Uncanny Magazine Issue 39
Page 21
The other interesting thing with the Child ballads is the notes about the provenance of different versions. To use “Henry Martyn” again, one variant was from a printed broadside, another from Yorkshire fishermen, corroborated by a very old woman who sung it ninety years ago, another from a “coal-heaver,” another “communicated by Mr. George M. Richardson, as learned by a lady in northern New Hampshire more than fifty years ago from an aged aunt.” That showed the way songs were changing as they moved to various communities, but also that the old versions were often still in living memory at the time he was doing his research. I love that they’re recognizably the same song, with some small differences and some larger ones.
Uncanny Magazine: You are both a musician and a writer, so I’m curious—did you create a melody to go with the lyrics? Have you (or might you in the future) performed/played this song?
Sarah Pinsker: I did! This one had to work as a song as well as a story. I almost always do write at least some lyrics and the melody for the songs in my stories, but I usually deliberately leave the lyrics out of my fiction, and this time they were the core of the story. There are an intimidating number of verses to memorize, but I’m thinking of recording one version for fun. I’ve sent it to a couple of friends for their versions as well.
Uncanny Magazine: Music is a recurring theme in your fiction, appearing prominently in both your short fiction and your longer works. What other things do you find yourself returning to repeatedly?
Sarah Pinsker: Hmm. I love exploring the places where music and fiction collide. I like exploring memory and nostalgia and history. I like looking at limitations of power and also ordinary people finding strength/power, even when it’s limited. Beyond that, this might be something for other people to look at in my work. I’m afraid if I self-analyze I’ll become too conscious of it.
Uncanny Magazine: What are you working on next?
Sarah Pinsker: My second novel, WE ARE SATELLITES, will be out on May 11 from Berkley. It’s a different near-future from A SONG FOR A NEW DAY, looking at a brain implant and how it affects the members of one particular family.
I don’t know if you’ve found this, but it’s been hard to concentrate on writing this year. I’ve particularly struggled to write anything near-future, which is usually my jam. Hence murder ballads and historical stuff. The other big project I have underway is a historical novel. I’m not ready to talk about it yet, but the research has been fascinating.
Uncanny Magazine: Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us!
© 2021 Uncanny Magazine
Caroline M. Yoachim is a two-time Hugo and four-time Nebula Award finalist. Her short stories have been translated into several languages and reprinted in multiple best-of anthologies, including three times in Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy. Yoachim’s short story collection Seven Wonders of a Once and Future World & Other Stories and the print chapbook of her novelette The Archronology of Love are available from Fairwood Press. For more, check out her website at carolineyoachim.com.
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Lynne and Michael are the Publishers/Editors-in-Chief for the four-time Hugo and Parsec Award-winning Uncanny Magazine.
Nine-time Hugo Award winner Lynne M. Thomas was the Editor-in-Chief of Apex Magazine (2011-2013). She co-edited the Hugo Award-winning Chicks Dig Time Lords (with Tara O’Shea) as well as Whedonistas (with Deborah Stanish) and Chicks Dig Comics (with Sigrid Ellis).
Along with being a six-time Hugo Award-winner, Michael Damian Thomas was the former Managing Editor of Apex Magazine (2012-2013), co-edited the Hugo-finalist Queers Dig Time Lords (with Sigrid Ellis), and co-edited Glitter & Mayhem (with John Klima and Lynne M. Thomas).
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