Friday, January 6, 2017

Whose that author?



And you couldn't explain that to your mother and father, who were creatures of the light. No more than you could explain to them how, at the age of three, the spare blanket at the foot of the crib turned into a collection of snakes that lay staring at you with flat and lidless eyes. No child ever conquers those fears, he thought. If a fear cannot be articulated, it can't be conquered. And the fears locked in small brains are much too large to pass through the orifice of the mouth. Sooner or later you found someone to walk past all the deserted meeting houses you had to pass between grinning babyhood and grunting senility. Until tonight. Until tonight when you found out that none of the old fears had been staked— only tucked away in their tiny, child-sized coffins with a wild rose on top.

10 comments:

rhhardin said...

It would be easier to read with "Who's" instead of "Whose."

Chip Ahoy said...

It's Hugh Hewitt reading Stephen King.

And I wasn't freaked out by the spare blanket at the foot of the bed, that's easy enough to pull up. But i was terrified of allowing my arm to dangle over the edge to allow fierce disease-ridden mice all over the place that come out at night could run up my arm and chew off my face in my sleep. Those f'k'n mysterious rotten malevolent silent sneaky never seen mice.

chickelit said...

It would be easier to read with 'Who's' instead of 'Whose.'

I'm waiting for Troop to post a "whose that hoser" or a "hose that Hoosier" challenger.

MamaM said...

Is Hugh reading Stephen King or thinking about tiny caskets each with a wild rose on top?

Why Hugh is linked with this quote is the puzzle that's yet to be solved.


Trooper York said...

He works for Salem media.

How obscure is that?

I am proud of that one.

chickelit said...

Witch media is Salem media?

ricpic said...

Ray Bradbury.

Okay, I know that's wrong, but the writing has a Ray Bradbury flavor to it.

MamaM said...

He works for Salem media.

And there I was thinking it had to do with something he'd said!

Now I'm wondering what a Ray Bradbury flavor might be?

Fulsome? Nope. I found it. Another F word that's close. Figurative.

Ray Bradbury is well-known for his incredibly descriptive style. He employs figurative language (mostly similes, metaphors, and personification) throughout the novel and enriches his story with symbolism.

ricpic said...

Bradbury is best known for The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451, which was the basis of a pretty good film.

He wrote a little book, Dandelion Wine, a kind of lyric ode to growing up in the midwest, which I read in my youth and was bowled over by -- its lyricism that is. Can hardly remember any specifics but the thing had a quality, kind of bathed in light, that I recall. Vaguely. All my recollections from youth are vague. Bradbury made it to 91! That's my goal too.

The Dude said...

I was just thinking about Fahrenheit 451 - I made a piece of furniture some time ago and over the years it had gotten dented. One thing I know about wood is that if you apply heat and moisture to it, you can make the wood fibers swell up and viola, no dent. So I dampened the spot, broke out the old heat gun, applied heat and then noticed that the spot I was working on is now dented and charred. Not chard - it's too cold for that around here, but at least I know what my next step is - sand the surface enough to flatten out remove the dent and the toasty section, then refinish the piece.

Clarity is good. And I had no idea that the heat gun got that hot that fast - nor do I know the kindling temperature of white ash. But I got real close to finding out just what it takes to make a piece of furniture burst into flame.