“‘I was hoping we’d go together.’ I winced at hearing myself reproduce the tones of some minor courtier, or possible those of Ralph Bellamy in a movie belonging to Cary Grant.” –Jonathan Lethem, Chronic City, 2009 “MIDNIGHT IN MANHATTAN: ALL THE LONELY PEOPLE LOOK UP FOR A MOMENT FROM THEIR AIMLESS, POINTLESS SCURRYINGS — LOOK UP, AND ARE WARMED BY THE ROCKET’S BATHING GLOW. THEN, THEY LOWER THEIR HEADS ONCE MORE, AND THEIR HALF-DREAMS DIE A-BORNING…” –Roy Thomas, FANTASTIC FOUR, Vol. 1, No. 159, “Havoc in the Hidden Land!” 1975 Continue reading Great Moments in Literature

“‘Well, Tommy,’ he said, pulling on his Albert-Einstein-riding-an-invisible-bicycle sweatshirt, ‘the fact is that most childhood fears that carry on into adulthood tend to be sexual in nature. Particularly, I would think, if they have to do with monkeys.’” –Bradley Denton, Lunatics, 1996 “NEW YORK IN AUGUST. THE VERY BEST TIME NOT TO PLAN A TRIP TO FUN CITY, AS ITS EX-MAYOR USED TO CALL IT…BEFORE HE GOT OUT! THE TEMPERATURE RARELY DROPS BELOW EIGHTY…THE AIR HANGS HAZY AND BURNS IF IT GETS IN YOUR EYES…AND THE CLOSEST THING TO RAIN IS THE SCATTERED DRIPPING OF EIGHT MILLION AIR CONDITIONERS. NEW … Continue reading Great Moments in Literature

“While he was watching, Polly walked the length of the porch and bent over to scrape something out of a bucket — lye soap, it looked like. She was a pretty woman, light of step; he had always fancied women who were light of step. The sight of her made him all the more anxious to get the gunplay over with, so he could take her on home.” –Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, Zeke and Ned, 1997   “DAWN CREEPS OVER MANHATTAN, PAINTING AVENGERS MANSION IN BLOODY HUES.  INSIDE, STRIDING PURPOSEFULLY DOWN A PLUSH-CARPETED HALL IS A LONE FIGURE…A QUIET, … Continue reading Great Moments in Literature

“I took a deep breath and told Arthur I wasn’t just somebody to fuck. ‘What did you think we were?’ he said. ‘A little family?’ He was getting into a lot of harder drugs — they made him say things he didn’t agree with a few minutes later. But they were still the things he said. That was the last time I felt betrayed by a man, I think. Afterward I expected it.” — Leslie Jamison, The Gin Closet, 2010 “THE POWER KNOWS NO DISTANCE! IT PROJECTS FOR MILES — TO THE CITY! TO A BUILDING — TO A WINDOW! AND … Continue reading Great Moments in Literature

“I stopped listening to tapes at some point: it was a phase. You either get used to noises in your head, or you learn to focus instead on whatever other noises happen to present in the room, like the air conditioner. Still, I kept them, and they’re arranged neatly on the top of the dresser in my bedroom, which means Vicky dusts them once a week. They look like museum pieces now. Chaos Blood, Black Lake, Rexecutioner’s Dream. Sean at sixteen thought Rexecutioner’s Dream was the greatest thing he’d ever heard, something so strange and different it seemed like a … Continue reading Great Moments in Literature