This month, Clarkesworld magazine is offering my story, “Clockwork Chickadee,” as one of their two fiction offerings. Plus, “The Secret in the House of Smiles” by Paul Jessup, and non-fiction by Ekaterina Sedia, Jeff VanderMeer and Neil Clarke.
The teaser:
The clockwork chickadee was not as pretty as the nightingale. But she did not mind. She pecked the floor when she was wound, looking for invisible bugs. And when she was not wound, she cocked her head and glared at the sparrow, whom she loathed with every tooth on every gear in her pressed-tin body.
The sparrow could fly.
The story is available in two flavors, written or read aloud. Clarkesworld is offering audio fiction now, and my story kicks that off.
They’ve got a comment thread, so do let them know what you think.
Congrats, Mary. You already know how much I love this story! 🙂
Thanks, Marshall!
I have, of course, left a glowing review on the Clarkesworld page.
OOO! You are very good to me.
That was a very cool story. I dropped a comment there, too. I like how the sparrow gets wound up by the chickadee, in a sense.
Hee hee. Yes, she really knows how to tick someone off.
Well done! Left this little note at Clarkesworld . . .
Chickadee certainly knows what she wants, doesn’t she? Capitalism at its best. I wonder how chickadee might do in a primary campaign.
Chickadee for president?
Chickadee as president would scare me, though I bet things would run like clockwork.
With the primaries winding up, I bet Hillary could use a good pecker, uh, I mean henpecker, I mean . . . oh no.
I think you might have found the key to the tension.
Hey, I actually remembered to go and read a Clarkesworld story for a change! I always intend to keep up with the online ‘zines, and then far too often somehow manage to not quite get around to it.
Anyway, “Clockwork Chickadee” was excellent! Bravo!