“Eyes of Fire, Eyes of Smoke” in Unfixed Timelines 3
“Eyes of Fire, Eyes of Smoke” was a story that started with the title. I combined that with the idea of writing a story about a legendary monster not often seen in fiction, the pishtaco or kharisiri of Andean legends. With that figured out, I went from there to write a historical fantasy story about the fraught relationship between a daughter and her elderly mother that involved returning home on her mother’s request, with an implication that her mother was not much longer for the world. The story wound up being a mix of frustration, bittersweet-ness, and a little bit of frightening monsters.
There’s an essay about the kharisiri in Unfixed Timelines 3 alongside this story, which looks at European colonization and religion in South America and how they played into these legends. If you prefer to read from a paper book, you can also find this story and essay in Unfixed Timelines Omnibus.
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