“He assigns the topic. Each writes whatever sentences his or her temperament permits. ‘Write what you know,’ Harmon apes, as if it were possible to do anything else.” –Richard Powers, Generosity, 2009 “OF ALL THE COUNTLESS WORLDS I’VE KNOWN…OF THE MYRIADS OF PLANETS UPON WHICH I’VE TROD…NEVER HAVE I KNOWN A RACE SO FILLED WITH FEAR…WITH DARK DISTRUST…WITH THE SEEDS OF SMOLDERING VIOLENCE…AS THIS…WHICH CALLS ITSELF…HUMANITY!” –Stan Lee, SILVER SURFER, Vol. 1, No. 2, “When Lands the Saucer!” 1968 Continue reading Great Moments in Literature

“Like many slobs, Beard was appreciative of the order that others created without effort, or any that he noticed. In Melissa’s flat, which was spread out over two floors, he was particularly happy. She lived such an uncluttered life at home. There were open perspectives untroubled by furniture. The foot-wide beeswaxed floorboards recovered from a Gascony château shone with dull perfection. There were no loose objects, all the books were on the shelves in the right order, at least until he visited, and the art on the walls was sparse lithographs, mostly of dancers. There was a single statue, a … Continue reading Great Moments in Literature

“Clinton sighed and gave up. All his life he had given up. He didn’t know why it was like that; why a man who wanted nothing but to live honestly and industriously and usefully — who, briefly, asked only the privileges of giving and helping — had had to compromise and surrender at every turn. But that was the way it had been, and that was apparently the way it was to be.” –Jim Thompson, The Getaway, 1958 “AND THERE, AGELESS SERENITY SHATTERS, SPLINTERED BY THE SOFT SCRABBLE OF FINGERNAILS CLAWING CLAY–AND BY A SUDDEN ERUPTION OF SCRAWNY HANDS THRUSTING … Continue reading Great Moments in Literature