For Valentine’s Day, we’re featuring themed flash fiction pieces from some of our authors from previous seasons and all 3 of our producers! Just a heads up, some of the pieces contain sexual content.
The pieces are listed below, and you can click on the author’s name to see their full episode:
“Margot and Constant” by Jon Zelazny
Jon says: In writing of the real-life long-term affair of the composer Constant Lambert and ballerina Margot Fonteyn, I needed to make clear the role Eros played in the relationship. She was a beautiful young woman with a perfect body, he fifteen years older and in serious physical decline, yet their sexual relations endured for years, long after they’d given up any realistic hope of making a life together.
They kept the affair from the public, a secret from all but their closest friends, yet even when rumors circulated amidst their colleagues, people found the gossip difficult to believe. Outwardly as different as night and day, the lovers were unquestionably fused at the most primal level.
“Quinn and Alex” by M.D. Neu
M.D. says: We all have hopes and dreams for romance that we may never find; however, sometimes love takes time and a single spark.
“Maria Lucia is Way Too Beautiful (and She Knows It)” by Glenn Schiffman
Glenn says: I wrote it from a writing prompt. Someone was way too beautiful … etc and that reminded me of someone I knew; a girl who when she was growing up was told over and over, “You’re so pretty, you’re going to be a heart-breaker when you grow up.” And of course she was.
“My Palette” by Carol Anne Seflinger
Carol Anne says: I wrote My Palette in remembrance of a relationship I had with a younger man when we were in an acting workshop together. Our bond was so strong, and we connected on so many levels, that it seemed the age difference was ever so inconsequential…until it wasn’t.
“Elixir Number Thirteen” by Jeremy Ray (in the style of Mary Shelley)
“One with the Divine (or, if Marie Corelli Were a Modern Girl” by Megan Morrison (in the style of Marie Corelli)
“Hershey’s Hell” by Mark Lorden (behind the scenes!)
Mark says: Like most holidays in modern times, commercial influence has permeated the vast majority of Valentine’s Day traditions. I wondered how a pawn in this capitalist game may feel about its place in the world, and this little piece of chocolate popped into my head shouting “Eat me, eat me, oh mighty dissolver!”