Meta-metamorphosis

A huge thanks to sponsor Sagging Meniscus Press for returning this week — and for bringing our readers a sample from Doug Nufer's latest, Metamorphosis. Like all of Nufer's work, this Kafka retelling is a mind-bender, warping the language of the story as much as (or more than) the famous plot.

Here's the re-mix of one of literature's most famous first lines:

As gorger Gregor Samsa awoke one morning on grim neon rumor, weak as sudsy foam from meaner omen uneasy dreams, he found himself off due hush-framed snore mail transformed in his bed shied bin taint into a tacit ensign giant insect.

Kafka's original is an anacoluthon — a sentence that seems to make sense until it suddenly doesn't. Nufer's version seems not to make sense until it suddenly does. Read more on our sponsorship page, but leave yourself a trail of crumbs. Not to mix story metaphors, but you could easily find yourself happily lost in this one.

Thanks to sponsors like Sagging Meniscus Press, we were sponsor-supported for every week in the first half of 2018. We’ve just released our sponsorship blocks for July through January, and they're going quickly. We'd love to see your book, event, or service for writers promoted here. By sponsoring, you help us publish great columnists and reviewers — and you get exposure to Seattle's most passionate readers, writers, and book professionals. We look forward to hearing from you!