The inspirations and origins for our stories.
L. Chan’s story “Sonata I: Sona” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 31 January 2020. “Sonata” is one of the longest things that I’ve written (and completed). I don’t often work in the fantasy sandbox, I much prefer near future science fiction and contemporary fantasy. For “Sonata”, what preceded the story was the world building — a magic system that fell roughly as another aspect of the physical world, and where the control of that …
C.B. Blakey’s story “Bedwyr by the Sea” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 24 January 2020. “Bedwyr by the Sea” was partially inspired by a documentary (I forget which one) that speculated that the lost city of Avalon was a coastal city that has since been swallowed by the sea. The Arthurian legends have changed so much over the centuries that in many ways they are a fine example of stories that have evolved and …
Tomas Marcantonio’s story “Choice” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 17 January 2020. The main concept of this story, that aborted foetuses have been given life without their mother’s knowledge, is both terrifying and harrowing. In fact, I almost abandoned the idea after early drafts. Abortion is a complicated and sensitive topic, and it needs to be treated as such. I disliked Philip K. Dick’s controversial story on the same topic, ‘The Pre-persons’, and was …
Michael Sherrin’s story “Magic Whistleblower Tells All” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 10 January 2020. The inspirations for “Magical Whistleblower Tells All” are worn on its sleeve, from Harry Potter to Buffy to the many other secret magical world stories. I love many of these, though I’ve always found the reasoning to keep magic or monsters or technology a secret lacking. Often, I feel, the secrecy is meant to allow the suspension of disbelief, …
Felicity Drake’s story “Kozuna, the Ogre’s Child” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 3 January 2020. I’m a little embarrassed to admit how personal this story is. It’s woven together from my own experiences, people I’ve met, places I’ve been, and stories I’ve read. “Kozuna, the Ogre’s Child” is the name of a real Japanese folktale. (Grandmother’s version of the story is fairly similar to those you’ll find in collections of Japanese folklore.) The first …
Phoenix Alexander’s story “Notes from the Laocoön Program” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 27 December 2019. “Notes” was inspired by a summer reading astronaut’s memoirs in Southern California. I was struck by the ‘Stepford Husband’ superhumanity of the literary personae they presented – and wondered what would happened if you started to poke at the cracks. Then I imagined a spacefaring program that might look for something… different. Subscribe to our e-mail updates so …
