Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: melancholy
  • Music: Aqua, "Calling You."

"Hook Agonistes" is available now!

I am very pleased to announce that "Hook Agonistes" has been printed in the latest issue of Subterranean Magazine, and is available to read here:

http://subterraneanpress.com/magazine/fall_2013/hook_agonistes_by_jay_lake_and_seanan_mcguire

This novella is a collaboration between myself and Jay Lake. It is about loss, and identity, and longing to go home. It is about an animatronic Captain Hook, doing his best to shepherd the last remains of the human race. It is about dreams.

"The difficulty with steering by stars is that stars are by their very nature ghosts; they died long before we ever saw their light. When you choose a star to steer by, you are casting yourself as the lead character in a ghost story. It's far better to create stars of your own, set them in the heavens, and steer by the light of something living."

—Michael Lowry III, founder of Lowryland

"All stories are ghost stories."

—Jas of Lowryland

Welcome to Lowryland. This post also serves as your discussion thread, should you want to comment on the story itself; there will be spoilers.
Tags: fairy tale remix, good things, publishing news, short fiction
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  • 29 comments

teal_cuttlefish

September 10 2013, 06:55:08 UTC 3 years ago Edited:  September 10 2013, 07:00:44 UTC

The story was compelling, I read through it fairly quickly, and swore at the computer screen. Had it been in a paper magazine, I'd have thrown it. And then picked it up gently and dusted it off. The story was compelling and drew me into itself thoroughly. I too suspected the interjecting thoughts were some kind of shell program, but the ending caught me, hard. I cried while announcing I hate to cry, blowing my nose. Hubby was a bit confused by me. After about 20-30 minutes I settled back down. I haven't been that profoundly affected by a story in a long time.

I tried to spoiler the next comment, but I couldn't get it to work. Don't read further if you want to read the story. it kills the ending.

Jas's memories will be intact within the smarter machine, but he/his viewpoint won't get to see the end of the story, because he was simply a subroutine. And the convolutions Lowry went through to build in safeguards and plan for everything -- such madness and brilliance. Lots of questions about Lowry and his megalomania.

I don't generally read post-apocalyptic fiction because everything is so hopeless. This...wasn't hopeless. But the hope hurt so. He was no soulless machine.

Seanan: I apologize for the multiple post. First the prewritten HTML was a pain, then I had to make something make sense. I will not fix any more typos.

jenfullmoon

September 10 2013, 17:34:38 UTC 3 years ago

Hah, ironically I just poked through it very slowly for two days. (Disclaimer: I am a speed reader, so that is saying something for me.)

I did suspect where it was going, so good for me...but poor Jas anyway.

You always gotta watch out for those immaculate conception kids. Slippery little suckers.

This seems like an...awfully long-range plan they have going here if it's been hundreds of years and they still haven't been rescued yet, though. Kind of makes me wonder how well that's going for them. Or maybe they only just set off the beacon now, I'm not sure exactly.

teal_cuttlefish

September 11 2013, 05:43:00 UTC 3 years ago

My gut says Pan was conceived after they got an answer from the homeworld so that she and the Other Hook would be there to lead the "guests" triumphantly home. It was carefully, even diabolically, planned to increase the fame of Michael Lowry by his robots keeping the humans alive and hopeful for 300 years.