The Wheel Grinds Patiently
In 1968, at the age of nine, I allowed a classmate we will call “Louise Haas” (not her real name, but close) to get a lecture for something I did. The offense was cussing. It was recess and I had told someone to “eat shit” or something of that third-gradely nature, unaware that the playground monitor was in earshot.
Continue reading “Week 498: Not So Instant Karma; Two Special Announcements and the Week That Is”
One of the great benefits of the rerun feature is that it can keep a story alive. We often have a story as a rerun more than once–with a year or so between minimum. Such is the way it is with Four Bars by Hugh Cron. It is one of his very best and it is extremely intricate and personal and always worth visiting.
Continue reading “Literally Reruns – 4 Bars by Hugh Cron”
Week 497 – Well who would have thought it!
Probably anyone who read last week’s Number 496!
Before I begin, I need to send some well deserved plaudits to our very own Leila. You see, the holy grail of the comments world is getting over thirty. A writer a while back managed thirty three. I wish I could remember what story it was Nik wrote that gave him a thirty odd. As far as I can remember, these are the only two who had managed to achieve this. But with Leila’s brilliant post last week, she has, up until now, amassed a mind-blowing forty four comments. (Probably more by the time this is published!) Between Leila and Tom Sheehan, they hold most site records.
Continue reading “Week 497 – Another For Leila, Like, Like…Like! And Plenty More Came.”
Walter Orthmann died at age one-hundred-two this month. He holds the known world record for most years working for one employer. Mr. Orthmann labored at a Brazilian textile plant from 1938 to 2022; from age sixteen to an even hundred. Eighty four years.
Continue reading “Week 496: End of Days Jobs”
There are pieces of the past I keep on her behalf. I tie my hair in a bun and start humming a song while I concentrate on lining my lips. The kids are asleep, the dishwasher is working, the counter is wiped, the door is locked. I am getting ready to talk to my grandmother over Zoom. Preparing to reconnect. I haven’t seen her in a while. When I think of her, I remember the cigarette smell, the afternoons sitting on her lap while she watches T.V., the feeling of her long, red nails running gently through my back, up and down. I remember her evening routine.
Continue reading “Heirloom by Natalia Pericchi Paga”
Another Sunday treat in the form of an essay from the keyboard of Mick Bloor. Mick is so knowledgeable and this comes through in his stories which flow beautifully and record the passing of time in an easy to read and lyrical form.
Continue reading “Sunday Whatever: The Last Man on the Island by Mick Bloor”
Week 495 has crept up, PUNCHED us in the gut and is now LORDING it’s AUTHORITY on us!
What that means, I haven’t a clue – I just went for something a wee bit dramatic…Okay, maybe ‘pish’ is the word that I should’ve used! I reckon Vincent Price could have done that line justice though!
Anyhoo…
Continue reading “Week 495 – My Luvvieness, ‘Theatre Of Blood’ Is A Classic And A Holy Man Against The Master Was No Contest!”
Published in 1894, Arthur Machen’s novella The Great God Pan was declared immoral by many reviewers of the time. It has survived and was partially responsible for the idea of hidden dimensions behind reality. A world of monsters. HP Lovecraft was a colleague of Machen’s and they shared the same interest in that notion, which continues to influence modern day writers such as Stephen King.
Continue reading “The Great God Pan By Arthur Machen/Auld”
Mendacity and RBH
Ostriches do not stick their heads in the sand to avoid the Awful Truth. That mendacity has been around since Roman times and should be purged from the metaphor store. Only people behave that way, and when an animal does the same, you can rest assured that she/he is only mocking you.
Continue reading “Week 494: Mendacity; Come Home Rutherford B. Hayes; Cool Stories to Beat the Heat; Health Tonics”
I hope you all have been enjoying the Olympics. I love most of the sports and enjoy watching those that I don’t even understand. (Yachting for example – Who the fuck can see who is winning??
Sorry to all the folks who adore Surfing but unless there is a circling shark, it’s shit to watch!)
And before any sensitive tells me that their gran was eaten by a shark – I apologise. (Bet the shark got the shits!!!)
Continue reading “Week 493 – If You’re Going To Knock It Down!!!! Mean Machine!!!! And A Nod To You Joe!!!!!”
literally stories 