I asked fellow The Rabbit Hole Weird Stories Destination:Journey anthology contributors to share some things about themselves prior to publication and those generous enough to do so will be appearing here for the next week or so.
Each entry gives a taste of their contribution, a little about them, how to contact them, how their story came about, and definitely a link to The Rabbit Hole Weird Stories Destination:Journey (which you should purchase because it would make each and every one of us happy.
you do want to make us happy, don’t you?
i mean, considering what we wrote, you want us to know you’re a good person, right?).
Let’s start with an introduction to the anthology as a whole:
“Life is a journey, not a destination.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Emerson’s point has been echoed by many, but in the Land of the Weird the question arises, “A journey to what destination?” At the same time, you might ask, “Is the journey therefore the destination?” The journey may well be an individual’s destination, because it will define them physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And in the Land of the Weird, that journey can take twists and turns that amuse, sadden, or horrify.
This trip into the Land of the Weird offers you 39 unique trails to follow, assisted by 35 different guides, each leading you down their own singular paths, manifesting their own view of journey as destination, some laughing, some weeping, and some, eyes wide with fear, shaking as they point out the spectral footpath for you to follow on your way down The Rabbit Hole.A Writers Co-op Production
Stories by: Chere Taylor, Brian R. Quinn, Arthur M. Doweyko, Donna J. W. Munro, Tom Howard, Kayla Whittle, Leslie Muzingo, Pete Barnstrom, Emmie Christie, Thomas Nicholson, GD Deckard, Richard DeRobertis, M.C. Schmidt, James Dorr, Rosalind Goldsmith, Margaret Karmazin, J.W.Wood, James Rumpel, Bill McCormick, v.f. thompson, Fran Tabor, David K. Slay, Joseph Carrabis, Jane Frankel, Alice Baburek, Susan R. Morritt, Bobby Rollins, Lee Clark Zumpe, Denice Penrose, Stephen McQuiggan, H. Donovan Lyón, Anna Ross, Michael Pudney, Beth Gaydon, and Tom Wolosz.
Bill’s contribution is Miggy. Here’s the opening:
Miggy was a toad thumper. Like his father. And his father’s father. And his father’s father’s father. And his father’s father’s father’s father.
And so on, ad infinitum.
And, like all good toad thumpers, he’d learned how to gently curve the edges of the sharp box of conformity. While society could barely hold its nose long enough to shower disdain on toad thumpers, they filled niches others would not.
So, toad thumpers were tolerated.
Barely.
How the story came about:
A common theme for me is how oppressed people survive in the real world. I wrote Miggy after finally seeing A Day Without A Mexican. While the movie is filled with promise and hope, I took a darker turn.
About Bill McCormick:
Bill McCormick is an award winning, and critically acclaimed, author of several novels, graphic novels, comic book series, and has appeared in numerous anthologies. He began writing professionally in 1986 for the Chicago Rocker Magazine in conjunction with his radio show on Z-95 (ABC-FM) and went on to write for several other magazines and blogs. He writes a twisted news & science blog at WorldNewsCenter.org. It provided source material for his weekly radio show on WBIG 1280 AM, FOX!, which aired from 10/2010 to 8/2022. Bill is a big fan of music and this rainbow haired goddess who keeps waking up in his bed. You can find out more about him at his website.
See all The Rabbit Hole Weird Stories Destination:Journey stories here.