The inspirations and origins for our stories.
Nathaniel Williams’s story “The Record Collector” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 5 June 2020. I went to college with a ton of Saint Louis folks and over the years heard many vignettes about the area. The stuff in my story about the Exorcist hospital and the Lake Chesterfield sinkhole is all true. Saint Louis is also the home of Beatle Bob, the nationally known music superfan who attends concerts almost nightly, always decked in …
Douglas DiCicco’s story “Exhibit 57-B from the Trial of Alonzo Montalvo v. MoodFoods Incorporated” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 29 May 2020. The format of Exhibit 57-B comes from my background as an attorney. I’ve read many transcripts of bizarre exchanges over the years. I find something uniquely comical about seeing something strange and unexpected in such a dry, formal format. As for the actual content of the story, I wrote it as a …
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 …
