{"id":5863,"date":"2022-10-11T11:30:12","date_gmt":"2022-10-11T11:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/?p=5863"},"modified":"2022-10-17T20:30:59","modified_gmt":"2022-10-17T20:30:59","slug":"for-lack-of-a-bed-by-john-wiswell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/?p=5863","title":{"rendered":"For Lack of a Bed by John Wiswell"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For Lack of a Bed<\/em><\/strong> by John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots<\/em> #74, 16th<\/sup> April 2021) opens with No\u00e9mi trying to relieve her constant pain by sleeping on the floor. While she distracts herself with social media, her friend Tariq texts with the offer of a sofa. But there is a catch though\u2014apparently someone died on it. But, as the sofa is clean, No\u00e9mi accepts the offer, and Tariq, who is actually standing outside her door, brings it in. No\u00e9mi subsequently sleeps well.
No\u00e9mi is then woken late the next morning by Lili, her boss at the pet shop where she works; Lili (who is a succubus) tells No\u00e9mi that there has been trouble with the mogwai overnight and to head in to work (we later find that the shop also stocks gryphons and basilisks, etc.)
The story\u2019s only real complication comes later that day when Noemi is woken again (she fell asleep after the call) by someone knocking on her door. It is Lili, it is six-thirty at night, and, after checking that No\u00e9mi is okay, Lili points at the sofa:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lili looked like she\u2019d bitten into an extremely ripe lime. \u201cWhen did you invite her?\u201d
\u201cHer? Are you gendering my furniture?\u201d
Lili pointed a sangria red fingernail at the sofa. \u201cThat\u2019s not furniture. That\u2019s a succubus.\u201d
No\u00e9mi tilted her head. Giving it a few seconds didn\u2019t make it make any more sense. \u201cI know you\u2019re the expert, but I\u2019m pretty sure succubi don\u2019t have armrests.\u201d
\u201cCome on. You know my mom is a used bookstore, right?\u201d
\u201cI thought she owned a used bookstore.\u201d
\u201cThe sex economy sucks. With all the hook-up apps and free porn out there, a succubus starves. My mom turned into a bookstore so people would take bits of her home and hold them in bed. It\u2019s why I work at the pet store and cuddle the hell hound puppies before we open.\u201d
No\u00e9mi asked, \u201cIs that why they never bite you?\u201d
\u201cWhat do you think? Everybody else gets puppy bites, except me. I get fuzzy, affectionate joy-energy. Gets me through the day, like a cruelty-free smoothie.\u201d Lili blew a frizzy strand of gold from her face.
\u201cBut this sofa has devolved really far into this form. I know succubi that went out like her\u2014she\u2019s just a pit of hunger shaped to look enticing. No mind. Just murder. Where\u2019d you even find her?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The rest of the story (spoiler) sees No\u00e9mi, Tariq and Lili burn the sofa outside the apartment block. We subsequently learn that No\u00e9mi is till sleeping well because she kept one of the cushions.
This is a slight tale with an odd setting (e.g. a fantasy world where a succubus can become a sofa or a bookstore) and I don\u2019t think it really works. I\u2019d also add that the fact that it ended up as a Nebula finalist is baffling and seems to indicate a group of voters who are over-enamoured with frothy, feel-good pieces (or perhaps suffer from chronic pain themselves).
* (Mediocre). 2,750 words. Story link<\/a>.

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Lack of a Bed by John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots #74, 16th April 2021) opens with No\u00e9mi trying to relieve her constant pain by sleeping on the floor. While she distracts herself with social media, her friend Tariq texts with the offer of a sofa. But there is a catch though\u2014apparently someone died on it. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1020],"tags":[21,50,1305,719,1021,12,1352],"class_list":["post-5863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-john-wiswell","tag-21","tag-50","tag-diabolical-plots","tag-humour","tag-john-wiswell","tag-short-story","tag-succubi"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5863"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5914,"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5863\/revisions\/5914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}