Story Behind the Story – P.G. Galalis

A Drabble and a Podcast

Two new publications to share with you since my last (*ulp*) very-long-ago update:

Cover of Martian: The Magazine of Science Fiction Drabbles Issue 1, Fall 2021, picturing an alien cityscape against a blue and orange sky, with a lone cloaked figure walking towards it on a road.

Jupiter Mission One is a drabble–a complete story of exactly 100 words—in Martian Magazine, a new publication from editor Eric Fomely specializing exclusively in such stories. While this is the first drabble I’ve published, I’ve played around with the form before (dare I say, I’ve dabbled in drabbles?), and it’s delightfully challenging! It’s easy to pump out a hundred words of description or narrative; the challenge is to tell a whole story, beginning, middle, and end, with a conflict and resolution, rather than just a vignette or sketch. If you’ve ever attempted to write a sonnet, writing a drabble is a similar experience, where limitation and structure breed creativity, only in narrative prose rather than verse. I hope you’ll give this one a read and drop me a line if you enjoy it!

In another first, my story Knock, Knock, Wolf, originally printed in Footsteps in the Dark from Flame Tree Publishing, has been produced for audio by the best in the business over at the long-running PseudoPod horror podcast. I thought narrator Rish Outfield did an amazing job bringing the widow Clarabel to life in this dark, chilly tale, and it was a real thrill listening to a voice actor perform my work! The episode dropped back in July, but it makes a great listen right now at this time of year here in the American northeast, when the bare trees rattle their bone song to an empty sky…

That’s all for now, but I should have another new story to announce soon… Stay tuned, and thanks for reading!

Out Now! New Fiction Sep. 2020

A short lyrical account of a far-future city, pining for a savior from the stars…

The dark, suspenseful tale of a misanthropic widow facing off in a battle of wits and magic against a certain wolfish visitor…

My two newest stories are out this month!

“The Sound of Her Clarion Thunder” appears in Issue 4 of the flash fiction and poetry ‘zine Frozen Wavelets. This one had its genesis in my writing group’s just-for-fun flash fiction contest and Ray Bradbury’s “Rocket Summer.” You might hear some echoes of that classic in the story’s opening, but from there I think you’ll see it takes quite a different turn. You can read it here.

You can find “Knock, Knock Wolf” in Footsteps in the Dark, the latest release from Flame Tree’s popular Gothic Fantasy series. You might call it a witch vs. werewolf story, or maybe a chilling sequel of sorts to Little Red Riding Hood. Whatever it is, I think you’ll find it the perfect read for a chilly autumn evening! I’m really delighted to be in such great company, both contemporary and classic. You can get your copy of the book here.

Read for Free: “Dear Parents, Your Child Is Not the Chosen One”

I’m a few days behind announcing this here on the blog, but my short story, “Dear Parents, Your Child Is Not the Chosen One,” can now be read for free at Diabolical Plots!

This story came out of two things I was wondering when I wrote it:

(1) My kids had been listening to a lot of Harry Potter audio books (still are, in fact), and as a teacher, I kept wondering what kinds of professional responsibilities the Hogwarts faculty were dealing with behind the scenes.

A story about all the grading work they probably have wouldn’t have been that interesting (one supposes the faculty all have time turners to get through the marking), but a story about dealing with overbearing parents? Now that might be something… (Lord knows the Malfoys must have eaten up a lot of Dumbledore’s time).

(2) I was wondering about the kinds of people who crave some special mantle they feel entitled to, but just… aren’t. We all know about sf’s actual Chosen Ones: the Harry Potters and the Skywalkers, the King Arthurs and the four Pevensie children, and so on.

But what about the ones who want to be Chosen, but just aren’t cut out for it? Or worse yet, the ones whose parents want them to be the Chosen One?

And so was born one Ms. Madeleine Whimbley, teacher of Intermediate Feats and Virtues at the Avalon Preparatory Academy for Adventurers, and the present story, collected from her correspondence with the parents of one Rodney Goodblood, unacceptably average student.

I had a lot of fun writing this one! Hope you enjoy.

https://www.diabolicalplots.com/dp-fiction-55b-dear-parents-your-child-is-not-the-chosen-one-by-p-g-galalis/

Out Now: “Sir Geoffrey and the Dragon”

My story, “A Truer Account of Sir Geoffrey and the Dragon,” is out now in Galaxy’s Edge Magazine No. 40! It will be free to read there from now through October.

Two or three years ago, while teaching The Hobbit, I was talking with my class about Smaug and dragons in general, and their propensity for hoarding gold, and how it might symbolize (among other things) the greed of a bad king. You can certainly see this in Beowulf, and it also resonates in The Hobbit, where the real antagonist turns out not to be Smaug, nor even really the goblins, but the dragon hoard that the good guys nearly come to blows over.

In the course of that class discussion, I quipped that it might be funny if there was one dragon who had actually earned all his gold legitimately, but knights-in-shining-armor kept challenging him anyway. It got a chuckle from the class, but the idea stayed with me. Eventually it turned into this story. Whether or not the dragon narrator actually has earned his hoard legitimately…? I’ll let you be the judge!

Hope you enjoy!

Out Now: “Dear Parents…”

My story, “Dear Parents, Your Child Is Not the Chosen One,” is out now in Diabolical Plots: Year Five!

As a teacher, I’ve often wondered what kinds of things the Hogwarts faculty in Harry Potter have to deal with in their professional lives, when they’re not helping save the world from–or secretly serving–He Who Shall Not Be Named. This story, collected from the correspondence of one Ms. Madeleine Whimbley of the Avalon Preparatory Academy for Adventurers, is the result.

I hope you enjoy it!