SH Flashback: “The Desires of Houses,” by Haddayr Copley-Woods
Here’s this week’s Strange Horizons Flashback story:
- “The Desires of Houses,” by Haddayr Copley-Woods
- All the parts of the house adore her. (NSFW.) (Published in 2006.) (900 words.)
The floor is sulking. [The woman] almost always wears shoes in the basement, and the cement lies all day in agony listening to the first floor's boards sighing loudly in ecstasy at the touch of her bare heels.
(See also the full list of Flashback stories.)
SPOILERS FOLLOW
I don’t have a lot to say about this one. I’ve read other stories with personified objects, but I don’t think I’ve seen any others that take this kind of approach. I like the playfulness of it, and I like the underlying seriousness that comes out in the ending.
This story was later reprinted in Best American Erotica 2008 and Best Romantic Fantasy 2.