It’s not a secret that Nils and Beth are huge fans of Alix E. Harrow’s work, so they were thrilled to be sent her recent short story The Knight and the Butcherbird:

In this dystopian fairy tale from the New York Times bestselling author of Starling House, a small town’s storyteller struggles to protect a local demon from the knight hired to kill it.

Hundreds of years after the end of the world, the Appalachian community of Iron Hollow finds itself beset by demons. Such horrors are common these days in the outlands, where most folks die young—if they don’t turn into monsters first.

When a legendary knight is summoned to hunt down the latest unearthly beast to haunt their woods, the town’s new oral historian, Shrike, has more reason than most to be concerned. Because that demon was her wife. And while Shrike is certain that May still recognizes her—that May is still herself, somewhere beneath it all—she can’t prove it.

Determined to keep May safe, Shrike stalks the knight and his demon-hunting hawk through the recesses of the forest. But as they creep through toxic creeks and overgrown kudzu, Shrike realizes the knight has a secret of his own. And he’ll do anything to protect it.

The Knight and the Butcherbird is out today from Amazon Original Stories. You can order your copy HERE

What are your expectations for a short story from Harrow? 

Nils: After buddy reading A Spindle Splintered and A Mirror Mended, two novellas in the Fractured Fables duology, we had a pretty good idea that Harrow could deliver short but powerful tales, didn’t we Beth?

Beth: absolutely!

Nils: So going into The Knight and the Butcherbird I expected a dark fairy-tale but twisted, subverted and I expected Harrow to include compelling characters who are never as they seem. Were my expectations met? Absolutely, but I was also given more. 

Beth: I was worried it was going to be too short? I don’t often read short stories simply because I often find myself feeling like I don’t want to leave this world so soon – and knowing how much I love Harrow’s writing, I was worried about how fleeting it might be. 

First impressions? 

Nils: Well I was not expecting this apocalyptic world where a heatwave has made everything desolate, diseases are rampant and the population is declining.

Beth: Definitely not!

Nils: There’s a clash between industrial, technology and nature, which makes the world quite jarring. We are immediately presented with this bleak way of life and later we discover that the privileged are of course hiding away in Enclaves and the rest of humanity find a way to live in the outlands. This sets the tone perfectly as we know this tale is going to be one of survival, it’s going to be dark and deadly.

Beth: I loved the post-apocalyptic feel to this. We don’t immediately learn that there is still a society somewhat as we know it, hiding behind city walls. Rather we’re introduced to this society that has evolved different societal structures to help survive in a world poisoned by past industries and radiation. Life expectancy is low, lives are short and difficult… it’s not the world I was expecting to find a fairy tale in, and yet these are the kinds of people most in need of one.

Nils: Excellent point Beth! When we meet our Knight, Sir John, who rides into Iron Hollow where he’s come to kill a demon, this is where I began to see the fairytale element I was expecting and also hoping for. I love a good fairy-tale, especially if Harrow’s telling it.

When Shrike, our storyteller, wants to stop the demon from being killed I was immediately curious, a lot of questions arose and I was eager to discover more. 

Beth:  I immediately had so many questions! My notes from reading the first page or two were basically a list of questions in between gushing statements on Harrow’s prose. We have this Mad-Max-esque landscape with this typically fairy-tale-esque language. Harrow combines the modern, the industrial, with the classic, creating an intriguing and unsettling mix of stories that pulls you in to discover more.

What did you make of Shrike and Sir John? 

Beth: I think my key impression of both these characters was intrigue? 

Nils: For some reason at first I didn’t even think Shrike and the other villagers were human! I actually thought Shrike, like her namesake, she was a bird. So I was imagining all sorts about them at first! Lol. Beth, did you immediately think they were human?

Beth: Yeah I’m not sure why you thought that about them! I didn’t question that they weren’t human? But I had so many questions about them and their world! What was Shrike’s role in this community and why did everyone seem to either dislike her or be nervous of her? What was her link to the ‘demon’ and why did she want to protect it? What are demons and why do people like Sir John hunt them? I loved the regression to archaic terms in this world; post apocalypse, this society has turned to religion and almost Biblical terms. You have knights like Sir John wearing armour made from salvaged materials hunting demons. Almost like Mad Max meets Nimona.

