Author Notes on "That Old Silk Hat They Found"
242 Words
That Old Silk Hat They Found
First published in Strange Wonderland #1, March 1997
The thought of associating spring with The Apocalypse was intriguing to me; particularly from a snowman's perspective.
As I began to write the tale I made the snowman a sentient narrator, and the narrator's voice began to take over the story, describing what it was like to wake up and find oneself to be a snowman.
Inspired partly by Frankenstein's monster, who didn’t ask to be "born" and partly by wanting to make a statement about the self-imposed God complex of humanity in general, I kept up this train of thought and considering the following questions:
What would it be like to be a snowman?
How would a snowman think and feel about its circumstances?
What would their "life" be like and what would an expected "lifespan" be?
What tales would they tell?
Culturally and anthropologically speaking, what legends of Genesis and Armageddon would they pass along to each other?
These questions let me to the reasoning that Spring, and the cruel humans who selfishly created this "life" were the enemies as the narrator faced his darkest fears.
I'm particularly fond of the title as it calls upon the happy and innocent mystique of the children's song "Frosty the Snowman" and turns on the reader when they encounter what I felt would be a more realistic experience of a snowman coming to life . . .
- Writer
