The Land of Rock (sample)
I spent Christmas alone—it’s okay, I’m a Jew. And a twice-a-year Jew, anyway. Dad converted. Before he married Mom. I don’t think he believed either way. He just loved Mom, was all. I mean, we all miss her. In sum: an uneventful twenty-fifth. Boxing Day, not so much. “Your sister’s home,” he told me… around seven in the morning. My dad’s the kind of guy who thinks people are up then. “I awe seesaw dewy bismuth mah-jongg,” I said, that was probably what I said. (“I thought she was doing Christmas with John.” That’s her boyfriend. Come on, who’s awake.) “Dad, I thought she wasn’t coming till New Year’s.” “Well, she showed up last night,” said ol’ Dad, and that was actually enough for me to get my ass in gear. Look, I won’t dance around this: I’m close with my sister. I try to be, I mean. Look, you know in Catcher in the Rye where what’s-his-name starts bawling ‘cause his sister’s on the carousel? I lived that. I was there. I know those tears.
Okay. The sample is over. But before I advertise the full piece, I’m gonna make a confession. A treat for the very rare reader who might be clicking this. This is probably the worst thing I ever wrote that’s still available. Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t stupid or badly-written (I don’t think). It isn’t pure juvenalia, I scrubbed my bad high school writing from the web long ago. But it’s definitely the work of someone trying to write something literary, for adults, in that vague, sad-young-man-feeling-too-much, let-the-reader-piece-together-what-the-hell-even-happened voice. I was proud of it at the time. I can now look back and see, eh, maybe it’s not so wonderful. But I leave it out there for purchase because I don’t like the idea of putting something out there for the world, charging for it, etc., and then taking it back and pretending it didn’t exist because your own tastes have changed. Anyway, it comes with an essay all about how I came to write it which I still think holds up pretty well. Oh, and the story I wrote after this one is “The Usual Werewolves”, which is one of my most popular pieces. So hey, budding writers, you never know when the next big hit is coming along! All right, that’s enough of this. Enjoy the advertisement below. This concludes the free sample, but you can buy the full story at this link! . . . |