Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling

Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling is an anthology of short stories, poetry, and essays edited by Monica Valentinelli and Jaym Gates. Over two dozen authors, ranging from NYT-bestsellers and award winners to debut writers, chose a tired trope or cliche to challenge and surprise readers through their work. Read stories inspired by tropes such as the Chainmaille Bikini, Love at First Sight, Damsels in Distress, Yellow Peril, The Black Man Dies First, The Villain Had a Crappy Childhood, The Singularity Will Cause the Apocalypse, and many more...then discover what these tropes mean to each author to find out what inspired them. Join Maurice Broaddus, Adam Troy-Castro, Delilah S. Dawson, Shanna Germain, Sara M. Harvey, John Hornor Jacobs, Rahul Kanakia, Alethea Kontis, Valya Dudycz Lupescu, Haralmbi Markov, Sunil Patel, Kat Richardson, Nisi Shawl, Ferrett Steinmetz, Anton Strout, Michael Underwood, Alyssa Wong, and many other authors as they take well-worn tropes and cliches and flip them upside down. CONTENTS Introduction - Jerry Gordon SECTION I: INVERTING THE TROPES On Loving Bad Boys: A Villanelle - Valya Dudycz Lupescu Single, Singularity - John Hornor Jacobs Lazzrus - Nisi Shawl Seeking Truth - Elsa Sjunneson-Henry Thwock - Michelle Muenzler Can You Tell Me How to Get to Paprika Place? - Michael R. Underwood Chosen - Anton Strout The White Dragon - Alyssa Wong Her Curse, How Gently It Comes Undone - Haralambi Markov Burning Bright - Shanna Germain Santa CIS (Episode 1: No Saint) - Alethea Kontis Requiem for a Manic Pixie Dream - Katy Harrad & Greg Stolze The Refrigerator in the Girlfriend - Adam-Troy Castro The First Blood of Poppy Dupree - Delilah S. Dawson Red Light - Sara M. Harvey Until There Is Only Hunger - Michael Matheson Super Duper Fly - Maurice Broaddus Drafty as a Chain Mail Bikini - Kat Richardson Swan Song - Michelle Lyons-McFarland Those Who Leave - Michael Choi Nouns of Nouns: A Mini Epic - Alex Shvartsman Excess Light - Rahul Kanakia The Origin of Terror - Sunil Patel The Tangled Web - Ferrett Steinmetz Hamsa, Hamsa, Hamsa, Tfu, Tfu, Tfu. - Alisa Schreibman Real Women Are Dangerous - Rati Mehrotra SECTION II: DISCUSSING THE TROPES I'm Pretty Sure I've Read This Before ... - Patrick Hester Fractured Souls - Lucy A. Snyder Into the Labyrinth: The Heroine's Journey - A.C. Wise Escaping the Hall of Mirrors - Victor Raymond Tropes as Erasers: A Transgender Perspective - Keffy R.M. Kehrli SECTION III: DEFINING THE TROPES Afterword - Monica Valentinelli & Jaym Gates Trope Definitions/Index of Tropes SECTION IV: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND ADDITIONAL BIOS