fffriday | "Head of a Snake, Tail of a Dragon", by Zen Cho

On the heels of finding out that "Winter Sojourn", the Muna/Henrietta fic I recced, was in fact essentially a postcanon bonus story from the original author herself, I 1) was filled with awe and glee and 2) thought it was a good opportunity to reread some other recentish short fiction of hers.

"If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again", about an imugi trying to become a dragon, took the Hugo for Best Novelette and made quite a bit of a splash (at least among my circles), but did you know she also wrote a sequel short story? "Head of a Snake, Tail of a Dragon" (2,369 words) is a wry, sweet follow-up about love, loneliness, and second chances of all kinds; less a coda and more a new adventure, and tropey in the best of ways. It can be read on its own, but I think having read the novelette made it funnier. I am eternally dead about "Jae Store". Dead.