Short Fiction and Poetry

Midori Snyder: Short Fiction and Poetry

Vivian: Short Fiction

Many years ago, I wrote the short story "Vivian" for Martin Greenberg's Robin Hood Anthology, and later reprinted in Years' Best Fantasy and Horror, edited by Datlow and Windling. My take on the well-known tale was to imagine the complications of a man trying to be heroic, but unable to do it alone. This is in the spirit of behind every good man there is someone else making him possible. So what does Robin owe to the fantastic? How does he manage between wanting to be that hero and knowing that when he does becomes successful, it comes at the price of another. 

King of Crows: Short Fiction

King of Crows is really a story about listening and perhaps the way our own fears of not being heard keep us from listening better. I liked the character here of Johnny Fahey and plan one day to write about more of his adventures.

 

Jack Straw: Short Fiction

Jack Straw was written for Jane Yolen's young adult anthology Things That Go Bump in the Night. It was one of those rare stories that comes like grace, spilling out effortlessly all at once. In it, a frightening confrontation with Death leaves a young girl wondering about the perils of change.

Baba Yaga Duet: Poetry

Baba Yaga Duet. Between my daughter coming of age and and my own passing beyond the age of young fairy tale heroines, I discovered a kindred spirit in the rough and powerful figure of the Russian woodwife, Baba Yaga. So I wrote the poem "Baba Yaga" both for my daughter and as a consolation for myself, no longer so young. A few years later, while living in Costa Rica, my daughter Taiko Haessler wrote a reply, "Baba Yaga's Daughter." Both poems can be read here