Carolyn Lenz’s story “Pleasing the Giants” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 1 March 2019.

The initial idea for “Pleasing the Giants” came about when I heard a story about a man who successfully sued Disney World for psychological distress when he was trapped on the It’s a Small World ride for 40 minutes. Obviously my first thought was to wonder how long I could listen to that song on repeat without having a breakdown, but that led me to think about the employees running that ride, and, finally, what it would be like to be one of the animatronics, if they had inner lives. From that, the structure and feel of the first draft came to me almost fully formed.
Subscribe to our e-mail updates so you’ll know when new stories go live.