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Insect Dreams
by Rosalind Palermo Stevenson

Novella

"Insect Dreams" is a stunning story, half historical fiction, half fever dream in which the noted naturalist Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) travels from Holland to Surinam in South America. What brings her to the New World is a passion for the unknown:

There are creatures that no one has seen. Creatures that have not been classified, counted, entered in the journals and the record books of science, whose shapes defy the patterns of logical construction, whose colors are as if from other worlds, self-regenerating, pure, infinite complexity and variety, sketched by God, painted by angels, life miraculously breathed into them, life, alive, free, that no one has seen, that she, she must see.

The juxtaposition of memories from Holland, the interjection of the slave trade, Merian’s explorations in the New World, possible love, possible impossible beasts, form a vast yet condensed canvas, told in the most sensuous language. Merian is in love with the details of the world, and so is Stevenson.

Jeff VanderMeer, Locus OnLine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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ROSALIND PALERMO STEVENSON's fiction and prose poems have appeared in Web Conjunctions, Spinning Jenny, River City, Italian Americana, Skidrow Penthouse, Quick Fiction, Karamu, eye-rhyme, Phantasmagoria, Washington Square, Literal Latte, No Roses Review, and other literary journals.

She has received Pushcart nominations for her stories “The Temple Birds Love Incense” and “The Guest,” as well as for her prose poems "Soul Murder" and "The Maria Axiom." Her story, “The Guest” was awarded first place in the Anne and Henry Paolucci fiction contest for Italian-American writing and was recently selected as Italian Americana’s best story of 2005. It was also a winner in the annual Negative Capability fiction contest and received honorable mention in the Arts and Letters annual fiction contest.
 
 

Insect Dreams - $13.00