Writer Spotlight: Liam Hogan
Welcome to the 32nd installment of Writer Spotlight. This week’s focus is Liam Hogan. I’ve reviewed 14 of Hogan’s pieces, 12 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:
Unlikely protagonists
Oppression / government control
Troubled / toxic relationships
Surgery / Transplants
Day One - Sep 24
Camille doesn't need fuel to go to the moon.
“How the Elephant Fell” | WYSR Review
The Elephant has always crossed the bridge to eat of the fruit, why should today be any different?
The Pairing: (Spoilers)
These two stories seemed pretty different to me.
Individually:
“White Goods” This story is so, so good, but sad. I’ve actually had the pleasure of reading it before, so here are my notes from my first read:
This story was packed with so much detail. Each sentence felt so vivid and fully fleshed. There were also some well done playing with expression, the main one I noted were the lines about “unforgivable transgressions,” and how both of them stated right next to each other showed the characters so well. There were themes of dreams deferred, the power of imagination, and terrible fathers.
And then there’s this paragraph that’s just heart wrenching, illustrating so well how parents put terrible expectations on their children, and how those children try to help anyway:
“Above them orbit a sun to the right, a crescent moon on the left, the impossibly starry sky divided by a curly wisp of smoke from the single chimney. And Camille, smiling, in-between, her outstretched hands somehow failing to bridge the divide.”
“How the Elephant Fell” This was a story in the vein of Aesop’s Fables, a parable about the importance of listening to others.
Day Two - Sep 25
3. “Cull” | WYSR Review
A man receives horrible news.
4. “Up Sticks” | WYSR Review
24 Fell Street goes in search of its absentee owner.
The Pairing: (Spoilers)
Both these stories involve implied death offscreen.
Individually:
“Cull” This micro has themes of implied killing and a play on words.
“Up Sticks” This one has a lot of anthropomorphism from the POV of a house, which I thought was very cute and fun. There are themes of grief, loss, and a search for someone you care about.
Day Three - Sep 26
5. “The Best of Us” | WYSR Review
A domestic service robot dreams of the day when they no longer have to serve their human masters.
6. “Judgment Day” | WYSR Review
If you’ve done nothing wrong, the Judges won’t hurt you. Though their definition of “wrong” might differ from yours.
The Pairing: (Spoilers)
Both these stories have themes of oppression and government control.
Individually:
“The Best of Us” This story has themes of sentient robots, yearning for freedom, and sacrifice for a greater good.
“Judgment Day This story was a brutal and unblinking dystopian vista of the future America if it stays on its current track. It has themes showing the violence against women and children and obsessive control of female bodies and fertility. It reminded me of Samantha Mills’ story The Rabbit Test.
Day Four - Sep 27
7. “Backstory” | WYSR Review
A troll recounts his experience taking on a hero.
8. “Bokrug and the Boy” | WYSR Review
Bokrug doesn’t care about the boy. Why would he? He is a Great Old One.
The Pairing: (Spoilers)
These two stories were both from the POV of what would usually be considered the “bad guy.”
Individually:
“Backstory” This was a cute fantasy / humor micro about a troll’s experience with a hero.
“Bokrug and the Boy” This story has themes of unlikely friendships, protecting the weak, and pushing back bullies.
Day Five - Sep 28
Jackson - no, Johnson - doesn’t mind his job at the driving company.
10. “EmoMo” | WYSR Review
Alfred brings home a new . . . pet . . . to help with his relationship.
The Pairing: (Spoilers)
Both these stories have themes of relationship troubles, which reminded me of “White Goods.”
Individually:
“Qubit Superhighway” This story had themes of quantum mechanics, and a man with either bipolar disorder or something to do with the science of the story. I liked that Jackson/Johnson doesn’t understand he’s the same person, but the reader does.
“EmoMo” This is a flash story with themes of people pleasing and its negative effects, as well as avoiding emotional conflict.
Day Six - Sep 29
11. “A Game of Musical Souls” | WYSR Review
Alex finds a soul too large to pass up.
12. “Work in Progress” | WYSR Review
A doctor performs surgery on an insistent patient with a healing ability.
The Pairing: (Spoilers)
Both these stories have themes of surgery and transplants!
Individually:
“A Game of Musical Souls” This story has themes of doing anything in order to get what you want, self-harm, and the literal weighing / value of souls.
“Work in Progress” This story includes medical breakthroughs and a mysterious MC with the power of healing. There is the possibility that this MC is doing this to help humanity, which, if so, reminded me of “The Best of Us” in how the robot sacrifices themself for the greater good.
Day Seven - Sep 30
13. “Dream Stealer” | WYSR Review
A blind future seer foretells both good and bad events, but the clan never rejoices.
14. “Feathers” | WYSR Review
Two statues communicate via pigeon. But not in the way you’re thinking.
The Pairing: (Spoilers)
These stories seemed pretty different to me.
Individually:
“Dream Stealer” This story has themes of future telling, the curse of knowing said future, and dreams.
“Feathers” This is a story about toxic love, long, encoded messages, and yearning from afar.
Emmie’s Personal Favorite: “Judgment Day”
Interview Questions
What are the themes you tend to return to the most in your work overall? Why do think that is?
Hogan: I suppose something I return to is my distaste for the classical hero. My characters are more likely to be “uh-oh, not him/her”, rather than the chosen one. When we draw the hero - villain character axis, we should probably add another: competent - incompetent. It might be unpopular to say, and heck, it’s all fiction anyway, but most of us are likely to stray onto the incompetent side. Life is messy. The universe throws things at us without actually checking if we’re gonna cope. Pointy end forward!
2. What character(s) in these pieces do you relate to the most? Or, what character(s) are different from you that you found most interesting?
Hogan: The Boy in Bokrug and the Boy is very much a young me, awkward, self-absorbed, finding it difficult to fit in. But also stubborn, occasionally fierce. These are MY demons, my nightmares - find your own!
3. Do you tend to start writing a story idea out of a particular element, like character, setting, or point of view?
Hogan: I started, and effectively trained myself, to write approx 1-2k stories. Longer is still a bit of a struggle, though sometimes the story needs it, so needs must. Shorter can be fun, I dabble, in drabbles. One painful lesson I had to learn was that a knock-out idea and great writing (style) didn’t necessarily make a great story. I have plenty of ideas,my stories tend to start with a what if, rather than a who? But that can leave the characters thin, and, if the “idea” just happens to them - a bit passive. I might fall back on that competence incompetence axis, and claim that’s not unrealistic, but selling that as a story can be tricky!
4. What short fiction author do you look up to? Why?
Hogan: He might be a little out of fashion, but Asimov wrote very cleanly, and ideas first, so I would like to emulate him. Vonnegut isn’t so well known for his short stories, but wrote plenty - from him, I’d like to take a degree of mischievous fun. And so it goes.
5. Anything else you’d like to say about your work?
Hogan: The Disillusionment is real. It feels, and is backed up by what metrics I collate, that the speculative short story market is getting (much) tougher. That doesn’t mean I’m giving up (NEVER SURRENDER!) but I am noodling my options. I want to keep writing fun - not a chore.
6. Do you have any piece, listed here or otherwise, that you would like to promote?
Hogan: Heck, the one that could always do with a little more love (they ALL could, of course, hence this wonderful idea of a blog!) is How The Elephant Fell. Not written anything quite like this, before or after, but that’s because this scratched that particular itch!