My Charlotte: Patty's Story

By Lisa Mason

My Charlotte: Patty’s Story is a short, sweet memoir about a life in a garden and one writer’s first inspiration. Includes Lisa Mason’s first story, “Arachne,” published by Omni Magazine worldwide, by Hayakawa in Japan, and by Replik in Sweden

Reading Charlotte’s Web inspired Mason to write her own novels at age eight. Her quest to discover the meaning of the spider led her to Jungian psychology, myths, and symbols. The classic myth of Arachne became the subtext of her first story, “Arachne,” published in Omni Magazine. Her first two early cyberpunk novels followed, Arachne and Cyberweb, published by William Morrow and Avon Books. She is presently working on an adaptation of those books as The Quester Trilogy.

From the author of The Garden of Abracadabra, Volume 1 of the Abracadabra Series, Summer of Love, A Time Travel (a Philip K. Dick Award Finalist and San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book), The Gilded Age (a New York Times Notable Book and New York Public Library Recommended Book), Celestial Girl (A Lily Modjeska Mystery), and Strange Ladies: 7 Stories.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lisa Mason
• Release date: Mar 5, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310613036

Lisa Mason

Lisa Mason is the author of eleven novels, including Summer of Love (Bantam), a San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book and Philip K. Dick Award finalist, and The Golden Nineties (Bantam), a New York Times Notable Book and New York Public Library Recommended Book.Her most recent speculative novel is CHROME.Mason published her first story, “Arachne,” in Omni and has since published short fiction in magazines and anthologies worldwide, including Omni, Full Spectrum, Universe, Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, Unique, Transcendental Tales, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Immortal Unicorn, Tales of the Impossible, Desire Burn, Fantastic Alice, The Shimmering Door, Hayakawa Science Fiction Magazine, Unter Die Haut, and others. Her thirty-two stories and novelettes have been translated into Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish.Mason’s story, “Tomorrow’s Child,” first published in Omni Magazine, is in active development at Universal Studios.Lisa Mason lives in the San Francisco Bay area with her husband, the renowned artist and jeweler Tom Robinson. Visit her on the web at Lisa Mason’s Official Website, follow her Official Blog, follow her on Twitter @lisaSmason, or e-mail her at [e-mail].

Book preview

BAST

BOOKS

My Charlotte

Patty’s Story

Lisa Mason

A short, sweet memoir about a life in a garden and one writer’s first inspiration. Includes Lisa Mason’s first story, Arachne, published in Omni Magazine.

This is a work of nonfiction and fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents in the fiction portion are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

A Bast Book

Copyright 2014 by Lisa Mason.

Cover collage and logo copyright 2014 by Tom Robinson.

All rights reserved.

PUBLISHING HISTORY

Bast Books ebook edition published March 2014

No part of this ebook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Smashwords Edition

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting my hard work.

For information address:

Bast Books

[e-mail]

Thank you for your readership! Visit me at my Official Web Site for more about my books, screenplays, and stories. Enjoy!

Lisa Mason

Table of Contents

Praise for Books by Lisa Mason

My Charlotte: Patty’s Story

Arachne

About Lisa Mason

Books by Lisa Mason

Praise for Books by Lisa Mason

Strange Ladies: 7 Stories

Offers everything you could possibly want, from more traditional science fiction and fantasy tropes to thought-provoking explorations of gender issues and pleasing postmodern humor…This is a must-read collection.

—The San Francisco Review of Books

Lisa Mason might just be the female Phillip K. Dick. Like Dick, Mason's stories are far more than just sci-fi tales, they are brimming with insight into human consciousness and the social condition….a sci-fi collection of excellent quality….you won't want to miss it.

—The Book Brothers Review Blog

Fantastic book of short stories….Recommended.

—Reader Review

"I’m quite impressed, not only by the writing, which gleams and sparkles, but also by [Lisa Mason’s] versatility . . . Mason is a wordsmith . . . her modern take on Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland is a hilarious gem! [This collection] sparkles, whirls, and fizzes. Mason is clearly a writer to follow!"

