GlitterShip Winter 2020: GlitterShip, #9

By Keffy R.M. Kehrli and Nibedita Sen

The Winter 2020 issue of GlitterShip Magazine!

 

This issue of GlitterShip magazine brings you from a contemporary fantasy world true-crime podcast to the depths of the sea and many stops in between. Fire magic... and knitting magic. Near future programmers, orphans looking for somewhere to belong, and a whole lot of spiders wait for you in this issue.

 

Table of Contents:

 

"The Ashes of Vivian Firestrike" by Kristen Koopman

"Insomnia" by R.B. Lemberg

"Split-Tail" by A.C. Wise

"Skin Hunger" by Wenying Wu

"Finding and Falling, in Various Ways" by Juliet Kemp

"Sirens" by Kat Riddell

"A Seed in the Ground" by Shannon Fay

"A Ladies' Guide to Collecting Mermaid Love Songs" by Aimee Picchi

"Shovelware" by Bogi Takács

"Three (Dancing Princes) by H. Pueyo

"Spiderkid" by Claude Lalumière

• Language: English
• Publisher: Keffy R.M. Kehrli
• Release date: Jul 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393263111

Book preview

Originals

The Ashes of Vivian Firestrike

Kristen Koopman

Listeners, you may have noticed that in this week’s episode of Murder and Mayhem: Stories from the Intersection of Magic and True Crime with Amy and Christy, your hosts had a bit of a debate on the death of the Internet’s favorite elementalist, Vivian Firestrike. It’s not a big enough case for its own episode, but our aside sparked some discussions in the Facegroup page that were almost as contentious as the one on the pod. Since it’s my week to do the minisode (Christy here), I figured I’d put together a primer for the case so you can all decide for yourselves whether you’re Team Faked Her Death For No Apparent Reason or Team Sorry, She’s Totally Dead, That’s Just How It Is.

Not that I’m biased.

Tl;dr version: Three years ago, in 2015, Vivian Firestrike, arguably the most famous fire elementalist of our generation and definitely the most gifted, was attacked by an amateur practitioner named Bradley Clovenhoof. This was towards the end of that three-year period where everyone was dueling everyone—started, ironically, by Firestrike herself. Unsatisfied with then-current City Chief Elementalist Anthony Currentsrun’s performance and frustrated at the lack of electoral recourse (note: since Firestrike’s death, the position has gone from an appointment by the mayor to an elected post), Firestrike found an obscure law that had never been revoked that allowed her to challenge Currentsrun to a duel for his position. He hella lost and retired from the public eye to wallow in his humiliation probably, and suddenly everyone was challenging everyone else to duels again.

And lots of people, of course, were challenging Vivian Firestrike to duels. Clovenhoof did exactly that and of course Firestrike won, but she disappeared the next evening as the result of what authorities later figured out was his death curse.

So, here are the details. For the pictures, videos, and other media resources, check out our show notes; everything’s numbered there, and I’ll be specifying what I’m referring to if you want to follow along.

1.

Let’s start with the duel itself, and a content warning. The cell phone footage of the whole duel, including the gruesome parts, is on uVideo under the (tacky as hell) title this duel really gets my goat. It all went down at about quarter to eight on Tuesday, October 21, when Firestrike emerged from the subway on her way to her first appearance on Daily Coffee & Conjuration with Lee and Marie! They’d been trying to get her on the show for a year, but it took her first major initiative in the City Chief Elementalist position to get her to agree to do it at all: the Color of Magic campaign. The tabloid Elementaweek later published her planned talking points:

- More practitioners’ licensing centers in low-income neighborhoods

- Change licensing exams to be less all European magic all the time

- Arrest rates for unlicensed magic are 34% higher for ethnic/racial minorities and that’s messed up

- Last time Currentsrun was on, you asked him about his favorite magic tricks for Fourth of July parties, so maybe next time you call yourselves the voice of the people, speaking truth to power maybe think about asking some uncomfortable questions???

- Why do you care more about the assholes challenging me to duels than the people who would actually benefit from your attention and visibility?

- This is such bullshit.

- No I won’t talk about my diet.

