The Ace Of Knives

"I almost always use a few specific paragraphs from Tonya Liburd's story 'The Ace of Knives' to illustrate code switching, because it shows how ubiquitous the phenomenon is, occurring even in dialogues between the same people, at the same moment, and on the same topic. It also highlights strategies for indicating how these shifts happen, and how they sound. 'The Ace of Knives' is a stellar story, and an essential resource for me as I share knowledge of how dialogue works." —Nisi Shawl, co-author of Writing The Other

"I'm always on the look out for new voices: marginalized voices, writers who may only need a bigger platform for readers to discover them. Tonya Liburd is one of those writers. Her 'The Ace of Knives' was the kind of story that waited, bided its time for the right opportunity to grab you by the collar, draw you in close, and whisper its dark secrets to you. It's sharp, layered, and brimming with that particular kind of magic born from the intersection of lived experience and myth." —Maurice Broaddus, Author Of Sweep Of Stars

"Amazing. I loved it. Particularly the subtlety of the genre elements." —Gemma Files, Author of Experimantal Films

"Powerful." —Maria Haskins, author of Six Dreams About The Trains And Other Stories

"'The Ace of Knives' deserves its perennial reprinting and ongoing attention in the SFF/ H world. It's gratifying to see a now-established author's first story live on, and live so well. —Ranlyt Richildis, founder and editor of Lackington's

"Beauty and danger in ordinary things. Poetically wrought, with gorgeous characterization." —Jordan Kurella, Nebula Award-finalist author of I Never Liked You Anyway

Originally published in the anthology Postscripts To Darkness 6, "The Ace Of Knives" deals with violence, trauma, homelessness, mental illness, dysfunctional and found family, and healing. It is now used in Nisi Shawl's Writing The Other program to demonstrate code-switching, and has also been used by Tananarive Due in her UCLA Horror course for the same purpose.
This eBook also contains extras that shed light into the inspiration and conceptualization of the short story that has been perennially met with acclaim.