Nils: It was certainly a strange mix of a dystopian, at times modern setting coupled with the use of Biblical imagery and references but Harrow just makes it work. Furthermore I loved how both of our protagonist’s narratives played out, the conflict between them soon turns into understanding where both Sir John and Shrike want to protect those they love. It’s not just a post apocalyptic fairy-tale, it’s a love story too. 

Beth: That’s a good point Nils, there’s a great deal of love in this story.  ..

Were there any strong themes which you particularly liked seeing explored?

Nils: There were many themes which all connected together in one way or another but for me it was the theme of changing for survival that I found so interesting. Throughout the narrative it’s illustrated how illness changes you but also how you can change too because you have to, because your body and mind learns to adapt. You find a way to survive because that’s the shit you’ve been given and there’s no other choice other than to give up. And even when all that shit hits you, even if it becomes too much, you can still find love, you can still hope. You can grieve and come through it. This really hit me emotionally because it resonated deeply. 

I loved that there were so many ways to interpret any of the ideas and themes explored and how Harrow leaves it open to touch readers in different ways. 

Beth: I loved hearing your thoughts on this Nils because it had resonated so closely with you. 

Nils: And I loved your thoughts on this too because you made me see the demons in a deeper metaphorical way. 

Beth: Having lost close family members to cancer, I focused closely on the nature of that particular illness and the changes people undergo; I found Harrow’s representation of that, the message behind that – of seemingly monstrous changes that are actually necessary to survive and finding the beauty in them – incredibly moving. I hadn’t even considered the wider implications of that message for the numerous other illnesses, diseases, and disabilities that it can of course be applied to.

I think another big theme is love; what we’re prepared to do and to go through for the people we love, the lengths it can drive us to, and how the human condition is shaped by it. 

Nils: There was such a yearning love throughout, for all that was and all that could have been, because some loves you just have to let go of. 

Favourite Quotes

Nils: Do you know how hard it was to only choose a few!

 “So there are pinfeathers pressing out between your ribs: you pluck them. So there’s a second row of teeth coming up through your gums: you pull them. So you’re sick-terribly, mortally sick: you lie. Claws can be hidden in boots, gills beneath thick scarves. You can puke in private, with no one to hold back your hair.”

“She knew me then, at the beginning of ourselves, and she knew me now, here at the end, when she did not even know herself.” 😭😭

Beth: omg this line!!!

Nils:

“At six, I’d thought love was a full belly; at sixteen, I’d thought it was

wildflowers and gooseberries and Mayapple’s mouth on mine. At seventeen, I knew better: love is whatever you’re willing to kill for.”

Beth: Harrow is always so quotable:

“Only the cicadas were happy, crooning like a funeral choir from the trees.”

I loved this line; I’m British, we don’t have cicadas, but in the movies, when it’s a simmering hot day, that’s all you can hear is their chirruping. In less than fifteen words this line painted such a vivid image for me.

“An outlander doesn’t prove her love by dying young, but by living as long as she can. She eats berries grown in bad earth and licks the poison from her lips; she makes her wedding bed from barbed wire and cinder blocks; she falls in love at the end of the world.”

Overall thoughts?

Beth: So I was worried that, in thirty pages, this would be too fleeting a story; but of course, this was entirely unfounded. What Harrow is able to convey, so succinctly, so concisely, draws you deeply into a fully realised world. This is a vivid glance, a short visit to this world as this heart-breaking drama unfolds. Harrow’s breath-taking storytelling is not restrained by wordcount, she can conjure and bring a tale to life in moments whose layers will stay with you. Most of the time when I read a short story I enjoyed I find myself hoping the author will come back to that world and the characters in future, but this story is so perfectly formed, their story so satisfactorily complete, that I feel like returning to their lives would be an intrusion. There’s no higher distinction of the mark of a good storyteller than when you can envisage the characters living on outside the story.

Nils: I’ve always said that Harrow says so much in so little words and The Knight and the Butcherbird is the perfect example. I didn’t expect that within thirty pages I’d get such character depth, a fully realised dystopian world which I could visualise clearly and a story that sucked me in and had my heart aching by the end. Harrow delivers a short but ever so satisfying and thought provoking read. 

The Knight and the Butcherbird is out today from Amazon Original Stories. You can order your copy HERE