The book I’m working on now is studded with small details – things that may or may not reflect back into the reader, and will probably be overlooked or ignored by most, but were, yes, placed there deliberately, the way a garden architect chooses what trellis to climb each rose on. I do this sort of thing all the time in my short fiction, but never so consciously in a longer piece
(aside: and that just made me realize why there’s been no short fiction written this year: this book is scratching both my itches. Â Huh.)
But whenever I think I might be too subtle in a reference, or layering things too deeply for anyone save me to notice, I go back to this quote in the Black Gates review of HEART OF FIRE:
“Gilman’s fairyland bears a remarkable resemblance to the chilling otherworld of C.L. Moore’s great pulp sword and sorcery classic story ‘Black God’s Kiss.’â€
And then I think, “okay, odds are good that SOMEONE other than me will see it, and that makes it worth doing.”
And if you’ve never read “Black God’s Kiss,” then I highly recommend it to you. Â I’m not much of the “you MUST read the classics” school – some classics are best respected at a distance – but this one, yeah. I did not realize how much C.L. Moore had influenced my own writing until I went back and reread her a few years ago. Â It’s like seeing a picture of a distant relative, and recognizing the vaguely familiar frame of the eyes, or the fold of an ear…
(my copy is part of JIREL OF JOIRY, published by Ace back in 1977. Â There is not a soul I love enough to loan this book out to. Â If you want to read it, you have to come here and sit on the sofa and read it where I can keep an eye on you.)