Leila used one of her permitted outings during the great lockdown to sneak into LS Towers. It wasn’t a problem to be socially distant once she was in the dungeons – Only the brave or the foolhardy stray into those catacombs with all the captive energy there is down there. *There’s no Orang Utang but apart from that it’s not dissimilar to the Great Library at the Unseen University – but you can’t get a sausageinabun.
Just about any metaphor will do when it comes to describing the contents of, and the LS vault itself. Whether it be a jungle full of wild animals or a sky swirling with strange stars or poorly lit backstreets inhabited by wild-eyed phantoms, the main idea is to convey a place made larger by its small pieces. Sometimes, however, a single small contribution to the stacks by a one-off author gets lost in the jungle or drowned out by the shine of larger stars or is perpetually in hiding on the mean streets. On occasion, one should go into the vault and guide a small contribution to the spotlight, where it may take a bow and a break from the ceaseless shadows cast by its bulkier colleagues.
Between First and Final Breaths by Kathryn H. Ross is (to date) is the author’s only story to appear on the site. The talent behind it screams the likelihood that it is on display elsewhere, but as far as the vault is concerned, this is all there is. In keeping with its LS status, it is a lost at sea piece; yet, as it is so common in the vault, the writer wrote it so well that the topic much older than the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, is presented with freshness and thoughtfulness.
Q: How were you able to manage the balance between releasing the backstory and the stream of consciousness of Miguel’s mind?
Q: What other stories have you penned, and may we expect to see any on the site someday?
Leila Allison
*Apologies to those readers who are not Pratchett fans! But hey give him a look – why not.
***
Between First and Final Breaths
Kathryn’s responses:
A: I was sort of creating the backstory for myself as I placed myself more into Miguel’s state of mind. At the point of death, what does one think about? When does the body become weary from trying to survive and when does it accept defeat? I was trying to show that Miguel has already given up mentally and so his life (his backstory) is flashing before his mind as he thinks about drifting away. I wanted him to regress to a moment when he felt the most small, vulnerable, and insignificant because now, waiting for death in a lifeboat, he’s in this exact place again.
Q: What other stories have you penned, and may we expect to see any on the site someday?
Between First and Final Breath in late 2015, and since then I’ve had many stories, poems, and essays published in different journals/zines and I’ve even got my first book in the world: Black Was Not A Label published by PRONTO this past October (2019)! You can find all my work and learn more about me on my site: speakthewritelanguage.com 🙂
literally stories 
Thanks to Kathryn for her answers and to Diane (I assume) for the introduction. I wanna sausage inna bun.
LA
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Hi Leila,
You keep choosing them out the park.
I know that isn’t a legitimate saying but it should be!!
Kathryn – I was very interested to read your comments on you working on the back story.
Some writers simply use any offshoots or histories as fillers for the crux of their story. You have shown how doing one well only enhances and develops the other.
Hugh
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