Angela Slatter’s story, The Hummingbird Heart, appears in the Spring 2007 issue of Shimmer.

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE STORY:

Where did the idea come from?
I read an old Inca fairytale called “The Hummingbird’s Fear”, which is a South American version of the traditional good sister-bad sister story – the bad sister is burnt to a crisp but her heart remains and becomes a hummingbird … so somewhere out of that came the idea of a hummingbird as a heart. I wanted it to be in a Greek setting, to have some elements of Greek tragedy and defying the gods.

How did the story change as you developed it?
Not at all! It pretty much came full-blown.

How is this story like your other work? How is it different?
I think it’s like my usual work in that it deals with mythic themes but I think it’s more of a departure from the usual style and depends less on following a normal fairytale structure.

Questions About Writing:

What writing projects are you presently working on?
1. still trying to get the whole fairytale collection, Black-Winged Angels, published in its entirely;
2. finishing up a novel “Narrow Daylight” about suicide in families;
3. continuing to scribble short stories as I go…

What authors, if any, have had the most influence on your work?
Angela Carter; John Connolly; Emma Donoghue; Edgar Allan Poe

Favorite short story you’ve read recently?
“The Rememberer” by Aimee Bender (a woman’s boyfriend devolves into an amoeba…)
“The Ball Room” and “The Tain” by China Mieville

What people have helped you the most with your writing?
My family for all their support; Dr Nike Bourke, my supervisor and friend; my friend Anita Bell for believing in me…

What time of day do you prefer to do your writing?
Afternoon and night time.

Random Questions:

What was the last CD you bought? The last song you downloaded?
Mmmmm, is it too embarrassing to say Madonna’s “Confessions on a dance floor”? Yes, it is…so I’ll say “Tea and Sympathy” by Bernard Fanning, lead man of legendary Brisbane band ‘Powderfinger”.

If you could hop on a plane tomorrow and go anywhere, where would you go and why?
Paris – end of story.

Cat or dog person? (or birds, iguanas, or ??)
Cats, dogs, horses … anything cute with eyelashes…

Josh Vogt’s story, Even Songbirds are Kept in Cages, appears in the Art Issue of Shimmer. To learn more about Josh, please visit his website or drop him an email!

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE STORY:

Where did the idea come from?
The mockingbird lady came from a blurry photo I took at a museum showcasing some odd sculptures. One sculpture was a woman in a black dress with a bird’s head. After staring at the picture for a few days and consuming lots of jellybeans, the idea and I decided we had a working relationship (though entirely platonic).

How did the story change as you developed it?
It didn’t change in my mind because I didn’t plot it out much before writing it, so I had no preconception of the finished story. Of course, there were plenty of revisions, but the core of it remained the same.

You know the advice “Sometimes you have to kill your darlings.” Was there a scene or line that it really hurt to cut, but cutting it made the story stronger? May we reprint that scene or line? Or link to a very old version so that we may marvel at how much it changed?
At first I wanted to parallel the story to the nursery rhyme, “Hush little baby.” I sprinkled what I thought to be clever line references throughout the story, but later took them out because they were became distracting and confusing.

How is this story like your other work? How is it different?
It’s similar in that I enjoy mixing the ordinary with the weird. Either ordinary characters in strange worlds, or, in this case, a strange character mixing up a modern household. It’s different because I think it comes across a little more surreal than most of my stories so far.

ABOUT WRITING:

How long had you been submitting before you made your first sale?
Four-ish years.

Do you work with a critique or writers group?
Somewhat. I have several friends who read over material for me from time to time, plus I am involved with Critters.org, an online critique site that specializes in science fiction, fantasy and horror. It is incredibly well organized and a great way to not only get a mix of solid feedback, but to also sharpen your editing skills on other works.

What authors, if any, have had the most influence on your work?
C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, Neil Gaiman, Ray Bradbury, Orson Scott Card, Ursula K. Le Guin, Terry Pratchett and Dean Koontz. That’s the short short list.

