Berit Ellingsen

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Excerpt

But that evening a thunderstorm rolled over the mountains, like a flash flood on the plains. The lightning bolts were so strong and sudden, they glowed bluish-white instead of yellow. The electrical discharges stretched out like spider legs from the clouds and scuttled quickly towards the city, bringing a rain that was a wall in the night. Human-produced electricity tried to keep up with the storm, but lost the battle, and everything became so loud and strobe-lit that no one could hear each other and stuttered about in slow-motion.

Because apples were the city’s fate and pride, the inhabitants had placed a monument, a giant gold-plated steel apple, on a tall foothill that gazed haughtily down on the city. Now the monument defied the drenching darkness with its bright metal skin. But when the lightning spotted the fat metal orb, it lunged at the apple and used it to dig itself deep into the ground. The shock made the apple leap out from the steel claw that clasped it to its pedestal like a diamond in a wedding ring. From there the giant fruit rushed down the hill, bounced off a truck full of gleaming green apples, crushed a restaurant that sold apple cider in seven different strengths, killing fourteen people and injuring another twenty-eight, before it careened loudly on.

Bio

Berit Ellingsen is a Korean-Norwegian writer whose stories have or will appear in Unstuck; Coffinmouth; Rocket Science, edited by Ian Sales; Candle in the Attic Window, edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R. Stiles; SmokeLong Quarterly, Elimae, Metazen, and other literary journals and anthologies.

Berit was a semifinalist in the 2011 Rose Metal Press Chapbook Competition and two of her stories received an honorable mention by Ellen Datlow for Best Horror of the Year Volume 4. Berit’s chapbook What Girls Really Think was published by Turtleneck Press in February 2012. Her novel, The Empty City, is a story about silence.

Publications

  • "Boyfriend and Shark," published in Paul Jessup's magazine, Coffinmouth
  • "Still Life of Hypnos," published in Sein und Werden
  • "Lightning Strikes Twice In All The Best Places," published in Brown Bunny Magazine
  • "Poison Ore Heart," published in Everyday Genius

    • Writing Description

    A mixture of literary and speculative fiction (science fiction, fantasy and horror) with a dash of surrealism and experimentation. Inspired by fabulists such as Jorge Luis Borges, Italo Calvino, Lautreamont, J.K. Huysmans, Jeff VanderMeer, Rikki Ducornet, Amelia Gray, Paul Jessup, K.J. Bishop, J.A. Tyler, and others.

    Writing Goals

    I currently have two longer projects, one surreal fantasy and one psychological horror story, that I want to add some words and momentum to. My goal is to write at least 250 words each day on each of these stories. In addition I have two short short stories I would like to finish and polish to submission quality. That might not sound like much, but since I'm also guest editing for the beautiful lit mag Asian Cha this summer, it's best to be a little careful.


    Website

    http://beritellingsen.com/


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