Zombies Vs. Unicorns
For now, I am going to stick with the title What’s The SHORT Story Morning Glory as I like it even though it is kind of long.
This weekend’s short story, as per the last few weeks, comes from the anthology Zombies Vs. Unicorns. A Thousand Flowers by Margo Lanagan seems to be universally unloved because of the ‘inter-species erotica’. Of course, I had to put my disdain aside and gear up for the donkey show. (I have seen Clerks II one too many times).
So the story begins with this guy named Manny wandering drunkenly through the woods looking for a place to pee. In his state he is adamant about not pissing on any of the flowers, he doesn’t quite know why. Anyways, he is led by a unicorn to this half naked lady in the forest. With good intentions, he stuffs her boobs back into her dress. Unfortunately, some guards come across him and, well, given the circumstantial evidence, they arrest him for defiling the lady. The story proceeds from there, with two other narrators taking up the helm.
Well, I can see why people would avoid this story. Reading about Unicorn-Human relations is not all that fun. Even a team unicorn girl finds that hard to take. However, you don’t actually see/read graphic details of the sex, this is a YA short story anthology. I mean, I think it is gross that anyone would want to bone a unicorn, but who am I to judge.
Anyways, on the plus side, I like Lanagan’s writing style. I find her words are quite eloquent and lend an old-world feel to the story.
So, my thoughts? If you truly can’t look past the parts that allude to inter-species lovemaking, skip this story. If you’ve seen Clerks II and laughed the whole way through, read this story, it’s not so bad as all that.
Disclosure: Book Received From Publisher.
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Just read it in Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror 2011 and enjoyed it, with reservations. Three narrators is a little much for such a short work, and the anachronistic names kind of took me out of the setting. A peasant named Manny I can maybe see, but a knight named Barry? I actually chuckled when I read that. I even bothered to look it up, and while the name “Barry” is technically an old-english name it has been used exclusively as a surname up until the 1900s.