![\"Elements](\"http:\/\/suzannechurch.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Elements-LJ-size.jpg\")
Below, dear reader, please find bonus content<\/b><\/u> for Suzanne’s book: ELEMENTS: A Collection of Speculative Fiction<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\nThis series of posts provides stories-behind-the-stories for each tale in ELEMENTS<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Sitting in the 10th slot in the Table of Contents<\/a> is the last of the Couch Teleportation Universe<\/i> stories: “Fuzzy Green Monster Number Two”<\/b><\/p>\n My third story in the Couch Teleportation Universe<\/a> examines the definition of a monster. Fuzzy<\/i> was originally published in Neo-Opsis Magazine, Issue #12<\/a>.<\/p>\n Before the story begins, Greenie has scrounged enough money for a one-way couch-teleporter ticket to Earth, where he hoped to find a better life away from the desperation of drug addiction that permeated his home culture.<\/p>\n Instead of prosperity, he finds discrimination and a lack of employment for sentients without opposable digits.<\/p>\n With Fuzzy Green Monster Number Two<\/i> I wanted to tell a story from the monster’s point of view. Greenie doesn’t consider himself a monster at all. He’s simply a Strunjox<\/i> trying to blend in among the humans. <\/p>\n As Greenie’s circumstances evolve, I wanted the reader to re-examine the definition of a monster. Like many fables, I wanted to ensure that the reader’s initial interpretation of a beast’s outward appearance didn’t coincide with what they learn as they peel away at the layers beneath the surface.<\/p>\n Science Fiction is a genre designed to nudge the reader to interpret the social hierarchies of our own lives through an approachable and entertaining lens.<\/p>\n Fun Fact<\/b><\/u><\/p>\n In 1992 I visited Los Angeles almost exactly one month after the riots<\/a>.<\/p>\n And while the timing wasn’t ideal for a visit, I was continuously amazed by the dichotomies of the city: incomparable wealth on one side of the razor-wire fence and abject poverty on the other.<\/p>\n That’s why I set Fuzzy<\/i> in LA; to examine the contrast between haves<\/b> and have-nots<\/b>. But also because the legends and social references to the city are so ingrained in North American culture.<\/p>\n That dude (whatever his name) makes an appearance in Fuzzy<\/i>: <\/p>\n . The sidewalks in this part of the city were crowded with eccentric humans and a variety of aliens. One man wore a cardboard box over his head that looked like a vid.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I hope that dude is still alive today, wandering around LA with a cardboard flatscreen on his head. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n Below, dear reader, please find bonus content for Suzanne’s book: ELEMENTS: A Collection of Speculative Fiction. This series of posts provides stories-behind-the-stories for each tale in ELEMENTS. Sitting in the 10th slot in the Table of Contents is the last of the Couch Teleportation Universe stories: “Fuzzy Green Monster Number Two” My third story in the Couch Teleportation Universe examines the definition of a monster. Fuzzy was originally published in Neo-Opsis Magazine, Issue #12. Greenie is a teenaged Strunjox–a towering\u2026<\/p>\n
\n![\"neoopsis](\"http:\/\/suzannechurch.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/neoopsis-12-mini-206x300.jpg\")
Greenie is a teenaged Strunjox<\/i>–a towering green beast with a long snout and sharp claws. His species are native to the desert planet Deslot<\/i>, a world where drug trafficking is the source of employment for more than half the population. <\/p>\n![\"tv](\"http:\/\/suzannechurch.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/tv-head.jpg\")
On the day I visited the Sunset Strip<\/a>, I spotted a man wearing a cardboard box covered in aluminum foil on his head. The front of the box had been cut open, and knobs had been drawn on with marker, making the end-product look like an old-fashioned CRT television<\/a>. He’d also attached an ancient broken antenna to the back. <\/p>\n
\nELEMENTS: A Collection of Speculative Fiction<\/i><\/a> is available in Canada and the USA from EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"