I had another story published a few weeks ago by the cool folks at Black Heart Magazine. I described the story, Kerosene, to a friend by saying, “This is the second story I’ve published about a girl setting herself on fire.”
You wouldn’t think it to look at me, but I’ve got a dark side.
Kerosene, like Christmas Wreath before it, was inspired by the account of Clara Guthrie, sister to Woody, who met a tragic and heartbreaking end. After reading about Clara’s death in Joe Klein’s Woody Guthrie: A Life, I kept returning to those moments when our normal life takes a sudden and tragic turn – and when our actions unintentionally helped bring them on.