Bibliography

Fiction

Black Feather in the Interfictions anthology

On the ninth night, she dreamed again. The cabin again. The young men were asleep. She went outside, into the forest, but there was nothing to see. In the garden behind the cabin, twelve lilies grew. She picked one for each brother.
The sound of wings. She looked up. They were ravens again, flying away.
The dream ended.

“Black Feather”, by K. Tempest Bradford (and have you ever heard such a beautiful author’s name?) is a fascinating story about ravens, fairy tales, dreams, and modern/rural America. Normally I roll my eyes at extended dream sequences in stories, but the clever narrative of this particular tale dips you in and out of “dream” and “real life” like an elegant dance. It incorporates elements of various fairy tales and particularly hints at and around various versions of “The Seven Swans”, but is grounded very much in a realistic world, with a troubled, compelling central character.
from AS if!

…perfectly interstitial… was it nonfiction? was it a re-imagined fairytale? was it a dream story? was it magical realism?

However, the story is a river: it fetches you in with intriguing shallows, soft eddies of water, refracting light as it swirls over half-obscured and winking stones. And then, once you’ve waded out so far, a strong current seizes you and pulls you under into terror and wonder and understanding.
from Phoenix Girl Walking

The story …is in many ways a spirit journey, Brenna both trying to realize her dream of flying (and thus forgetting her fear of heights and falling), and also to bring back the brother(s) she’s lost. … This could be fantasy, it could be magical realism, or it could just be literary fiction. Frankly, it’s all of the three, and yet none too. Interpretation doesn’t matter in a story like this, what matters is the resolution of the ending, the realization of the personal dream, and the ability to overcome fears.
Shara Saunsaucie

I tended to enjoy most the stories that leaned closer to the fantastical. […] “Black Feather” [plays] excellently with fairytale bits and pieces and the idea of past lives.
from Alankria - Review: Interfictions & Text:UR

I also wish that every collection, like this one, included a paragraph or two at the end by the author providing insight into the story itself. “Black Feather” by K. Tempest Bradford was rather affecting on its own but when Bradford added that she feels she is an interstitial person (not fitting in any one gender or world) it really gave me pause.
from Chasing Ray

The Seventh Reflection in the Thou Shalt Not… anthology

Clia returned to her desk. She knew what the other kids were saying behind her back. They were probably calling her a suck-up or a lesbian. She didn’t care. Soon it wouldn’t matter.

While each of the ten sections has multiple entries, they all have their stand-out stories. … The final section, “Thou Shalt Not Covet,” contains “The Seventh Reflection” by K. Tempest Bradford, a story that could very well have been taken from the pages of an episode of The Twilight Zone.
from DreadCentral.com

Hard Rain in Farthing Magazine issue 2, March 2006

If you are anything like me (and I bet that you are) you have certain expectations in life. Like an expectation that if something is falling out of the sky it will be rain, or maybe snow, a leaf, or possibly an apple.

Change of Life in Farthing Magazine issue 3, May 2006

I hate doing chores. Not only did I have to do all the regular stuff, but I had to clean up after two messy dogs, a cat, and a bunny. I asked mom why David and Junior and Kat and Chuckie couldn’t wash the dishes and dust and vacuum and iron, and her face went all blank and she didn’t talk for three straight hours. So I stopped asking stuff like that.

Everyone knows it; mothers and their children, however much they might resist, eventually separate to go their own way. Animals, at least from what I’ve seen on the Discovery Channel, stay with their young until they’re ready to venture out into the world, and then off they go. It’s more complex with humans, a situation explored—successfully if a bit out there—in “Change of Life” by K. Tempest Bradford. Tangent Online

Stories I particularly enjoyed included … “Change of Life”, by K. Tempest Bradford, about a family crisis caused by the mother’s “change of life” and her way to get what whe wants; Richard Horton’s Summary: Farthing, 2006

Elf Aware (as Finley Larkin) in Cafe Irreal, Issue 8

“I am an elf,” you say to yourself. “I am an elf, I am an elf, I am an elf…” You keep saying it, first in your mind, then aloud. Over and over. A mantra. “I am an elf.”

Why I Don’t Drink Anymore (as Finley Larkin) in Abyss & Apex, March 2003

I’m sitting at my favorite café drinking absinthe when this guy comes up to me.
You’re a writer, aren’t you? he says.
Yeah, I says. How did you know?
You have that Hemingway thing going on, he says. Sitting around in a café all day. Drinking absinthe. Scribbling in your little notebook.

What We Make of It (as K T Bradford) in Peridot Books, 2000

Non-Fiction

I’m the non-fiction editor for Fantasy magazine. You can find a list of my interviews, articles and essays at DarkFantasy.org.

Wedding Dash (review) in Cerise Magazine

The weird Quinn/Flo/men throughline feels almost like a parody of feminism. Yes, entrepreneurial women are wonderful. It’s great to see a woman starting out small and building her business through, again, hard work and honing skills. And yes, sometimes women who do such things don’t have as busy a dating life as other women. Still, the underlying condemnation of Quinn as man crazy and having to get over her need to have a full and fulfilling life in order to succeed in business is more than a little insulting and completely wrong. And the fact that’s she’s “rewarded” in the end for getting over her desire to date or be a bride just makes it worse.

Legends of the Fall: Television’s newest SF shows (review) in Strange Horizons

Beyond the shows in particular, there is another, overarching problem with the new season: a severe lack of diversity. Once again we’re given white males and white males and, for variety, white males. Only two shows (Pushing Daisies and Bionic Woman) can claim any recurring characters of color and those same two shows are the only ones with female leads. I wish I could say that the lack of diversity is the reason why most of these shows fail. It actually has more to do with the lackluster premises and the uninspired writing.

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