The inspirations and origins for our stories.
Hannah Hulbert’s story “A Witch’s Guide to Mushrooms and Toadstools” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 22 May 2020. ‘A Witch’s Guide to Mushrooms and Toadstools’ is probably the only story I have ever written for which I can tell you exactly where and when it originated. My family and I were on a walk on 19th October at Avon Heath, not far from where we live. It was a bright, mild day and I …
Joe Prosit’s story “Pre-Triage” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 15 May 2020. Some stories fall right into my lap. This one was gifted to me one day when a buddy and I were driving down the road and the topic of self-driving cars came up. I mentioned how the roads will be safer and people can spend their time better. He said “All that’s great, until the day your car decides to kill you.” …
Travis Wade Beaty’s story “Regret’s Relief” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 8 May 2020. I started writing “Regret’s Relief” while visiting Paris and reading A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway. The initial idea was to go to that Paris of Hemingway and Picasso and Gertrude Stein etc., but imagine the art they were trying to create was magic. I enjoyed delving into the idea of a frustrated spell-crafter, so the story I wrote originally …
Jonathan Louis Duckworth’s story “Figlia della Neve” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 1 May 2020. This story began from two sources: first, my reading of Angela Carter’s fabulous collection The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories, and second, listening to a song from American power metal band Symphony X called “Lady of the Snow”. The evidence of Carter’s influence should be plain to anyone who’s ever read her work. As for the song, it gave …
David A. Hewitt’s story “Donald Q. Haute, Gentleman Inquisitator, and the Peril of the Pythogator” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 24 April 2020. Pinning down a story’s origins is (for me, anyway) a dicey proposition. As best I can recall, this Donald Q. Haute story had multiple inspirations. This is actually my second story featuring Haute, who is of course a weird modern analogue to Don Quixote (with humblest apologies to the ghost of …
L. Chan’s story “Seven Scraps Unwritten” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 17 April 2020. This story started out as an experiment in form – namely epistolary or a list story, something I’d not done before. It was tough going, managing world building, plot, a message, and a magic system within the word count. It started out with far less words, which really didn’t hit all the marks. I loved the conceits of having open …
