The rest of the church noticed the dog during the Sign of Peace
September 26, 2020 2:17 PM   Subscribe

Three scifi/fantasy stories about surprising connections with animals. "Fetch" by David Moles is a melancholy alt-history about trying to rescue Laika. "St. Ailbe's Hall" by Naomi Kritzer (part 2) portrays a priest overcoming prejudice while figuring out how to deal with a new sentient dog in his congregation. And "The Night Sun" by Zin E. Rocklyn (published this year) is a dark but ultimately triumphant story of a couple's weekend trip to a cabin gone horribly sideways. (Content note for danger or harm to animals in all three stories.)
posted by brainwane (6 comments total) 22 users marked this as a favorite
 
No disrespect but this...

Content note for danger or harm to animals in all three stories.

kinda turns me off to this. Dealing with an older dog. There are issues. Sorry.
posted by Splunge at 3:57 PM on September 26, 2020


Laika's story always makes me too sad, so I skipped that one, but the Naomi Kritzer two-parter is lovely. The Rocklyn story is gruesome, but not really to animals.
posted by emjaybee at 4:20 PM on September 26, 2020 [2 favorites]


I'm especially looking forward to reading the Naomi Kritzer piece; I've seen her work recommended here on MetaFilter several times. Also the description reminds me a bit of "Samaritan," by Connie Willis, in which a priest is trying to decide whether to grant the request of an orangutan (who communicates with sign language) to be baptized.

Another intriguing collection - thank you, brainwane!
posted by kristi at 5:57 PM on September 26, 2020


St. Ailbe's Hall was beautiful, thank you for posting!
posted by lepus at 10:12 PM on September 26, 2020 [2 favorites]


Agreed about Kritzer’s story.

One I’ll be thinking about for a long time.
posted by darkstar at 10:22 PM on September 26, 2020


Splunge, yes, that is the purpose of including a content warning: so that you can choose not to read it if it includes topics/themes you can’t handle right now. No need to apologize or explain.
posted by snowmentality at 12:52 PM on September 27, 2020 [2 favorites]


« Older wltm fat bears   |   We only need each other Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments