Laird Barron is one of my favorite writers, and one of best short story writers in the business (I'd say he and Caitlín R. Kiernan tie for first place). So when he says something nice about my writing, I stand up and take notice. Scroll to the end of this post, and you'll see it. FYI, he's one of the few people (only four) who's read my as-yet-unpublished novelette "Horses", which I consider to be my best writing to date. I'm crossing my fingers that it'll be published this year.

And while we're on the subject of ME, several readers on a Livejournal community called lastshortstory have some good things to say about "The Four Hundred Thousand: here and here.

However...

A few positive blog comments aside, professionals in the industry still aren't reading and officially reviewing my work - and it's not just because there are just too many thousands of stories to choose from. It's because I'm not good enough yet. I need to become better. That's all.

I've crossed several things off my January Goals list, but I'll post an update next Monday. What's been most difficult has been trying to balance writing time with reading time - I absolutely must read a specific stack of books before I start "The Girls of the World", and I'll admit I'm beginning to panic a bit. I don't like to do research then rush into a project. I'd rather let it sit in my brain for a while before I start using it. But in the real world, time is a luxury, not a right. So I guess I better STFU and get back to work, right? :)

Labels: reviews

Two positive reviews of Jetsam - I've linked to the full articles, but below is the text that just deals with my story. They're not huge reviews, but that doesn't matter - I'm very happy that I was mentioned at all. FYI, I haven't been actively seeking these out - these both come to me via the editor of Sybil's Garage, Matt Kressel

A review in The Hudson Reporter by Diane Schwabele:
The disturbing yet powerful "Jetsam" by Livia Llewellyn recalls images of the devastated World Trade Center and the billowing smoke. The narrator Jay struggles to remember something crucial that was lost. "Only a week since the attack, and smoke still billowed in toxic sheets over the lower part of the island. Chemicals and flesh - the dead settled in their mouth[s] and lungs," Llewellyn writes.

and

A review in Farrago's Wainscot by Darin Bradley:
Livia Llewellyn's "Jetsam" is phantasmagoric, a great "what if" taking contemporary metaphors of self to their logical conclusions. In this story, which draws its force from alienation in commodified society, ruin has learned to eat, and the middenheaps of its kipple-filled gullet are the new reality.

"Kipple-filled gullet" - I want to use that for a story now. :D

Labels: reviews