I dealt myself spades for this week’s Deal Me In Short Story Reading Challenge. Spades means Daily Science Fiction. I clicked on Random Story Transporter and found this one:
A Measure of You
by C. Richard Patton
A lot of people gnash their teeth over stories written in present tense and/or second person (You go here. You do this.), but this story does it well.
Actually, now that I think about it, this story is actually first person narrated. Although the bulk of it says what “you” do, the narrator intrudes as another character observing and evaluating “you”.
I’m not sure if “A Measure of You” counts as fantasy, science fiction, magic realism, or psychotic delusion, but it’s well done and satisfying. Recommended.
A WRITING PROMPT FROM ME TO YOU: Try writing something in second person, present tense. Go on, try it. It won’t hurtcha.
MA