Newford Stories (15 page)

But it only happens if you put the work
in.

The original crow girls story was like that.
It dates back to a time when, every Christmas, I would write a
story as a gift for my wife MaryAnn, but which we then sent out as
a Christmas card in the form of a chapbook. While most stories I
wrote were commissioned for various anthologies, the chapbooks had
no preset length or theme. I just told whatever story I felt like
writing.

So back in 1995 I opened a file and typed,
“People have a funny way of remembering where they’ve been, who
they were. Facts fall by the wayside.” And the rest of the story
just flowed out of me without my having to do much more than get
the words on the screen.

“Crow Girls” was a double gift. Not only did
the story come as a gift, but so did Maida and Zia. I knew them
well before I ever wrote a word because they stepped fully realized
out of the shadows of my mind, and I fell in love with them.
They’re sweet and silly, loyal to a fault, but with an underlying
steel to their demeanor if you cross them or do something they
consider to be morally wrong.

As I mentioned in the new afterword for my
novel
Someplace to Be Flying
, what I couldn’t foresee was
how much my readers would take to them. Over the years, many fans
have shown up at events dressed as crow girls. Sometimes they don’t
even have to dress up or change anything about themselves at all,
and that’s all the more fun.

As the original wild spirits, the crow girls
probably don’t make good role models (for instance, just consider
how they like to help themselves to things that belong to others),
but I’m delighted that so many of my readers, especially young
women, have taken them to heart.

Because the crow girls care for each other.
They don’t take crap from anybody. They live in the moment and pay
attention to
everything
.

Now, that strikes me as behaviour that we
should all embrace.

* * *

For some time now readers have been asking
for story collections centered around their favourite Newford
characters. The crow girls are almost invariably at the top of
their lists, so we decided to start these Newford Stories
collections with them.

A number of the other regular members of the
Newford repertory company show up here, but at the forefront of
each story are these two little wild girls with their big
personalities.

I like to think that, male or female, old or
young, no matter what one’s cultural background, sexual
orientation, or religious leaning, we all have a little bit of crow
girl inside us.

* * *

A very special thanks to
Tara Larsen Chang
for providing us with her charming
take on crow girls, and to Joanne Harris for taking the time from
her busy schedule to provide an introduction. If you’ve never read
her, you’re in for a treat. I recommend you start with
Chocolat
or
Blackberry Wine
, though you can’t go
wrong with any of her books.

You can read more about the crow girls and
other corbae in my novel
Someplace to Be Flying
. Here’s an
excerpt
.

###

Copyrights & Acknowledgements
:

“Crow Girls” first appeared as a Triskell
Press chapbook, 1995.

“Twa Corbies” first appeared in
Twenty 3:
A Miscellany
, edited by Anna Hepworth, Simon Oxwell & Grant
Watson; Infinite Monkeys/Western Australian Science Fiction
Foundation, 1998; based on a comic book script of the same title
which appeared in
The Book of Ballads and Sagas
; Green Man
Press, 1997.

“The Buffalo Man” first appeared as a limited
edition chapbook published by Subterranean Press, 1999. Copyright
(c) 1999 by Charles de Lint.

“A Crow Girls’ Christmas” first appeared
on-line at www.charlesdelint.com, 2001. Copyright (c) 2001 by
Charles de Lint & MaryAnn Harris.

“Make a Joyful Noise” first appeared as a
limited edition chapbook published by Subterranean Press, 2005.
Copyright (c) 2005 by Charles de Lint.

About the Author

Charles de Lint is a full-time writer and
musician who makes his home in Ottawa, Canada. This author of more
than seventy adult, young adult, and children’s books has won the
World Fantasy, Aurora, Sunburst, and White Pine awards, among
others. Modern Library's Top 100 Books of the 20th Century poll,
voted on by readers, put eight of de Lint's books among the top
100. De Lint is also a poet, artist, songwriter, performer and
folklorist, and he writes a monthly book-review column for The
Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. For more information,
visit his web site at
www.charlesdelint.com

You can also connect with him at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Charles-de-Lint/218001537221

https://twitter.com/#!/cdelint

http://cdelint.tumblr.com/

Cover art by Tara Larsen Chang
(www.taralarsenchang.com).

