The Troll-wife and the Player: a Medieval Fairy Tale, Reprised
Issue four: short fiction by J.M. Spronk
J.M. Spronk (they, them) is a retired air traffic controller who finds writing to be just as stressful but less life-threatening. They graduated Simon Fraser University’s The Writer’s Studio in 2015 (Southbank 2014). Their speculative stories and poems have been published in Pulp Literature and Polar Starlight, (awaiting publication at Zooscape, Fabulist Flash and Spekulative Anthologies).
Dear J.M Spronk, I loved your story The Troll-wife and the Player. For one thing, the layout of the story gave me so many options in how to read the story, I could read one column at a time or horizonntally, capturing the two tales simultaneously. Your short fiction did justice to notions that lives and loves thru time remain essentially the same while the trappings of clothing or music or religion or interests might change. Your work is interesting, insightful and inspiring. Thank you for writing this beautiful and conceptually clear fairy tale.
I’ve never read anything like this before! I love how the two parallel tales reflected off each other across time and tone. And I still hear your voice while each side feels distinct. Wow!