The inspirations and origins for our stories.

It came from Angie Lathrop

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Angie Lathrop’s story “Radical Abundance” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 29 September 2017. What if the means for radical abundance—in the world of this story, strong nanotechnology/ Anatomically Precise Manufacturing Machines/molecular assemblers/von Neumann machines (the butterflies)— were put directly into the hands of people who might really need it? How would those people be able to sort out what they needed? Molecular manufacturing technology has the potential to usher in an age of abundance, …

It came from Simon Kewin (again)

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Simon Kewin’s story “What the Darkness Is” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 22 September 2017. “What The Darkness Is” grew out of wanting to write a story in which worlds are nested within other worlds, so that it isn’t clear which is the “real” world and where the lines between them start and end. Books, songs, paintings – all can be portals through to a “next” world. I liked the idea of the slipperiness …

It came from Michael Gardner

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Michael Gardner’s story “Renewal” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 15 September 2017. Before writing “Renewal”, I’d read a short story about an immortal couple who were both hundreds of years old. This got me thinking about common fantasy depictions of immortals – vampires, Highlander – where they don’t age, they live forever, and every once in a while they change their identities so they can continue their lives without raising suspicions. Of all the …

It came from Laura E. Price

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Laura E. Price’s story “The Lost Languages of Exiles” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 8 September 2017. In many ways, “The Lost Languages of Exiles” is a story that you can read to get to know me. I wrote the last scene first, a long time ago, and it lived on my hard drive for a long time after that, because I didn’t think I wrote romances. I liked it quite a lot, though, …

It came from B. Morris Allen

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B. Morris Allen’s story “A Conversion of Crows” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 1 September 2017. It may not be obvious at first glance, but “A Conversion of Crows” is a story about the rock group Whitesnake. Back in the days when they were good – no really, there was such a time – David Coverdale put out an album called White Snake, which included the song “Whitesnake”. It couldn’t have been any more …

It came from Pauline Yates

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Pauline Yates’s story “An Aftertaste of Earth” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 25 August 2017. “An Aftertaste of Earth” originally stemmed from the prompts, sci-fi, pumpkin pie and a convention centre, in a short story competition which earned me a place in the final round of the contest. As I love end-of-the-world themes, the story developed from wondering how people would be chosen to start a new colony on another planet, and what they …