Fictions Critical and Otherwise

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I appear to be extraordinarily in print.  In addition to October Leaves on Flickr, there's "Steadfast Castle" in F&SF and "Libertarian Russia" in Asimov's.  And now, on Abyss & Apex, there's "Spirits in the Night, a work of flash fiction.  


You can go directly to the story by clicking here.  But why would you?  Instead, go to the home page of the current issue and check out all the fiction by clicking here.


To celebrate the appearance of "Spirits in the Night," I present the recipe for the drink formally known as a Whisky MacDonald, though it is almost inevitably shortened to Whisky Mac:


Two shots blended whisky 
One shot green ginger wine (most commonly Crabbie's or Stone's)
No ice


And that's it.  I discovered this drink when I was in Edinburgh this summer, and it's perfect with autumn weather.  American bartenders appear to have never heard of it, though it's a mainstay in Scotland.




And meanwhile, over at The Endless Bookshelf . . . 


Bookman Henry Wessells, my friend and sometimes publisher, has written a short essay on Wendy Walker's critical fictions.  Critical fictions being one of his particular interests.  (He's been known to write them himself.)


And exactly what is a critical fiction?  Henry proposes his own working definition:

fiction that works as fiction while simultaneously articulating a critical response to a literary work, and citing phrases and images from the earlier work to new ends ; looking at familiar works in unfamiliar light, to bring out responses and ideas one didn’t know that one didn’t know. I would distinguish the critical fiction, which takes an existing literary work as a point of departure — from the pastiche, which is fundamentally imitative or continuative of the earlier work

And now you know whether you wish to read the whole thing or not.  You can find it here.

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