Season 3, Episode 4: Opening a Portal

In this episode, Julia F. Green and Ralph Walker welcome special guest E. J. Wenstrom to discuss Charles Yu’s short story “Open” from his 2012 story collection Sorry Please Thank You.Reading: Open by Charles YuE. J., Julia, and Ralph explore this speculative short story and its portal—in this case a literal door that appears in a living room—which may or may not save the main characters’ relationship. They discuss portals and their use in genre fiction, how Yu does so much in a small space, and his work on the TV show Westworld. This conversation examines how speculative tropes can deepen character development and storytelling and the complex interplay between reality and fantasy in science fiction.Prompt:Write a scene in which a portal appears to one or more characters. Do they step through it? What is on the other side? How does that challenge or enhance the character?Do you have feedback on this episode or thoughts on the story? We'd love to hear from you! Connect with us on social media or leave a comment.Guest Bio:E. J. Wenstrom believes in complicated heroes, horrifying monsters, purple hair dye and standing to the right on escalators so the left side can walk. She writes dark speculative fiction for adults and teens, including the young adult dystopian novel Departures and the award-winning Chronicles of the Third Realm War series (start with Mud). When she isn’t writing fiction, she co-hosts the Troped Out and Fantasy+Girl podcasts.Start the Chronicles of the Third Realm War series for free with the prequel novella when you join E.J.’s newsletter.You can find Writing in the Dark on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and subscribing is a great way to support this work. Thanks, as always, for listening.Listen to previous episodes.Writing in the Dark is co-hosted by Julia F. Green (Substack, Bluesky, website) and Ralph Walker (Twitter, website) and edited by Aaron Fyler, with cover art by Jarmusch. Get full access to Writing is Joy at writingisjoy.substack.com/subscribe