In September 2011 Niteblade published a story by Brenda Stokes Barron which was entitled Maribelle Remembers Ice.

We publish a lot of stories and sometimes when I go back and look through the archives I need to re-read a paragraph or two of a story in order to remember it. That is not the case with this one. This story stuck in my brain and occasionally it comes, spontaneously, to the forefront of my thoughts and lingers there for a time, even now, months after I first published it.

This isn’t a story for everyone, and it could be triggering for some. For others it may leave them scratching their heads. I know this because of the reactions I’ve heard from different readers. For me it is beautiful and disturbing (a fantastic combination). The imagery is wonderful and, as I recall one slush reader commenting, ‘like something from a fairy tale’.

~*~

This post has been written as a part of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. My theme this year is ‘Niteblade‘, that being the magazine I publish. I chose this theme to help draw attention to the magazine during this, it’s 2nd annual fundraiser.

My first post in this series was about choosing stories and poems to nominate for awards and, on a related note, I’ve gone through a similar process in deciding what to write about for these posts. Not only did I have to choose stories and poems I loved, but they also had to fit with the A-Z theme. Tricky!

Blogging from A to Z 2013:

A: Award Nominations
B: Brenda Stokes Barron