Stories
In "The Price" a middle-aged writer living with his family in rural England adopts a stray black cat. Every night the cat shows signs of desperate combat resulting in serious wounds. When the writer stays up one night to see who is fighting the cat, he sees a demonic, shapeshifting creature approach his home, only to be drive off at great cost by the black cat. The story ends with the writer "selfishly" wondering how long the cat can keep defending his home and family.
"Daughter of Owls" takes place in some 17th century English village, with a framing device set in Victorian or early Edwardian times. An infant foundling girl is discovered with owl feathers in her basket and an owl pellet clutched in one hand. The women of the village believe her to be a witch or other supernatural creature of evil and suggest that she be put to death. However, the elder men of the village give her instead to a former nun living in a ruined convent. The girl grows up as a feral child -- because no human voice ever speaks to her—and when she matures her beauty sparks inspires the men of the village to make a disastrous plan to exploit her.
Read more about this topic: Creatures Of The Night (comics)
Famous quotes containing the word stories:
“Reporters are not paid to operate in retrospect. Because when news begins to solidify into current events and finally harden into history, it is the stories we didn’t write, the questions we didn’t ask that prove far, far more damaging than the ones we did.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“I’m the only woman reporter they have, so I get all the meat boycott stories and all the meatless food stories.... Actually, I’ve only cooked three meals in my life. The most uncomfortable place for me in the whole world is in a kitchen.”
—Theresa Brown (b. 1957)
“I tell it stories now and then
and feed it images like honey.
I will not speculate today
with poems that think they’re money.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)