I love all the ambiguities in this. What about the buata? Was it really there in the market? Is the brother living? How did they make it with a broken astrolabe? These aren’t loose ends. They feel like the sinews of the story itself.
Thank you so much, Paola! Believe it or not, this one was extremely difficult to write, probably because it was in such a different region of my world than the rest.
To me, it was a good rumination on the nature of the difficulties in life - goals that are difficult to reach, superstitions and/or outside forces conspiring against us, and the emotional roller coaster of going through it all!
And I liked how the open-ended ending counterbalanced those difficulties and hopelessness with a bit of hope and optimism, without wrapping everything up too neatly!
(Side note: I found out that word astrolabe comes from the ancient Greek for "star-taker", which is pretty cool!)
Thank you! I’m very glad the ambiguity worked out — I know that sometimes the open-ended questions can feel unsatisfying, but I really wanted it to serve the story in this case given it’s about life’s vicissitudes. And very cool fact about astrolabes!
I love all the ambiguities in this. What about the buata? Was it really there in the market? Is the brother living? How did they make it with a broken astrolabe? These aren’t loose ends. They feel like the sinews of the story itself.
Thanks, Eric! I’m glad that worked, because those were definitely intentional ambiguities. It’s a story about those vicissitudes.
This was beautiful! This world you created, where some of your stories are set, is chaotic and vivid!
Thank you so much, Paola! Believe it or not, this one was extremely difficult to write, probably because it was in such a different region of my world than the rest.
You do a good job though, one could almost feel the sand and the heat! Like the one where they had to dig the tunnels!
Oooh, I enjoyed this story a lot!
To me, it was a good rumination on the nature of the difficulties in life - goals that are difficult to reach, superstitions and/or outside forces conspiring against us, and the emotional roller coaster of going through it all!
And I liked how the open-ended ending counterbalanced those difficulties and hopelessness with a bit of hope and optimism, without wrapping everything up too neatly!
(Side note: I found out that word astrolabe comes from the ancient Greek for "star-taker", which is pretty cool!)
Thank you! I’m very glad the ambiguity worked out — I know that sometimes the open-ended questions can feel unsatisfying, but I really wanted it to serve the story in this case given it’s about life’s vicissitudes. And very cool fact about astrolabes!
Marking this so I can read after breakfast. 😄