The question that naturally occurs is “What would it be like if a star exploded nearby?” Our nearest stellar neighbor, as we have seen, is Alpha Centauri, 4.3 light-years away. I had imagined that if there were an explosion there we would have 4....
When getting my nose in a book Cured most things short of school, It was worth ruining my eyes To know I could still keep cool, And deal out the old right hook To dirty dogs twice my size. Later, with inch-thick specs, Evil was just my lark: Me and m...
The padres set great store by addressing prayer to personal gods: 'Genuine prayer exists only in religions in which there is a God as a person and a shape and endowed with a will.' That was stated by a famous Protestant. The anarch does not want to h...
I bring this up because in writing some thoughts about a father, or not having a father, I feel as though I'm writing a book about a troll under a bridge or a dragon. For me, a father was nothing more than a character in a fairy tale. I know fathers ...
I said I was sorry, Dani..." Kevin said, as they entered the apartment. "I'm so not talking to you." "I couldn't help it! She was so funny, and you were blushing, and... gawd, Dani, I couldn't help it!" "You just had to get us all soft pretzels, didn...
Frank, I ran into Gladys and Billy at the store yesterday. Do you know what he said to me?" The girls went very quiet. Frank didn't look up. "Hello?" he asked, and kept rubbing Henry's knife. Dotty hit him with her rag. "He said that. And so did she....
In between bites of banana, Mr. Remora would tell stories, and the children would write the stories down in notebooks, and every so often there would be a test. The stories were very short, and there were a whole lot of them on every conceivable subj...
I wonder if I'm being disloyal, if being with Didier means I'm forgetting about Jones. But every time I go in a drain, or past a church, I think of him. Every time I see a can of Coke, I think of Jones. And don't even start me on how I feel when I se...
At this point, a few words on this term 'horror' are perhaps called for. Some amateurs of this kind of literature engage in endless hairsplitting disputes, centered around this word and its close companion 'terror', as to which' stories may so be cat...
She had dispersed. She was the garden at Prem Nivas (soon to be entered into the annual Flower Show), she was Veena's love of music, Pran's asthma, Maan's generosity, the survival of some refugees four years ago, the neem leaves that would preserve q...
«Eliza opened her furry black satchel. She pulled out a portable CD player. “Gav, look here. Once, I loved this machine. Because it plays all my CDs. But nobody buys music in the stores any more! Even I don’t pay for music, and I’m rich! I’m...
Live today. Not yesterday. Not tomorrow. Just today. Inhabit your moments. Don’t rent them out to tomorrow. Do you know what you’re doing when you spend a moment wondering how things are going to turn out with Perry? You’re cheating yourself ou...
I do not think the sunny youth of either will prove the forerunner of stormy age. I think it is deemed good that you two should live in peace and be happy - not as angels but as few are happy amongst mortals. Some lives are thus blessed: it is God's ...
There is a difference between saying goodbye and letting go. Goodbye is not permanent. You can meet years later as old friends and share what happened in your life. You can smile and laugh about all the nonsense that you both went through. However, l...
T-Bird: That piece of ratshit made Tin-Tin into a fucking voodoo doll! Skank: Tin-Tin's a dick. T-Bird: Tin-Tin. T-Bird, Skank: Fire it up! Fire it up! Fire it up! Fire it up! Skank: Fire it up! T-Bird: [checks his watch] No Funboy. Skank: Probably ...
[Ralphie is visiting Santa at the department store, only he can't remember what he wanted] Santa Claus: How about a nice football? Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] Football? Football? What's a football? With unconscious will my voice squeaked out 'footb...
Zine-O-Phobia Creep: Whoever told you that bullshit about boiling is out of his mind. Carpet beetles are the only way to get flesh off a corpse. Zine-O-Phobia Creep: I'm just telling you what he said. Enid: [having just walked into the store] Don't y...
Vincent Hanna: Seven years in Folsom. In the hole for three. McNeil before that. McNeil as tough as they say? Neil McCauley: You lookin' to become a penologist? Vincent Hanna: You lookin' to go back? You know, I chased down some crews; guys just look...
Chris: You heard of anything? Vin: Just shooing some flies away from a Mexican village, but I can't find out what it pays. Chris: Twenty dollars. Vin: A week? Vin: Six weeks. Vin: Oh, that's ridiculous. Have you heard of anything? Chris: Yeah. Shooin...
Raymond: Of course I don't have my underwear. I'm definitely not wearing my underwear. Charlie: I gave you a fresh pair of mine to wear. Where are they? Raymond: They're in the pocket of my jacket. Here. Charlie: I don't want them back. Raymond: Thes...
[Natalie, on her first outing, walks into the Omaha Airport terminal dragging her slow-moving luggage; Ryan, offended by this, looks at her in frustration] Natalie Keener: What? Ryan Bingham: Follow me. [later at a store in the terminal, Ryan grabs a...
