It’s called “The Mind’s Eye” and Other Stories, and it clocks in at 107 pages, including the title page and table of contents. It’s a collection of five short stories written by yours truly, with a preface discussing matters of science fiction and narration.
In the fifteen-page preface, I write about why I write science fiction, I discuss two novels I would someday like my work to be compared to (The Left Hand of Darkness and The Sparrow), and I offer a description of the origins of each of the following stories.
“The Mind’s Eye,” the title story, was written last December and January in a rush after my first semester of graduate school was over and I had a brief six weeks to write for fun. It’s about a photojournalist who fails to follow social mores and finds herself in prison.
“Waking” is the most recently written story, or I should say rewritten, since it’s the agglomeration of more than two previous stories and multiple scraps of ideas. Set in the same general location as “The Mind’s Eye,” this one is about a woman who finds a project to give her life meaning.
“The Conquest of the World” is my quintessential fiction-workshop story, in which a college girl beats a bunch of guys at Risk. Of course, she learns something about herself, too.
“Persephone” is my oldest story, written for my graduate school application and revised several times since then. A woman who is snowed in deals with empty nest. A lot of this story is supposed to allude to the myth of Persephone.
And lastly, “Extradition” is about censorship and the way that even brief relationships can change a person. It’s also a tragedy, because I like those.
I’ve decided not to write an acknowledgements page, since “The diction and contents of any acknowledgements must be restrained and appropriate to scholarly work. Dedications are not permitted.” Which is completely boring, and I would rather write no acknowledgements than dull ones.
I’m about 90% done. I’m meeting with my advisor tomorrow. I’ll be defending said thesis on March 22. All is going according to plan, and I will graduate without a hitch in May.
*crosses fingers*
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