BackStory: Four Questions with T. L. Ransome Author of The Last of El Dorado What inspired you to write ‘The Last of El Dorado’? A trip to Phoenix through the cactus-studded Sonoran Desert. The saguaro are arguably the most iconic…
The Last of El Dorado
The Last of El Dorado by T. L. Ransome “La Reina! La Reeina!” they cried, stamping mud-worn heels on the dented boards. But she was in pieces in the desert, miles of lace-melt, skin flinted red between saguaros. The tall…
BackStory: Six Questions with Mark Cassidy
BackStory: Six Questions with Mark Cassidy Author of Gibbet What inspired you to write ‘Gibbet’? I grew up in Guisborough, North Yorks. At the end of the street on which I lived was a narrow lane called Northgate, which was…
Gibbet
Gibbet by Mark Cassidy Once I was a young boy, clambered limber, surefooted, into an empty gibbet and swung the blackwood, gristle-crusted cage bang tight. Sat squat-faced, open-legged, in the charnel basket, rocking in the swooping sea fret neath racing…
BackStory: Four Questions with Noa Covo
BackStory: Four Questions with Noa Covo Author of Tussaud What inspired you to write ‘Tussaud’? As a child, I read a book about famous inventions and works of art that included Marie Tussaud’s life story, which I found both gruesome…
Tussaud
Tussaud by Noa Covo She grows up in a house of abandoned arms and legs. She is taught to count on wax hands severed at the wrist, she caresses faces that end at the neck as her mother dusts. As…
BackStory: Five Questions with Mandira Pattnaik
BackStory: Five Questions with Mandira Pattnaik Author of Regarding Gray, Carmine, Pyrope What inspired you to write ‘Regarding Gray, Carmine, Pyrope’? I read a newspaper article about the sandstone forts of Jodhpur and Jaipur, India. The accompanying image of a…
Regarding Gray, Carmine, Pyrope
Regarding Gray, Carmine, Pyrope by Mandira Pattnaik Gray is a morass of doubt and indifference and coot is a water bird with black feathers and a white bill. Black and white. Not Gray. Not in the sunlight. So she’s come…
BackStory: Six Questions with Bryan Harvey
BackStory: Six Questions with Bryan Harvey Author of She arrived at the mountain hideout on horseback What inspired you to write ‘She arrived at the mountain hideout on horseback’? I was reading Tony Perrottet’s Cuba Libre: Che, Fidel, and the…
She arrived at the mountain hideout on horseback
She arrived at the mountain hideout on horseback By Bryan Harvey She arrived at the mountain hideout on horseback—rain evaporating from the leaves in a gray shroud. He couldn’t see her. Having tossed his spectacles to the ground, he had…