It’s kind of become a tradition that I interview the contributors to my anthologies and share those interviews on my blog. It’s also kind of become a tradition that it takes me a very long time to get them all posted. I plan to continue the first tradition but I’m hoping to avoid the second. Just to be different.
We’re continuing the Chimeric contributor interviews with Michael Kellar. I think I first met Michael when he submitted to (and had his work accepted for) Metastasis and he has also contributed to every Alphabet Anthology so far 🙂
What letter were you assigned?
X
Did you struggle with the letter you were given?
No, it was actually perfect for my story.
What was your favourite idea for the ‘word’ to use in your title that you didn’t use?
I used the very first one which came to mind.
What kind of chimera is your story about?
A medical chimera: when a species has has an organ and/or tissue from another species used in a transplant.
What, other than the letter you were assigned, helped inspire your story?
1) I had recently read a book concerning “The Promise of Transplanting Animal Organs into Humans”. (That was the subtitle; I cannot give the primary title without giving too strong a hint as to what my letter stands for.)
2) I had seen a cartoon in an issue of Rue Morgue where the Frankenstein Monster is standing at the Pearly Gates in Heaven and is told (something to the effect) that “Parts of you can get in and parts of you can’t.”
Both of these sort of came together and triggered my story.
Lion, goat or snake–which are you more like?
Not a goat; it could be eaten or killed by the other two. Not a lion as being king of the jungle it too high maintenance. Probably a snake as no one really can predict what a snake is likely to do in any given situation. And snakes are cool.
If you were going to be magically transformed into a chimera composed of three different creatures, what would you want them to be?
A raven for flight, a tortoise for longevity, and a spider because that is one of my totem creatures.
What if it wasn’t limited to creatures? What three things would you want to be composed of?
Rock, paper, scissors. No matter what, I would always be able to come out a winner.
Unrealizable dreams have been called chimeras. Taking the ‘unrealizable’ part out of the equation, what is one of your fondest dreams/goals?
The one of my goals which is most relevant to this interview is to make it to the “Z is for…” volume of this series without Rhonda pulling her hair out or breaking all of her editorial red pencils.
Can you share a short excerpt from your story?
I hope this is suggestive without giving too much away:
“As the days passed, Shannon slowly began to sort out fact from drug-induced fiction regarding her recent memories. She recalled an endless parade of doctors and nurses, all intense and caring and calming and solicitous. She recalled very forcibly vomiting up the first bit of semi-solid food (some kind of pudding) that a nurse had attempted to fed her. (Something to do with being in shock.) Probably fact. Then there were frequent visits by an older man she did not know and was not dressed in any kind of uniform. No one else seemed to interact with him. So, probably an illusion. A small sliver of ice she had been given was the most wonderful item she had ever tasted in her life. a couple of times a rather formal woman stopped in to discuss some type of legal matters and asked her if she understood the concept of “implied consent”.
The significance of the latter came into sharper focus when she noticed the scar.”
MICHAEL KELLAR is a writer, poet, and occasional online bookseller living in Myrtle Beach, SC.
His anthology appearances include “Side Show 2: Tales of the Big Top and the Bizarre”, “Metastasis: An Anthology to Support Cancer Research”, “Bones II”, “Bones III”, “A is for Apocalypse”, “B is for Broken”, “The Grays”, “Zombified: Hazardous Material” and “The Temporal Element II”.
He has also had poetry published in “Gothic Blue Book III: The Graveyard Edition”, and had fiction appear online as well as in a few magazines.
Find C is for Chimera online:
