“Inspirations and Influences” is a series of articles in which we invite authors to write guest posts talking about their Inspirations and Influences. In this feature, we invite writers to talk about their new books, older titles, and their writing overall. Today our guest is debut author Anna Hight, whose story Ruby is behind the cover of our upcoming second Quarterly Almanac! Originally submitted for our first-ever short story call back in 2014, we loved the subversive, feminist take on “Little Red Riding Hood” and are so pleased to publish it this fall. Please give a warm welcome to Anna, folks! To be blunt: Ruby was inspired by me being sick and tired of being ogled and harassed by men on the street and wanting to bite their heads off. The first time I experienced harassment, I was followed down a suburban road and told repeatedly that I was pretty, that I should smile, that it was just a compliment and that I should be more friendly. The man was older than me and very persistent. In response, I kept my head down and walked on, silently, until the man eventually gave up and left me alone and shaking. I […]