There is a place where the lost go to be found.
It is a small farm tucked into a bend in Highway 38, between Scottsburg and Elkton—two towns barely on a map, and even less so after the earthquake shattered much of the West Coast. Once, this road was a bustling thoroughfare from the interior of the state to the coastal towns of Reedsport and Winchester Bay. Now it sits empty, giving more and more of itself to the hungry river it parallels.
Q: If your writing style were a bird, what type of bird would it be and why?
A: My first instinct when I saw this was to say “raven” because of how prominently they’re featured in “Treedom”. However, I posed this question to the writers group I frequently attend and one member, after careful consideration, suggested that my writing style most appropriately compares to a swan. She explained that swans are both elegant and fierce, mysterious and passionate, light and dark. I think that’s a nearly perfect summation of my writing style—at the sentence level, I aim for graceful language with the power to evoke deep emotion; in terms of plot, I often find myself discovering the mysteries of a story as I write it (I seldom plan out anything in advance); and I would certainly agree that my stories tend to balance light and dark aspects, striving for a hopeful note but at the same time acknowledging the grim realities that so often face humanity.
A.J. Cunder’s story “Treedom”
in Metaphorosis Friday, 5 November 2021.
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Matthew Gomez believes that a story’s magic lies in its ability to transpose us into another being’s existence, and that the empathy learned there helps us grow in uncharted ways. He serves as the podcast editor for Metaphorosis Magazine and is a graduate of Regis University’s Mile-High MFA program. One of his earliest heartbreaks occurred when he learned his best friend had lied when he promised hoverboards, like those in Back to the Future Part II, would be available to the public in the mid-90’s. It’s still the litmus test he uses to determine whether we’ve made it to the future he dreamt of during his childhood.
Find him online at www.gomezwrites.com or on Twitter at @golongria.
Matthew Gomez’s story “Right Behind You”
in Metaphorosis Friday, 12 November 2021.
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Ryan Priest’s story “A Universe All to Himself” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 16 April 2021. I grew up all over the Southwest. Colorado, Texas, California, the former frontier lands. When staring out at the great plains or the vast Rocky Mountains I often think of the people from the past. The catastrophic loneliness of a frontiersman or a scout. There will be new frontiers in our future and new explorers needed to map …
Q: What five words describe you?
A: I can’t distill the essence of my being into five words! I’d need six, maybe even seven.
That aside, one of the interesting things I’ve noticed is how much more joy I get from making a little bit of money from selling one of my stories compared with making much more money doing anything else. I sold my first story in 1997 for $15, and I carried the check (yes, paper check in those days) and danced around the house.
I’m less demonstrative these days, but the joy at selling something I’ve written remains in many ways undiminished. Why, when the reward is so minuscule, especially compared to the effort involved? I think it’s the idea that you’re being recognized—materially, tangibly—for something you love doing, and that you’d carry on doing even if no one paid any attention. But it is nice when someone pays attention, when an editor looks at something you’ve written and says, “That’s pretty good. I’ll pay to publish that.”
So the five words I’m choosing to describe myself: “Writes; writes for money, happily.”
Karl El-Koura’s story “The Azurian Shield”
in Metaphorosis Friday, 29 October 2021.
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Beautifully written speculative fiction from Metaphorosis magazine.
All the stories from the month, plus author biographies, interviews, and story origins.
Table of Contents
Cover art by Lauren Ring.
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