The first thing you'll come to when you begin paging through Say...have you heard this one? (after the TOC and traditional informative front matter, of course) is a story called "The Safety of Thorns." Writer Craig Gidney rings some changes on an old story when a young man in the American south considers a deal with, well, with a person who looks like this:
"His fingernails were black and slightly curved. He was crowned with a black silk top hat that boasted a white feather. There was no mistaking him. His skin was as black as tar, a color that glistened, but did not reflect."
Craig lives and works in Washington, DC. Previous stories by him have appeared in Riprap and Spoonfed. He keeps a LiveJournal called Treasure Hiding, helps illuminate the post industrial underground with music reviews at Heathen Harvest, and writes articles like this one about Tanith Lee.
As I did the other contributors to the 'zine, I asked Craig what his piece was about. He replied, "It's a story about love and loyalty. About rebellion and futility. It's an homage to Octavia Butler, Toni Morrison, Angela Carter, and Tanith Lee. It's about the safety of thorns."
Thanks, Craig Gidney!
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