"The Legend of Boitown"

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"The Legend of Boitown" (under one of the many titles it's had over the years, but I can't recall which) was originally presented to Donlu Thayer as part of the portfolio for a class I was taken from her. Her note at the end was something like, "Wow! Why didn't we read this in class?" Which I interpreted to mean it was pretty good.

And it is pretty good, actually. Not bad at all.

The problem is the way it ends. Which is the whole point of the story but, as it ends up, is a bit of a cliche in literary fiction. Something I did not know in 1998.

In 2002 (this is about thirty months later) I attended Endercon. Thereat, I listened to Michael Collings, then still at Pepperdine, talk about Ender's Game as epic poetry. One of his evidences was that the book's major sections are punctuated with a particular meter.

Immediately, in my head, I reran the final line of "The Legend of Boitown" which obeys the same laws. Which I suppose is why I could remember it.

Anyway, after being rejected by, in reverse order, Cutbank, Ploughshares, The New Yorker, Renovation Journal, Zoetrope, Georgia Review, and Zyzzyva, it's finally been picked up by the lit rag Children, Churches & Daddies. It will show up there soon, but it's now available on their online sister, Scars.tv. You can read that (awkwardly formatted) version now.

It's a great relief, having that story out of the queue.

Let me know what you think.