In honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, I review Stephen Graham Jones’ new short story “Parthenogenesis.” This story was published in Reactor Magazine earlier this month.
There are certain things I appreciated about this story. The casual friendship between Matty and Jac is nice to see, as a woman who has close male friends. I like the way the characters tease each other. It comes across as genuine.
The story itself is a little campy for me. To be clear, it does play into the campiness. Jac and Matty spin a silly, spooky tale together like any friends might around a campfire. Somewhat predictably, the story becomes real through their telling of it.
What really works in this story is having a nested narrative framework. The narrator seems to offer little asides, which I initially felt added a bizarre tone before I recognized the technique. It’s clever, and the title and this technique do bring something to life, as does the story, as does the story within the story.
About the Author of “Parthenogenesis:”
“Stephen Graham Jones is the NYT bestselling author of some thirty novels and collections, and there’s some novellas and comic books in there as well. Most recent are The Angel of Indian Lake, I Was a Teenage Slasher, and the ongoing Earthdivers. Up before too long are True Believers and The Buffalo Hunter Hunter. Stephen lives and teaches in Boulder, Colorado.”
Jones is a member of the Blackfeet Tribe and multi-award winning author with four Stokers under his belt (among many others). Please visit his website and pick up a book or two.
Cthulhuville 