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Masquerade Season
From Nigerian author Pemi Aguda comes "Masquerade Season," a Tor.com Original short story
Pauly is a good son. When he brings home three beautiful Masquerades, he's expecting that his mother will be proud of him. But when his mother begins asking favors of his Masquerades, he realizes that being a good son sometimes means disobeying.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Pauly is a good son. When he brings home three beautiful Masquerades, he's expecting that his mother will be proud of him. But when his mother begins asking favors of his Masquerades, he realizes that being a good son sometimes means disobeying.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
19 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 24, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
March 30, 2021
When they keep shifting with the wind, not responding, Pauly moves to go around them. They don’t stop him. How strange, he thinks, and keeps running; but isn’t that a rustling following him? Pauly swings around and the masquerades halt, only a few steps behind.
“Why are you following me?” Pauly asks.
It is the feathered masquerade that speaks; the voice is a whispery, susurrating sound, as if the feathers themselves are speaking. The masquerade says, “Because we are your masquerades.”
to me, that's creepy as hell, and the thought of three of these quiet terrors following me home and eating all my palm oil is impractical at best
then again, i wouldn't mind a fullsize one of these fellas in my place, because i have a crush on all of them
although—again—sentience would be a dealbreaker.
anyway, point being that this is not a horror short, and little pauly isn't vexed by these three enormous masquerades following him home, swaying and whispering and dancing in the corner of his room. but when his dressmaker mom starts asking for a little snipsie here or there from his fancy masquerade pals, he starts having some moral qualms and it all ends up being an emotional story of sacrifice and family and bewildering creatures.
AND NOW I AM DEPLETED
read it for yourself here:
https://www.tor.com/2021/03/24/masque...
come to my blog!!
April 26, 2021
Pauly is a good and obedient son. He does everything his mother expects him to except sticking to the major roads when walking home from his cousin's house. On one such walk, he comes across three masquerades swaying in front of him and they start to follow him home. When he questions them, one of them simply replies, “Because we are your masquerades.”
Pauly's mother is accepting of them until she asks Pauly to get the raffia or aso-oke fabric or the feathers off them. Pauly doesn't like it as he sees the masquerades limping the next day but he also wants to do what his mother asks him to.
“Look at that thing.” Her voice sounds breathy again. “It probably has up to forty yards of aso-oke on it. I’m asking for only half a yard, Pauly.”
Pauly cries harder. He can still hear the snip of the first cut, can see the way the masquerade tilted afterward. “I don’t . . . want you . . . to do it.” Hiccups punctuate his sentence.
But Pauly has had enough and he sets them free even though he doesn't want to part from them but he also doesn't want them to sacrifice themselves for an ideal lifestyle.
A beautiful read that had me sobbing along with Pauly. I honestly didn't expect it to make me so emotional. A story about expectations versus the right thing to do.
4 stars
Pauly's mother is accepting of them until she asks Pauly to get the raffia or aso-oke fabric or the feathers off them. Pauly doesn't like it as he sees the masquerades limping the next day but he also wants to do what his mother asks him to.
“Look at that thing.” Her voice sounds breathy again. “It probably has up to forty yards of aso-oke on it. I’m asking for only half a yard, Pauly.”
Pauly cries harder. He can still hear the snip of the first cut, can see the way the masquerade tilted afterward. “I don’t . . . want you . . . to do it.” Hiccups punctuate his sentence.
But Pauly has had enough and he sets them free even though he doesn't want to part from them but he also doesn't want them to sacrifice themselves for an ideal lifestyle.
A beautiful read that had me sobbing along with Pauly. I honestly didn't expect it to make me so emotional. A story about expectations versus the right thing to do.
4 stars
May 16, 2022
Masquerade Season by Pemi Aguda - 2.5/5★
Heavily reminiscent of The Giving Tree, but with three masquerades instead of the tree; and instead of the child asking the tree for things, the kid's mother, who designs and sews clothes, asks for parts of the masquerades. The moral though seems a little different .
How much can you give 'til you cannot give any more?
The short story is found in Some of the Best from Tor.com, 2021 Edition and can also be read on Tor.com.
Heavily reminiscent of The Giving Tree, but with three masquerades instead of the tree; and instead of the child asking the tree for things, the kid's mother, who designs and sews clothes, asks for parts of the masquerades. The moral though seems a little different .
How much can you give 'til you cannot give any more?
The short story is found in Some of the Best from Tor.com, 2021 Edition and can also be read on Tor.com.
