LINKDING

Summary: <blockquote>Hanh tried not to look at the greasy fingerprints marking the seams on James’ silicone skin. “How do you feel, James?” “Dizzy.” He swung his legs against the workbench in perfect imitation of the teen he resembled. “But not so much as before.” The IT guy mashed his hands in an oily towel. He had thick forearms and a purple skullcap. “I replaced the gyroscopic components, but that’s not the source of the problem. His balance processing’s all screwed up, and the gyros are getting banged around. Whatever I put in there’s going to wear out the same.” Hahn didn’t like the IT guy. “Can he learn to compensate?”</blockquote>

<blockquote>I was the one who found you, did you know? You’ve heard this story so many times before. But let me tell you one last time, Liyana.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Though previous excuses had always been deployed before the last minute, Deania did not truly believe her childhood friend Seriola would join her until she surfaced from the sea to find Seriola standing punctually on the brief sand of the beach. Finally allowing her anticipation free, she lifted one hand high in greeting. Seriola returned the gesture, abbreviated. Hardly the enthusiasm Deania hoped for, but perhaps Seriola’s baby had kept her awake the night before.</blockquote> ➤ About recognising when the people in a friendship have grown too differently to remain friends. Also, mermaids??

<blockquote>The goddesses are so suicidal anymore. We lost Jemma and Iwahana in one day last week, Jemma to poison and Iwahana to self-flagellation. None of us were trained in seeing the signs of self-flagellation. Now we are. There is so much to learn.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The state took Aphra away from Innsmouth. They took her history, her home, her family, her god. They tried to take the sea. Now, years later, when she is just beginning to rebuild a life, an agent of that government intrudes on her life again, with an offer she wishes she could refuse. “The Litany of Earth” is a dark fantasy story inspired by the Lovecraft mythos.</blockquote> ➤ a subversion of Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos ➤ see also Ex Urbe's excellent review of this story: http://www.exurbe.com/?p=2951

<blockquote>There was a time when the woods near Duva ate girls…or so the story goes. But it’s just possible that the danger may be a little bit closer to home.</blockquote> ➤ The nature and identity of good and bad in this story is very interesting, and definitely commentary on traditional fairy tales

<blockquote>He loved those things, and yet they were things. He had owned them. Now they were gone. He had recently come to realize that ownership was a relationship. What did it mean to own a thing? To shape it and contain it? He could not possess or be possessed until he knew.</blockquote> ➤ the story of a woman and her robot and their daughter, and what it means to love