1142 is the first story in Helen Humphreys’ The Frozen Thames. The stories in The Frozen Thames have been described as vignettes and creative non-fiction. In recorded history, the river Thames has frozen solid forty times. The stories in Humphreys’ book are based on those occurrences. After reading the first story and then looking up this information online, it made me wonder if these could be considered short stories. Then I thought, these are stories and they are short, so yes. If anyone disagrees with me, I’ll have to wait and see.
1142 is the year. Queen Matilda of England is under siege. It has been a long seven years. The Thames is frozen. Getting and idea from her maid, Queen Matilda uses the unusually cold winter and frozen river to her advantage. What happens to Matilda after the siege? Well, that isn’t part of the story.
I feel like the story is about the river and how it is used. Matilda might be the main character, but without the frozen river, who knows how the little narrative would have ended. Helen Humphreys has a way with words that I envy. I really enjoyed the story of 1142 and look forward to reading more of this interesting book.
Side Note: Hardy Jones, author of The Americanization of Li Ming which I read for Short Story Monday two week ago stopped by my blog. I’ve never had a writer stop by my blog before! He left links to some of his other works and to his website. Check out my previous post if you’re interested.
It’s interesting to read a short story in which the writer’s notes seem to be a part. I’m not sure who the really main character is in the . Is it Li Ming or is it the writer who is controlling her thoughts and life? Li Ming wants to be American and she is trying to figure out how best to do that without looking like she’s trying. The writer makes side notes about the verb tenses and whether Li Ming is Chinese or Vietnamese. It is as though Jones is making the story transparent, so the reader knows it is made up, but he still manages to make Li Ming seem like a real person you can relate to. It is her struggle for identity that seems real, which manifests in her conversation with her dead mother.The Americanization of Li Ming
This is another author I couldn’t find much on. I think primarily because his first novel hasn’t been published yet. is forthcoming, according to the publication I found the story in, Shelf Life and Amazon.ca. Will I read the novel? I’m not sure. The short story was nice. Even with the interesting style, I don’t know if it’s enough to make me get his book (I like interesting styles). Though the blurb at the bottom says his work has appeared in “over twenty journals” it doesn’t say which journals, which is disappointing. Overall, I did really enjoy the short story and it piqued my interest in his work. I just don’t know if it did it enough. The lack of available content on Hardy Jones as well as readily available work makes me think that he will be forgotten.Every Bitter Thing
Note: The story is currently available at . I don’t know how long it is going to be up.Shelf Life Magazine
Short Story Monday is hosted by John at The Book Mine Set.
1142 is the first story in Helen Humphreys’ The Frozen Thames. The stories in The Frozen Thames have been described as vignettes and creative non-fiction. In recorded history, the river Thames has frozen solid forty times. The stories in Humphreys’ book are based on those occurrences. After reading the first story and then looking up this information online, it made me wonder if these could be considered short stories. Then I thought, these are stories and they are short, so yes. If anyone disagrees with me, I’ll have to wait and see.
