Some short, flash-type fiction over at fictionaut.com. Check out Oliver Pratt:
We lingered there in that room for a few moments, stuck in the awkward goo of rejection and regret. At some point, I’m not sure when, I left, found a bathroom down the hall and washed my ear.
Note: This is a work of fiction, mostly.
Chamblin Bookmine is so very wonderful. A vast labyrinth of old books, amazing literary finds and great staff. A true literary gem in an age of commodified reading, big chain bookstores and the e-book. Glad you’re here in Jax, Chamblin.
This is a very short story I wrote a while back. I dusted it off and thought I’d throw it up at fictionaut. Here is a short excerpt:
There are worse things than getting your ass kicked by a 12 year old Puerto Rican kid. This was exactly my thinking as he stood over me, his pre-pubescent screams sounding like a baby Bruce Lee, preparing to finish me off.
Then, I passed out.
I came to and learned I had two broken fingers on my left hand, a hyper-extension and a nasty middle finger sprain on my right. This was the catalyst for my realization that I was not cut out for Karate.
Give it a read. Especially if you’re thinking about taking karate.
I have begun reading Forty Stories by Anton Chekhov. What fantastic satire. What wonderful observation.
Unpleated is a short fiction satire I wrote a while back. Thought I’d share it. Here is a brief excerpt:
So here was my conclusion: all things being equal—because I, too, was funny and smart and clever—the biggest part of his success could be directly tied to his clothes. I called it his cool guy uniform. And if we wanted to get into specifics, the one real differentiator were his pants. Where as I went around in my pleated Haggar wrinkle-free washables, he gallivanted around here unpleated, uncuffed, and unconcerned. He was brash and care-free and everyone knew it cause he had nothing to hide. He was unpleated.
Hey, you can tell a lot about a man by the type of pants he wears.
I love this video. Great animation and great narrative on the cultivation and emergence of ideas. Working in an idea business, I found the thinking to be compelling and shed light on a few areas that were dark to my thinking.
There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.
American Gods was a great read.
Robert McKee is one of the great teachers of storytelling and script writing. He’s been connected to some of the greatest films in modern movie making. I absolutely adore this book and made it one of my recommendations in my post The 5 Best Copywriting Books: An Unconventional Guide I wrote for Freelance Switch.
Here is McKee’s take on what Story is and is not.
Great advice. I appreciate his staying true to classic story forms—the archetypal and universal. His talk of universal Forms is clearly a nod to the Platonic idea of Forms. These timeless Ideas lay the groundwork for what we perceive as reality and are the unconscious reference system that makes it possible for us to perceive beauty, pain, love, etc.
What Jacksonville needs to do is become the center of a new cultural renaissance. No politics, no B.S., just people who give a damn coming together to create the kind of city we want to live in, work in and play in. Spark arts, spark culture, spark creativity. Spark giving back. I’m just saying.
