Lynn Maudlin ~ Fiction: "Fruit and Consequences" and other works

Author's note on Pressure Point, below.

Fruit and Consequences was first published by GateWay S-F Magazine (in its print format, v 1 #3) and subsequently published by The Mythic Circle; it is posted here for your reading pleasure.

The concept came out of a conversation with SF author and friend Tim Powers (speaking of Tim: my blog, another mention and also a fun Wikipedia article on him. He was also the Author Guest of Honor at Mythcon in 2010, too.) in which we were speculating on the origins of the human species and Tim suggested that God may have used evolution, looked down at these furry little mammals and, at a certain point, said, "Now, you have a soul," whereas I am more of an apologist for the first three chapters of Genesis. I was struck, however, by the thought that perhaps Adam & Eve knew they were naked because their fur fell off (!!! - yes, it's funny).

So I set off to write a short story incorporating that notion and was a bit surprised when it became a very meditative process and I found myself connecting rather personally with Eve. My self-imposed limitations required that I not deviate from the first three chapters of Genesis; thus I could expand and make extrapolations, but not change the basic outline provided by the Bible.

I've also included three shorter pieces of fiction written for the Niños' annual Christmas book: Pressure Point, a nativity story written in 2011; ...And The Penny Drops, some observations about worship and the lyrics of a personal worship song which I think of as "Whoa Baby"; and finally Waiting, from 2013, a very short piece written from the perspective of Anna in the second chapter of Luke.

The Niños are the small creative-support prayer group of which I am very blessed to be a part.

Eden was not entirely unlike the images made popular by Bible stories - it was kept lush and green by a mist which wafted gently up from the ground with the evening and morning temperature change. There were many animals and birds, living harmoniously in close proximity with an innate and uncanny, at least to our way of thinking, ability to understand and accommodate each other. There were no carnivores, or rather those animals we've come to know as carnivores were not as yet carnivorous: the lion lay down with the lamb and both ate herbs. ...read the rest.

It was a long, slow build which started with an uneasy sense of vacancy— Mary hardly noticed but, really, how could she? Her internal landscape had been drastically altered since the angelic visitation, followed shortly thereafter by her escape to cousin Elizabeth and Zacharias. She had expected to process in solitude but was instead met by Elizabeth's exalted greeting and the whooshing infilling Presence once again, words spoken by her lips and seared into her brain, but at whose prompting? Slowly she grew, watching Elizabeth grow ahead of her, waddling, belly-supporting, moving with deliberate care - and the atmosphere grew around her as a curious pressure. ...read the rest.

Author's note: I'm very pleased Doug TenNapel gave me permission to use two of his drawings with this piece; I believe they were both originally family Christmas cards. Because of the powerful nature of the second image, a graphic birth-of-Jesus drawing, I've made it an "opt in" image which you can see by clicking on a link at the end of the story. Doug is a graphic novelist, screenwriter, game designer, committed Christian, husband of one and father of four. So I figure he draws with some knowledge of the reality of birth.

Personally, I love this image because it is shocking; it brings home the staggering reality of the Incarnation: God took on human flesh and dwelt among us. We have so many ways of saying it and we've heard them so often that we've forgotten how entirely unthinkable it is: the King of the Universe, the Creator of all, is willing to identify with us so profoundly that He took on the 'meat' of humanity, blood and sweat and pain and tears, finally torn, broken, and dead upon a wooden Roman cross. Of course that's not where His story ends: there's a glorious morning three days later....

I have been waiting.

I have been waiting so long I began to doubt this day would come.

I have wondered if I understood: maybe I didn’t hear what I thought I heard; maybe I’ve been presumptious; perhaps in Sheol the Lord will show me the desire of women.

Still, I waited. I fasted, I prayed. The rabbis ignored me, the priests avoided me, the regulars nodded at me, and it seemed endless, one day smearing into the next, did I sleep or merely drift off a little?
But this day I was unsettled. ...read the rest.