Moonflower, Nightshade, All the Hours of the Day
| Author | JD Scott |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Marina Micheva |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Short Stories, Magical Realism, Literary Fiction, Fairy Tale |
| Publisher | Lake Forest College Press, &NOW Books |
Publication date | April 15, 2020 |
| Pages | |
| Awards | Madeleine P. Plonsker Emerging Writers Residency Prize |
| ISBN | 9781941423059 Search this book on  . |
| Website | https://jdscott.com/moonflower-nightshade-all-the-hours-of-the-day/ |
Moonflower, Nightshade, All the Hours of the Day is a collection of short stories by the author JD Scott. It contains ten short stories, nine of which were previously published. There is a novella in the collection, which is the only previously unpublished work.[1] The stories contain elements of literary fiction, fantasy, and magical realism.
This book was the winner of the 2018 Madeleine P. Plonsker Emerging Writers Residency Prize.[2]
Stories[edit]
"The Teenager"[edit]
After two teenagers botch an attempt at shoplifting, one of the two (a teenage boy) enters a swamp behind a box store, where he meets a houseless person.[3]
"Chinchilla"[edit]
A couple living in a city take care of an ancient pet chinchilla. The chinchilla eventually dies, creating a catalyst for the relationship to fall apart. Both couples move out of their shared apartment, with the narrator moving to the suburbs.[4]
"The Hand That Sews"[edit]
A mother keeps a magical artifact hidden in her home. The magical item came from a Faustian pact and grants one wish. The mother has never used the object, worrying over what she would use her wish on. At one point, an event occurs, finally pushing her to use the object.[5]
"Cross"[edit]
A contemporary re-telling of the Passion, where a muscleman goes to the Garden of Eden to chop down a tree, which is latter fastened into a crucifix for himself. This story is a type of shaggy dog story, where the story is terminated by a punch line at the end.[6]
"Moonflower, Nightshade, All the Hours of the Day"[edit]
The title story is narrated by an unreliable narrator, who works part-time as a florist, part-time as a perfumer, all while taking care of his chronically sick boyfriend, who appears to be a hypochondriac.[7]
"Where Parallel Lines Come to Touch"[edit]
Riley is a recent high school graduate who lives on the island where she grew up. After her twin brother dies a tragic death, he comes back immediately following his own funeral. Riley deals with her feelings regarding her brother returning from the dead and her desire to gain autonomy in her own life separate from her immediate family.[8]
"Night Things"[edit]
A writer is staying in the Everglades to work on a new thriller. One night he cannot sleep because the sound of an animal cry wakes him up. He seeks out his neighbor, the witch Maritza, to locate the source of the animal noise.[9]
"Their Sons Return Home to Die"[edit]
A magical realist story narrated by a chorus of angels. The angels live upon the clouds until they grow sick and have to return home to their hometowns on the earth to die. Scott wrote the story inspired by the true story of Ruth Coker Burks, who took in and buried gay men dying of AIDS on a cemetery plot she inherited.[10][11]
"After the End Came the Mall, and the Mall Was Everything"[edit]
A novella about Joshua Jinnouchi, a boy growing up in a speculative alternate Earth where the entire planet has become one interconnected shopping mall. Joshua struggles to work his retail job and maintain his relationships while donors and other fairy tale creatures incite him to go on a quest.[12]
"Fordite Pendant"[edit]
After his father dies, a man bicycles from Florida to Michigan to see the Ford factory where his father worked. The man receives a piece of Fordite, which he fastens into a pendant for himself.[13]
Development and Themes[edit]
Scott went through two different titles before settling on Moonflower, Nightshade, All the Hours of the Day, originally wanting to select a collection title that suggested "some tilt of reality, something slightly impossible." [14] When creating this book, Scott struggled with ordering the stories, imagining different archetypes of readers whose tastes might react to different genres in the book.[15] Scott noted that how realistic or surreal a story is depends on the stakes of its content.[15]
Moonflower, Nightshade, All the Hours of the Day is said to deal with themes of "displeasure," "hope," and "transformation"[11] as well as "ritual, grief, and the unknown."[16]
Book Reception[edit]
Tor.com praised the collection for being "...the kind of book that can make the quotidian seem fantastical and can evoke the banality of living in a world that might look wondrous on paper." The reviewer highlighted the dream-like quality of the stories and how they move between different literary genres: "Neatly summarizing it isn’t easy, but experiencing it is rewarding indeed."[16]
Foreword Reviews called it "a dazzling collection of stories—part dystopian, part fabulist, and wholly immersive."[17]
References[edit]
- ↑ "Moonflower, Nightshade, All the Hours of the Day". jdscott.com. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
- ↑ "JD Scott awarded Plonsker Emerging Writer's Residency". www.lakeforest.edu. Archived from the original on 2019-12-29. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
- ↑ Scott, J. (2020). Moonflower, Nightshade, All the Hours of the Day. Lake Forest, IL: Lake Forest College Press.
- ↑ Scott, J. (2020). Moonflower, Nightshade, All the Hours of the Day. Lake Forest, IL: Lake Forest College Press.
- ↑ Scott, J. (2020). Moonflower, Nightshade, All the Hours of the Day. Lake Forest, IL: Lake Forest College Press.
- ↑ Scott, J. (2020). Moonflower, Nightshade, All the Hours of the Day. Lake Forest, IL: Lake Forest College Press.
- ↑ Scott, J. (2020). Moonflower, Nightshade, All the Hours of the Day. Lake Forest, IL: Lake Forest College Press.
- ↑ Scott, J. (2020). Moonflower, Nightshade, All the Hours of the Day. Lake Forest, IL: Lake Forest College Press.
- ↑ Scott, J. (2020). Moonflower, Nightshade, All the Hours of the Day. Lake Forest, IL: Lake Forest College Press.
- ↑ "Their Sons Return Home to Die". Retrieved 2020-09-17.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 "All the Best Weird Fiction Comes from Florida". Retrieved 2020-09-17.
- ↑ Scott, J. (2020). Moonflower, Nightshade, All the Hours of the Day. Lake Forest, IL: Lake Forest College Press.
- ↑ Scott, J. (2020). Moonflower, Nightshade, All the Hours of the Day. Lake Forest, IL: Lake Forest College Press.
- ↑ "Queer, Magicked Reality: A Conversation with JD Scott". Retrieved 2020-09-17.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Vaporwave, Malls, and Reimagining Genre: An Interview with JD Scott". Retrieved 2020-09-17.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 "The State of Your Dreams, the Mall of Your Nightmares: JD Scott's Moonflower, Nightshade, All the Hours of the Day". Retrieved 2020-09-17.
- ↑ "Review of Moonflower, Nightshade, All the Hours of the Day". Retrieved 2020-09-17.
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