Cover design by MaryAnn Harris.

Newford Stories: Crow Girls

This Triskell Press edition published in
2015.

Introduction copyright (c) 2015 by Joanne
Harris.

eISBN 978-0-920623-56-5

For information:

Triskell Press

P.O. Box 9480

Ottawa ON K1G 3V2

Canada

www.triskellpress.com

All rights reserved. This book or any portion
thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the author or publisher
except for the use of brief quotations in critical articles or
reviews.

This is a work of fiction. Names, places,
businesses, characters and incidents are either the product of the
author's imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any
resemblance to actual persons living or dead, actual events or
locales is purely coincidental.

Discover other titles by Charles de Lint at
Smashwords

Other Books by Charles de Lint

NEWFORD STORIES: CROW GIRLS (collection;
Triskell Press)

RIDING SHOTGUN (novella; Triskell Press,
2015

TIMESKIP (short story; Triskell Press,
2015)

PAPERJACK (novella; Triskell Press, 2015)

WHERE DESERT SPIRITS CROWD THE NIGHT
(novella; Triskell Press, 2015)

OUT OF THIS WORLD (young adult novel, Penguin
Canada, 2014; Triskell Press, 2014)

JODI AND THE WITCH OF BODBURY (young adult
novel; Triskell Press, 2014)

SEVEN WILD SISTERS new edition (middle grade
novel; Little Brown, 2014)

OVER MY HEAD (young adult novel, Penguin
Canada, 2013; Triskell Press, 2013)

THE CATS OF TANGLEWOOD FOREST (middle grade
novel; Little Brown, 2013)

UNDER MY SKIN (young adult novel, Penguin
Canada, 2012; Triskell Press, 2012)

EYES LIKE LEAVES (early work, 1980 novel,
Tachyon Publications, 2012)

THE VERY BEST OF CHARLES DE LINT (collection;
Tachyon Publications, 2010); Triskell Press, 2014)

THE PAINTED BOY (young adult novel, Viking,
2010)

MUSE AND REVERIE (collection, Tor, 2009)

THE MYSTERY OF GRACE (novel, Tor, March
2009)

WOODS & WATERS WILD (collection,
Subterranean Press, 2008)

WHAT THE MOUSE FOUND (children's collection,
Subterranean Press, 2008)

DINGO (young adult novella, Viking, 2008)

PROMISES TO KEEP (novel, Subterranean Press,
2007)

LITTLE (GRRL) LOST (young adult novel,
Viking, 2007)

TRISKELL TALES: 2 (collection, Subterranean
Press, 2006)

WIDDERSHINS (novel, Tor, 2006)

THE HOUR BEFORE DAWN (collection,
Subterranean Press, 2005)

QUICKSILVER & SHADOW (collection,
Subterranean Press, 2005)

THE BLUE GIRL (young adult novel, Viking,
2004)

MEDICINE ROAD (novel, Subterranean Press,
2003)

SPIRITS IN THE WIRES (novel, Tor, 2003)

A HANDFUL OF COPPERS (collection,
Subterranean Press, 2003)

TAPPING THE DREAM TREE ("Newford" collection,
Tor, 2002)

WAIFS AND STRAYS (young adult collection,
Viking, 2002)

SEVEN WILD SISTERS (novel, Subterranean
Press, 2002)

THE ONION GIRL (novel, Tor, 2001)

THE ROAD TO LISDOONVARNA (mystery novel,
Subterranean Press, 2001)

TRISKELL TALES: 22 YEARS OF CHAPBOOKS
(collection, Subterranean Press, 2000)

FORESTS OF THE HEART (novel, Tor, 2000)

THE NEWFORD STORIES (collection, Science
Fiction Book Club, 1999)

MOONLIGHT AND VINES (collection, Tor,
1999)

