Category: writing

  • Beautiful Sentences: Christine Sneed

    Rejection is the relentless, powerful hazing that disables ninety-seven out of a hundred talented people. Christine Sneed, “The First Wife.”

  • Beautiful Sentences: J. Robert Lennon

    The memories this act stirred up were mostly memories of other visits to this cemetery, when her feelings had been more profound. (This is what happens, she supposes, to dramatic events: they create feelings that create other feelings, memories that give way to memories of having them. The older you get, the more life seems…

  • Beautiful Sentences: Marilynne Robinson

    You can hate thoughts. That‘s interesting. I hate most of my thoughts. Marilynne Robinson, Home.

  • “Bartholomew L. Bartholomew”: The Story Behind the Story

    “I once held the position of Technical Lead…” this part of the story is autobiography. The rest, modulo the occasional detail that I borrowed from my years’ experience in tech, is fiction. The obvious inspiration is Melville (the short title I used for filenames and the like for the story was “Bart LB” and I…

  • Beautiful Sentences: Denis Johnson

    But I was afraid to make love to her without the conversations and laughter from that false universe playing in our ears, because I didn’t want to get to know her very well, and didn’t want, to be bridging any silences with our eyes. Denis Johnson, Jesus’ Son

  • Beautiful Sentences: Marilynne Robinson

    I think hope is the worst thing in the world. I really do. It makes a fool of you while it lasts. And then when it’s gone, it’s like there’s nothing left of you at all. Marilynne Robinson, Home.

  • Beautiful Sentences: J. Robert Lennon

    The memories this act stirred up were mostly memories of other visits to this cemetery, when her feelings had been more profound. (This is what happens, she supposes, to dramatic events: they create feelings that create other feelings, memories that give way to memories of having them. The older you get, the more life seems…

  • Beautiful Sentences: Denis Johnson

    No wonder he didn’t hear or speak, no wonder he didn’t have anything to do with words. Everything along those lines was used up Denis Johnson, Jesus’ Son.

  • Beautiful Sentences: J. Robert Lennon

    Stories exist to make sense of life. J. Robert Lennon, Familiar.