Favorite short stories you’ve read recently?
Ray Bradbury’s classics, “The Wind” and “Banshee” always give me shivers.

RANDOM QUESTIONS:

Do you believe in ghosts or the supernatural? Why?
I believe in the supernatural, yes. I’m a Christian, and so I believe in God, His miracles, and enjoy the sense of wonder and hope this brings to life.

Fast food: Yea or Nay?
Naw. I’m on a cooking kick. Opening a can of tuna counts as cooking, right?

Name one place in your hometown that you love to go to and would recommend to others to visit.
I consider Colorado my home, even though I’m working out in NYC for now. So, go see the mountains! Especially when the aspen are turning golden.

Is there anything that you would “sell your soul” for?
Hmm. Considering my first fantasy short story I ever sold was about a shop that sells souls, I’m seeing a bad pattern here. Maybe I should take my soul off the eBay listing.

Do you have a secret skill that you never get to show off? (i.e. ambidextrous writing, blood-curdling screams, double-jointed, badminton
champion…)
I can turn invisible. See? Wait…

Quiz: How many writers does it take to change a light bulb? Please explain your answer:
Depends on how many plot twists are in the story.

Daniel A. Rabuzzi’s story, Monologue with Birds and Burin, appears in the Art Issue of Shimmer. To learn more about Daniel, visit him here or send him an email.

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE STORY:

Where did the idea come from?
Most of my ideas come to me just before dawn. I am not sure what prompted the birth of “Monologue with Birds and Burin.” I had been thinking about Penelope awaiting the return of Odysseus, and about tikkun olam, the Jewish concept of repairing and balancing a broken world. Also, my wife Deborah is a professional woodcarver, and I enjoy visiting her workshop with all its tools and creative mess.

How did the story change as you developed it?
The story’s essence remained unchanged while I bolted and sifted to find the right words for what I am trying to convey.

How is this story like your other work? How is it different?
My work centers on betrayal, loss, and longing, on what the Germans call Sehnsucht, that is, the desire for an indeterminate and possibly unattainable outcome.

QUESTIONS ABOUT WRITING:

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?
I have always wanted to be a writer. I was writing and drawing stories when I was in the third grade. Publication consisted of using a pen (instead of a pencil) and binding the results with twine. I got my first rejection letter in the fourth grade, having submitted such a manuscript to Houghton Mifflin. I have been writing, and occasionally getting published, ever since.

Who do you write for? Yourself or someone else?
I write for others. Writing is a conversation about questions we all have. Readers share with the author the burden and the joy of creating the story.

Who’s your favorite living author?
A question calculated perhaps to drive us deliciously mad? I cannot name just one author. Here’s a representative short-list: A.S. Byatt, Ursula K. LeGuin, Andrea Barrett, and Barry Unsworth, also Cole Swensen, Galway Kinnell and Seamus Heaney among the poets and Simon Schama among historians.

Favorite book read when you were a child?
The D’Aulaire’s illustrated book of Norse myth, also Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are. My mother gave me her copy of The Hobbit when I was ten.

Thank you for your purchase!

If you purchased the print version, a copy will be in the mail to you as soon as possible.

If you purchased the electronic edition, I’ll send you e-mail with the information you’ll need to download it shortly. I’m afraid our new-fangled instant delivery system has not been implemented, so it’s a manual process. If you haven’t heard from me within 12 hours, feel free to contact me: beth@shimmerzine.com.

Happy reading!

Best wishes,
Beth
Editor
www.shimmerzine.com

With Shimmer closing, offering subscriptions is no longer practical. Back issues of Shimmer exist (digital and some still in print!), and you’ll be able to buy our final two issues, of course! You can also find our annual anthologies, which collect every Shimmer story from the past year into one handy book.

Browse back issues

2014 anthology
2015 anthology
2016 anthology
2017 anthology

The 2018 edition should be available in late 2018!

