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Cold Wind
"Cold Wind", by Nicola Griffith, is a dark fantasy tale about a woman who enters a Seattle bar on a cold wintry night in the midst of the Christmas holidays, searching for something…or someone.
At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.
At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.
17 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 16, 2014
21 people are currently reading
624 people want to read
About the author
Nicola Griffith
50Ìýbooks1,765ÌýfollowersNicola Griffith has won the Los Angeles Times' Ray Bradbury Prize, the Society of Authors' ADCI Literary Prize, the Washington State Book Award (twice), the Nebula Award, the Otherwise/James Tiptree, Jr. Memorial Award, the World Fantasy Award, Premio Italia, Lambda Literary Award (6 times), and others. She is also the co-editor of the Bending the Landscape series of anthologies. Her newest novels are and . Her Aud Torvingen novels are soonn to be rereleased in new editions. She lives in Seattle with her wife, writer Kelley Eskridge, where she's working on the sequel to Hild, Menewood.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews
August 19, 2018
AND NOW IS THE TIME OF YEAR I FLOAT OLD CHRISTMAS REVIEWS TO COUNTDOWN TO BING BONG BING BONG!!
It was one of the most pernicious fallacies, common the world over: old ways are best. But old ways can outlast their usefulness. Old ways can live on pointlessly in worlds that have no room for them.
i don't know why i loved this story as much as i did.
it's one of those "there's just something about it" situations that's a combination of just the right story and tone for my mood with a delightfully unexpected bottom-of-the-cereal-box bonus twist.
this story has such a nice build to it. you know that something magical is going to happen, you're allowed glimpses into what it could be, but it's mostly tease and shimmer - just a hinting flash and then a retreat back behind the more familiar setting of a bar on christmas eve, women waiting out the cold with alcohol merriment.
there's an ominous overtone to it, but it's just a scent on the wind - implicit rather than overt, and it flavors the story with anticipatory shivers as you wait for whatever "it" is to appear.
and when it does, it takes over and that familiar setting and the comforting din of clinking glasses and background laughter is completely obliterated and this new story stomps out and leaves you breathless and unsettled but also still completely turned on by it.
it's definitely not for people who don't enjoy flowery prose because there are many many moments where it goes too far into purpletown, even for me:
The air lost its lemon glitter, the dancing water dulled to a greasy heave, and the moon, not yet at its height, grew more substantial. Clouds gathered along the horizon, dirty yellow-white and gory at one end, like a broken arctic fox.
or
…Guinness black as licorice and topped with a head like beige meringue. I savored the thrust of rusty-fist body through the velvet glove of foam�
but i don't even care, and neither should you, because this story kicks ass. and the second reading is even better than the first, when you notice how carefully certain words were chosen in the opening passages, and how they set these winking ironies in place before you even knew where you were about to be taken.
it's just perfect. and i would LOVE to see this in graphic novel form, given the right artist. in fact, let me just law of attraction it right now - i would love to see a bunch of these tor shorts collected into a graphic novel anthology, illustrated by a bunch of different artists. and i would like to be in charge of all editorial decisions, while we're throwing wishes into the void.
i will sit by the phone.
read it for yourself here:
It was one of the most pernicious fallacies, common the world over: old ways are best. But old ways can outlast their usefulness. Old ways can live on pointlessly in worlds that have no room for them.
i don't know why i loved this story as much as i did.
it's one of those "there's just something about it" situations that's a combination of just the right story and tone for my mood with a delightfully unexpected bottom-of-the-cereal-box bonus twist.
this story has such a nice build to it. you know that something magical is going to happen, you're allowed glimpses into what it could be, but it's mostly tease and shimmer - just a hinting flash and then a retreat back behind the more familiar setting of a bar on christmas eve, women waiting out the cold with alcohol merriment.
there's an ominous overtone to it, but it's just a scent on the wind - implicit rather than overt, and it flavors the story with anticipatory shivers as you wait for whatever "it" is to appear.
and when it does, it takes over and that familiar setting and the comforting din of clinking glasses and background laughter is completely obliterated and this new story stomps out and leaves you breathless and unsettled but also still completely turned on by it.
it's definitely not for people who don't enjoy flowery prose because there are many many moments where it goes too far into purpletown, even for me:
The air lost its lemon glitter, the dancing water dulled to a greasy heave, and the moon, not yet at its height, grew more substantial. Clouds gathered along the horizon, dirty yellow-white and gory at one end, like a broken arctic fox.
or
…Guinness black as licorice and topped with a head like beige meringue. I savored the thrust of rusty-fist body through the velvet glove of foam�
but i don't even care, and neither should you, because this story kicks ass. and the second reading is even better than the first, when you notice how carefully certain words were chosen in the opening passages, and how they set these winking ironies in place before you even knew where you were about to be taken.
it's just perfect. and i would LOVE to see this in graphic novel form, given the right artist. in fact, let me just law of attraction it right now - i would love to see a bunch of these tor shorts collected into a graphic novel anthology, illustrated by a bunch of different artists. and i would like to be in charge of all editorial decisions, while we're throwing wishes into the void.
i will sit by the phone.
read it for yourself here:
February 28, 2015
When I'm promised 'urban fantasy,' now THIS is what I want to be served!!
