Writer Spotlight: Christopher Degni
Welcome to the twelfth installment of Writer Spotlight. This week’s focus is Christopher Degni. I’ve reviewed 14 of Degni’s pieces, all of them individually on Inkfoundry’s “Get WYSR” feed. (In case you didn’t know, Inkfoundry is a wonderful and free resource that aggregates short fiction and poetry pieces!)
Recurring Themes:
Ghosts!
Grief / Loss / Death
Clever Formats & Meta Humor
Humorous Dialogue / Situations
Micro fiction
Math & Logical Deduction
Day One - March 19
"Life and Jacq and the Giant and Death"
A gender bend of Jack and the Beanstalk!
“Me an’ Streeter (an’ Vince) Chase a Comet”
Teenagers doing what they do best in the far future.
The Pairing: (Spoilers)
These two stories are quite different, but I did notice a sort of theme where they are both told from an older child / teenager’s POV.
Individually:
"Life and Jacq and the Giant and Death” is a fairy tale retelling with a gender bent Jack. Also, Jacq takes a wife later on, so there’s some lesbian representation. This one gravitated around concepts of life and death, and the lengths someone might go to, to save a loved one.
"Me an’ Streeter (an’ Vince) Chase a Comet” is told exclusively through dialogue. A monologue, actually! The voice in this is so strong, and the character very distinctive. This one is all about thrill seeking and adventure and daring.
Day Two - March 20
3. “The Infinite and the Infinitesimal”
Luis Davila leaves behind an astonishing theory of how numbers and letters might inform each on infinity.
Sara waits in a field where the circus used to come, to see if she’ll get answers about her brother.
The Pairing: (Spoilers)
These two stories both have what I call “Inception endings.” Meaning, the top is spinning and we aren’t sure if it wiggles at the end or not, and that it’s left open is the part that makes you think the most.
Individually:
“The Infinite and the Infinitesimal” is a story about math, but the heart of it is also about the feeling of magic, the unknowable - the “infinite.” It has themes around the excitement of discovery and intermingles the literary and the mathematical.
“Merry-Go-Round” is a micro fiction with themes around circuses, what seems to be grief over a long lost brother, and possibly time travel, or at least omens with fortune tellers. In this way, it reminded me of “Jacq” as the dragonflies also utilized foreshadowing and omens.
Day Three - March 21
5. “Upgrade”
He just wants to relax. But it’s their anniversary.
Ed Roger isn’t going to mince words. There’s a goblin infestation.
The Pairing: (Spoilers)
These are both very short, one a micro and one a smaller flash. Degni is wonderful at micro fictions, which I adore. I have a little pedestal about them which is basically that they are wonderful to give you that flash of having read something, even if you aren’t able to get through a book or short story. It’s nonjudgmental by design. ANYWAY I’m off the pedestal.
Individually:
“Upgrade” has an unlikeable narrator with a comeuppance arc involving nanobots. This one also touches on misogyny and upgraded humans/bionic humans.
“Home Inspection” has some humor in it that reminded me of “Streeter.” There is also a good amount of well done dialogue that had me chuckling.
Day Four - March 22
The narrator lives with the ghost of his mother.
A story about the dark web told through reddit threads, hacking codes, and emails.
The Pairing: (Spoilers)
Both of these are horror stories!
Individually:
“The Six Stages of Grief” has themes of loss and grief around death/absence of a loved one, joining “Jacq” and “Merry Go Round.” There’s also a supernatural element of ghosts.
“Notes From the Dark Web” involves themes of getting in over your head, which I think echoes back “Streeter.” There’s demons and missing persons and online conspiracies, and has a dark comedic tone as well as being very clever. The cleverness reminds me of “Infinite.” There’s also quite a bit of humorous dialogue, as in “Streeter.”
Day Five - March 23
9. “Silk Dreams, Velvet Nightmares”
Glyph wants to escape reality, but when he plugs into the Mindnet, his family is waiting for him.
10. “Signs of Life”
A dying father, a dying planet. A choice that will last forever.
The Pairing: (Spoilers)
Both these sci-fi stories deal with grief and loss, joining “Jacq,” “Merry Go Round,” and “Six Stages.” They are all about grief and loss from different angles, though, which I try to postulate about below.
