In the lead-up to the release of Hope: The Thing with Feathers, I’m going to be posting mini-interviews with my fellow ToC-mates! You can pre-order Hope: The Thing with Feathers here.
“A Bird Afraid of Feathers” is one of those lovely gems of storytelling that can do so much in such a short span of words. Written in an almost faux academia voice, this sweet tale examines the strange and mysterious lives of the barebird, an odd creature that lives in a desolate landscape and appears to have no feathers at all. But although they seem ugly little things, there’s more to them than meets the eye.
Writing Question: What story (published or unpublished) of yours is your personal favorite and why?
It’s always tough to choose a favorite, so I’ll cheat a bit. “Start With Stones“, a story about finding magic and love (unfortunately not online), is the story in which I think I finally settled into what I now think of as ‘my’ voice. I still write in a variety of styles, but this sort of dreamy, romantic tone is where I feel most at home. “Dragons I Have Slain” a story about independence, is one that I think epitomizes what I was trying to do. And, more recently, I’m really proud of “Cupernicity” – about youth underwater on an alien planet – which accomplishes the same thing in a science fiction novelette.
Spec Fic Question: What’s the best SF short story you’ve ever read? What about it really spoke to you?
I can’t swear it’s the best I’ve ever read, but it’s certainly one that stuck with me – “Leaf, by Niggle” by J.R.R. Tolkien. When I was first encountering The Hobbit as a boy, I sought out Tolkien’s other books. The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings were good, but “Leaf, by Niggle” was the story that stuck with me. An allegory about death, creativity, and morality, it’s also a beautiful, wistful story about dreams and hopes that makes you think without being (sic) ponderous. LOTR has its place, but when people talk about Tolkien’s writing, it’s this story they should be mentioning.
Hope-Related Question: What’s your go-to strategy to feel better when life or the state of affairs gets you down?
There’s nothing innovative about my approach, but I find you can’t go wrong with animals and nature. If you live with a companion animal, you already know how they can lift you out of depression and make you realize how much good there is in life. If you don’t or can’t have a companion, going to a dog park or a beach or a forest and just watching the animals or soaking in some natural space can do the same. When I don’t have access to any of that, I’ve got books and memories and cute cat pictures online. I get more of a lift from that than anything else I’ve tried.
Oddball Question: What book or books have changed your life or the way you see the world?
There was a tide of books that made me think differently about animals and that helped my natural inclinations along their way. When I was about ten, I was reading a lot of James Herriott and Gerald Durrell, and that led in my early teens to authors like Farley Mowat, Rachel Carson, and Gavin Maxwell. But it was Richard Adams that probably opened my eyes the most. First, of course, Watership Down, but much more importantly, The Plague Dogs, a beautiful, heartbreaking novel about dogs who escape from an animal testing facility. There’s no one moment or book that brought me to vegetarianism and then veganism, but The Plague Dogs certainly pointed me in the right direction. I re-read it just last year, and found it just as effective as I did many decades ago.
B. Morris Allen is a biochemist turned activist turned lawyer turned foreign aid consultant, and now retired. He has lived on five continents, but the best place he’s found is the Oregon coast. When he can, he makes his home there to work on his own speculative stories of love and disaster. He was the editor and publisher of Metaphorosis magazine for its nine year run.
Find out more at www.BMorrisAllen.com and on Bluesky @BMorrisAllen.com.