I'm delighted to announce that Labyrinth Inhabitant magazine has published its third issue, which features my story "Arrows, Co-Arrows." You can read the story for free online at the preceding link.
I really hope you enjoy it -- and please don't be shy with any feedback!
3 comments:
It's a cool story. Very well written using a nice style. The story has suggested some ideas to me.
The very first one consists in comparing your city-torus-shaped universe with the labyrinths of Borges. There is a common topic between your story and the ones of Borges (La casa de Asterión, in the Aleph, for instance), that is: to explore feelings of loneliness and being trapped in our existence. However there is a big difference: being trapped in one of the infinite labyrinths of Borges always gives you the possibility of finding something new; some new corridor that you didn't know before and that allows you to relieve your existential pain. In your city-torus-shaped universe the angst is much bigger, the claustrophobia is huger; the goal of your character consists in finding out the totality and finiteness of the place where he is trapped. I like that. And I like the metaphysical solution you provide (to the problem of letting Trander to decrease his angst) by relaxing the objective reality of the torus-city to a subjective entity related with the individual suffering of Trander.
It is a little bit psychodelic.
Also, relating the city with the ant colony, and with the torus shaped key chain, it is a great metaphoric way to reach the final metaphysical message. Though I have a philosophical objection. The end suggests a little infantile way of dealing with suffering. After Trander realizes that his suffering has taken the shape of the city where he lives, he decides to escape from the city and hence from the state of pain and suffering where he is embedded. I believe that one has "to cope with" suffering, but one cannot "escape from" it. Borges gives you a way to cope with suffering (finding new unknown corridors), Sylvia Plath gave another one (suicide), Dostoevsky and Kierkegaard give other ways (their interpretations of christianity), the postmodernists also give ways to cope with suffering (via finding subjective ways to give meaning to one's existence). . . but no one suggests "to escape from suffering".
cheers,
Sergio.
Wow, thank you for that very detailed and insightful feedback! :-)
I found your comparison of this story to Borge's tale flattering, of course, but it allowed you to make some really interesting observations, not all of which had occurred to me when writing it.
I'm delighted it sparked your ideas in this fashion and that you enjoyed it.
SPOILER WARNING
The point you make about the ending is a good one. Part of my intention was not so much to suggest that he "escape" from his suffering, but that he no longer allow it to dominate (literally) the shape of his universe. My thoughts were that, away from the twisted city and back in his real life, he would still have to process his suffering (as we all do), but it's very true I could have done more to emphasize that, to make it clear.
Again, thanks so much for the detailed feedback!
Hmmmm...I got excited and posted my comments about the story on the previous post "Trinity."
You'll have to fix it. =0)
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