An unnamed observer enters a women's bar on a holiday evening. Conviviality is all around her, but she is watching and waiting... for who? or what? Gradually, small clues are dropped that this isn't going to be your usual bar pick-up or one-night-stand.
Rather, it's a tale of predators and prey...
Beautiful, vivid writing, as can always be expected from Nicola Griffith.
An unnamed observer enters a women's bar on a holiday evening. Conviviality is all around her, but she is watching and waiting... for who? or what? Gradually, small clues are dropped that this isn't going to be your usual bar pick-up or one-night-stand.
Rather, it's a tale of predators and prey...
Beautiful, vivid writing, as can always be expected from Nicola Griffith.
January 22, 2016
You can tell a lot about a culture from its metaphors: the world is fragile, breakable, spillable as an egg. People felt it. Beyond the warmth and light cast by the holiday they sensed predators roaming the dark. It made people long to be with their own kind. Even those who were not usually lonely hungered to belong.
It was a bit confusing at times and for a part of it I wasn't sure if the narrator male or female but the story is quick to sink into.
Neither narrator is a good person but that didn't bother me really. The atmosphere and the hint of the mythology involved really interested me. The writing flows wonderfully, pulling you along and into what is happening.
I would love to read more of this world, one glimpse isn't enough haha.
Well done Miss Griffith:) Look forward to reading more from you
Read the story here:
It was a bit confusing at times and for a part of it I wasn't sure if the narrator male or female but the story is quick to sink into.
Neither narrator is a good person but that didn't bother me really. The atmosphere and the hint of the mythology involved really interested me. The writing flows wonderfully, pulling you along and into what is happening.
I would love to read more of this world, one glimpse isn't enough haha.
Well done Miss Griffith:) Look forward to reading more from you
Read the story here:
January 1, 2019
It was one of the most pernicious fallacies, common the world over: old ways are best. But old ways can outlast their usefulness.
A wonderfully magical tale of old beings from the dawn of mankind and how they can end up stuck in the roles they have grown accustomed to, which usually isn't good for them.
I very much enjoyed the picture the author has drawn here of a New Year's Eve full of glistening snow, cold wind, icy sleet and dangerous creatures, hungry, yearning for warm blood.
Just as much, I enjoyed how the author managed to envoke the old world these creatures must come from in contrast to the modern world they now have to live in (we might be the hunted ones, but we have created this world that doesn't seem quite as nice to them as the old place).
Cold, creepy, rich with imagery. Rather wonderful!
You can read the story for free here:
January 30, 2016
Wow, a short horror-ish story, building tension and unfolding on the way, word by word.... written in a very poetic way. Weird, intriguing and atmospheric. As the story unfolds, you learn and shiver.... Well done to this writer!
See : more great stories to find there, I will certainly be exploring...
I pondered her clothes: long dress, with a thick drape; long coat of oddly indeterminate color; boots. Those were long, too. Not shiny. Brown? Black? I frowned. I couldn’t tell. It didn’t matter. She was here. It would go as it would.
See : more great stories to find there, I will certainly be exploring...
I pondered her clothes: long dress, with a thick drape; long coat of oddly indeterminate color; boots. Those were long, too. Not shiny. Brown? Black? I frowned. I couldn’t tell. It didn’t matter. She was here. It would go as it would.
February 26, 2015
It was one of the most pernicious fallacies, common the world over: old ways are best. But old ways can outlast their usefulness. Old ways can live on pointlessly in worlds that have no room for them.
December 23, 2022
Great characters and good story
April 6, 2022
A holiday predator story, written with beautiful and deadly imagination. I loved it.
March 2, 2015
{March 1st, 2015} REVIEW
3.5 stars.
Very interesting concept of the cold winter's chill of sorts. Stops short suddenly to leave you almost breathless on purpose to give the sense of thrill almost. Started out rather contemplating only to decent into a very intense and dark turn--almost like a dark fairytale of sorts. Actually has me curious about it continuing further, but I guess I have to be satisfied here, I guess? :P
3.5 stars.
