A Better Way of Saying

by Sarah Pinsker

A Better Way of Saying by Sarah Pinsker is a fantasy about a young man, who in 1915, is hired to shout the words on title cards for silent movies. But his aspirations to edit some of the worst dialog leads him in a weird direction that changes his life.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Short Stories, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Magical Realism, Magic

26 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 10, 2021

Reviews

[karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the films are gone now, disintegrated or burned, lost to time. You know some of my lines, even if you don’t know they’re mine, and other than those I’ve admitted to here, you don’t know which they are. I met the writers of many of them over the years, and even they didn’t seem to realize a change had been made. Myself, I’ve forgotten more than I remember.

it's hollywood magic(al realism), as pinsker backstories-with-fiction the apparently factual silent movie-era story about the time that little-steven-prototype douglas fairbanks



accidentally shot a furrier with a two-foot-long arrow whilst goofin'-with-weaponry on the roof of the ritz-carlton in 1922.

a short, engaging story about unacknowledged creative contributions and unsung heroism, recounted by a refreshingly modest narrator just trying to make things better; making movies better, saving a life—just another day in hollywood.

Mainly, I wanted to say that I briefly knew magic, real magic if small, and just once I got to use it to do a small, real, good thing in the world. Or at least I tell myself so.

SHORT REVIEW FOR A SHORT STORY



read it for yourself here:

https://www.tor.com/2021/11/10/a-bett...

come to my blog!

[Fiona Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

The good titles stayed good. We shouted them over and over and they didn’t get old. But some. The irritating lines got worse with each night. On the walk home, Golde would ask what was bothering me, and I’d recite back the ugly and awkward, and my suggestions for making them better. Telling her helped, but the bad lines bruised like pebbles I couldn’t remove from my shoe. I had no option but to say them.

A short story, one I liked, one where a little piece of magic brushes up against a young man who cares enough to want to put even a little bit of good into the world. Relatively quiet and understated, but very worth the read - I think this is one of those unassuming stories that's going to sit in the back of my mind and grow on me. Not the first one from Sarah Pinsker I've read that's done that, and it's a quality I really appreciate in an author, especially one who works in the short form.

[Georgie-who-is-Sarah-Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tor's original short stories are always thought-provoking; this is the second short from Sarah Pinsker I've read & it's even better than Two Truths and a Lie.

A Better Way of Saying is terrific on its setting: the start of the movie business in 1915. It's also got a fascinating premise, gently introduced which ramps up to a clever & satisfying climax. In just 7k words.

Thoroughly recommended.

[Roslyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

The power of words and intention, interwoven with a young man's ambitions of becoming a writer/journalist, are the themes of this short story. The man's decision at the end, which involves a magical ability he has been granted temporarily, brings these threads together. I enjoyed this story, but I became confused about the order of events, hence the comparatively (for me) lower rating. I also felt it needed more substance - the ending seemed a little inadequate, but then again, perhaps for some readers, the understatement may give it added power.

Still, an engrossing and intriguing story. The confusion may very possibly just be me (I haven't read other reviews yet), so take my rating with a pinch of salt.

[Mery ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

I had a feeling the story was based on fact. Well done.

[GoldGato · Rating 3 out of 5]

One doesn’t normally see short stories about the Silent Film era, let alone about the “shouters” who had to loudly read the screen cards for those who weren’t able to read the words themselves. The “shouters” had to be loud enough so that the words were heard above the accompanying piano music and the constant talking from the audience. It’s a nifty idea to base a story around such an unexpected profession.

The other thing about shouting the title cards was it gave the audience permission to shout back.

The story’s hero is a good guy, a young man in love with words who takes the job with his sister in his local cinema. The two pass a megaphone back and forth as they read the male and female lines. The job sounds easy but with all the cacophony from the moviegoers and the fact that many of the title cards are badly written, he feels he can re-interpret the words, so they are more vibrant and understandable. This is where the magic appears. It seems the hero has the ability to change the lines on the screen, simply by saying what he prefers them to say. The beginnings of a writer. His real adventure continues when he meets the great silent film star Douglas Fairbanks, and the hero’s magic saves a life.

I really liked the foundation of this story, which was a real-life incident regarding Fairbanks and an arrow he shot for a publicity stunt while promoting his movie of Robin Hood in 1922. It takes imagination to base a tale upon such an obscure event. Plus, it never occurred to me that silent movies required hired shouters. Well of course they did, as even American-born cinemagoers of the time were not completely literate. The story itself doesn’t quite take off in the way I thought it would, but it’s more of a gentle magic, the kind of short tale that sits in your lap, calm, cool, and collected.

Book Season = Winter (slow motion)

[Alina · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Better Way of Saying by Sarah Pinsker - 2/5★

A good idea, but I didn't quite like the execution. A young boy is hired to shout the title cards for silent movies and realizes he has a special power.

The short story is found in Some of the Best from Tor.com, 2021 Edition and can also be read on Tor.com.

[Remy]

went wayyyyy over my head. like an arrow.

