May 23, 2015 10:51:52
June 1, 2015 06:59:00
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June 3, 2015 19:15:25
Kristian Fischer You never realize how much an hour of uncontrollable sobbing hurts your face until you've done it. Lucia felt like a spear driven into my heart. The name was different, but the person was exactly the same. Mine. The absolute, uncontested love of my life. Lost and gone forever. My "Lucia" never got the chance to be an old woman in a curtained bed. I say I read the story, but what happened was that I read 1/4 of it, then had to close my browser and go sit in my easy chair and empty a box of Kleenex. One of the big boxes, too. While I was still taking anti-depressants I never cried like this. The pills clamped down on the pain, shoved it violently away. This? This was a torrent. A Tsunami. You can't even SPELL how badly it hurt. I feel viciously beaten. Like one big bruise. I did the beating myself, absolutely. I have hard fists. Nika , elsewhere, you echoed Neil Gaiman's thought that fiction shouldn't be safe, and that if you affected your reader in any way then you'd done your job as a storyteller. I could see the theoretical correctness in your argument, but God, this wasn't what I expected out of this story.
June 4, 2015 08:58:21 · Reply
June 7, 2015 21:27:27
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July 7, 2015 21:40:21
Ashley Mason Cheers, Ilya. You've got some fantastic looking ladies this week, and one Lady in particular. Smile like you mean it still hits me, so beautiful.
July 7, 2015 23:43:43 · Reply
Hentaichimp thanks your work is amazing Ilya, let's see if I can learn something from you
July 8, 2015 06:58:58 · Reply
July 29, 2015 18:46:32
July 30, 2015 17:33:56
Kristian Fischer You know, my first thought on the end was whether or not she dies in childbirth. It kinda sets up women as merely conduits for others to come into the world and carry on. At least in my mind. Obviously no idea if that's what you intended.
July 30, 2015 18:00:56 · Reply
August 1, 2015 06:59:00
Stephen Swan will we ever see all the breakies you have posted on Twitter the past few months on here? :(
August 1, 2015 22:16:42 · Reply
Jeffrey Riddle Will we ever get the sketchbook that we helped funded? It's been a year and I and many others have not received it. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/robaato-s-skabrous-skratchwork-vol-1#/
September 17, 2015 01:31:25 · Reply
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August 19, 2015 19:19:41
Kristian Fischer Having learned a little bit of your life from what you've shared on Patreon and Twitter, I wonder how much of this is autobiographical. Probably more than a little, question mark?
August 19, 2015 19:44:53 · Reply
Nika Harper Very little, next to none.
August 19, 2015 21:41:58 · Reply
August 31, 2015 20:16:04
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September 26, 2015 07:00:34
Kristian Fischer I really like this. Gotta say, I was a little worried that the final scene would be the baby fox and its family snout deep in the crow's entrails. The actual ending was much better, though. "You may be clever, but I'm old, junior!"
September 26, 2015 08:28:20 · Reply
Jesus Gutierrez The idea of two tricksters having a battle of wits was really fun and intriguing. Love the interaction between the baby fox and the crow and how even in the end there was a respect among them. Awesome job.
September 30, 2015 16:20:36 · Reply
September 30, 2015 03:33:54
October 1, 2015 06:59:00
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View all 5 comments
Eric Howell Thank you for sharing, Nika. This is very moving and it had me reevaluate some of the choices I've made in life. Some minor, some major. The mess of "What-ifs" can get out of control, but if we just become aware of the possible wrongdoing we've committed rather than fully immersing ourselves into each infinitesimal possibility, the mess becomes more manageable. It is a very mature step to take the past from different perspectives, because then we learn how to shape our futures into something better and more beautiful. I'm sorry about your dad, NIka. You're a beautiful person with an amazing talent for words. Thanks again for sharing.
May 23, 2015 17:29:57 · Reply
Lewis Lopez One of the things that I admire most about you is how open, honest, and unabashed you are in your writing, even when it hurts. And this one clearly did. But it made for a truly meaningful story, and one that a lot of people could relate to. We all have issues and fucked up shit that we slog through. The change in perspective towards the end of this piece helped to cement that. Lookin at the back of your two heads. Just damn. This was a really, really good piece of writing, Nika.
May 23, 2015 21:42:29 · Reply
William Raillon Thanks for this beautiful experiment, Nika. I haven't read or heard you in a while and I had nearly forgotten how good and moving a storyteller you are. Your drawing is charmingly simple and surprisingly powerful. Maybe even more so than a regular video. The missing 40% of screen illustrate my theory that in a short story, what is there and what it evokes matter more than what is unavoidably missing.
June 7, 2015 17:33:40 · Reply