Clovenhoof’s friend Alexis Livinggreen took the footage, and the beginning of the clip shows Clovenhoof’s satyr legs and hooves when he lifts one leg of his baggy cargo pants and says, Let’s see how she likes this! Dangerous duels, mofos! Livinggreen posted the footage on their #dangerousduels challenge series on uVideo supposedly in honor of his friend, where the explicit content sparked a firestorm (no pun intended) of controversy. You can see the tree roots erupt through the sidewalk and spike through Firestrike’s feet (which was Clovenhoof’s first spell), and Clovenhoof’s death seconds later can be seen in gruesome detail. Firestrike conjures a net of fire to contain him with light burns—one of her signature moves—but instead the net scorches its way through his flesh, lighting the sap in his veins and shooting flames through his open mouth as he releases his final curse. Livinggreen’s retching is clearly audible. (And, yeah, dude. Me too.)

2.

Obviously, next, the news went into overdrive. My personal favorite after-school special inspired by this case has to be the Investigation Hour episode on Clovenhoof’s transformation. He was the first high-profile case of deliberate and willing self-transmogrification. Since most magic relies on the connection between a practitioner and their chosen element (in Clovenhoof’s case, earth), a weak practitioner can become more powerful by being transformed into an elemental creature, such as an earth-aligned satyr. Though this has its own risks and drawbacks—transmogrification being considerably more difficult than pure elemental magic—once Clovenhoof brought the idea into the public consciousness, it sparked a brief trend that in turn led to this special report. The top-rated comment thread on the video, "Self-Transmogrification: What Are Your Kids Really Turning Into?", reads in its entirety:

#kidglovesareoff?

Satyr is the lowest form of wit.

that’s sarcasm, dumbass

3.

Above, we have the crime scene photos of Firestrike’s footfalls burned into the sidewalk. As we mentioned in our debate, such effects wouldn’t have been uncommon for a fire elementalist like Firestrike. Channeling an elemental spell brings the practitioner closer to their element, and because of Firestrike’s strength, she had no reason to suspect Clovenhoof’s curse had turned her magic against her.

Because everything seemed fine aside from Clovenhoof, first-responders failed to secure the scene beyond where the duel occurred. Sections of concrete, carpet, and flooring stepped on by Firestrike later sold at auction, creating a considerable market of forged Firestrike footprints and associated footprint assessors.

4.

Paparazzi photos of the crime scene and associated headlines, published in the day and a half between the duel and Firestrike’s death. Our favorites include FIRESTRIKE’S LATEST FLAMES PROVE FATAL: FULL SCOOP ON FORCED DUEL WITH SECRET SATYR and FOE, FAN, OR FATHER? PROOF OF FIRESTRIKE AND CLOVENHOOF’S SIZZLING HALF-SATYR SON. In the background of the photos, fans of Firestrike stand between the police tape and the studio where her appearance was scheduled. Why none of these fans realized that it might be in poor taste to display signs reading I Burn for Firestrike! and Immolate Me, Vivian! remains unexplained.

5.

These still images from subway security footage show Firestrike entering the station on her way home, against law enforcement’s recommendation. Firestrike’s (irrational) love of the subway was well-known, since she first gained national recognition when videos of her illusions for children and minor curses for rude behavior on the subway went viral.

(Note: Due to copyright issues, we’ve had to take down the image of Caleb Ivans’s autobiography cover. On her final subway ride, Firestrike cursed Ivans to have, for the rest of his life, his knees stuck as far apart as they were on the train. As of this posting, Ivans’s Knee-Jerk Reaction: My Life as Vivian Firestrike’s Last Victim sold over 200,000 copies worldwide and became the cultural touchstone for discussions of manspreading everywhere.)

6.

More paparazzi photos, these of Firestrike arriving at her apartment building after the fight. Although none of the paparazzi heeded her yell of "Could you give me some peace and goddamn quiet, for once," her hands spontaneously bursting into flames dissuaded them more successfully. The last photo in the set shows the fire-engulfed hands reflected in Firestrike’s wide, staring eyes, although she quickly shook her hands out.

This was step one towards death, y’all. Or, sorry, mysterious disappearance.

7.

Police photo of marks on Firestrike’s apartment door. A clear handprint grasping the knob and a small circular dead-mark on the door suggest prolonged contact of Firestrike’s hand and head, respectively. This may