Forum / In the Stacks at F'naut

• 
  Brenda Bishop Blakey

  Mar 16, 05:54pm

  Today, while trying to avoid writing/trying to begin writing/trying to never write again, I found this:
  http://fictionaut.com/stories/charles-baxter/gershwins-second-prelude

  There is an elixir for every malady. Thank you Mr. Baxter. And thank you Fictionaut.

• 
  Carol Reid

  Mar 16, 06:29pm

  Wow, that was a great pick-me-up! Thanks, Brenda.

• 
  Brenda Bishop Blakey

  Mar 16, 07:16pm

  @ Carol,you are welcome.

  I started my day out trying to unveil the writers still at Fictionaut who have been awarded the Pulitzer in fiction. I found Jane Smiley and Robert Olen Butler. I read Butler's story Moving Day http://fictionaut.com/stories/robert-olen-butler/moving-day. His writing always impacts me. He has several books out, each and every one simply astounding. Apparently, Jane has several books out as well. I confess I have not read her. Now I will.

  Then I just started mulling around and found the story by Charles Baxter. If a story is more than 5000 words I generally ask for a lolly-pop and a get-out-jail-free card. But, I hung in there and what a pay-off.

  Sometimes, when I am in the dessert leg of my journey, I take comfort in the flask of water cached by one who knows where the spring needs to be.

• 
  Brenda Bishop Blakey

  Mar 16, 07:19pm

  *desert* duh

• 
  David Ackley

  Mar 16, 07:32pm

  Glad to see someone else enjoys browsing through the stacks. Not all the great work you can find there is by notables by the way: there's plenty by regular Fictionaut folks past and present. But one that is ( by a notable) is this story by Stuart Dybek, who in a review of his latest collection, was called the "best" short story writer around. Maybe he is, but even if not, this is a terrific story.

  http://fictionaut.com/stories/stuart-dybek/the-palatski-man

• 
  Brenda Bishop Blakey

  Mar 16, 08:06pm

  Thanks, David. Yes, Stuart Dybek. Had not read this one but I will have to add it to my list of favorites. I'll probably bump into you again somewhere in the recesses shelving and clicking away.

• 
  James Claffey

  Mar 19, 02:25pm

  The Dybek is fantastic.

• 
  James Lloyd Davis

  Mar 19, 08:53pm

  Les't we forget...

  http://fictionaut.com/stories/amy-hempel/in-the-cemetery-where-al-jolson-is-buried

• 
  Brenda Bishop Blakey

  Mar 20, 12:07am

  @ JLD
  Yes. Every time I read that story I learn something new (feel something new). Some writing is ageless and delivers so much truth that we must partake of it in small bits over time. Sally Houtman's story The Gunman and the Ape is also like that for me.
  http://fictionaut.com/stories/sally-houtman/the-gunman-and-the-ape--4

• 
  Brenda Bishop Blakey

  Mar 20, 02:08am

  And the great thing about Fictionaut is diversity. The world's greatest stories and poems are on the shelf with your work, my work, and their work.

  In the early childhood education field there is a teaching strategy called scaffolding wherein the student works along with the instructor, modeling, copying, and in effect, mirroring, until the desired proficiency is attained (even if it is little by little ). In essence, all writers are constantly in student mode. So say we all.

• 
  David Ackley

  Mar 20, 12:46pm

  "The Gunman and the Ape," is absolutely worth reading again. And again and again.

• 
  Mathew Paust

  Mar 20, 07:02pm

  What a wonderful thread. Thanks Brenda.

• 
  Brenda Bishop Blakey

  Mar 20, 08:34pm

  @ Mathew. Thank you for such a pleasant comment. Hey, but what ever it was that possessed me to initiate a thread (my first and only one here) seems to have dissipated.

• 
  Mathew Paust

  Mar 21, 10:06am

  But an inspiring thread it is.

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