Tall Tales & Short Stories
Please write about the inspiration for your story, ‘The Call’? It was a sunny autumn afternoon, the trees seemed on fire, I had just poured a glass of wine, when I got a call from a woman who was not convinced she had the wrong number. So I incorporated all of these elements into the … Read more ›
Please write about the inspiration for your piece, ‘Their Love Made Her Beautiful’? The majority of my flash fictions are inspired by prompts, usually a visual prompt and one or more textual prompts in combination. I seem to respond best to prompts that do not fit neatly together at first glance. I wrote the original … Read more ›
First, please tell us about the inspiration for your piece. ‘The Castle of Blood and Ink’ was inspired by a series of ink paintings on display at Uwajima Castle, which I visited in May this year. One painting was of a castle, and there were a couple of amazing paintings of samurai too. Ink paintings … Read more ›
What is your inspiration for ‘The Alcoholic Holy Bull’? The story is inspired by the ‘Holy Bulls’ or Goolis that are dedicated to the local deities in India. Bull is the companion of God Shiva and his power is embodied in the strong animal that is fearless and independent. Just like politicians, Goolis are omnivorous, … Read more ›
I wrote “The Cut-Rate Wormhole” because I actually bought not one but two ridiculous medieval churls’ heads in a thrift shop years ago, one for my old college roommate and one for me. She and I had shared many odd escapades as English lit majors at an isolated women’s college in Massachusetts and the little … Read more ›
What is your inspiration for ‘The Club’? John is the first character we meet as the private club, The Leighton, opens for the evening. He’s the club’s doorman who takes his job seriously and is a consummate professional. When he sees something in the street it gives us an insight into his past personal and … Read more ›
‘Full Moon’, my flash piece in Tall Tales & Short Stories was inspired by the haiku: Light of moon Moves west, flowers’ shadows Creep eastward. — Yosa Buson (1716-1741) My story was originally just 160 words, but I expanded it to 250 to give more of a hint of an arc. To get the visuals right, … Read more ›
What was the inspiration for your piece ‘Protect Us from Evil’? A group of people in a small town become suspicious of a mysterious newcomer and decide to take action. This story came together quite quickly. I had been reading a lot about the Donnelly family massacre, a true story of a family that was … Read more ›
Please write about the inspiration for your piece, “Lakeside Summers”. We all remember those forbidden places from our childhood: places we were told we weren’t supposed to go. With ‘Lakeside Summers’, I tried to tap into that feeling of venturing somewhere dangerous. If you’re constantly told not to go somewhere, that’s just going to make … Read more ›
What was the inspiration for ‘Black Christmas’? I’m a sucker for anything cute-scary. Fairies that suck blood, serial killers who fall in love, adorable monsters under the bed. “Black Christmas” was going to be a “nice” tale, but I just couldn’t keep the darkness out. I blame the black cat that sat, staring at me … Read more ›
