INFAMOUS🦀 REVIEWER Short Story Contest Winner:

MOTHER

by Sarah Kirk Pierzchala

 

Q1: Sarah, first of all let me tell you that choosing a winner was no easy task for us, but in the end I was very happy it was your story for a few reasons. Can you tell us more about the origins of Mother?

 

Sarah: First, let me thank you for offering this opportunity for us writers to participate in such a fun contest! I’ve never had much success writing stories to prompts, but as soon as I read the parameters for this competition, the setting swiftly formed in my mind’s eye and the different elements fell into place pretty soon after that.

 

Q2: The 1st act, as Henry also pointed out, very much reminds me of that 20-ish minute intro in the original Planet of The Apes (1968). We were both taken by how you handled that part of the story: the lone adventurer exploring a new world. What or who inspired you to go that route?

 

Sarah: This story is more ‘pulpy’ than I normally write, so I definitely wanted to capture that sense of mystery, adventure and survival. There was certainly some influence from ‘60’s films like Jules Verne’s “Mysterious Island”, but I also just imagined what I might feel as that character in that situation. Also, since I’ve written an entire novel that mostly takes place on a small island with limited characters, I knew how important it is to make the story location itself almost as developed as its own character.

 

Q3: The main character is a woman who apparently was not at the top of her class in the academy. What then drove her to keep going and stay alive in such dire circumstances?

 

Sarah: Obviously, anyone who made it through an exobiologist program would meet some minimum psychological requirements to survive in a situation like that. Think how rigorously NASA selects and trains their astronauts! Also, her natural curiosity about the location helped her to not panic and give up.

Q4: For me the deciding factor to award your story 1st place was how you combined the ‘crab’ element with the ‘island’ element in such a creative way I personally didn’t see it coming until the very end. Where did that specific idea come from or was that something you had already brewing in the back of your mind?

 

Sarah: For me, seeing those words in proximity just handed the premise to me without requiring much effort on my part. The main challenge was to develop the drama and sense of wonder within the space constraints.

Q5: The big question now is, can we hope to see more of this universe come to life? I feel like between the MC, the island, the crabs, and the entire element of mystery there could be a lot more to explore here.

 

Sarah: I hadn’t really thought about that, but I’m delighted it made such an impression on you! I really enjoyed crafting the protagonist and creating the relationship between her and her environment, so who knows—there could be more to come some day!

Note from Henry: Gio is right–it was very difficult to pick a winner. All the submissions were solid and fun. We have showcased the work of these talented authors (and many others) on Virtual Pulp, and from our interactions with them came this contest. The quality of these entries reflects on how good Gio is at sniffing out the literary treasures in the colossal slush pile that is the e-book market of today.