All the King's Monsters

Short Story by Megan Arkenberg

A fantasy world is ruled by a cruel king who makes giant, metal monsters that personify and maybe feed off of bad feelings (Grief, Fear, Hunger, Vengeance, etc.) Our narrator's husband was killed for leading an unsuccessful rebellion, and now she sits in prison, nursing her own monster-emotions.

This was more sad than anything else. It is a rebellion/revolution story, but it just seems all wrapped up in tragedy, although the ending is hopeful. Really, the action is secondary to the monster/emotion metaphor, which is perhaps taken to one more extreme than I'd have liked, but it is a good metaphor, and a moving story. 3.5 out of 5.

Kate Baker is always a great reader, but her voice and emotional inflections really added a lot to this in podcast form. Since she reads all the Clarkesworld stories, I wasn't going to comment on narration here, but she added so much to this story, I couldn't help myself.