Hodgson •Thing That Should Not Be member is offline
Joined: Feb 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 2,882 Location: Louisville, Kentucky
"Freya" by Anita Dalton « Thread Started on Sept 24, 2008, 6:57am »
Hello, and welcome to the public discussion forum of Fantastic Horror. The topic of this thread is "Freya" by Anita Dalton, featured in Issue #8.
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If you haven't read the story yet, STOP RIGHT HERE and go read it!! This discussion may contain spoilers. At the end of the text, you'll find a link back to this thread.
XXIV. "Njördr in Nóatún begot afterward two children: the son was called Freyr, and the daughter Freyja; they were fair of face and mighty. Freyr is the most renowned of the Æsir; he rules over the rain and the shining of the sun, and therewithal the fruit of the earth; and it is good to call on him for fruitful seasons and peace. He governs also the prosperity of men. But Freyja is the most renowned of the goddesses; she has in heaven the dwelling called Fólkvangr,[1] and wheresoever she rides to the strife, she has one-half of the kill, and Odin half, as is here said:
Fólkvangr 't is called, | where Freyja rules Degrees of seats in the hall; Half the kill | she keepeth each day, And half Odin hath.
Her hall Sessrúmnir[2] is great and fair. When she goes forth, she drives her cats and sits in a chariot; she is most conformable to man's prayers, and from her name comes the name of honor, Frú, by which noblewomen are called. Songs of love are well-pleasing to her; it is good to call on her for furtherance in love."
[1. Folk-plain, Host-plain.
2. Seat-roomy.]
another piece from anita is already slotted for december.
Re: "Freya" by Anita Dalton « Reply #2 on Oct 6, 2008, 1:28pm »
...a tale that blends both angst and yet a touch of hope. And then you took it a step further, leaving us to realize that not all hope necessarily ends as we selfishly believe in our hearts that it should, but knowing in the end that things were the better for the way it turned out.
Proof of the power of your writing lies in my heart, and I find yet again that I feel deepest when a story covers the spectrum from sadness to hope, if not joy.
Re: "Freya" by Anita Dalton « Reply #3 on Oct 6, 2008, 2:14pm »
Very nice work. Your narrator's level-headed tone keeps the story quiet and convincing, and the mythological content is handled very subtly (I'll bet you sent a lot of people off to Google =) . And I'm always a pushover for a magical-cat-revenge story, so I was glad to see the orange kitten get its due.
Joined: Jan 2008 Gender: Female Posts: 74 Location: Central Texas
Re: "Freya" by Anita Dalton « Reply #4 on Oct 14, 2008, 11:50pm »
SuctionMule and Angelynxprime, I am flattered and humbled by your assessments of "Freya." Thanks so much for taking the time to tell me what you think!
Joined: Oct 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 6 Location: Toronto, Canada
Re: "Freya" by Anita Dalton « Reply #5 on Oct 15, 2008, 6:19pm »
I really like this story. I must now read more of your stuff.
I got the Freya and cats link quick like, but completely missed the sleigh/chariot element. I thought your tone for narration was extremely well crafted. The flow blended well from element to element. The circular references in the timeline (which works extremely well when seen against the "timeline" of a child recollecting events and felt rather Nordic) threw me for a bit, but upon thinking about it after reading the whole story, was really well integrated.
PS: loved the "destroy the bathroom" scene. Made perfect sense in context.
Re: "Freya" by Anita Dalton « Reply #6 on Oct 24, 2008, 1:33pm »
I am consistently impressed by the quality of FH in every respect, and this story was no exception. What an original idea! The creepy Oedipal and brother-sister attraction, the scheming cats (who knew a Norse god had cats?), the Lazarus kitten and the bathroom-wrecking scene -- I laughed, but in a car-crash sort of way. Great stuff. Thanks for publishing it.
Joined: Feb 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 3,470 Location: Southern California
Re: "Freya" by Anita Dalton « Reply #7 on Oct 24, 2008, 2:10pm »
great to hear from you EG, as most readers of sites like ours (myself included) rarely bother to comment even on things they really enjoy. anita's story here seems to be breaking the curve!
Joined: Oct 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 131 Location: East Bay, CA
Re: "Freya" by Anita Dalton « Reply #8 on Oct 29, 2008, 11:04am »
This. Story. Was. Amazing.
I, like zombiezak, was somewhat thrown by the references to events that had not yet been explained but it really helped keep the anticipation epically high. Also, I was very happy when the orange kitten came back--even though I knew it was going to happen. And then the cats practicing their pre-Halloween antics... greatest stuff ever.
I have to be honest, though, for a good 2/3rds of the story I thought the narrator was a girl. It wasn't until about a couple paragraphs before the father said "Peter" that I realized he was a dude XD