Some things of note
Before I start with a big post sometime tomorrow, I'll nip a few little things in the bud tonight.
-You can post comments now. Click the time links at the end of every post to see the comments for that post. (I.E. 10:46)
-I've tried several times to write a short story, but over my trip I got near to finishing one for the first time. And now that I'm back, I plan to do the deed. I began this short story when I was on the road with Gabe and his wife to see The Casket Lottery back in May, and I've nearly completed it with this trip. It's entitled Blood on the Golden Shores and once it's done I'll let you read it.
-Josh and his bro's blog is delicious. I loves me some "Try Avoidance".
-Star Wars, Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith. And yes, I'm a nerd.
-Brock
4 comments:
I can't wait to read your short story. I saw you metion a while back J.D. Salinger's Nine Stories. I am a big fan of Nine Stories.
I picked the book up in June 2000 in Thousand Oaks, CA, on a business trip. After work each day on that trip I'd go to this plaza with a fountain on the 23, just off the 101. I'd read a story or two and get some dinner at one of the restaurants there. I was really fixated.
I think those stories are really remarkable. Salinger really was a master of the craft. I think those stories had a bigger impact that anything I have read before or since.
I'm a big fan of George Orwell and 1984 is my favorite book. I like a book that gives you a lot to chew on intellectually. I generally think books are better than their movie counterparts, but there is a certain impact of film, like M. Night Shaymalan's twists (Unbreakable) and terror (Signs), that I don't usually get out of a book.
Nine Stories was different in that regard. He'd throw you into these benign settings, distracting you with this detail or that, and then, BOOM, punch you in the gut with a sudden twist. At least, that is the reaction that sticks in my head. Very powerful.
Anyway, not to hold you up to such tough competition. Only to say that I know you have the right influences.
Man, back in the day, very nearly all I read was Salinger. I just was crazy for the guy. His stories felt so real and I could relate to them very easily, yet they were contained in a world unlike anything I've ever experienced. Nine stories was one of his books that I saw and said "this is it man". Like you, I'd just take my book with me, mull around and read a few stories. Like you said, he had this ability to suddenly throw the reader off his/her feet. I remember reading the ending to "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" and having a fit. It was quite possibly the most bizare, dark twist I had ever read at that time.
Salinger is probably my biggest influence, especially in this story I've written. I can't possibly hope to come near to his craft, but hey, like you said, I'm influenced by good stuff.
I tend to like intellectual stories as well. I got into that kind of thing near the end of High School, but it was my ENG 101 teacher in my first semester of college that really got me into "thinking" stories. They're great because at the end you feel like a completely different person then when you first set out to read it.
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a lot of books that speak to me. I don't like fiction that is all about the characters, pressing a humanistic side to things. What I liked about 1984 was that the environment was so detailed, you just understood how the characters must have felt, instead of having to have the characters spelled out for you. That's the angle I like.
I also love Kurt Vonnegut, but he's too out there to take seriously. And Jack Kerouac is always great.
I'm open to suggestions!
I've never read 1984, so I need to give that one a whirl. I think I can understand what you mean though in your choice of stories. I think the humanistic side gets played up too much in short fiction and that's part of the problem. Being able to deduct feelings from atmosphere is a much better approach to stories, I agree.
I'm sure you read plenty of him in High School and such, but my personal favorite author has always been Edgar Allen Poe. While I'm a big Salinger fan I've always felt that Poe's short stories were the best.
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