CUCURBITAL 3 continues the series of of mini-anthologies that provide a peek into the writing process itself. Authors are always asked two questions: "where do you get the idea for your story?" and "how do you go from idea to finished work?" This series offers insight into the second question by handing the book's authors the answer to the first one. Here are nine short stories that began with the same three prompts: madness, darkness, mattress. They cover the spectra from comic to mythic, absurd to poignant, pragmatic to breathtaking. And each began with nothing more than madness, darkness, mattress.