PseudoPod 479: ARTEMIS RISING Women In Horror Showcase: Like Dolls
Show Notes
Like Dolls started as a meditation on the other side of the ‘wailing on your grave’ subgenre of folk music, such as I Am Stretched on Your Grave and The Unquiet Grave. Not only is Like Dolls a Pseudopod original, but also the author’s first professional publication sale. PseudoPod couldn’t be prouder to introduce you to this author.
Like Dolls
by J. Lily Corbie
I am awake. Through the trappings of a funeral and the clods of earth raining upon me, I am aware. When my father kneels at my headstone and calls me his willful girl, I hear him. When Meredith weeps and lays poppies on my grave, I know. When they are gone, I am at rest.
The dark is absolute. I know my eyes are open–curious fingers encounter the wet resistance of eye, feel the brush of eyelashes with each blink. I suffer neither thirst nor hunger, and though my chest still fills and empties, I want for nothing. I am somnolent, content with my eternity.
Only Bastian’s voice interrupts my peace.
At the service, he threw himself across my coffin and wailed. He wasn’t mourning–he was claiming my funeral with his grief. Now he lays himself along my grave. He weeps and he laments, and I feel his weight through earth and wood. I am reminded, time and again, that not even my death belongs to me.
About the Author
J. Lily Corbie
J. Lily Corbie is a lifelong horror and fantasy enthusiast. She’s passionate about mythology and folklore and loves bats, bones, butterflies, and octopuses. She lives with three cats and a dog, and you can follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
About the Narrator
Kim Lakin-Smith
Kim Lakin-Smith is the author ofnbsp;Tourniquet; Tales from the Renegade City (Immanion Press: 2007), Cyber Circus (Newcon Press: 2011) and the YA novella Queen Rat (Murky Depths, 2012). Her dark fantasy and science fiction short stories have appeared in various magazines and anthologies including Black Static, Interzone, Celebration, Myth-Understandings, Further Conflicts, Pandemonium: Stories of the Apocalypse, Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories By Women, and others, with ‘Johnny and Emmie-Lou Get Married’ shortlisted for the BSFA short story award 2009. Kim has a background in performance and is a regular guest speaker at writing workshops and conventions.
About the Artist
Galen Dara
Galen likes monsters, mystics, and dead things. She has created art for Uncanny Magazine, 47North publishing, Skyscape Publishing, Fantasy Flight Games, Tyche Books, Fireside Magazine, Lightspeed, Lackington’s, and Resurrection House. She has been nominated for the Hugo, the World Fantasy Award, and the Chesley Award. When Galen is not working on a project you can find her on the edge of the Sonoran Desert, climbing mountains and hanging out with an assortment of human and animal companions. Her website is www.galendara.com plus you can find her on Facebook and Twitter @galendara.
Here’s an example of her wonderfully thoughtful pieces, included in the 2015 Spectrum Fantastic Art annual.