March 24, 2021
Beautiful, vividly realized tale from a child's point of view but not at all childish.
Magic comes into Pauly's life, but what that means for him is not what it means for others. "We are your masquerades," the masquerades tell him. But are they guests? Friends? Entertainment? Pets? Or something else.
Sometimes a relationship is defined--or saved--by what you give. Pauly was a fine protagonist throughout the story, but I loved him particularly at the end.
Magic comes into Pauly's life, but what that means for him is not what it means for others. "We are your masquerades," the masquerades tell him. But are they guests? Friends? Entertainment? Pets? Or something else.
Sometimes a relationship is defined--or saved--by what you give. Pauly was a fine protagonist throughout the story, but I loved him particularly at the end.
August 8, 2023
Winner of the 2022 Nommo award for best short story. Read for free @Tor.com
https://www.tor.com/2021/03/24/masque...
https://www.tor.com/2021/03/24/masque...
April 7, 2021
A beautifully written story - both vivid and delicate - which, to me, is ultimately about knowing what you really value and being prepared to act on it, even at the price of personal loss and displeasing others.
February 10, 2022
Masquerades come into Pauly’s life while walking home one day from playing at his cousins. They’re marvellous strange beings that tell him they belong to him. What follows is a heartbreaker of a story as Pauly has to make some hard decisions to protect them. This is a story from a compiled list of The Best of 2021 by Tor.com. The compiled stories are free on Kindle right now so if you haven’t downloaded them yet you might want to check that out.
February 22, 2022
A boy is "claimed" by a trio of magical beings. But while he values them, the people in his life don't.
Full review: https://ajungleoftales.blogspot.com/2...
Full review: https://ajungleoftales.blogspot.com/2...
April 5, 2021
Another excellent free short on Tor.com, "Masquerade Season" tells a story of Pauly, a young Nigerian boy who takes a short cut home one day and meets three Masquerades in the bush, who befriend him and follow him everywhere - home, to his friends, on his walks. It's a story with an emotional punch, and I enjoyed it very much.
It also feels very familiar, as if it is based on a traditional folktale that I've heard or read before.
It also feels very familiar, as if it is based on a traditional folktale that I've heard or read before.
July 20, 2023
Masquerade Season by Pemi Aguda
⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3*)
I liked that short story from an nigerian author, probably playing out in Nigeria itself. 🙂 I never read something from a nigerian author which means that was a first, which is a good thing! 😉👍🏻
„Pauly is a good son. When he brings home three beautiful Masquerades, he's expecting that his mother will be proud of him. But when his mother begins asking favors of his Masquerades, he realizes that being a good son sometimes means disobeying.“
As I said I liked the story and while it wasn‘t as great as I‘d hoped, it still got some good parts. The description of the masquerades was very detailed and I was able to imagine them very lively. 🎭🙂 In the end it was a little too short and at first I had some issues following the plot (which doesn‘t move all that much anyway) because I wasn‘t familar with the nigerian traditions. So my advice is to read about the aso-oke masquerades before starting this book. 😁👍🏻
⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3*)
I liked that short story from an nigerian author, probably playing out in Nigeria itself. 🙂 I never read something from a nigerian author which means that was a first, which is a good thing! 😉👍🏻
„Pauly is a good son. When he brings home three beautiful Masquerades, he's expecting that his mother will be proud of him. But when his mother begins asking favors of his Masquerades, he realizes that being a good son sometimes means disobeying.“
As I said I liked the story and while it wasn‘t as great as I‘d hoped, it still got some good parts. The description of the masquerades was very detailed and I was able to imagine them very lively. 🎭🙂 In the end it was a little too short and at first I had some issues following the plot (which doesn‘t move all that much anyway) because I wasn‘t familar with the nigerian traditions. So my advice is to read about the aso-oke masquerades before starting this book. 😁👍🏻
March 26, 2021
A clever and striking short story that's a little sad at times, but ends on a somewhat hopeful note. Read it for free at Tor.com here!
May 26, 2021
Impresive story, told through a child's perspective.
November 30, 2021
A free short story, not actually fantasy IMO but magical realism set in an African city, a 10 year old boy finds 3 masquerades and makes some grownup choices. Masquerades never explained. The story is also really obvious. Writing is very nice, evocative descriptions.
December 29, 2023
But after he had startled awake several times, the rustling of the first masqurade's raffia began to soothe him; moon snuck in through a gap in his curtains and passed through the beads on the aso-oke, and they refracted light, dotting the walls and ceiling of Pauly's room with stars; the embroidered patterns on the third masquerade's skirt seemed to him like complete stories in a secret language known only to him, the silver threads glinting alive in the night.
