I love stories about consequences. Matthew’s story Go is one of those perfect stories for that, pairing history with hell, ghosts with memories and consequences that are well deserved. I gripped my Kindle so hard as I read, wondering what was happening. Just as confused as our main character, Wilburforce, until the revelation hit me the same time it hit him and I kicked myself for not understanding sooner!
“I’m not an astronaut.” Wilburforce’s words ended up quiet, even to him. He took a breath, ready to launch a protest. To say, with conviction this time, that he didn’t belong here. “Okay, folks,” Scobee announced, waving an arm forward like an advancing cavalry officer of old. “Let’s get to work!” A set of doors opened, leading out into what Wilburforce presumed was a hallway. He took another breath, determined to remain behind. Yet, his feet moved of their own accord. He wanted to cry out, like a prisoner going to their execution. The moment after, he was in line behind the astronauts, next to go through the door.
Go by Matthew Kresal, featured in Tangle & Fen: A Dark Fiction Anthology (p. 183). Crone Girls Press.
Q (Crone Girls Press): What inspired your story in this anthology? Tell us the “story behind the story.”
A (Author): How to answer this question without dropping spoilers, that’s the question! Part of it came out of being a lifelong space and history nerd with an interest in a particular event that brought the two together. I’d watched a series about it in late 2020 and saw that at least some of those involved in the decision-making leading to the disaster showed little or no remorse for their part in causing events to pass. Having the idea of what might happen if you dropped someone like that into the event was a tantalizing, if terrifying, one, and the story built from there.
Q: Why do you write horror? What about the genre appeals to you as an author?
A: I suspect I write it for the same reason I read or watch it: there’s something that interests me about it. Like with many genres, horror is a pretty wide one open to all sorts of different takes. You can do everything from slashers and monsters to getting inside people’s heads. There’s something fascinating but also unsettling about being able to do that.
Q: There are a number of different flavors of horror. Where does your story fit, and what drew you to this particular category?
A: I think “Go” fits into the psychological mode of the genre. Or even, perhaps, something akin to episodes of The Twilight Zone, which could be utterly unsettling to watch, even as a kid and teen in the nineties and noughties. The more psychological aspects of it appeal to me, particularly the idea of things unsaid or unseen catching up with us one way or another. To evoke a cliché: “You can run, but you can’t hide.”
Q: The world has been through some turbulent times in the past few years. How have current events changed (or not!) your approach to the genre as a writer?
A: For me, partly based on personal experiences, I think there’s more of a sense of “the monster next door.” That however well you think you know someone, your community, or the world around you, there’s a sense of something darker lingering there. That someone you’ve known for years harbors something so unlike your view of them that it comes as an utter shock.
Q: What’s next in your writing journey?
A: I’m continuing to write in the alternate history genre, with more work in that genre coming in anthologies from Sea Lion Press. I’m also working on revisions to what I’m calling a “cli-fi spy-fi” thriller and there’s a non-fiction book about Doctor Who in the works, as well.
About The Author
Matthew Kresal was born and raised in North Alabama though never developed a Southern accent, weirdly enough. His anthologized fiction includes “The Aurora Affair” in Belanger Books’ A Tribute To HG Wells and the Sidewise Award-winning “Moonshot” in Alternate Australias from Sea Lion Press. His first novel, Our Man on the Hill, was published in May 2021 by Sea Lion Press. He is also the author of the Dark Skies volume in Observe Books’ Silver Archive series, separating fact and fiction for that 1990s conspiracy thriller/alternate history TV series. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.
Be sure to check out their story in Tangle & Fen: A Dark Fiction Anthology
Crone Girls Press 