Bewildering Stories welcomes...

Caitlin Enos

Caitlin prefers “Cat” in her byline, and we’re happy to go with it. I hope she’ll pardon our using her full name in the title of our official pages; I think it’s quite pretty.

Cat is a freshman at the University of Illinois — Chicago. She plans to major in Biology. She hopes to move to Scotland and become “the female James Hogg.” Please let us know if you succeed, Cat, and remember to fill us in about Mr. Hogg, okay?

Among Cat’s favorite authors she lists T. S. Eliot, whose Prufrock figures prominently in “A Routine Operation.” Normally, readers look askance at writers’ overtly borrowing imagery, but who will mind in this case? Cat skillfully and imaginatively adapts the allusions to her own poem.

The poem attracts notice for its innovative form as well as its wit. A patient understandably feels anxiety and dread for a medical procedure that the doctors approach with nonchalance. The result is a kind of ironic gallows humor.

Caitlin Enos’ bio sketch can be found here.

Welcome to Bewildering Stories, Cat. We hope to hear from you again soon and often!