Metal, Bark and Whispers Soup

Stephen King was right when he said that an author is not always, if ever, a good judge of his or her work. Metal, Bark and Whispers Soup is probably my most successful story. Yet it's my opinion it's not my best work. For example, a personal favorite: The Peasant who annoyed Death, does not get much, if any, positive feedback, sometimes quite the opposite. And something like The Way of the Cow is largely ignored. However, some of the absurdity in Metal, Bark and Whispers Soup is enjoyable, like: ..he ran so fast his chin was in his mouth...

Metal, Bark and Whispers Soup received an excellent edit by Meredith Morgenstern when it was first published by the Rose and Thorn back in 2003. It then was nominated for the Pushcart Prize that year and may (or may not) have been read on a New York radio station - on WBAR, a nonprofit station in 2004.

It was reprinted at Bewildering Stories where it was voted one of their top 13 stories in the 2nd quarter of 2011 (679 votes on 93 titles).

It is now available at I'll Tell you a Story. There is only one small change: a semicolon was added. This site offers up fairy tales from all around the world. It is a fairly new site but may become a handy database in the future of fairy tales from all over the world. It is appropriate this story is made available there during the Halloween season this year, as the protagonist is a tiny witch.

Publishing history:

Metal, Bark and Whispers / I'll Tell You a Story / October 2012
Metal, Bark and Whispers / BEWILDERING STORIES / Spring 2011
Metal, Bark and Whispers Soup / THE ROSE AND THORN / Fall 2003