“If Dragon’s Mass Eve be Cold and Clear” is a short story set in the future, or on another world. I came across it a few weeks ago when a Facebook friend shared it on her wall, and it has stuck with me. I haven’t read anything else by the author, so this may or may not be part of a larger world. I hope to find out in the coming year.
There’s no exposition, so I was forced to piece the world together. It’s both familiar and unfamiliar. There is a war somewhere in the distance that seems to have been going on for a long time. The story begins on a Dragon’s Mass Eve with Melody burying her father. Her grief is a universal entry point for the reader. Once in, I was able to form a hazy outline of her world, but got a richly detailed slice of Melody’s soul.
When I was younger, I thought the big, important events of the world were the central experiences of the people living through them. As I’ve experienced more world shaking events, I’ve realized that we are generally very focused on the mundane details of our lives. The deaths of my cousin and my mother to cancer have had a far greater impact on my life than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, though I know which will make the history books and which won’t. And so it is with Melody. It seems obvious that there are momentous events happening in the world. Perhaps the civilization in which she lives is about to breath it’s last breath, or maybe it is about to be saved and revitalized. I don’t know. The grief over her father’s death, the question of what to do with her future, and the choices she makes are the earth-shaking events of this lovely story.
Melody is a strong character. She does not wait for the Santaman to come save her on Dragon’s Mass Eve. She saves herself. Perhaps.
Though he dies before the story opens, Melody’s father is a central character. He often tells her that it is not always required to be right, or to believe. Only love and hope are required.
Myth became life. No one really believed in the Santaman until he came with his tattered red robe and his dripping red sword. No one really believed in his undying love until he burst into our direst need to carve us a new home from the bones of the world.
I don’t know if this world exists in other stories or books by Scholes, but I hope so. Regardless, I will investigate his writings further.
Edit – the illustration of the Santaman is by Gregory Manchess and the author let me know that The Doom of Love in Small Spaces is the story of how Melody’s parent’s met.
Added to my wishlist!