My short story “The Stink of Horses” appeared on Hobart on June 27, 2014.

First line: “I don’t understand anything about the ballet; all I know is that during the intervals the ballerinas stink like horses.”
— Anton Chekhov

Inspiration: I read the above Chekhov quote in a magazine, maybe The New Yorker, and couldn’t get it out of my head. This was one of those stories where I started with the tiniest of ideas — what if the ballerinas stunk of horses because they were horses? — and started writing with only that thin sliver. I’ve always been obsessed with dance, likely because I’ve never been able to achieve a dancer’s grace. Thus, I suspect this story was hidden inside me, as it was one of the easiest, and most fun, I’ve ever written.

Read it for free: http://www.hobartpulp.com/web_features/the-stink-of-horses-excerpts-from-the-marina-golovina-controversy-by-the-ballet-book-series

Art: In a Different World by Jennifer Stufflebeam