Eugenia Triantafyllou is a Greek author and artist with a flair for dark things. Her work has been nominated for the Ignyte, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards, and she is a graduate of Clarion West Writers Workshop. You can find her stories in Tor.com, Uncanny, Strange Horizons, and other venues. She currently lives in Athens with a boy and a dog. “Six Versions of My Brother Found Under the Bridge” is her 6th appearance in Uncanny, a beautifully dark tale of a family navigating grief and loss.
Uncanny Magazine: This is a beautifully written novelette that looks at family dynamics, emotions, grieving, and deals with the devil. What was your starting point or inspiration for the story?
Eugenia Triantafyllou: While sick with COVID in February I was watching the Junji Ito Maniac TV show. I had not been writing for a few months for reasons I don’t recall, and I was sort of looking for inspiration in general. I was already familiar with many of those tales from the manga but one in particular, “The Story of the Mysterious Tunnel,” lit up a spark in my brain and didn’t let go until I wrote the entire thing in a semi-delirious state. As a result, I had to re-arrange more than half of the scenes for it to make sense in a later version of the story.
So I guess you could say that my starting point was watching horror anime while being sick.
Uncanny Magazine: There is a lovely creepiness to the tunnel under the bridge—was it inspired by a real place?
Eugenia Triantafyllou: See above, it was at least partially inspired by the tunnel in the “Mysterious Tunnel episode,” and partially by Greek folk tales of human sacrifice and particularly immurement inside constructions. A famous example of these tales in Greece is the folk ballad called “The Bridge of Arta,” which I reference in the story. Immurement is a cultural motif in the Balkans and as far as I know in East and Southeast Asia as well, and it has been haunting my mind ever since I was a kid.
Another very common motif in Greece is places named after the Devil for various foreboding reasons. The Devil is supposed to be living there and waiting for some poor souls to pass by his domain in order to add them to his collection.
Uncanny Magazine: Olga’s brother always appears holding a Robin Hood figure from one of Olga’s LEGO sets, a toy she particularly cherished. Are there toys from your childhood that you absolutely had to have at the time, and/or now remember fondly?
Eugenia Triantafyllou: As a kid I had some toys but not too many since we were strapped financially. But I will say that I still have the Flowerburst pony my Mom brought home one day out of the blue. I still remember the joy of that surprise and that’s really hard to let go.
Uncanny Magazine: If you had to share a room with one of the versions of Olga’s brother, which one would you choose and why?
Eugenia Triantafyllou: Ooof, that’s a hard choice because in the story these versions are trapped in a loop, so it’s like you are asking me to choose my own version of Hell. I think I would go with empathy. It seems the most subtle to me, although everything can have an extreme and therefore bad version. Even empathy can be too much sometimes, be careful what you wish for, etc. But let’s go with that.
Uncanny Magazine: I’ve asked in previous interviews about your literary influences. What are some non-literary influences on your writing, e.g. other forms of media, travel, academic interests, etc.?
Eugenia Triantafyllou: I think a lot of inspiration comes from comics, especially horror ones (see Junji Ito). Another artist I love is Emily Carroll, whose brilliant horror ideas but also the style inspire my body horror obsessions.
Another big one is games. Both video games and tabletop RPGs. Horizon Zero Dawn is one of my major influences when I imagine high fantasy or science fantasy worlds. “Of the Body,” my Beneath Ceaseless Skies story was considerably influenced by it.
Sometimes me taking time off writing and sketching something that’s on my mind (usually a fox) is a good way to get the juices flowing. It’s mostly my brain working stuff out in the backburner and coming back with more ideas.
And most of all, living life itself. I have three different short stories I am working on right now (both in my head and on paper) and all of them are heavily inspired by different life events/traumas/things that made an impression on me. Maybe one of those will appear in Uncanny soon.
Uncanny Magazine: What are you working on next?
Eugenia Triantafyllou: As I said above, I have three short stories in various stages or progress, and I am also working on a novella that mixes Greek mythology with horror. Furthermore, I am working on a tabletop RPG. Why? I have no idea. I never wanted to make a game before. But I woke up one day and there was this idea for a game stuck in my head. So now I will also be making a game at some point, I guess.
Uncanny Magazine: Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us!
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