[Preet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Small magics can be as life changing as magic on a grander scale. I love this story that shows how that can be. I loved the nuances and details and I hope Sarah Pinsker writes more in this vein. I loved the juxtaposition of magic and history. This is also the first time I've read anything by them and I look forward to reading more in the future!

[Quỳnh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Better Way of Saying (Cách diễn đạt tốt hơn): Năm 1915, một thiếu niên được rạp chiếu phim thuê để đọc thuyết minh cho các bộ phim câm. Nguyện vọng được chỉnh sửa những đoạn thoại dở đã thay đổi cuộc đời cậu theo một hướng kỳ lạ.

Review truyện ngắn này thật khó. "Two Truths and a Lie" đã thể hiện trí tưởng tượng và sức sáng tạo của tác giả Sarah Pinsker, còn "A Better Way of Saying" lại làm mình sững sờ vì tài năng kể chuyện của cô. Không nói quá đâu, mình cảm thấy ấn tượng thực sự. Lúc đọc, đã có lúc mình tự hỏi rằng câu chuyện sẽ đi đến đâu hay tại sao nó lại được đăng trên web SFF, song mình không ngừng bị nó thu hút và dẫn dắt.

Truyện đem lại cảm giác hoài cổ với bối cảnh những năm 1910 - thời kỳ hoàng kim của phim câm. Lần đầu tiên mình biết đến công việc đọc thuyết minh cho phim câm, một phần lịch sử điện ảnh đang chìm dần vào quên lãng. Đây cũng là câu chuyện về những đóng góp sáng tạo không được công nhận và chủ nghĩa anh hùng thầm lặng, do một người kể chuyện khiêm tốn thuật lại. Ông tự nhận mình từng tạo ra phép màu - một phép màu không khởi sự từ ma thuật kì bí, mà từ sự cố gắng cải thiện mọi thứ, cả trong phim lẫn ngoài đời. Ngọn lửa rực rỡ soi sáng cuộc sống lóe lên từ một tia lửa đúng đắn. "A Better Way of Saying" ngợi ca các cá nhân dũng cảm dám tách mình khỏi đám đông thờ ơ để lên tiếng chấn chỉnh những điều chưa tốt. Một tác phẩm hiện thực huyền ảo đem lại cho người đọc cảm giác tích cực và lạc quan.

"Chủ yếu, tôi muốn nói rằng mình có biết chút phép thuật, phép thuật thứ thiệt dù nhỏ thôi, và chỉ một lần duy nhất, tôi đã sử dụng nó để làm một việc tốt nho nhỏ cho thế giới."

[Sheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful piece of historical fiction/magical realism.
Full of really charming little details--- I fell for the narrator hard in just a few pages.
There's no way of knowing, of course, what's "true" or what "really happened" in this story, given the narrator's uncanny ability to change how things are written. He himself doesn't know how it works and can't control when it does.
He seems to be reporting....just the facts, ma'am...but do we really know he isn't doctoring the script we're reading?
Like in "Two Truths and a Lie", Pinsker layers on the uncertainty to marvelous effect. She once again manages to create a sense of unsteady wonder in just a few pages.

[Meredith Katz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this so much. It's short, magical, brutally real, and just -- so Jewish, actually, in the way it plays out, not just in who the characters are. It's a quiet, small piece in which nothing big happens generally -- though it makes all the difference for at least one person who will never know it. Really good.

[Ucho · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some lovely ideas — setting that involves silent films; MC’s subtle ‘superpower’; small, inconspicuous ways to make the world a better place — which however fell a little flat for me. I think it could’ve used more of an emotional punch, or maybe a more magical, dreamy atmosphere perhaps; in short, some sort of spice. It also doesn’t help that the amazingly cool cover lowkey hints at action (or is that just me??) but the narrative isn’t about that at all.

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are stories that take a pretty humdrum premise and turn it into a spellbinding tale, one that holds the reader in the grip of an amazing unfolding concept and keeps blindsiding them with the challenging issues and fascinating ideas that flow from it.

And there are stories that do the opposite.

This is a short story, and I want to be careful to not write a review that is longer than the work it's reviewing (but then, who hasn't been asked to write a 2000 word analytical response to an eight line poem?), so I'll be brief.

It turns out, the silent movies required paid employees to shout out the words on the title cards, for the benefit of all the audience members not gifted with the power of literacy.

What if the words on those cards were... just not all that good.



What if the Shouters were to replace the words on the cards with words of their own?

Right?

That's sort of what happens here, except that the famous actors Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford also get involved, and there's an arrow, and some magic, and it all sort of sputters out before the true potential of that premise could take off.

Pity.

It's almost like this story needs to have the words it's written in changed, to make it a better story.

Would that be too meta?