Very interesting concept of the cold winter's chill of sorts. Stops short suddenly to leave you almost breathless on purpose to give the sense of thrill almost. Started out rather contemplating only to decent into a very intense and dark turn--almost like a dark fairytale of sorts. Actually has me curious about it continuing further, but I guess I have to be satisfied here, I guess? :P
March 6, 2015
A magical,beautifully written short recommended to me by my friend T.L.
August 19, 2022
I've long been fascinated by Washington state and its ever-changing, unforgiving weather. I love rain. I love the sound of it beating against the ground, the loamy, rich scent of earth after a downpour, and the vibrant shades of green that paint the world like a mad psychedelic artist. Rain makes me happy.
See what I mean? The prose alone makes me want to lick the sky.
Also, the chilly weather means a veritable plethora of layering options! Imagine sweaters (<3), blazers, mufflers, cowls, cardigans, jackets, trench coats of so many varieties. The very thought makes my head spin.
Rain makes me want to build a fort out of blankets and read a book together with someone I care about. Or cuddle.
Cold Wind is a gorgeous, gorgeous short story which explores the ideas of predator vs prey, love and lust. Read it! You won't regret it, I promise.
"From the park on Puget Sound I watched the sun go down on the shortest day of the year. The air lost its lemon glitter, the dancing water dulled to a greasy heave, and the moon, not yet at its height, grew more substantial. Clouds gathered along the horizon, dirty yellow-white and gory at one end, like a broken arctic fox. Snow wasn’t in the forecast, but I could smell it."
See what I mean? The prose alone makes me want to lick the sky.
Also, the chilly weather means a veritable plethora of layering options! Imagine sweaters (<3), blazers, mufflers, cowls, cardigans, jackets, trench coats of so many varieties. The very thought makes my head spin.
"Inside the women’s bar, customers were dressed a little better than usual: wool rather than fleece, cashmere blend instead of merino, and all in richer, more celebratory colors."
Rain makes me want to build a fort out of blankets and read a book together with someone I care about. Or cuddle.
"Women have lit up that way for thousands of years when they have found someone they want, someone whose belly will lie on theirs heavy and soft and urgent, whose weight they welcome, whose voice thrills them, whose taste, scent, turn of the head makes them thrum with need, ring and sing with it. They laugh. They glow."
Cold Wind is a gorgeous, gorgeous short story which explores the ideas of predator vs prey, love and lust. Read it! You won't regret it, I promise.
December 31, 2018
A precise and beautiful short story - a holiday dream (or nightmare)
April 25, 2015
Cross-posted from my
In a Seattle lesbian bar the main protagonist is picked up one midwinter night by an ancient shapeshifter. It explores the lust of predator vs. prey, lover vs. victim.
Striking, intense narrative, crisp characters, great tension arc, beautiful nature scenery. The atmosphere reminds me a good bit of Poe. I haven't read Nicola Griffith's Hild but it went up high on my tbr shelf after reading this great short story. The only thing I'm missing in its reprint in The Best SF&F anthology are the illustrations around it - but it is great that it is reposted @the author's blog - read the story first, because there are a couple of spoiler-drawings.
In a Seattle lesbian bar the main protagonist is picked up one midwinter night by an ancient shapeshifter. It explores the lust of predator vs. prey, lover vs. victim.
Striking, intense narrative, crisp characters, great tension arc, beautiful nature scenery. The atmosphere reminds me a good bit of Poe. I haven't read Nicola Griffith's Hild but it went up high on my tbr shelf after reading this great short story. The only thing I'm missing in its reprint in The Best SF&F anthology are the illustrations around it - but it is great that it is reposted @the author's blog - read the story first, because there are a couple of spoiler-drawings.
September 15, 2022
How I wish I had read this closer to the holidays when this is set nearer to the end of the year. The atmosphere, the writing and the story was breathtakingly beautiful, and gorgeously written. It captured emotions quite well and I was unprepared for how much I would enjoy this. 5 â�!
April 9, 2022
Cold Wind by author Nicola Griffith is a dark fantasy short story you can read for free on the Tor.com site
Daylight. Daybreak. Crack of dawn. You can tell a lot about a culture from its metaphors: the world is fragile, breakable, spillable as an egg. People felt it. Beyond the warmth and light cast by the holiday they sensed predators roaming the dark. It made people long to be with their own kind. Even those who were not usually lonely hungered to belong.
Excellent story, highly evocative and haunting.
Themes: Christmas time, Seattle, Deer Woman, Predator and prey.
