“Steadily the goldfinch gazed at me, with shiny, changeless eyes. The wooden panel was tiny, ‘only slightly larger than an A-4 piece of paper’ as one of my art books had pointed out, although all that dates-and-dimension stuff, the dead textbook info, was as irrelevant in its way as the sports-page stats when the Packers were up by two in the fourth quarter and a thin icy snow had begun to fall on the field. The painting, the magic and aliveness of it, was like that odd airy moment of the snow falling, greenish light and flakes whirling in the … Continue reading Great Moments in Literature

“His name was Toby Bell and he was entirely alone in his criminal contemplations. No evil genius controlled him, no paymaster, provocateur or sinister manipulator armed with an attaché case stuffed with hundred-dollar bills was waiting round the corner, no activist in a ski mask. He was in that sense the most feared creature of our contemporary world: a solitary decider.” –John le Carré, A Delicate Truth, 2013 “THEN, MINUTES LATER, CENTURIUS’ ORBITING COLONIZER PLUMMETS FROM THE HEAVENS LIKE A HELLBORN COMET OF DOOM ON A MISSION OF GALACTIC RETALIATION…PLOWING INEXORABLY INTO THE MOUTH OF THE VOLCANO…AS THOUGH IN RETRIBUTION … Continue reading Great Moments in Literature

“From zero to two hundred, turn right to go right. “From two hundred to three hundred, turn left to go right. “Faster than three hundred, turn right to go right.” –Rachel Kushner, The Flamethrowers, 2013 “FOR ELIZABETH LANGLEY THE NIGHTMARE IS OVER AS SHE RUNS SCREAMING FROM THIS MAD ALLEYWAY. FOR IN TIME, IF SHE IS LUCKY, SHE WILL FORGET WHAT HAPPENED HERE…BUT FOR THE OTHERS, THIS IS A NIGHTMARE WHICH NEVER ENDS…” –Marv Wolfman, TOMB OF DRACULA, Vol. 1, No. 12, “Night of the Screaming House!” 1973 Continue reading Great Moments in Literature