26 July 2009

"Rites of Passage" Suggested Short Story Reading

Free Speculative Fiction short stories online.

Read it here: "Rites of Passage"
By Ripley Patton
In A Fly in Amber
Genre: Spec Fic Flash

This time, Ripley Patton cleverly gives us a description of a number of rites of passage within a very small story. There are many rites of passage involved in growing up. One is the onset of menses, which happens to girls. Beyond that sign of fertility and womanhood, they don't have to prove that they are growing up.

However, many cultures have rites involving physical prowess, especially for boys, and although they are expected to prove themselves, they are not always taught how. No one gives them any tips, no one tells them how they might reasonably be expected to succeed.

Also involved in growing up is a movement from innocence to choices that may be dark. In this story, a young woman makes such a choice, and then, finding another rite of passage to embark on, insists that it had better be worth it.

Is it? Was it?

Check it out at the link above.


Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

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