Amal El-Mohtar’s short story, Sparrow and Egg, appears in the Winter 2007 issue of Shimmer. She’s also been published in Issue #4 for her story The Crow’s Caw, and in The Clockwork Jungle Book (Issue #11) for her tale The Fishbowl.   To learn more about Amal, visit her website or send her an email.

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE STORY:

Where did the idea for “Sparrow and Egg” come from?
The first two lines decided everything. During a writing exercise I’d devised with Jessica Wick, where we’d write stories for given days of the week, I “owed” a story to Sylphsday (Saturday) and was in a state of mind where I look around to find anything to seize and write a story about before I know what I’m doing. That first sentence came out; the second one rolled after it, and then I saw where it was going. Partly the “I love you,” “I love you more” game was inspired from my favourite book to give out at baby showers: Guess How Much I Love You, by Sam McBratney and Anita Jeram. This story, though, puts a much sadder twist to it, which in no way mitigates my love for that book.

How did the story change as you developed it?
After getting a few rejections and going over it, I decided to shake it up and change the narration from past to present tense. I think it’s made it much better, suited the style of the story more.

You know the advice “Sometimes you have to kill your darlings.” Was there a scene or line that it really hurt to cut, but cutting it made the story stronger? May we reprint that scene or line? Or link to a very old version so that we may marvel at how much it changed?
It’s a source of glowy pride to me that Shimmer’s editorial team pronounced the story fit to print with almost no changes. So, no!

How is this story like your other work? How is it different?
I love writing fables, I’ve found; the underlying truths that make them work, their simplicity, the way they have of making no apology for beauty or ugliness because both are part of the world, all really appeal to me. The interesting thing to me about this story is the variety of ways in which friends and family members have reacted had to it. They mainly fall into two camps: childless friends will read it and say, “but that’s so SAD!” while those who are parents, I’ve found, smile at it and call it lovely, even heart-warming. I don’t think I’ve written anything else that’s provoked such literally opposite reactions in people consistently, so it feels like I’ve done something really right with it, and this pleases me.

Questions About Writing:

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?
When I was seven years old. I wrote a poem to the moon and there was no turning back.

Who do you write for? Yourself or someone else?
The act of writing is always for myself, and the euphoric feeling that comes of completing a story or poem is entirely mine as well. Individual pieces, though, will sometimes belong to other people, as they’re written with them in mind; other times I’ve tried to write things tailored specifically for a given market or purpose, with interesting results. Not always good, but usually interesting, and almost always useful to me in working at the craft.

Who’s your favorite living author?
This question was so difficult to answer that I turned to my friend Jessica Wick for help. She suggested Neil Gaiman. I resisted. She pointed out that I gush about his books, admire what I know of his life, and have written him platonic love letters on my LJ. I resisted still. She then pointed out that I bought a CD of music inspired from his work, that I own almost everything he’s written, and that I re-read American Gods more than almost anything else I own. I suppose I’m just shy of commitment. Terri Windling, Jeff Vandermeer, Charles de Lint and K.J. Bishop all deserve special mentions, though.

Favorite book read when you were a child?
Finally, an easy question! The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien. Still my favourite book today. I lived in that book like no other since.

Random Questions:

What is your darkest secret?
Um. I’ve considered getting a sex change in order to seduce Rick Mercer into marrying me. But don’t tell anyone, okay? It’s embarrassing.

Favorite restaurant?
The Black Thorn Café, hands down. It’s never disappointed me yet! Have their Peace Train Pizza when you go. Clarence near Sussex, in Ottawa – right near the American Embassy, as it happens! Check it out!

Watch much TV? What’s good these days?
Doctor Who, The Mercer Report, Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives (hush! It’s entertaining!) Studio Sixty on the Sunset Strip. I used to watch Lost in its first season, but it really kind of sucks now.

Do you check your horoscope?
If I have a paper handy, I generally will. I do believe the planets have an influence on our lives, but I tend to prefer to know what’s going on astrologically – Mercury in retrograde and such – than to read about what’s going on for me specifically as a result of my sun-sign. …Wow. That’s made me sound like a total geek, hasn’t it? But there it is.