Review of “Colors of the Immortal Palette“ by Caroline M. Yoachim

This fantasy novelette is a finalist for the 2022 Nebula Awards. It was published by Uncanny Magazine 3-4/21. Yoachim is an established writer, a two-time Hugo and a five-time Nebula Award finalist. This review contains spoilers.

Mariko is half-Japanese and lives in Paris under the name Mari, where she works as a sometimes courtesan and model for the flourishing artist community of the late 1800s. The famous undead artist uses her as a model and they develop a relationship. Mari aspires to be an artist, too, but she hasn’t the money to buy paint, and her lowly paintings are obscured by the masterworks of the men working at that time. Eventually she feels the pinch of time, and asks her lover to make her undead. He acquiesces, and given time, Mari develops as an artist, even as her friends in the artist community begin to die off. She moves to the United States during the war years and marries, learns to put some of her own essence into every painting. The time comes when her paintings are displayed beside those of the masters. Her one-time lover comes to say good-bye, as he intends to fade into the mist for the last time, but Mariko continues.

This is a leisurely story that flows over at least a century of time as Mari experiences the heyday of the Impressionist movement. There are scenes with the models, sex with her lovers. These are apparently vampires who steal life force and not blood. The chapters are titled with paint colors and the story touches on the process of art in metaphor form, as well as including discussions and reference to real paintings and real models. We’re lift with a feeling of melancholy about what has passed away. There is brief mention of the Japanese internment during the war years, and Mariko’s dismay at the bombing of her mother’s home city of Nagasaki.

On the less positive side, Mariko has no background, and we hear nothing about her parents except that her mother is from Nagasaki. There’s never a glimpse inside Mari’s undead lover, only her interpretation of his moods, and only a passing mention life with her husband. Ths point is the art, I suppose, but I would have liked to spend more time with the characters. .

Four stars.

Bio of gay SFF pioneer Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was born in Dublin, Ireland, the second child of parents Sir William and Jane Wilde. Oscar studied classics at Trinity College in Dublin and continued his studies at Magdalen College, Oxford. Although he cultivated a “bad boy” image at school, he won the 1878 Newdigate Prize for his poem “Revenna,” and graduated the same year with a double major in Classical Moderations and Literae Humaniores. With an inheritance from his father, he moved to London, where he worked as a lecturer and continued to write poetry. In 1881 he published his first collection of poems.

In 1884 Wilde married Constance Lloyd, but the marriage faltered after he had an affair with the young Robert Ross. During the 1880s, Wilde expanded his writing to journalism, critical reviews, essays, short stories and editorial work. He then turned to plays, becoming one of London’s most popular playwrights in the early 1890s.

In 1895 Wilde was publicly accused of the crime of sodomy. There was a huge scandal, and he was arrested, tried, convicted and imprisoned for two years of hard labor. After he was released from prison, he fled to France where he died of meningitis in 1900.

One of Wilde’s most important works is the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, published in the July 1890 issue of Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine. The young Dorian Gray poses for a portrait by Basil Hallward, an artist who is infatuated with him. Through Hallward, Gray meets the hedonistic Lord Henry Wotton. Worrying that his youth and beauty will fade, Gray sells his soul to make sure it is the portrait that fades, and not himself. Later he repents, of course, and tries to reclaim his soul.

This information is from Wilde’s article at Wikipedia. He was a complex and brilliant man and this is only a brief summary of his life. See the article here.

Calling art fans!

I have paintings in a show at Broadway Studios & Gallery this month. Tonight there’s a First Friday event from 5-9:00 p.m. If you’re within reach of Knoxville, stop by. The show looks great, with several very talented artists showing their work. I’ll be there!

Excerpt from “The Artist as an Old Man” by A. M. Leibowitz

The negotiation had been scheduled for three p.m. on Wednesday. Mr. Rubenstein’s neighborhood was a bit challenging to navigate, and Kenny arrived at two minutes past the hour. He knocked on Mr. Rubenstein’s door, his stomach in knots at meeting the artist himself.

When the door opened, Kenny was met by a short, muscular man with dark hair, graying at the temples. He looked far younger than his fifty-three years. He had a long, sloping nose and John Lennon-style glasses. His face dissolved into a deep scowl, and Kenny sucked in his breath, stepping back a few paces.

“You’re late,” Mr. Rubenstein snarled. “Come back tomorrow, and if you show up on time, I’ll consider letting you in.”

He slammed the door, leaving Kenny standing on the stoop, staring. Malcolm was going to kill him, and then he was going to fire him. He might bring him back from the dead just to do it all over again. Kenny gripped his hair in his hands. Nothing for it but to go home and call Malcolm. At least Mr. Rubenstein had left room for him to try again. Which ended up being exactly what Malcolm told Kenny to do, right after he threatened to not only fire him but put him on the three a.m. trucker shift. Malcolm didn’t explain how Kenny could do that if he were fired. Not in the mood for either outcome, Kenny promised to be on time the next afternoon.

Author bio:

A. M. Leibowitz is a spouse, parent, feminist, and book-lover falling somewhere on the Geek-Nerd Spectrum. Ze keeps warm through the long, cold western New York winters by writing romantic plot twists and happy-for-now endings. Hir published fiction includes hir first novel, Lower Education, as well as a number of short works, and hir stories have been included in several anthologies. In between noveling and editing, ze blogs coffee-fueled, quirky commentary on faith, culture, writing, and hir family at amleibowitz.com.

Find me on the Internet:

Web site: http://amleibowitz.com
Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00OIC158W (A. M. Leibowitz)
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/AMLeibowitz
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amymitchell29 (personal profile); https://www.facebook.com/UnchainedFaith (author page)
Twitter: https://twitter.com/amyunchained (@amyunchained)
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