He placed her carefully in the hammock, courteously trying to keep it from swinging the already dizzy Apollonia. And, though their bodies had been pressed together barely thirty seconds, and though he stood but six inches away, she missed him already.
"We’re told that the micromovements of the mind and heart don’t matter, but we know better. They’re everything."
—George Saunders at the 2014 Story Prize Ceremony, 3/5/14
(via lastnightsreading)
(Source: lastnightsreading)
Martha Otis’ novel excerpt is unique, quirky, and impossible to put down. Stop by and spend some time with "Apollonia at the Retirement Home for Great Apes."
After he left to go find something to eat, she could not sleep. She went back outside and climbed as high as the cage allowed, and listened to the bats whizzing about under the moonlight. A light rain soaked her, and then a fresh breeze dried her fur, and she watched the rosy-fingered dawn come through the leaves. A pile of yesterday’s lettuce and carrots and broccoli lay below, but though her tummy growled, she could not eat. She took the tunnel back to the sleep house, opened up her diary, and wrote…
Martha Otis’s song selection—to accompany her short story, “Apollonia at the Retirement Home for Great Apes”—for fwriction : review’s Waffle-Rocking Playlist
“Maybe this lonely moment is an indicator of what my life will be when I leave my wife, or maybe the quiet cafe is some gateway to happiness, only I don’t know how to step over the threshold. What if I went home with this Japanese woman, settled into her life as if I’d belonged there forever, and never went home to San Diego to wrap things up properly? No. I must be tired, dog-tired, to entertain such stupid and out-of-reach fantasies.”
—James Claffey, "The Plaything of Whales"
Adore this story. So much sadness that mingles with the dark-bright of the landscape.
The new short story collection, Blood a Cold Blue, from James Claffey, whose latest story, "The Plaything of Whales," is in the new issue of fwriction : review.
On-the-go? Check out the new issue of fwriction : review—jamesclaffey's wonderful short story, "The Plaything of Whales"—on your mobile device or tablet!
Our new issue, featuring a gorgeous short story by jamesclaffey!
James Claffey’s song selection—to accompany his short story, “The Plaything of Whales”—for fwriction : review’s Waffle-Rocking Playlist
(Source: Spotify)
"His mother’s wail was so achingly passionate and terrible it was said that a man outside two floors down had turned quickly towards the building and, forgetting he was on crutches, fell over sideways and broke his collarbone."
from Paul Davenport-Randell’s "The Boy Who Turned Into the Man Who Ate Himself"
(Photo credit: National Geographic)
"He was just a boy then. Eleven years old. Until he’d overheard his mother discussing it with some other mothers, he’d never known such a thing. Never thought you could or would even want to. He’d probably never tried it, either, had the boys not grabbed him behind the houses."
—from Paul Davenport-Randell’s "The Boy Who Turned Into the Man Who Ate Himself," now at fwriction : review
Flora squeezed in with Barry now on a just-built set of bunk beds, and despite their endless bickering, about the dolls left in his toy box, or the intricate wooden train tracks he set up across the floor, they found they liked the new arrangement. In the quiet after lights out they could whisper to each other for what felt like hours, until their breathing drifted into unison and they fell asleep contented.
Editor
fwriction
fwriction
Subscribe via RSS
Follow on Tumblr
Mobile version
Random post
