soleil…
Perchance to Dream
When can we expect the next act in Theatre Illuminata, Perchance To Dream? (And do any new tidbits await us in the short fiction realm?) Perchance To Dream is due out May 25th, and picks up pretty much where Eyes Like Stars left off, with (*Spoiler Alert*) Bertie and the fairies setting out in search of Nate, accompanied by Ariel and a newcomer to the group they pick up along the way.
The audio recording for Eyes Like Stars is now available on CD (retail and library version) through the Full Cast Audio website, and they just won an AudioFile Earphones Award for it!
The theater website (in the midst of an overhaul) is still www.theatre-illuminata.com, and I just completed an as-yet-uncontracted alt-history YA steampunk novel, so fingers crossed on that one!
In Vincent Pendergast’s story Otto’s Elephant, a friendly stranger delights a young boy with marvelous stories of the history of his elephant, each story more magical than the last. Below, Vincent reads one of those tales, accompanied by Shweta Narayan‘s illustration. Enjoy!
The amazing Shweta Narayan reads from her story “The Mechanical Aviary of Emperor Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar” in The Clockwork Jungle Book (Issue #11). Like Shweta’s other work, it’s a luminous and graceful tale of an amazing culture, full of heart.
We’ve just learned that this story will be reprinted in Ann and Jeff VanderMeer’s Steampunk Reloaded: Volume 2, coming out this fall. Congrats, Shweta!
I loved this story because of the touching relationship between the characters, the unusual setting, and, of course, the pandas. Raj’s story “The Furies” appeared in Shimmer‘s Pirate issue. We’re delighted to welcome him into the Clockwork Jungle.
