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This writing just enchants me. This was an extremely clever short story - the mix of magical elements with history is well crafted and the effects the teeth had on Washington made me chuckle. It was very thought provoking, and the writing makes each small piece of the story so easy to picture.
oh this is really good. read it here!
Oh great, they deleted my - and yours too most likely - review of this short story together with the book! I'm not even pissed anymore, this is just ridiculous. Let's see if they will delete this one. I loved the shortie.
It's incredible what P. Djèlí Clark develops from a tiny footnote in history. Yes, George Washington did buy 9 teeth for 122 shillings and had trouble with his teeth. And then goes P. Djèlí Clark and builds up 9 flash fiction stories full of emotions, privilege, enslavement and racism. The world depicted is an alternate reality with magic, mermen and time travel, but that doesn't dillute the emotional distress that history (and this story) has on its back. Yes, our menial privileged actions do c...
📚 Free short story from Fireside Magazine 📚I was going to write a full review for this one but then I figured it would probably end up being ridiculously longer than the story itself so I won't. Lucky you and stuff 🥳🥳.You should read this short because:① It’s free. But you might have already read that up there ↑↑. Perhaps.② It won the 2018 Nebula Award for Best Short Story. Not that this guarantees greatness but it helps. Sometimes.③ The art is slightly scrumptious:④ It is a truth universall...
This has actually been a reread. But my original review is in some other place.There are two reasons for this.The first one being that there is a discrete entry for this story now. It shouldn't be something worth mentioning. However, Goodreads and short stories - this has always been a match made in hell. Frankly, I never understood why it is preferable to have a skewed rating system, and messed up (not properly searchable) shelves, by virtue of forcing people to shelve and rate online magazines...
I really enjoyed it, especially the mix of supernatural with the historical context. It’s important that the use of slave’s teeth in GW’s dentures is being told and the truth of history is being shared and this was such a good way to do it. There is also the element of heartbreaking eeriness that I just really think takes the story to the next level on top of the supernatural elements that builds further on the tragic narrative of slavery and how humanity failed and how truly evil and heartbreak...
Brilliantly original and interesting, just like all of Clark's work.
I was expecting this story to be emotionally devastating but instead it was a fascinating intellectual exercise. I expected my heart to be shredded and instead my mind was stretched. Apparently, George Washington (our evil first president) purchased teeth from people for his false dentures. This story starts with a quote, “‘By Cash pd Negroes for 9 Teeth on Acct of Dr. Lemoire’ –Lund Washington, Mount Vernon plantation, Account Book dated 1784.” This story explores what the secret lives of the t...
P. Djèlí Clark has been on my radar for a little while now and I'm glad I stumbled upon this short story this morning. I have a few more stories lined up in the near future, which I'm now that much more excited to read! The attention to detail was fantastic here.
"For the blacksmith understood what masters had chosen to forget: when you make a man or woman a slave you enslave yourself in turn."Thought provoking, well written and unique. Unfortunately, the format of 9 short stories crammed into a single short story felt like it was missing something. Some of the stories were quite good, while others felt a bit bland. My favorites might be the cook, the slave trader and Solomon.
whatever. I've put this in about three different places. Just stopping here to check on Clark's works and see what I've missed.My least favorite Clark. This one did not work as well for me, consisting as it did of nine little short-short stories about each of George Washington’s teeth originating from various Negro people who were slaves. The slaves aren’t necessarily connected, except that they end up in George’s mouth. At the end of each is a cute little semi-epilogue where (view spoiler)[the
This is my favorite short story ever written.Its perfection and I LOVE it💜🥰
Sarah told me to read this I've been meaning to read a P. Djèlí Clark story, and this was a perfect opportunity to get a taste of his writing. Much impressed was I. A very unique and interesting way to insert fantasy into history. Now I'm inspired to read The Haunting of Tram Car 015 that's been sitting in my kindle.
This is a brilliant short story. You can read this for free here.All thanks to the Queen of Murderous Crustaceans for her short yet scrumptious review and for the link.
2018 Nebula Award winning story, and I can see why. It's only a 10-15 minute read. Give it a try sometime.Read for free @ Fireside Magazine - https://firesidefiction.com/the-secre...
That was such a clever framing device to tell the story of nine slaves. Perhaps more importantly to show that George Washington, a founding father of the "Home of the FREE and the Brave" was a slave owner himself. Yes, he freed his slaves upon his death as the story also says, but there were 67 years of slave owning before that!I also learned a fantastic new word.con·san·guin·i·ty/ˌkänsaNGˈɡwinədē/nounthe fact of being descended from the same ancestor."the marriage was annulled on grounds of con...
Recommend to read this piece of speculative fiction together with the author's blog post about it 'On Slavery, Magic, and the Negro Teeth of George Washington'.
I love the casual mix of supernatural elements into the story. Imaginative and well written. Not quite a ghost story, not quite historical fiction.Can be read for free here: https://firesidefiction.com/the-secre...Beautiful artwork at Fireside Magazine, where the story was originally published.PS: This must be the third time I have put up this review, because GR keeps deleting this short story. Or maybe I posted it under the heading for fireside magazine? Who knows...2018 Nebula Award Winner / H...
A lot of great ideas and research clearly went into this story. It's very well-written and I was intrigued by basically all the characters. Unfortunately, the format read like a particularly fascinating newspaper article, and I found it hard to get very invested in the characters because by the time I was becoming accustomed to one, the story moved on to the next, thus the emotional impact wasn't quite there. It just wasn't a very satisfying story, in my opinion, though I applaud the author's cr...