Mattathias Reads the Lit Blitz! Episode 8: “Portal Friends” by Annaliese Lemmon

Mattathias Reads The World

Annaliese Lemmon joins me virtually at MRtW Studios to share and discuss her Lit Blitz short story "Portal Friends", (https://lit.mormonartist.net/2020/06/portal-friends-by-annaliese-lemmon/) which explores (and in certain ways, I would argue, improves upon) C. S. Lewis' Narnia through the eyes of an 11-year old LDS girl adjusting to being part of the Young Women's class. We talk about the complex shift from childhood to adolescence, the advantages of Mormon-Muslim friendship, and the nature of some of the portals we can walk through to find our true selves.

We also talk about her history with the Lit Blitz, beginning with an unpublished submission in 2013 and then as a recurring finalist from 2014 through 2017 and, of course, in 2020; her non-LDS fantasy fiction, including several pieces available online; and her own reading preferences, including the works of Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Shannon Hale, among others. We end with her praise for Merrijane Rice and Jared Forsyth's Lit Blitz pieces, and a teaser for Annaliese's forthcoming Lit-Blitz-adjacent story, tentatively titled "The Gift to be Healed".

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Links:

http://annaliese-lemmon.byethost8.com/ (Annaliese notes that she's currently in the middle of changing servers. Until annalieselemmon.com points to the new server, there will be some broken links on the site.)

Twitter: @AnnalieseLemmon

Past Lit Blitz Finalist pieces:

2014: https://lit.mormonartist.net/2014/06/curelom-riders/

2015: https://lit.mormonartist.net/2015/05/disability-death-or-other-circumstance-by-annaliese-lemmon/

2016: https://lit.mormonartist.net/2016/05/the-gift-of-tongues-by-annaliese-lemmon/

2017: https://lit.mormonartist.net/2017/06/daughters-of-ishmael-by-annaliese-lemmon/

Other stories by Annaliese:

"Tattered Flower" published at The Arcanist: https://thearcanist.io/tattered-flower/

"The Legacy Left Behind" published at Flash Fiction Press: http://www.theflashfictionpress.org/2016/12/04/the-legacy-left-behind/

Other pieces we mentioned:

"September the First Day of School" by Howard Nemerov https://allpoetry.com/September,-The-First-Day-Of-School

"This is Not My Adventure" by Karlo Yeager Rodriguez: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/this-is-not-my-adventure/

"So Much Cooking" by Naomi Kritzer: http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kritzer_11_15/