Earlier I was reading the Onion’s quasi-review of Stephen King’s The Stand, and started thinking appropriately apocalyptic thoughts. (The Onion’s review was very good, as just about everything is on their A.V. Club site. I think if I could only ever read one pop-culture review site — film, music, books — I’d pick theirs. There’s just something very...
Cutty Sark
I was looking at a map of Virginia Beach the other day, and saw a hotel called Cutty Sark. Remembering the name from an old story, I looked it up. The name comes from a Robert Burns narrative poem from 1791 called Tam O’Shanter. In the poem, a man leaves a pub after having a few drinks and (I think) arguing with his wife. He stumbles past a kind of satanic ritual, where he sees the devil...
Just an ending
I’ve been playing around with a story idea in my head. I haven’t tried writing a short story in awhile, my ideas tend to be more suited for novels (if anything), so it’s a different way of thinking. I don’t remember exactly when the idea started to form. I remember thinking about the day I was cleaning up the house, the day (and even the night) before going to...
Childhood bargains and promises
When I was young, I used to play this game with myself. It started with walking to school. We lived about a half-mile from my elementary and middle school, so I had to keep myself amused while I walked. I’d watch the sidewalk in front of me, trying to avoid the cracks – not unusual, that’s why there’s always been an urban legend about stepping on sidewalk cracks. But I...