Today I welcome Mico Pisanti, who shares a little about his world and his story, Fluoride in the Water which is part of the current Bloody Parchment anthology. G'day, Mico, tell us a little about yourself.
I am a child of the eighties, and therefore I count myself privileged to have grown up listening to radio first. Television followed later. This for me allowed the theatre of the mind to develop, and this was re-enforced by my mother who loved books and passed that on to me. Stories remain, in whatever format or medium, my first love.Tell us a little about the background of your story.
All I can remember about the genesis of this story was hearing laughter from a distance and thinking how lonely that sound can be if you’re in a certain state of mind. From there on the story grew organically, and I dare say, heavily influenced by writers such as John le Carre and Brett Easton Ellis. I had a fun with the detached narrative way the protagonist/antagonist’s thought processes worked.
Also, this story was my way of making sense of the senselessness of crime in our country, and maybe we all needed a shot of fluoride, like that Korova milk they serve in The Clockwork Orange.
Are there any interesting anecdotes relating to its creation?
All my friends and family thought I was unhappy in my marriage: which I wasn’t. It’s like Stephen King says, sometimes you write the worst case scenario of your deepest fears to draw a magic circle around yourself, so that it will never happen.
What do you like about horror as a genre?
I think horror allows a person, whether they’re reader or writer, to encounter their fears. Facing them head on can be therapeutic, even a rush. Also, as a genre, horror does not limit you.
What scares you?
Losing the people I love.
Where can people find you online?
Facebook, I guess.
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Submissions are open for this year's anthology are open until October 31. Find out more here, or feel free to direct any questions to nerinedorman@gmail.com