SOMEPLACE TO BE FLYING (novel, Tor, 1998)

TRADER (novel, Tor, 1996)

JACK OF KINROWAN (omnibus, Orb, 1995)

THE IVORY AND THE HORN (collection, Tor,
1995)

MEMORY AND DREAM (novel, Tor, 1994)

THE WILD WOOD (novel, Bantam, 1994)

INTO THE GREEN (novel, Tor, 1993)

DREAMS UNDERFOOT (collection, Tor, 1993)

SPIRITWALK (collection, Tor, 1992)

HEDGEWORK AND GUESSERY (collection,
Pulphouse, 1991)

THE LITTLE COUNTRY (novel, Morrow, 1991)

THE DREAMING PLACE (novel, Atheneum,
1990)

ANGEL OF DARKNESS (novel, as Samuel M. Key;
Jove, 1990)

GHOSTWOOD (novel, Axolotl Press,1990)

DRINK DOWN THE MOON (novel, Ace, 1990)

SVAHA (novel, Ace, 1989)

WOLF MOON (novel, NAL, 1988)

GREENMANTLE (novel, Ace, 1988)

JACK, THE GIANT-KILLER (novel, Ace, 1987)

YARROW (novel, Ace, 1986)

MULENGRO (novel, Ace, 1985)

THE HARP OF THE GREY ROSE (novel, Starblaze,
1985)

MOONHEART (novel, Ace, 1984)

THE RIDDLE OF THE WREN (novel, Ace, 1984)

###

Someplace to Be Flying excerpt

So I asked the raven as he passed by,

I said, "Tell me, raven, why'd you make the
sky?"

"The moon and stars, I threw them high,

I needed someplace to be flying."

—Kiya Heartwood, from "Wyoming Wind"

If men had wings and bore black feathers, few
of them would be clever enough to be crows.

—Rev. Henry Ward Beecher (mid-1800s)

it's a long long road

it's a big big world

we are wise wise women

we are giggling girls

we both carry a smile

to show when we're pleased

both carry a switchblade

in our sleeves

—Ani DiFranco, from "If He Tries
Anything"

POETRY IN A TREE

Everything is held together with stories.
That is all that is holding us together, stories and
compassion.

—Barry Lopez, from an interview in
Poets
and Writers
, vol. 22, issue 2 (March/April 1994)

1.

Newford, late August 1996

The streets were still wet, but the storm
clouds had moved on as Hank drove south on Yoors waiting for a
fare. Inhabited tenements were on his right, the derelict blight of
the Tombs on his left, Miles Davis's muted trumpet snaking around
Wayne Shorter's sax on the tape deck. The old Chev four-door didn't
look like much; painted a flat gray, it blended into the shadows
like the ghost car it was.

It wasn't the kind of cab you flagged down.
There was no roof light on top, no meter built into the dash, no
license displayed, but if you needed something moved and you had
the number of the cell phone, you could do business. Safe business.
The windows were bulletproof glass and under the body's flaking
paint and dents, there was so much steel it would take a tank to do
it any serious damage. Fast business, too. The rebuilt V-8 under
the hood, purring as quiet as a contented cat at the moment, could
lunge to one hundred miles per hour in seconds. The car didn't
offer much in the way of comfort, but the kinds of fares that used
a gypsy cab weren't exactly hiring it for its comfort.

When he reached Grasso Street, Hank hung a
left and cruised through Chinatown, then past the strip of clubs on
the other side of Williamson. The clock on his dash read 3:00 A.M.
The look-at-me crowd was gone now with only a few stragglers still
wandering the wet streets. The lost and the lonely and the
seriously screwed-up. Hank smiled when he stopped at a red light
and a muscle-bound guy crossed in front of the cab wearing a
T-shirt that read, "Nobody Knows I'm a Lesbian." He tapped his horn
and the guy gave him a Grasso Street salute in response, middle
finger extended, fingernails painted black. When he realized Hank
wasn't hassling him, he only shrugged and kept on walking.