I love sharing what I read, listen to and watch, so much so that I decided to carve out Friday for shameless plugs of the content I consume. I would love for this to be a conversation. I’m trying to catch up on years of not reading, so if you have a suggestion, please comment below. As will be made obvious by this week’s list, I’m truly open to nearly everything (genre, literature, style, period) as long as the writing is good. There are also a lot of you here now who I don’t know. If you would like to introduce yourself please do! It’s always reassuring to know you aren’t yelling into the void.
These are my little treasures, the ones that knotted their way into my heart this week. I hope you find something you enjoy. And if you haven’t already, but you like what you read, hit subscribe for more original short fiction and my ramblings on books and writing
Some Flash Fiction.
I discovered two stories this week that I thought I would share with you. The first is Helicopter by J Ingram. I love the story. I love this reading.
And Zora Neale Hurston’s first published story, John Redding Goes to Sea. Like many of you, I discovered her in high school when I read, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Her writing is extraordinary.
Some Lyrics.
Regina Spektor. I don’t know how I didn’t know who she was. I’ve heard some of her poppy songs somewhere…I guess on the radio?
Needless to say she popped up on a playlist this week, and I’ve fallen in love with her song Samson. I’m 16 years late, but hey. Here it is. My favorite phrase:
Samson went back to bed
Not much hair left on his head
He ate a slice of Wonder Bread
And went right back to bed
And the history books forgot about us
And the Bible didn't mention us
And the Bible didn't mention us, not even once
An Audiobook.
If you aren’t tuned in to the world of horror, you might not know that the Bram Stoker1 final ballot just came out. On the list for his novel, The Devil Takes You Home, is Gabino Iglesias. I started following him on Twitter, and not only is he a great horror writer, he's hilarious.
The story follows a man who commits a heinous crime to get money for his daughter’s cancer treatment. After she dies, he embraces his discovered propensity for violence, and decides to take on one last job.
Warning: Extreme violence. There. You’ve been warned.
A Poem.
I must be in a romantic mood this week. But come on. This one is just so beautifully written. I woke up and read it on Reddit of all places. Pro Tip: If you only subscribe to writerly subreddits, the place feels like an oasis of discovery each day.
i like my body when it is with your
body. It is so quite new a thing.
Muscles better and nerves more.
i like your body. i like what it does,
i like its hows. i like to feel the spine
of you body and its bones, and the
trembling-firm-smooth ness
and which i will
again and again and again
kiss, i like kissing this and that of you,
i like, slowly stroking the, shocking
fuzz of your electric fur, and what-is-it
comes over parting flesh . . . . And
eyes big love-crumbs,
and possibly i like the thrill
of under me you so quite new
-E.E. Cummings, “I Like My Body When It Is With Your”
A Quote.
From Stephen King’s, The Stand. This one hurt a little. Because I used to be a Christian fundamentalist, and this quote perfectly described my thinking then. Reading is one of the ways I’m working on reversing this way of thinking. Embracing ambiguity…
The beauty of religious mania is that it has the power to explain everything. Once God (or Satan) is accepted as the first cause of everything which happens in the mortal world, nothing is left to chance … or change. Once such incantatory phrases as “we see now through a glass darkly” and “mysterious are the ways He chooses His wonders to perform” are mastered, logic can be happily tossed out the window. Religious mania is one of the few infallible ways of responding to the world’s vagaries, because it totally eliminates pure accident. To the true religious maniac, it’s all on purpose.
This week was a hard one. I take refuge in art and entertainment and these ones got me through. I hope you find something in there to carry you into the weekend. See you on the flip side.
The Bram Stoker Awards are given out for superior achievement in horror and dark fiction writing each year.
One of my favorite classic poems is from Walt Whitman:
This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.
Walt Whitman
Great selection. Also, props to you for the honesty regarding the King quote.
You know, The Stand is one of the few books of his I haven't read. I'm not sure why. I love King's works.
Thought I'd pop in a recommendation: I inhaled Bret Easton Ellis' The Shards a few months ago. Incredible read. Dark and messed up, as you'd imagine from him. Might be up your alley based on what I've read so far here hehe ;)