Individually:
“Silk Dreams, Velvet Nightmares” along with the theme of grief, there is a sub theme here of survivor’s guilt, which also I believe makes an appearance in “Merry Go Round.” You could argue that the simulations of Glyph’s loved ones are like ghosts, in which case it reminds me of “Six Stages” in another way.
“Signs of Life” is a story about split decisions that last forever. In this way, it felt like “Merry Go Round” as well, though I can’t say for sure. It felt like in “Merry Go Round” there was a moment the narrator relives over and over, and I would estimate this would happen for the narrator in this piece too.
Day Six - March 24
11. “Jimboree”
The Jims start work for the day.
12. “A 125-Word Story About Writer’s Block in the Style of Italo Calvino”
A ‘writer’ tries to get around an LLM’s block.
The Pairing: (Spoilers)
These are both micro fiction, comedic sci-fis with the concept of copying something.
Individually:
“Jimboree” had a lighter comedic tone, reminding me “Home Inspection” and “Streeter.” Underneath this joviality, I noticed it also touched on a corporation’s anti DEI policies by not only never hiring anyone new, but cloning their current one employee. Which of course is the joke: without diversity, you get a bunch of Jims.
“A 125-Word Story About Writer’s Block in the Style of Italo Calvino” was a hilarious satirization of LLMs and AI ‘writing.’ There is a lot meta humor where the format and repetition pointed out the joke itself. Once again, there’s a cleverness to this story that echoes “Infinite” and “Dark Web.”
Day Seven - March 25
13. “Reflections on Carnival-By-the-Sea”
The ghosts come out in the off season of the carnival.
14. “Sherlock Holmes and the Ghostly Reunion”
Sherlock Holmes is called to investigate a case for Irene Adler’s daughter and disprove a supernatural origin.
The Pairing: (Spoilers)
These two stories both involve ghosts, grief, and loss, joining the ones mentioned above.
Individually:
“Reflections on Carnival-By-the-Sea” joins Degni’s host of micro fiction works! I have loved each one. Specifically, this one is very similar to “Merry-Go-Round,” for the sense of grief and melancholy, a carnival setting, and someone waiting for a dear loved one who has passed to be revealed. I do wonder if maybe these two stories are related in some way. Either way, I love it when an author examines something similar throughout their work, as if fascinated by a truth inside a gem, which reflects many sides to the same truth.
“Sherlock Holmes and the Ghostly Reunion” was a wonderful mystery. I confess I don’t read many mysteries, but I am entertained by them all the same, when I do. The dialect and language used was well done, the formality of the time period shining through in the dialogue and the descriptions. The twist at the end was well foreshadowed! I would also say that there was an element of mystery and logical deduction I didn’t mention before in “Dark Web” and “Infinite,” which of course is echoed in “Sherlock.”
Emmie’s Personal Favorite: “Me an’ Streeter (an’ Vince) Chase a Comet”
Summary!
If I were to summarize Degni’s style in one sentence, I would say he excels at crafting clever twists and formats along with humorous dialogue and situations, and often touches on grief and loss through the ephemeral, such as ghosts, and/or reality, such as math or the Internet.
Interview Questions
What are the themes you tend to return to the most in your work overall? Why do think that is?
Degni: Memory, a sense of self-identity, and, apparently, ghosts! (I noticed the ghost thing as I was gathering stories together for this review). I think they actually all go together. I’m fascinated with how we construct a sense of self, and how our memory plays into that. Ghosts, for me, are a representation of what once was, or what might have been, but what is no longer.
2. What is one of the characters in your short stories/flash pieces that you relate to the most, and why?
Degni: I try to empathize with my characters, but don’t relate to them all that much. It’s kind of weird. But if I had to choose one, it would be the couple in “Home Inspection”, since my wife and I have been through multiple home-buying shenanigans, including home inspections that have derailed the sale.
3. What short fiction author do you look up to? Why?
Degni: I really like Gene Wolfe’s short stuff. He plays with unreliable narrators, yet constructs his stories really tightly, so that once you’ve solved the puzzle, it’s almost undeniable. I do like to keep more ambiguity in my own stories, but I find puzzle stories really satisfying.
4. Anything else you’d like to say about your work?
Degni: I don’t think so! I hope people enjoy it!
5. Do you have any piece, listed here or otherwise, that you would like to promote?
Degni: If anyone wants more ghosts from me, then I have a novella about a former reality show ghost hunter reluctantly getting back into the game called Ghostshow Live!, available in all the usual places.