4 Stars
Daylight. Daybreak. Crack of dawn. You can tell a lot about a culture from its metaphors: the world is fragile, breakable, spillable as an egg. People felt it. Beyond the warmth and light cast by the holiday they sensed predators roaming the dark. It made people long to be with their own kind. Even those who were not usually lonely hungered to belong.
Excellent story, highly evocative and haunting.
Themes: Christmas time, Seattle, Deer Woman, Predator and prey.
4 Stars
January 1, 2016
Rich in description and hidden meanings, but lacking in real substance. This is the kind of story that makes me impatient: get on with it, already - make me feel something, stop describing everything, let something happen. This led up and up and up to a promised climax, which was more of a pffft release of air. Ah. So that's it. That's all?
I liked what it tried to be, but I didn't like what it was.
Descriptions like this just tick me off:
Descriptions like this kept me hoping that I'd be sucked in:
Find out if it works for you here:
I liked what it tried to be, but I didn't like what it was.
Descriptions like this just tick me off:
I sat by the window, facing the door, and sipped Guinness black as licorice and topped with a head like beige meringue. I savored the thrust of rusty-fist body through the velvet glove of foam, glad of the low alcohol. Daybreak was a long way off.Everything between Guinness and Daybreak was unnecessary chaff. I don't even like Guinness; it doesn't warrant such a precious description.
Descriptions like this kept me hoping that I'd be sucked in:
She saw me. Her face didn’t move, but I knew how it would be when she flung her head back, cried out, clutched my shoulders as she shuddered. I felt her breath against my collarbone as she folded there, the brush of her mouth against my skin.But this story didn't pay out for me.
Find out if it works for you here:
January 22, 2016
A beautifully written short story about the Deer Woman () that constantly holds the reader's attention with its startlingly brilliant prose and atmospheric way of really popping the image of a cold winter's night into one's head.
"Moonlight spilled through the cloud and splashed like milk onto the snow and I saw the darker line in the gray-blue shadow of the steel sculpture.
“Onca,� it said. “Come to me.�"
O_O
And it's free to read online, no download. Thanks to Karen for highlighting this! :D
"Moonlight spilled through the cloud and splashed like milk onto the snow and I saw the darker line in the gray-blue shadow of the steel sculpture.
“Onca,� it said. “Come to me.�"
O_O
And it's free to read online, no download. Thanks to Karen for highlighting this! :D
July 14, 2022
This was really atmospheric novella, cold winter night was really present. Because the threat here was a bit unclear this wasn't as thrilling as it could have been.
February 14, 2015
Another Tor.com short story.
I made the mistake of thinking the narrator was male for far too long and now I'm mad at myself. Neither of the named charaters are good people, but they are interesting and while the twist isn't that surprising I loved the imagery and lyrical choice of words (except for the sentence she uses to describe Guiness, i mean really?)
(no really, she wrote this: I savored the thrust of rusty-fist body through the velvet glove of foam, it's quite possibly the worst sentence I've ever read. It stands out so badly because the rest of her writing is good in the same way that sentence isn't)
I made the mistake of thinking the narrator was male for far too long and now I'm mad at myself. Neither of the named charaters are good people, but they are interesting and while the twist isn't that surprising I loved the imagery and lyrical choice of words (except for the sentence she uses to describe Guiness, i mean really?)
(no really, she wrote this: I savored the thrust of rusty-fist body through the velvet glove of foam, it's quite possibly the worst sentence I've ever read. It stands out so badly because the rest of her writing is good in the same way that sentence isn't)
August 5, 2016
Still not a big fan of short stories. I liked the descriptive writing, but I was pretty bored with the bar scene, which was much of the book. Ending was a bit unexpected.
May 2, 2018
An author never stops evolving, growing stronger, refining her prose. Nicola Griffith is proof of this. Once more, she’s surpassed herself with a powerful, seductive tale of speculative f/f, channeling the very elements of the cold itself into distinctive personalities that stalk and circle each other in a lonely, winter landscape.
Once more, I bow my head in awed respect for her skill. As a writer, I race after her, eager to catch up and learn all I can from her. A reader, I greedily devour another amazing story.
Keep up the high standard of excellence, Nicola. It makes all of us, reader and writer aware of how high we can soar.
For delivering said excellence in a short amount of prose, this story gets five stars.
Merged review:
An author never stops evolving, growing stronger, refining her prose. Nicola Griffith is proof of this. Once more, she’s surpassed herself with a powerful, seductive tale of speculative f/f, channeling the very elements of the cold itself into distinctive personalities that stalk and circle each other in a lonely, winter landscape.