[A]

When reading it, I was reminded of two truths and a lie, in how reality and fiction blur. I saw the writer’s bibliography again just now and it turns out to be the same author, that makes sense but I feel that this short story was more convoluted. what I gathered from it was that the protag thinks that when he uttered the line about how not much damage was caused by the arrow released by the actor, he thinks that his magical abilities made the headline separate the actor from that incident, when it was just the actor having power, money and resources to get the newspapers to protect him. And that what he thought about his words appearing on the screen—not sure about that one, but it could be that the sister was focused more on her inflections etc to notice the screen and whether the lines match up to the words coming out of her brother’s mouth—unless they happen to be from a famous, easily recognizable poem—And they had there worked for so long that lanksy stopped paying them much attention, or cared much as long as things went smoothly: maybe someone sitting up changed the words? Thinking maybe the screen was glitching since the shouters had performed the lines so much they must have it memorized and right, but that wouldn’t explain it changing elsewhere, so again we arrive at ‘fickle nature of memories’ theme, the protag mentioned that he had forgotten more than he remembered. him getting a job was based on luck and his past work. But then what was that about him possibly having his own story had he observed and could have written—true he was handed an opportunity and blew it. I did read just before jotting down my thoughts here that this short story is based on an actual photo/event, so maybe it just ties into that, and we’re supposed to take that as the protag talking about those pieces, blurring our world’s reality to this short fiction, which is a cool exercise, though I can’t believe the estate of that actor would allow this.

The discussions around good lines and bad were interesting, as well what might lead to someone discovering their passion, and the slow, more organic process of learning skills where you might not even realize that’s what you’re doing (and that people try learning in classroom setting)

[Kam Yung Soh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A light fantasy set in the early days of film when 'talkies' did not exist and people were hired to shout out the title cards of silent movies in cinemas, to aid the illiterate people in the audience.

But one teenager hired for the job grows upset with the way some title cards don't work for the scene and shouts out his own versions. This has an unexpected effect that would become important when, years later, he shouts out words to change the result of an act he witnesses.

This act, by the way, would appear to have been a real-life incident. Whether the after-effects of the act are the result of the teenager is left as an exercise for the reader.

[Sapphire Detective · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adding this to link in my review for Lost Places, which is where this story is also collected. I love the early pre-Hollywood movie scene, and showing a fascinating look at some of the challenges of the silent movie form, while also presenting a little magical realism too. Not my favorite story of the collection but there isn't a bad one in the bunch, and this is very good.

My rating: 4.5/5 (rounded up)
Would I own/re-read?: Sure.
TW: Death, Manslaughter, Cover-Up.
Does the animal die?: Though a furrier is mentioned, no animals are explicitly harmed in this story.

[Sanaa Hyder · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This was really clever. I enjoyed the slow burn, even though I wasn't sure about the narrative sequence. Always a fun reading experience when the plot pieces start to come together at the end. Also, the protagonist was witty, and easy to follow. The settings and descriptions were distinct and vivid — New York, New Jersey, Hollywood paparazzi clamour. I was additionally impressed with the writing when I scrolled down to the comments section of the story on Tor's website; and saw that there was a link to a news article with a brief account of true events.

[Dawnie · Rating 2 out of 5]

the most intriguing part about this story for me was learning that there was such a think as movie shouters, who knew such a thing existed or should i rather say who still knows that that was an actual think that happened?
that people were hired to read the lines on a silent movie to the cinema audience by basically screaming the lines?

the rest of the story dragged a lot for me and it felt a lot longer then the story actually is.

wasn’t for me.

[Corrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Better Way of Saying by author Sarah Pinsker is a short story you can read for free on the Tor.com site https://www.tor.com/2021/11/10/a-bett...

The year is 1915, and a young man hired to shout the words on title cards for silent films experiences the magic of movies. This spurs him to edit some of the worst dialog, leading him in a weird direction that utterly changes his life.

And based on a real fact, too! Look it up :-)

4 Stars

[S.E. Martens · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I wanted this story to be weirder than it was. A short piece set in the silent film era, based around a real event (actor Douglas Fairbanks wounding someone with an arrow) with a slight fabulist element.

[Michelle Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting story that got more interesting when I learned that it was based on an actual event.

Free to read: https://www.tor.com/2021/11/10/a-bett...

[Ashwini Abhyankar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goodreads has been glitching on me since last night. I finished it yesterday and couldn't update it.

[Desiree · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounding up to 4 here.

Short, told in an enjoyable voice. An interesting story highlighting some interesting tidbits from film's early history.

[Daniella · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was well written and the plot was fine. Just really didn't do it for me and felt a little boring.

[Vanellope · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish they'd gotten me to care a bit more from the beginning cause I liked it by the end, but other than that it was a cool concept.

[Pedro Marroquín · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historia muy corta sobre un niño que se dedica a leer a la audiencia las películas mudas a principios del S. XX. Demasiado deshilachada. La peor historia que le he leído a esta magnifica autora. C-

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, that was just... weird? Rambling, non-linear and leaving a muddled feeling behind. The one thing that sticks with me from this short piece is a certain feel for a time and a place, which is nice.

[Pers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant!

[Per · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://www.tor.com/2021/11/10/a-bett...