Hello beloved readers! I have a new story for you today, and one that is quite personal. It's called "We Are Not Phoenixes," and it's in the new issue of Fireside Magazine.
It's a very short story about what pyromancers can do to show kindness and entertain patients in hospice. Magic is often used to damage or to heal. But magic has boundaries. When we're delicate and it's limited, how can we make meaning out of our actions? Even if they're magical?
The story was directly inspired by a blog post from Elephant's Child a few years ago. She posted about a visit to a hospice where alpacas were roaming around the compound. It turned out a local farm lent them to the patients for some gentle entertainment.
As someone who is chronically ill, and someone who has lost many friends to prolonged illness, this was powerful to me. I wondered: why doesn't Fantasy ever do that?
This story is my answer to that query. It's dedicated to many wonderful people who I won't see again, and who I am very glad to have known.
You can read the story for free at this link.
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Thank you for this beautiful, powerful series of truths. Which is all the words I can muster right now through misty eyes.
ReplyDeleteAnd as PS - the alpacas went into hospice and hospital rooms too if the patient was unable to come out to them.
That was really unique. And magic or not, it's good advice for anyone visiting such a place.
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