Julie C. Day

“One Thousand Paper Cranes” — Kaleidotrope (January 2017)

My story “One Thousand Paper Cranes” was published in the Winter 2017 issue of Kaleidotrope.

First Lines

October, 2026: Remembering the Past Part 1
There is a story Elijah likes to tell himself. This story is set long before the fire, more than ten years ago, back in 2015.

Elijah was the younger brother, only eight years old, and Callie was the older sister who sent handwritten notes to the dead. Callie had long curly hair that frizzed in the summer til it was just like Elijah’s. Her skin was pale Irish, shades lighter than Elijah’s. Elijah had never … Read more

“One Thousand Paper Cranes” Now Out in Kaleidotrope

“One Thousand Paper Cranes” took its time. Both the writing of it and its emergence in a magazine. I’m almost afraid to go back and read it. What was I thinking about a year ago? Who was I back then?  Questions which tie to the story.

“One Thousand Paper Cranes” is a very Julie story. It’s about love and loss and science(!).  Set in a near future world, stretching time has become a state-sanctioned way of fixing personality problems. Troubled, self-destructive, acting out? Try CR-Rest: chemically-regulated, restricted-environmental-stimulation therapy.

“One Thousand Paper Cranes” is also concerned with the fate of the … Read more

My Narration of Sharon Shinn’s “The Double-Edged Sword”

So I’m behind in my recordings. I owe a narration to one podcast and have another due in January. Finding a time in my home when I only have to contend with curious dogs and less curious cats is tricky, which is why recording Sharon Shinn’s “The Double-Edged Sword” was such a victory.  At 40 pages it’s squarely in that special category: novelette. In other words it’s a satisfyingly long read, or to put it another way it’s an epic short story.

Aesara, the protagonist, is strong and wild and scarred by life in a way that colors–or even dictates–her … Read more