—Amazing Stories

Summer of Love, A Time Travel

A San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book of the Year

A Philip K. Dick Award Finalist

Remarkable. . . .a whole array of beautifully portrayed characters along the spectrum from outright heroism to villainy. . . .not what you expected of a book with flowers in its hair. . . the intellect on display within these psychedelically packaged pages is clear-sighted, witty, and wise.

—Locus Magazine

A fine novel packed with vivid detail, colorful characters, and genuine insight.

—The Washington Post Book World

Captures the moment perfectly and offers a tantalizing glimpse of its wonderful and terrible consequences.

—The San Francisco Chronicle

Brilliantly crafted. . . .An engrossing tale spun round a very clever concept.

—Katharine Kerr, author of Days of Air and Darkness

"Just imagine The Terminator in love beads, set in the Haight-Ashbury ‘hood of 1967."

—Entertainment Weekly

Mason has an astonishing gift. Her characters almost walk off the page. And the story is as significant as anyone could wish. This book will surely be on the prize ballots.

—Analog

A priority purchase.

—Library Journal

The Gilded Age, A Time Travel

A New York Times Notable Book

A New York Public Library Recommended Book

A winning mixture of intelligence and passion.

—The New York Times Book Review

Should both leave the reader wanting more and solidify Mason’s position as one of the most interesting writers in science fiction.

—Publishers Weekly

Rollicking. . .Dazzling. . .Mason’s characters are just as endearing as her world.

—Locus Magazine

Graceful prose. . . A complex and satisfying plot.

—Library Journal

Celestial Girl, The Omnibus Edition (A Lily Modjeska Mystery)

Passionate Historical Romantic Suspense

5 Stars I really enjoyed the story and would love to read a sequel! I enjoy living in the 21st century, but this book made me want to visit the Victorian era. The characters were brought to life, a delight to read about. The tasteful sex scenes were very racy….Good Job!

—Reader Review

The Garden of Abracadabra, Volume 1 of the Abracadabra Series

So refreshing! This is Stephanie Plum in the world of Harry Potter.

—Reader Review

Fun and enjoyable urban fantasy….I want to read more!

—Reader Review

I love the writing style and am hungry for more!

—Reader Review

My Charlotte

Patty’s Story

1

The Tiny Orb Weaver

On a cold February morning in 2013, I stepped into the shower and noticed a tiny, tiny orb weaver sliding down the wet tile.

Orb weavers have a distinctive look, even when tiny. Two long legs arch out from the back of the creature’s abdomen, which is shaped like a bulb. Two longish legs arch out from each side of the bulb. Two very long front legs embrace the delicate cephalothorax (the combined head and thorax), culminating in substantial mandibles and the odd little face with her eight faceted eyebuds taking in the world.

Other species of spiders, while sharing the traits of eight legs, eight eyes, and carnivorous mandibles, have a different physiognomy. You would never mistake the agile jumping spider, the roaming wolf spider, the wily trapdoor spider, the muscular water spider, the delicate daddy longlegs, or the furry tarantula for an orb weaver.

However you feel about spiders—and I’ll get to that—I’m sure you’ll agree that the orb weaver is the most elegant of the arachnids.

The tiny orb weaver in my shower was charcoal gray. I easily noticed her trying to find her footing on the pale tile, though she was barely a sixteenth of an inch.

The itsy-bitsy spider climbed up the water spout

Down came the rain and washed the spider out

Out came the sun and dried up all the rain

And the itsy-bitsy spider climbed up the spout again.

~Victorian Children’s Rhyme

I shut the water off at once and called for my husband Tom Robinson to bring the bug jar. A wide-mouthed, plastic, former peanut butter jar, we use this to catch bugs in our home and let them outside.

We’re like that.

We have respect and reverence for flora and fauna, for this beautiful blue planet we live on, a planet unique and rare so far as we know in the Universe. We’ve always loved animals, great and small.

Lisa and Alana

Tom passionately believes in not killing any creature, though he had to concede