https://henrylien.com/">Henry Lien

Henry Lien, Author

Shadow

The Shadow You Cast Is Me

A man in a troubled marriage secretly takes JPGs of his wife while she sleeps. She wakes up, catches him, and makes him an unexpected proposition to save their marriage. [Note: story contains mature content]

This story was published in the May 2015 issue of Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet. I workshopped this story at Clarion West under Mary Rosenblum and Stephen Graham Jones. My Clarion West instructors Kelly Link and Gavin Grant bought it for LCRW. This story was my attempt to channel Kubrick and Lynch and write a sort of “Eyes Wide Shut on Mulholland Drive”. I don’t make this story available for free download on my site because of the uncomfortable and adult subject matter, but you can email me at info@henrylien.com if you’d like me to send you a PDF.

Here is some critical reaction to the story:
“Here is a very sad, very depressing short piece about a man obsessed with his wife, who is perfection in all ways, or so he perceives her. . . . From the narrator’s point of view, the relationship is a tragedy, but for her, it is likely something very different; the element of tragedy is that he doesn’t know, may never know. ‘Because one of us always walks in light, and one of us always walks behind. Always.’ That’s beautifully expressed, and the story is perhaps the best I’ve seen from this author.”
– Lois Tilton, Locus Magazine