Here, in honor of its recent republication, is a “Behind The Short Story” I wrote for “La Upsell.” The short story is its own literary animal, a wholeness experienced in few words and on small bones. Some writers get a sunbeam and angel choir moment of inspiration. Others grit it out, go find the story. I’m…… Continue reading Behind: “La Upsell”
Author: rtmcontrol
Mark Antony, Two Hours Before His Big Speech
Murrayus, you have the revisions?…Finally. Two hours, and I’m up to my toga pleats in angry rabble, and that last draft you brought me was excrement. ‘You get drachmas, and you get drachmas, and you get drachmas!’ What was that? I’m not looking like a fool in front of the plebes. I just heard Brutus…… Continue reading Mark Antony, Two Hours Before His Big Speech
An Open Letter to the Big Time Reality TV Producer Who Thinks All Jobs in Alaska Are Cool
Dear Big Time Reality TV Producer Convinced All Occupations in Alaska Are Cool, I see it like I’m right there with you. I see you sitting at your desk, a mounted moose head behind you, a big map of Alaska on the opposite wall, and your people shuffle in, all averted eyes and hang-dog expressions, one…… Continue reading An Open Letter to the Big Time Reality TV Producer Who Thinks All Jobs in Alaska Are Cool
Satire: “He Writes in the Present Tense”
Bob’s note: The old woman here is, in my head anyway, a prototype for the old man in “The Carcassonne Dream.” Oh, and the tortured subject-verb relationships…well, that kind of the point. Today fiction chooses him. Among the crowd circling the bookstore café, he is fastest to claim the open table. He powers up his laptop and…… Continue reading Satire: “He Writes in the Present Tense”