A Flash collection. About 57 of the 75 pieces have been previously published (6 in Fictive Dream). At a launch I attended she read "Clearly defined clouds", "Princess", "The Final Quadrant" and "Before the diggers come". She pointed out that there are quite a few child PoVs, and several pieces based on fairy tales.
I started classifying the pieces as I read. "Codes to live by" is a good start, and falls into the "couples having communication problems" category. The couple make up at the end (or at least use the conventional codes of making up). "Electric" has a couple on their third date. "Eurydice changes her name" is the first of the myth stories, the characters brought into the current era. In "Their Memories" an experienced couple bicker and make up. There are some stories (e.g. "A fish can love a bird" and more interestingly, "Destiny") about love which wasn't meant to be. "Spellbound" (which I like) and "Beta Vulgaris" are about couples whose long relationship is fizzling out despite the narrator's efforts.
"Wash it all away" is the first piece that I couldn't easily classify. The narrator returns after 50 years to the house where s/he was born. His/her father, 111, lives there alone. He's waiting for a shower to be put in. He wants him/her to be around long enough to try the shower - "It will wash everything from the past away" he says. My guess is that the narrator might have become conscious of their mortality.
"The longest day" is a speculum (first sentence = final sentence, etc), just about. A couple aren't getting on.
I wasn't so keen on "Can't kill the spirit", "Outdoorables", "Drifting". I liked: "In the end" (looking for bottled cherries - hope? - in their bombed house), "Clearly defined clouds" (a couple separating).
From p.61 to p.77 there's a dip. "Upstairs, Downstairs" begins the recovery. "Wolf moon" is interesting. "Nothing serious" could nearly be the start of a short story - a story's first cliffhanger can be a Flash story's punchline. "Swallows" uses a neat idea. p.98-104 are good. p.111 begins another dip. But dips are relative. There's a lot to like.
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