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January 2005

Unlikely Situations

Sunday, January 30, 2005

"The object was not yet visible during the day, but we could feel it above us as we woke to the sunlight each morning. There was a tension and strain to the air, a shift in its customary balance."

—Kevin Brockmeier, "The Ceiling"


Strange Beings

Sunday, January 23, 2005

"She crouched all the time on her hands and tiptoes, yet it was not like crouching, for you could see how all-fours came naturally to her, as if she had made a different pact with gravity than we have.

--Angela Carter, "Peter and the Wolf"


Funny Tales

Sunday, January 16, 2005

"Shotwell and I watch the console. Shotwell and I live under the ground and watch the console. If certain events take place upon the console, we are to insert our keys in the appropriate locks and turn our keys --if we turn our keys simultaneously-- the bird flies."
--Donald Barthelme, "The Game"


Tripped on a Pop Top

Sunday, January 09, 2005

"It is no fun to drive a big rig, loaded with round hay bales, under a dark sky, in high wind, with a hangover, and the cigarette fits..."
--Annie Proulx, "The Trickle-Down Effect"

A journey of self-knowledge, and a trip by the absolutely clueless, in these two contrasting tales.


The Fullness of Life

Sunday, January 02, 2005

"At night, she closed the shade on her windows very tightly, and drew the covers over her head. She had been so sure the first note was a love note, and now she laughed, and cried herself to sleep..."
--Courtney Angela Brkic, "The Daughter"

Death taken lightly by an urbane master, and seriously by a passionate contemporary writer.