A lot has changed since 2009 when I first read and accepted The Pacifier by Beth Cato for Niteblade. Though I consider her a good friend now I barely knew her then. She was a member of NaNoLJers like I was but that was about as far as our connection went. So that’s changed. What hasn’t changed is how much I love this story. Everyone I talk to loves this story. It’s a post-apocalyptic tale that will leave you holding your breath.
When Beth eventually wrote two sequels to it (The Empty Crib at the End of the World and The Teething Ring), I was honored to accept them for Niteblade as well, and later to nominate the trilogy for a Pushcart Prize. Though I love all three stories, it is The Pacifier that has a special place in my heart and the bookshelf in my brain. I mentally take it out, dust it off and relive it regularly.
Off topic a little bit? If you pop over to read The Pacifier (and you should) it’s also very much worth checking out Following Rabbits by Gregg Winkler which appeared in the same issue. I wanted to include Following Rabbits in my month of Niteblade blogs, but I couldn’t fit it into the alphabet on its own.
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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
C: Cato, Beth – The Pacifier
I am so glad I found your blog through A to Z. I am looking forward to reading “The Pacifier” as you suggest and discovering more about your magazine. Thanks for joining in the challenge so more of us can meet you and your work. God bless, Maria at Delight Directed Living
Thank you Maria 🙂 I hope you enjoy The Pacifier as much as I do 🙂
Wow! You are embracing a tricky subject for your anthology. Those who have lived with cancer, or have experienced life alongside someone suffering would be writing raw. Anyone else would be struggling to do justice to the subject. Good luck with your hunt for submissions, I bet they will come.
Thanks for posting about Beth, it must be nice to be able to give friends a shout-out.
The subject matter is definitely one that is close to my heart. I’m hoping some submitters will chose to take a more metaphorical approach to the subject but we’ll see — it’s something close to many people and a lot of them want to tell their story.
I’ll have to check out your magazine. Sounds intriguing
Well, I’m a bit biased but I’d say it’s definitely worth a look 😉