Once more, I bow my head in awed respect for her skill. As a writer, I race after her, eager to catch up and learn all I can from her. A reader, I greedily devour another amazing story.
Keep up the high standard of excellence, Nicola. It makes all of us, reader and writer aware of how high we can soar.
For delivering said excellence in a short amount of prose, this story gets five stars.
Once more, I bow my head in awed respect for her skill. As a writer, I race after her, eager to catch up and learn all I can from her. A reader, I greedily devour another amazing story.
Keep up the high standard of excellence, Nicola. It makes all of us, reader and writer aware of how high we can soar.
For delivering said excellence in a short amount of prose, this story gets five stars.
Merged review:
An author never stops evolving, growing stronger, refining her prose. Nicola Griffith is proof of this. Once more, she’s surpassed herself with a powerful, seductive tale of speculative f/f, channeling the very elements of the cold itself into distinctive personalities that stalk and circle each other in a lonely, winter landscape.
Once more, I bow my head in awed respect for her skill. As a writer, I race after her, eager to catch up and learn all I can from her. A reader, I greedily devour another amazing story.
Keep up the high standard of excellence, Nicola. It makes all of us, reader and writer aware of how high we can soar.
For delivering said excellence in a short amount of prose, this story gets five stars.
February 4, 2018
i think this is my first Nicola Griffith story... i haven't read her novels (though i LOVE the cover art for 'Hild') because i they just don't sound like my types of tales... this loaded item had plenty of depth: myths from various places and a multiplicity of names for the beasts therein, thick atmospherics, and a strong current of sexual longing and desire... leaves you in a sensual limbo...
October 17, 2016
Lately I love to read my beloved tor.com short stories again (you should really check that page out :D!!) and this one was exquisitely dark and creepy!
December 15, 2016
This is nominally a Christmas story in that it takes place at Christmas time, but is more a story of loss and finding meaning in one's life.
December 12, 2019
Rep: wlw mc
September 18, 2020
A nice, dark holiday story. Really well written, you could tell that the author has spent a lot of time in Seattle, as it felt like a living city. Loved the attention to all the detail and the grounding in our reality, but not quite.
October 31, 2022
The descriptions were poetic but I thought the overall story lacked substance.
April 24, 2023
From the park on Puget Sound I watched the sun go down on the shortest day of the year. The air lost its lemon glitter, the dancing water dulled to a greasy heave, and the moon, not yet at its height, grew more substantial. Clouds gathered along the horizon, dirty yellow-white and gory at one end, like a broken arctic fox. Snow wasn’t in the forecast, but I could smell it.
Nicola Griffith was on my (not really written) list of authors I want to try soon, I really want to read , but trying out short story first is really working out for me lately, so... I did that and now I'm even more excited to try out something else by her!
Cold Wind wasn't the best fit for me, it was fine, but it didn't grab me, didn't make me invested and the ending... wasn't bad, but wasn't anything special either. What really sold this story to me is the writing style - which as you can see above is SO pretty - and the work with atmosphere which was truly spectacular. All of this makes me really hopeful for Griffith's other books/stories. I'm always on a lookout for more sapphic goodness!
Read here:
November 29, 2014
Review Taken From
Not sure if I want to give this a 2.5 stars or a 3...
This story starts in a bar. A woman walks in one wintery night. She's searching for something... or someone...
Now, I'm not 100% certain how I feel about it. I liked it, but it didn't bowl me over. I think, while I liked the style of the story - fairytale but not at the same time - I got confused over it. And while one of the things was explained, I felt that there was a few things that weren't tied up or explained very well...
Maybe I'm being picky. Like I said, I was reading something to help me not fall into a reading slump and while this is okay for something to past the time, it just wasn't enough for me...
Not sure if I want to give this a 2.5 stars or a 3...
This story starts in a bar. A woman walks in one wintery night. She's searching for something... or someone...
Now, I'm not 100% certain how I feel about it. I liked it, but it didn't bowl me over. I think, while I liked the style of the story - fairytale but not at the same time - I got confused over it. And while one of the things was explained, I felt that there was a few things that weren't tied up or explained very well...
Maybe I'm being picky. Like I said, I was reading something to help me not fall into a reading slump and while this is okay for something to past the time, it just wasn't enough for me...
February 15, 2016
She was here. It would go as it would.
Hunters in the city, a dance of predators and their prey.
(I probably would have rated this higher if the other two stories I read tonight weren't so excellent. See for more urban fantasy and for more just plain good.)
Hunters in the city, a dance of predators and their prey.
(I probably would have rated this higher if the other two stories I read tonight weren't so excellent. See for more urban fantasy and for more just plain good.)
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