20 Seconds during an Earthquake in Walnut, California
you’re in class when it starts and your skin tingles and you smile but the kid with the tight haircut shouts for everyone to get under the desks so you roll your eyes and say yeah sure what the hell everyone down but you have some arthritis so you stay up and this whole thing reminds you about a lecture your father gave you thirty-five years ago about how you’re not a leader and he was right so to spite Tight Haircut and your father you fold your arms and lean back against the whiteboard like you’re James Dean or Marlon Brando not that these kids are old enough to know Brando but this isn’t for them it’s for anyone who wants to know what you’re rebelling against and this stance says, “What do you got?”
Inland Empire Afternoon : John Brantingham
This novella is a tour de force of narrative manipulation. Set during an afternoon in one urban area (the Inland Empire, California) the story leaps from one resident to another in story after story, offering a highly diverse ensemble cast of over 40 characters. Virtually every flash is deftly linked to the one that precedes, […]