Bewildering Stories introduces and welcomes...

Michael Strickland

Michael has a degree from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts and is now pursuing an advanced degree in Creative Writing at Western Colorado Universtity. He has already published extensively.

“No More Sparrows” appears to take a sentimental turn on an apocalyptic theme: one parent is left alone to mourn a child who is killed in what appears to be a nuclear attack even though the other parent has secretly warned them to flee the target city.

The plot makes the story publishable by upending mere sentmentality. It pulls a role reversal on any readers who have certain firmly ingrained cultural expectations; namely, that the mother — rather than the father — would normally supervise her child at a playground and that women ought to be barred from serving in the armed forces. The war and the loss of a child are dramatic pretexts; actually, the story throws a left hook at advocates of strict patriarchal gender roles.

Michael Strickland’s bio sketch can be found here.

Welcome to Bewildering Stories, Michael. We’re glad to have you with us.