What do you think?
Rate this book
The Space Within These Lines Is Not Dedicated
A brief encounter with a talking cicada compels a journey of self-discovery.
Lucy is having a bad day at work and to top it off a cicada named Lenny just told her she has three days to live. Thus begins a surreal journey of self-discovery, where animals talk, bears play polka, and spiders tango. Over the course of three days Lucy must care for her alcoholic mother, come to terms with the loss of her father, and confront her feelings for her best friend Faye, all while trying to understand what her “potential” is and why a cicada wants it before she dies.
For fans of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, Haruki Murakami, The Alligator Report, and TV series like Wonderfalls and Pushing Daisies.
Cover designed by Sabine Krauss
A novelette. approximately 50 print pages in length.
“Bernard Cox’s The Space Within These Lines Is Not Dedicated is a fantasy with a radically inclusive vision. Lucy, a one-time rescuer of animals, confronts her father’s death, her mother’s despair, a complicated love, a meaningless job, and, as a result, finds herself in an emotional limbo. When the smart-aleck cicada arrives, she has to wonder whether she’s losing her mind. Is she facing “the inevitable passage of life” or “the possibility of renewal” or both? The progress of this compassionate narrative critiques our society’s neglect and abuse of the world and those who inhabit it.” –Frank Rogaczewski author of "The Fate of Humanity in Verse."
"'Give us your potential.'With that request [The Space Within These Lines Is Not Dedicated], a story that revolves around a woman, her imminent death, her troubled life and lots of talking animals (that she can hear) is off and running. Does it all sound crazy? Well, it is! It's also entertaining. Cox is a great storyteller. There are more of these novellas to come from him and I look forward to them. This is good stuff, all the way around!"--Shelly Hagans, Shelly's LGBT Book Review Blog at Shellysbookstore.com
Lucy is having a bad day at work and to top it off a cicada named Lenny just told her she has three days to live. Thus begins a surreal journey of self-discovery, where animals talk, bears play polka, and spiders tango. Over the course of three days Lucy must care for her alcoholic mother, come to terms with the loss of her father, and confront her feelings for her best friend Faye, all while trying to understand what her “potential” is and why a cicada wants it before she dies.
For fans of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, Haruki Murakami, The Alligator Report, and TV series like Wonderfalls and Pushing Daisies.
Cover designed by Sabine Krauss
A novelette. approximately 50 print pages in length.
“Bernard Cox’s The Space Within These Lines Is Not Dedicated is a fantasy with a radically inclusive vision. Lucy, a one-time rescuer of animals, confronts her father’s death, her mother’s despair, a complicated love, a meaningless job, and, as a result, finds herself in an emotional limbo. When the smart-aleck cicada arrives, she has to wonder whether she’s losing her mind. Is she facing “the inevitable passage of life” or “the possibility of renewal” or both? The progress of this compassionate narrative critiques our society’s neglect and abuse of the world and those who inhabit it.” –Frank Rogaczewski author of "The Fate of Humanity in Verse."
"'Give us your potential.'With that request [The Space Within These Lines Is Not Dedicated], a story that revolves around a woman, her imminent death, her troubled life and lots of talking animals (that she can hear) is off and running. Does it all sound crazy? Well, it is! It's also entertaining. Cox is a great storyteller. There are more of these novellas to come from him and I look forward to them. This is good stuff, all the way around!"--Shelly Hagans, Shelly's LGBT Book Review Blog at Shellysbookstore.com
- GenresAmazon
50 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 21, 2012
6 people are currently reading
28 people want to read
About the author
Bernard M. Cox
5 books15 followersBernard M Cox is a graduate of 2015 Class of Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop, and received an MFA Creative Writing from Roosevelt University.
He has taught fiction writing, screenwriting, literature, and composition; curated an experimental music concert series called FeedBack; ran a staged reading series for screenwriters; served as Assistant Artistic Director for the Tamale Hut Café Reading Series in North Riverside, IL; and served on the Board of Directors of the University City Arts League in Philadelphia. He currently volunteers in the San Diego LGBT community.
His writing has appeared in A cappella Zoo, Blood and Lullabies, Collective Fallout, Crack the Spine, Red Lightbulbs, and Up the Staircase Quarterly.
He has taught fiction writing, screenwriting, literature, and composition; curated an experimental music concert series called FeedBack; ran a staged reading series for screenwriters; served as Assistant Artistic Director for the Tamale Hut Café Reading Series in North Riverside, IL; and served on the Board of Directors of the University City Arts League in Philadelphia. He currently volunteers in the San Diego LGBT community.
His writing has appeared in A cappella Zoo, Blood and Lullabies, Collective Fallout, Crack the Spine, Red Lightbulbs, and Up the Staircase Quarterly.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 31, 2018
Yes
Don't miss this story.
Most of the time I read to escape. Escape the harsh realities of everyday life. I was expecting that from this. What I got was something else entirely! Thank you Mr Cox!
Don't miss this story.
Most of the time I read to escape. Escape the harsh realities of everyday life. I was expecting that from this. What I got was something else entirely! Thank you Mr Cox!
October 12, 2018
Out of the three stories this is definitely my favorite. I liked the way it ended and I loved all the dancing.
March 11, 2013
I'll get right to the reason I docked the story a star, then move on to why it's so awesome. There's a section within the story where I feel a bit of very weak writing crept in. It's very brief, and it's not at all going to ruin the tale, but unlike Memory of a Salt Shaker (which I found superb all the way through) there's this one niggling section that reached out and slapped me in the face, breaking me out of the story.
Outside of that one section, which is no more than a couple of pages long, I absolutely loved this story. LOVED it.
Buy this story. Read this story. Love this story too.
You won't be able to help it.
Because Cox is a fantastic writer with a vivid imagination who can transport you to a world which you think you know, but don't quite understand. He weaves a beautiful narrative, and gives his characters rich histories with spare use of words. He is the real deal where it comes to short fiction. Many can write a short. Few can master them.
Cox is, hands down, well on his way to becoming an absolute master of the short form.
Outside of that one section, which is no more than a couple of pages long, I absolutely loved this story. LOVED it.
Buy this story. Read this story. Love this story too.
You won't be able to help it.
Because Cox is a fantastic writer with a vivid imagination who can transport you to a world which you think you know, but don't quite understand. He weaves a beautiful narrative, and gives his characters rich histories with spare use of words. He is the real deal where it comes to short fiction. Many can write a short. Few can master them.
Cox is, hands down, well on his way to becoming an absolute master of the short form.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews