Mary King writes about...

Nice Surprises in Bewildering Stories

Hi Don,

I saw Part 1 of my story in Bewildering Stories today (yay!) and I wanted to tell you how much I liked the presentation. When you originally explained what you were going to do, I couldn’t quite see it but now I understand. I especially like the box at the beginning where the travel agent speaks; I’d never have thought of doing that.

I also wanted to mention that I’ve been reading your translation of Cyrano de Bergerac’s work. I’m only about half way through Chapter 4 because I keep getting interrupted, but I have to tell you that I think it’s a fascinating read. I was planning to read only one chapter here at the office but I kept thinking, well just this one more chapter, and then I’ll go back to work. And that turned into another and another. I just couldn’t put it down. I’m finding your notes and explanations very helpful in my understanding of the finer points of his work. I’m hoping to read more this afternoon. It’s beyond amazing when you consider that all this was going through his head three hundred years ago.

Take care now,

Mary

P.S. I love that short story “AKA Hell” in Issue 159. It puts me in mind of the old Twilight Zone episodes I used to love when I was a kid.

Copyright © 2005 by Mary King

Thank you kindly for the nice words, Mary; they go a long way. I hope our readers have been following your flash fiction series “From Time to Time”: all our writers would do well to study your miniature portraits; they’re object lessons in economical character development.

And of course I’m pleased as Punch that you’re enjoying Cyrano’s The Other World. I’d always wondered why it was one of those books that was always talked about but that nobody seemed to have read. When I started it, I realized why: neither the language nor the subject matter makes it easy. But it is easy to read now, and it is the main reason we have Bewildering Stories in its present form today.

I’m really looking foward to your poetry coming on line soon, right here in our pages. The readers will love it!