December 2008
1 post
October 2008
4 posts
“Of course he was soused, but the look in his eyes, the rapt expression on his ugly face, weren’t due only to drink. There was more to it than that. The first time he talked in that way he said something that I’ve never forgotten, because it horrified me; he said that the world isn’t a creation, for out of nothing nothing comes; but a manifestation of the eternal nature;...
forthcoming in The Iowa Review
He was very well-spoken for a Cyclops.
I told this to Kent later that day. Kent grunted and rolled his eyes.
“More proof of Brian’s incompetence,” Kent said. His gelled hair sat stiffly on his head like the shining blade of a guillotine. “He’s obviously a monster. Did you smell him?”
“Like cooked garbage,” an intern agreed.
“I thought he was nice,” I said. We were standing around the fax...
September 2008
12 posts
from sam's novel
Walking to the ICE COLD BEVERAGES cooler I see Ernie’s mob watching me, sucking on the ends of their fingers. When I have the King Kobra, they all take the fingers out of their mouths and slap each other’s hands.
“That’s a boy,” the robot says. “Boy genius. I’m working. I can’t leave the counter because I’m working.” It unscrews the bottle, then takes a good drink. A couple seconds...
forthcoming in The Hawaii Review
When it was time to shut down, I went out back and found Joan pacing slowly back and forth. She wore her empty pack of cigarettes like a paper tiara on top of her head.
“I’m not going back to school this fall,” she said, walking and spinning on her invisible tightrope.
“Why not?” I asked. I was shocked. I had pictured us cruising around the halls together, stopping at our lockers to laugh at...
forthcoming in The Sonora Review
Today Sven tells us to lie on the Pegasus Mobilebed. This is the one bed I cannot stand lying on. I even like the Reverberator 2000 more. I have a hard time pretending to be asleep when things are vibrating, folding, flattening and flashing. It surprises me that this bed is a bestseller. Sven is very proud of it.
Strangely though, today I manage to fall asleep. I have still not been...
You can only wonder what it would be like to be wearing such a chandelier on your head as if you were a walking dining room or concert hall. But once you see this hat there is no need to read any biography of Goya or to memorize his dates. To understand Goya you only have to imagine him lighting the candles one by one, then placing the hat on his head, ready for a night of work. Imagine him...