My short story “Taren and Keui” is now up on Persistent Visions. I love the artwork they chose to accompany it, the colors are perfect for the mood of the story I think.
I found it funny when I posted this on Twitter that it asked me if I wanted to translate the Haitian Creole. The title is actually mangled Mandarin and Cantonese respectively. In both languages the word for he and she (and it) are the same (spoken, there is a difference when written down). In Mandarin this is tā, which felt too short so I added ren which means “person”. Keui or keoi or köü depending on the romanization is the same in Cantonese.
I had this story in my head for more than a year but couldn’t figure out a way to approach it that didn’t feel way preachy. Once I came up with using the pronouns as their names everything clicked and the entire story came out of me in one long afternoon. It was one of my more satisfying writing experiences and I’m glad it found such a wonderful publication home (after oh so many rejections). I hope you enjoy it!