I’m a few days behind announcing this here on the blog, but my short story, “Dear Parents, Your Child Is Not the Chosen One,” can now be read for free at Diabolical Plots!
This story came out of two things I was wondering when I wrote it:
(1) My kids had been listening to a lot of Harry Potter audio books (still are, in fact), and as a teacher, I kept wondering what kinds of professional responsibilities the Hogwarts faculty were dealing with behind the scenes.
A story about all the grading work they probably have wouldn’t have been that interesting (one supposes the faculty all have time turners to get through the marking), but a story about dealing with overbearing parents? Now that might be something… (Lord knows the Malfoys must have eaten up a lot of Dumbledore’s time).
(2) I was wondering about the kinds of people who crave some special mantle they feel entitled to, but just… aren’t. We all know about sf’s actual Chosen Ones: the Harry Potters and the Skywalkers, the King Arthurs and the four Pevensie children, and so on.
But what about the ones who want to be Chosen, but just aren’t cut out for it? Or worse yet, the ones whose parents want them to be the Chosen One?
And so was born one Ms. Madeleine Whimbley, teacher of Intermediate Feats and Virtues at the Avalon Preparatory Academy for Adventurers, and the present story, collected from her correspondence with the parents of one Rodney Goodblood, unacceptably average student.
I had a lot of fun writing this one! Hope you enjoy.