Once & Future

Charlotte Ashley – Book seller, collector, writer, editor, historian

June 5, 2018

She Falls

This piece, you know, was originally called “She Lives.” She, the heroine, is not fallen in any of the senses we’re used to, though she enjoys falling in the literal sense. She just is, and she enjoys it. She lives. She has forgotten a lot, but She has learned, instead, that falling is nothing but a high-speed relocation from one state to another, an exhilarating and unpredictable process of adrenaline-pumping change. Falling is fun. So, She Falls.

I’ve been calling “She Falls” my “cathartic break up story.” I wrote it about six months into a breakup that would take, ultimately, two years to formalize. I wasn’t heartbroken or lonely, but I was deeply irritated that this thing I had spent so much time building, this thing which was supposed to be my life, the basis on which I build the rest of my life, turned out to be fatally flawed. I’d been just merrily trotting along, living, enjoying myself, failing to notice that this lode-bearing part of the structure was broken. When it cracked and the whole structure was compromised, I really had no one to blame but myself. And there was nothing to do but tear it down and rebuild.

“She Falls” is about that obliviousness, change, tearing it down, and rebuilding. It’s personal, but I hope you’ll get to read it. On top of the rest, it’s funny, too.

“She Falls” has been promised to Upper Rubber Boot‘s next Women Up to No Good anthology, Broad Knowledge. You can read an excerpt of it at the Kickstarter today. It starts out with a bang. I hope you’ll have a look, and kick us some support! Both books should be AMAZING. Just look at those TOCs. Honestly.

If you want an even bigger taste, check out the video below! I read the first 5 minutes or so of “She Falls” at the Tartan Turban Secret Reading Series back in February, and it was a hit! You can see me starting at about 42:38.

As always, if you want to support me and my work, feel free to buy me a coffee (read: beer) at Ko-fi! Cheers!

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