complications

Plugging along, fitting together stories, contemplating the episodic nature of fix after fix, noting that tales with even mild scoundrels are out (villain triumphant loses punch if  there's more than a smack of villain about the hero(ine)) -- when it hits me.

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Pearls on a Branch

Pearls on a Branch: Arab Stories Told by Women by Najla Jraissaty Khoury

A fairy tale collection, collected very recently.

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seasons turn

Up, up into the hills, and the slopes are now all brown and bare, punctuated by green of evergreens, but not so much as a hint of maple red blossom.

A raven descends over the road in swathes, flying back and forth until finally it perches on the railing, enormous, and so glossy black that it looked mostly white in the sunlight.

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