Alex Sinclaire is a brilliant writer on the subject of darkness. No matter how dire the hell he takes the reader through, you never want to go back even though that feels like the safer plan of action.
Continue reading “Literally Reruns: The Child of Smoke by Alex Sinclaire”
Tim Frank has published a number of stories with us and each and every one of them requires the reader to consider questions that the works create but do not answer.
This story, The Last Cigarette is a perfect example of addiction and social attitudes. Smoking is the Devil, even though I would like anyone to point out someone who drove the wrong way up a freeway exit and killed a family due to cigarettes. And what about doobie? Ultra popular in both poetry and prose, but I doubt that the smoke is special health smoke.
I’ve been smoking for over a half century and when it is clear that it will kill me I will not complain. Consequence for action is the soul of life, and death. I associate some of the finest moments in my life with smoking and I will never give any of those back. In this piece Tim shows our strange needs with subtlety; not necessarily addiction but in our requirement for Devils and others to blame our own faults on (sometimes that appears to be the only reason why we have parents, in art anyway).
It is always a pleasure to introduce work by Tim Frank and we invite him to add his thoughts about this story.
Comments on the Last Cigarette:
I was inspired by my realisation that I had to stop smoking, because the smoker’s cough and fear of death caused by the dreaded cigarette warnings finally got to me. But the ending, with the main character’s mother being a smoker and creating a cycle of addiction from childhood is completely fictional. I wanted to create a world where addiction is inescapable and deeply personal. The main character didn’t really stand a chance because of society and family ties, showing just how difficult the situation can be.
Oh my oh my, after reading Bingo, I wondered what kind of father our beloved Hugh Cron would be. Actually, I think he would be an excellent parent because he would never bullshit his kids about Santa, organized religion or “The Farm” where pets go, mysteriously, all of a sudden while the child is in school. “Sparky decided he will be happy, there, at The Farm,” Papa said, wiping his eyes due to a sudden recurrence of his “allergies.”
Continue reading “Literally Reruns: Bingo by Hugh Cron”
Of all the writers who have appeared on the site, L’Erin Ogle is the one whose name I most expect to turn up on the list of famous writers. She is not a commercial type of writer, but she is just plain so damn good that you’d think that even the doofs who control the money would notice her. But maybe it is for the best that she continues to make her way under her own control and at her own speed.
Continue reading “Literally Reruns: Artificial Love by L’Erin Ogle”
Dale Williams Barrigar has been a blessing to every writer on the site since his arrival last summer. I dare anyone to find more sincere comments or an even more learned mind on the subject of literature on the site (although Gerry Coleman satisfies that condition as well!) Thus it is fitting that a painting The Old Guitarist should have at least partially inspired Dale’s first site story, today’s rerun.
Continue reading “Literally Reruns- The Old Guitarist by Dale Williams Barrigar”
Frederick K. Foote has been a steady contributor to the site for years. He has published more than eighty with us and it is not a matter of if but when he will reach the magic 100 mark.
Continue reading “Literally Reruns – Frederick K Foote”
Doug Hawley has been busy publishing work online for the past few years, including, happily with us. We are happy to share his often curmudgeonly POV, which is always tempered with amusement and is never caustic; he also presents his own original point of view that sometimes irks those who demand conventional writing. So it goes with Doug’s The Assistant.
Continue reading “Literally Reruns – The Assistant by Douglas Hawley”
Tom Sheehan has written in every possible genre over his seventy year and counting career as a writer. And sometimes, as with today’s story, The Ghosts at Horseshoe Creek, he will blend two together.
Continue reading “Literally Reruns – Tom Sheehan”
Marco Etheridge (and, now, his son Liam) has a wonderfully twisted POV in his writing. He also knows how to twerk an Edito’s nose, so to speak. You can deride any sort of premise in front of him and we will find a way to turn it into a winner.
Continue reading “Literally Reruns – Marco Etheridge”
During the early days of the site, long before I arrived, even pre-dating Tom Sheehan, the original five Editors had to fill many of the empty slots until a backlog was finally secured (currently it holds steady at about three months’ worth).
Continue reading “Literally Reruns – Snow by Diane”
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