This is one of the stories that makes me want to say that I didn't like it while in reality I mean that I didn't like how it made me feel, which means that it's pretty dang good. Still, these types of stories aren't easy to read for me and very enjoyable hence four stars. That said, this story is beautifully and vividly written. And my perception of the story might have been warped by reading way too many short-stories by Aliette de Bodard lately, whose stories always have such an emotional depth and viscerality that most other stories seem a bit shallow in comparison.
Nice read that ended up not being entirely for me, but still interesting and enjoyable. Would recommend!
Read for free here: https://www.tor.com/2021/03/24/masque...
January 5, 2023
I thought this was actually a really beautiful short story. I'm impressed with the emotion it brought out of me, with that 10 year old boy crying. I'm so glad he disobey his mother, although they are creepy as hell, I didn't want to see them pulled apart slowly.
July 22, 2021
In spite of the story going in an obvious direction, it was beautifully written. I look forward to checking out more of Aguda's writing.
December 25, 2021
really cute, id love to read more
December 30, 2021
What a beautiful story complemented by beautiful art!
May 16, 2021
Woah! What an amazing story!!! For such a short story it sure had a lot of depth :)
Read
May 1, 2021an absolutely beautiful story about masquerades, childhood, toxic parent-child relationships and letting go. i’m not sure i entirely understood it, but i loved it
April 5, 2021
Pauly was such a compassionate and kind kid. These qualities of his even extended to people in his life who didn’t always have the best intentions. Seeing his consistency not only showed off his strong moral code, it made me like him even more. He was the sort of person anyone who needed help could rely on. What made him even more remarkable was that he’d developed these traits at such a young age!
It would have been helpful to have a deeper understanding of what a Masquerade was. I was thrown off by the early and often vague descriptions of it. While they did eventually become clearer, it sure would have been nice to have someone in this storyline explain what exactly they were and why they chose Pauly as their companion. Was it related to what a good person he was or was it a random choice on their part? I certainly don’t mind some unanswered questions in the speculative fiction I read, but I would have given this a perfect rating if it had been a little more forthcoming with its answers about the most important aspects of this creature.
The ending was well-written and suited the tone of this short story perfectly. It left me yearning for more in a good way. I was pretty satisfied with what I’d learned about Pauly and this magical version of Nigeria, but I also wished for a sequel about him and his Masquerades when he was older and perhaps lived on his own. He struck me as the sort of character who would only grow more fascinating over time.
I’d recommend Masquerade Season to anyone who enjoys modern-day fairy tales.
It would have been helpful to have a deeper understanding of what a Masquerade was. I was thrown off by the early and often vague descriptions of it. While they did eventually become clearer, it sure would have been nice to have someone in this storyline explain what exactly they were and why they chose Pauly as their companion. Was it related to what a good person he was or was it a random choice on their part? I certainly don’t mind some unanswered questions in the speculative fiction I read, but I would have given this a perfect rating if it had been a little more forthcoming with its answers about the most important aspects of this creature.
The ending was well-written and suited the tone of this short story perfectly. It left me yearning for more in a good way. I was pretty satisfied with what I’d learned about Pauly and this magical version of Nigeria, but I also wished for a sequel about him and his Masquerades when he was older and perhaps lived on his own. He struck me as the sort of character who would only grow more fascinating over time.
I’d recommend Masquerade Season to anyone who enjoys modern-day fairy tales.
May 6, 2021
This really broke my heart..
It's strange because there is a tag going around BookTube The Pain Over Joy Reading Tag (An Original Tag by Lady Lovestead Reads) which asks the question: ''Do you see books about pain as more intellectually valuable?''
My first thought was ''No'' but some other BookTubers did this tag and one of them (Bookish) mentioned that the best stories are about conflict (I'm paraphrasing here) and therefore people will find those stories more of a challenge. At least that was what I took from that video.
The thing is I thought I read purely for joy. The best books are the ones that focus on joy. I don't like doom and gloom. But I think the books I think most about are stories like this.
There was joy in it but also conflict and in the end it pained me, and because of that it made me think. Is it therefore more valuable to me? Not really but this is a a story I will remember. I think.
Still have no idea what a Masquerade is though...
It's strange because there is a tag going around BookTube The Pain Over Joy Reading Tag (An Original Tag by Lady Lovestead Reads) which asks the question: ''Do you see books about pain as more intellectually valuable?''
