"Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire," by Donna Andrews, in The Beat of Black Wings, edited by Josh Pachter, Untreed Reads, 2020.
All the stories in this book are inspired by Joni Mitchell songs. I must admit I didn't remember this song. It ain't bad.
Our narrator is a homeless man. That's not his biggest problem, though. He's trying to stay away from the others.
Who are THEY? Not sure it would help even I knew [sic]. I think it' a what, not a who, but I don't know. Sometimes I'm tempted to call them the Fae. I'm sure they're behind these legends....
So, yeah the guy has problems. He says that the others try to take over people. When
they fail, you find the body. When they succeed, the empty shell keeps
walking around with one of them in it.
Well, that certainly creeped me out.
He figures his best protection is his knife because, as everyone knows, fairies hate iron and steel. And knives can come in useful in other ways, can't they? They do in this classy tale.
Thanks for the acknowledgment, Rob!
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