Big English

This is a little like DNA, compact, but packed with all the mysteries of the universe.

Really good. Extra really good. fave good

big american, too.

Thanks, James and Marcus. Look! The title is an anagram for "Being G. Lish". I'm going to think this story is a "tighty whitey."

interesting! anagrams are too much for me. they make me want to doodle. lish: have to read up on him. didn't like what he did to carver's stories now that i read some (unedited) versions which are less snappy but more heartful and richer. sorry, not to want to usurp your thread...

GORDON LISH EDITED THIS is a blog written by Michael Hemmingson. A few Fictionaut writers and groups will arise there:

http://gordonlisheditedthis.wordpress.com/

This is a marvelous piece, Ann -

"This one mimics coca stirred with stomach acid or chicken-fried in grandma's kitchen without the nasty side effects, without the downs, the IBMs and 666s, the big old Gregor Samsa, the taste of tire smoke..."

Great voicing here. Relentless, and in such a samll space. Big yes.

REALLY loved this Ann. Depth in economy. Ah, the words are wonderful.

Everyone one has an opinion about Gordon Lish. I never express my own.

Ann, I love your work, anagram notwithstanding.

Great work, Ann.

"The radio was driving."
Yes, it was!

Love this piece.
*

Like the flow of this - the ramble in the last sentence, so catchy.

love the way this is pieced together in patches of strange and true-seeming details and makes a wonderful bizarre patchwork quilt

This just flew in the best possible way, love this writing
*

This is just amazing, the fiction or surrealish qualities combined with the seemingly "realistic" touches quelled together for this ride that was so fascinating I took it more than a few times. *

lovely piece. i had to look up topiramate, though. the last sentence made it seem such fun that i wondered what it was. curiously tortured history it has. i like the unwinding cadence of this piece and the widening out of the imagery in the last sentence. such peculiar jauntiness it all has.

Agree with all above. Happy to hang a * on this.

Thanks to all who fav'd and commented on this little Quith. Gordon Lish DID NOT edit or even see it. Michael Hemmingson plays Farmville with me. Where does he find the time? He's very productive. I just happened to notice that BIG ENGLISH is an anagram of BEING G. LISH. Glad.

love the way this unwinds...tight, reportorial in the 1st few lines and then the arc opening and in its way, spinning out of control into that jazzy last line: next-to-nothing boyfriend all sickeningly handsome as he says it.

Thanks, Doug.

I enjoyed this from its brisk beginning and inventive imagery to the gallop toward the end.

Thanks, Cheryl.

Great little piece, Ann. I love the way you structured it, to get the most from the least. Excellent sentences.

Thanks, Foster.

Love this, Ann. *

Thank you, Mark.

Excellent. That last sentence is a gem. *

Thanks, Christian.

Wonderful compacting work. Terrific use of language and imagery... *

Best to keep it away from Gordon Lish!

Thanks, Cherise!

Love the urgency and rhythm of that last sentence, rap-like almost. Fav big-time. And of course anything which mentions Gregor Samsa I am automatically predisposed towards. Great stuff, Ann.

I'm with Andrew - I love the fast paced tone and whip-smart prose *!

This is awesome. I love the voice and all the strange little details.

Thanks, Andrew, Marcelle, Angela, Marc for comments and fav's.

I love this. The tension of word placement exquisite -- 'combat ptsd' just one example. As someone who studies all things pharma for the day job, this just makes me tweak. Peace *

Beauty in your comment, Linda ...

Beautiful rhythm, compression, images. "The radio was driving." "...sickeningly handsome as he says it." Yum!

Thanks, Deb!

A nifty gifty
This tighty whitey
With this I wish ye
Good nighty nighty

I'm wearing a nightie,
the cold air moon
looks slightly kitey
& its brother cites knightly,
quietly, shyly, tea for loons

Thank you, Luis.