My first thought was ''No'' but some other BookTubers did this tag and one of them (Bookish) mentioned that the best stories are about conflict (I'm paraphrasing here) and therefore people will find those stories more of a challenge. At least that was what I took from that video.
The thing is I thought I read purely for joy. The best books are the ones that focus on joy. I don't like doom and gloom. But I think the books I think most about are stories like this.
There was joy in it but also conflict and in the end it pained me, and because of that it made me think. Is it therefore more valuable to me? Not really but this is a a story I will remember. I think.
Still have no idea what a Masquerade is though...
May 14, 2021
This was incredibly sad. A boy who finds three beautiful, colourful masquerades and brings them home. With a mother who’s a seamstress who’s asking for parts of his masquerades for her designs.
I didn’t know my heart could break for three masquerades but here we are. I was sad at the end because these masquerades (I wasn’t familiar with the term before, I kind of pictured them as colourful, pretty scarecrows in my head) were so beautiful described and it was such a joy to read about them but when you see how this progressed…
You see that his mother does this things to make life better for them or so she says but you see what it costs Pauly, to the point where you wonder if his unhappiness is worth the wealth.
I didn’t know my heart could break for three masquerades but here we are. I was sad at the end because these masquerades (I wasn’t familiar with the term before, I kind of pictured them as colourful, pretty scarecrows in my head) were so beautiful described and it was such a joy to read about them but when you see how this progressed…
You see that his mother does this things to make life better for them or so she says but you see what it costs Pauly, to the point where you wonder if his unhappiness is worth the wealth.
December 27, 2022
Masquerade Season by author Pemi Aguda is a short story you can read for free on the Tor.com site https://www.tor.com/2021/03/24/masque...
Pauly is a good son. When he brings home three beautiful Masquerades, he’s expecting that his mother will be proud of him. But when his mother begins asking favors of his Masquerades, he realizes that being a good son sometimes means disobeying.
Interesting and evocative story about the loss of innocence.
4 Stars
Pauly is a good son. When he brings home three beautiful Masquerades, he’s expecting that his mother will be proud of him. But when his mother begins asking favors of his Masquerades, he realizes that being a good son sometimes means disobeying.
Interesting and evocative story about the loss of innocence.
4 Stars
September 4, 2023
This is a very didactic short story. I didn't expect this book to be focused on teaching a lesson but I loved that it did because now I can gladly recommend it to youngsters to read.
For a fact, I loved that it aimed at teaching selflessness and contentment and I applaud the main character, Pauly for knowing to say "No" to his mother and foregoing dreams of a seemingly beautiful and comfortable life at the expense of his masquerades.
Honestly, this book gives me a very warm feeling and it helps that within few minutes, you get to finish it.
For a fact, I loved that it aimed at teaching selflessness and contentment and I applaud the main character, Pauly for knowing to say "No" to his mother and foregoing dreams of a seemingly beautiful and comfortable life at the expense of his masquerades.
Honestly, this book gives me a very warm feeling and it helps that within few minutes, you get to finish it.
Read
March 24, 2021On his way home, a Nigerian boy acquires three fabulous figures, puzzling presences whose bright bodies draw the attention of his dressmaker mother. She only wants a little fabric here, and a little there... The surface level of the metaphor is obvious enough, and I'm sure there are deeper resonances I'm missing because I don't have the context. But I enjoyed the way Aguda caught the quality of a dream, and I think those swaying, whispering masquerades will come back to me at odd moments.
November 25, 2021
A story of a boy who, while generally obedient, disobeys his mother's orders in small ways, like taking shortcuts to get back home. On one of these shortcuts, he encounters colourful African Masquerades who say they are his and follow him home.
Then the trouble starts, for his mother begins to make small requests, taking pieces from his Masquerades to put into her own designs to be sold. And one day, the boy decides to disobey his mother in a big way.
Then the trouble starts, for his mother begins to make small requests, taking pieces from his Masquerades to put into her own designs to be sold. And one day, the boy decides to disobey his mother in a big way.
June 16, 2023
I think most of us at some point in our lives had to choose between what we think/feel is right and what our parents want from us. That is a part of growing up.
In this magical story main character Pauly has to choose between protecting masquerades and obeying his mother. Will he choose what is right or a wealthier life?
Beautifully written, a bit sad and melancholic but with a hopeful ending.
In this magical story main character Pauly has to choose between protecting masquerades and obeying his mother. Will he choose what is right or a wealthier life?
Beautifully written, a bit sad and melancholic but with a hopeful ending.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews