David Ackley

Thank you for commenting on a faving "Pyromania" David!

Thanks for the kind words about "Float to Water," David, and thanks for the star!

Hi David,
I'd like to join the Bear Pit. How do I get onboard? Tina

Thank you for your comments on my story!

David, thanks for the nice comment on "A Forest."

Thanks for commenting my story. I have left a more extensive reply on site. Much, much appreciated.

This is just to thank you more formally for your helpful comments on my story at the Bear Pit. A more lengthy response is posted there. Many thanks.

And Mr. Ackley is in the house! And generous with his time and comments, as usual. VERY nice to see you again!

David,
Thanks for reading and commenting on The Sunday Papers. Much appreciated.
Brian Michael

Your support of Night Journey means a lot David. Thanks.

Thanks David for the nice words on Blemish in the Blood!

A belated thank you for your appreciation of one of my stories!
Charles

Hi, David. Thanks for reading 'Assiduity Four.' I greatly appreciate your encouraging comment.

Thanks again for your note on "Getting There".

David, thanks for commenting on "Tractors" and for your supportive words.

Hello David - thank you for the kind comment on my story, "The Artist's Conk." Just found it, having spent the last 4 days offline in the Adirondacks.

David, thanks for the incredible compliment on my latest! I love Robert Johnson. I bought an electric guitar in a pawn shop a couple of months ago, learned a few chords then put it down during the stress of a big move. Ready to pick it up again.

David, thanks so much for reading and commenting on "Tongues." Never write much "flash" before last year, but have come to enjoy the form.

David, thanks for reading "Unmailed Letter to B'go" and for your interesting question about Richardson. Epistolary novel as a matter of literary technology (craft) but also the letter as a particular conveyance.

David, thanks so much for your comments on "The Road to Ensenada." Means a lot coming from you.

David, thank's so much for the kind words regarding my piece, Drama Days. It was hard to write, but ultimately became a freeing thing, glad you were inspired by my work.

You must mean 'This be the Verse'? That poem is part of our collective consciousness, I reckon. Thanks, David.xx

Thanks, David, for reading my three domestic micros. I like Trouble, too.

Hi David,
Thanks so much for your nice comments on "Telling" - I appreciate it!

Thank you, David. XXX

Wonderful comment on "Babble." Thank you, David. Much appreciated!

Your support is so appreciated, David. Glad you liked "Sweet Sounds of Home".

David,
Thanks for commenting on "Uncle Moscow." Glad you liked the poem! My uncle was a real character, one of a kind. I miss him.

Hi, David

Thanks for reading and commenting on Elder Hostel. I haven't been posting much--or writing fiction--so it's super nice to have my work noticed!

Peace and happy twenty twelve......

Katherine

I really appreciate your reading and commenting on "Needy Kids", David. I haven't been writing much, so it means all the more. :)

Thanks for reading and commenting on Elegy for the Zuccotti Republic. David! Much appreciated! I am looking forward to reading your work. I see that you are from New Hampshire. Coincidentally, I am up to my eyeballs writing an account of an experience I had on a winter traverse of the Presidential Range. Hope to have it up next week!

Hi David - Thank you so much for your very thoughtful comments on my memoir, Last Call. It means a lot to me!

it doesn't make sense you're right. let's agree.

David, I wonder why the comment thing on walls is at the BOTTOM? No matter, thanks for reading my story and the FAVE. You TOO are the BEST!!!!

Thank you so much, David. It is so appreciated!! :-)

Thanks, David. Appreciate the read of "Ketone Deficiency." Poetry advice, not real advice!

Thank you, David, for your wonderful comment on "Poem Containing 'So,' 'And,' 'Such.'" Down with gate keepers!

I take all the roads so's I can say I was there, maybe, but maybe it's a compulsion. Best always, eh?

Thanks, David, for saying those things about "Unexplored Territory." I greatly appreciate it. The story may be a tad long for this site, so it's good of you to read it. It's funny how you learn what your story is about from your readers.

Hi, David! Thank you for your comment and fave on "The Shoes, the Girl and the Waves that Washed Them Away". Much appreciated. Hope you're doing well. :)

Hi David,
I'd like to contact you regarding the story you submitted for the Lost Children Challenge. Please contact me at mrbadexample @ gmail . com
Thank you,
Tom

"Abuzz?" Ew! I'm busy as a bee (double ew!) catching up on my thank-you's for liking "A Nailpolish No," David. Thanks for flying in to read a bit of it, or something equally punny...

Congratulations, David, on your Best of the Net nomination!! "under the skin" is one of my very favorites.

How to make poetry out of a comment! Thank you for your comment on "A Fable of Trees."

David, I'm not really JP either. It's downright depressing to consider all the people I'm not.

Thanks for checking out "I'm Not Emilio Estevez"!

Thanks for commenting on the Chattanooga poem. Glad you liked it.

"Night of the Hunter" is in my top 5 all time favorite movies. So thanks!

dear david, thank you for your fine observations on "before the bloodbath", and for the fave.

David, thank you for your reading and comments on Movement. And for bringing me back to fictionaut (I got a message that you had commented on my story). I found the time I was spending here cut into my writing time too much so I've stayed away a while. But it's great to come back. I've been reading some of your Flight bits. Love them. As you can tell, I'm partial to the zoom-ins where you get into the characters very closely. But I bet the weaving of these with those intensly smart pull-backs where the larger world is viewed will create a wonderful pace in the novel.

Thanks, David, for reading/commenting on "Burn." Much appreciated!

Thanks for your comment on and fave of "We Must Be Carefully Taut." The idea of singing this poem (even in a whisper) is fascinating to me!

Thanks for the comments on Turista! I'm glad you enjoyed the story.

David, Thank you so much for your comment on my Scottish piece. "Blessed extinction" says it all- that's just what I was hoping to achieve in that piece, so your comment was especially encouraging.

David, you and I are suckers for the sound of words. My favorite thing to play around with. Thanks for your comments on the Euclid poem.

So glad you liked my Loco story, David! thanks!

David, thanks for taking the time to read and comment on Three Prayers for Rain. I really value the feedback.

David, many thanks for reading and liking my poem Untitled. Cheers! suan

Thank you for the lovely comment on 'This Story' !

david, txs for reading & commenting on <a href="http://www.fictionaut.com/stories/marcus-speh/under-the-apple-tree">under the apple tree</a> - i'm curious to hear why you thought it "sardonic" ... because i didn't mean for it to sound that way. i'm really just a child with a tin heart.

David ... thanks for the great comment on "The running from San Pedro blues."

hola david. on perec (i'm a hopeless fan)...the bellos translation is quite good--like most of the oulipo translations, it maintains the constraints (so it in a sense a different book). check out the notebooks that perec kept while making la vie, though; they've been published and should be available in most university libraries. it's pretty remarkable.

david - thank you for your comment and read of "Bee Sting" really glad you visited! Thanks so much!

david, your comment on "<a href="http://www.fictionaut.com/stories/marcus-speh/in-the-nude">in the nude</a>" is almost a metafiction piece. also: true. thank you.

Wow, David. Thank you for your encouraging comments on "The Language," which made my day. Hope you're doing well.

Hi David...
I love your comment on my book of love. Thanks so much!

David thanks so much for what you said about my story "Tool."

As always, thank you! Hope all is well with you and yours.

Hi David, thanks for reading Table Thoughts, and thanks for the great comment, too. I really appreciate your feedback. fos.

David,
thanks for your kind comments. It is indeed a kind of Potemkin Village. In fact, a lot of Life Magazine was like that.

Thanks, David. And congrats to your son on completing his doctorate at Brown; that's amazing. Small world.

David, I appreciate your thoughtful and thought-provoking comments on "Waiting".

David, thanks so much for the great comment & fav for "The Bed." I really appreciate it!

David, thank you so much for the comment and the * for "Springtime." Very much appreciate it.

David, thanks for reading and your comments on "Jump"!

Sweet bear, by the way.

Hi David, thanks for the comments on "I will be a child again". I'm glad you like it.

David, you are the only to note the funny lines! Thank you for the great comment about "My Wife, My Love."

David, Thanks for commenting on my jokey "poem" "The Truth Will Out." Your comment made me smile.

thank you David for your kind words about Any Answers and other stories recently - it means a lot. I have been so damn busy and when i get a chance, Fictionaut helps me write. I wish I were a better reader of friends stories and hope to be in the future! Hope all is well with you.

Thank you, David, for your kind comment on "Son of Goya."

Thanks for the nice comments about the Clown Show, David. They mean a lot.

Neat comment about "The Birds (2)". Spot on. Thanks!

David,
Thank you kindly for the lovely words about Sisters At The Lake, greatly appreciated!

thanks darlin xxx

Yes, the inhuman detachment is mind boggling. Just the idea of what a sniper does is chilling. Thanks for your insightful comment on my little satire.

Thanks, David, for reading and commenting on "The Musical!" I'm not familiar with that Guthrie song, I'm off to look it up on the intertubes...

thanks!

Pokey wants to drink you beer, I have no doubt. If you have beer. If not, well, steak. Pretty much anything, really. Thanks David!

Thanks, David, for you comment on The Uninvited Guest. I'm glad it got you in its grip.

David, thanks for reading and commenting on "Leftover Author's Notes"!

Thank you for your comment on my piece, my little tangerine, I'm new to this and it's wonderful publishing something and getting feedback!

Thank you for your kind words about "Clean." I appreciate them very much...

David--thank you!

Thanks for commenting on "The Assassination of Sadat." Always enjoy your comments.

(Do you prefer David or Dave?)

David, so glad you liked "Sic transit Gloria Mundy." Thanks for your generous comment.

Hi, David. Great comment on "Wahrheit und Dichtung." Thanks!

David, So glad you enjoyed Life is Always in the Right. It is isn't it??

Thanks for your kind comments on "The Search." I appreciate your taking the time to read and post.

hey david - glad you enjoyed Lunkers - it wasn't much of a stretch to imagine this from my boyhood days..

Hello David, Thanks so much for your comments on "Mabel Constructed the Quintessential Boundary".

Love the bear pic. It made me think of John Irving and then I read your about. Perfect.
Cheers. M

Thanks so much David for your feedback on "The Forest" - it's definitely helpful!!

David, thank you so much for reading and commenting on It's True What They Say. Peace...

Great comment on "Whiplash Marriage," David. Thank you!

Hi David, lovely comments for my story "Empty." I really appreciate it. Thanks.

just re-read that i.r.a. story...good old paddy whacker days. we gotta do this again some time. thank you for reading/commenting on "winter", david!

Hey, David. Thanks. Mistah Kurtz, he dead.

Hi David: Thanks for reading and commenting on "One Way Street." It actually came from a pocket-dialing incident, but the outcome wasn't quite as bad ; )

Hi David, Wow that is a big bear! Thank you for reading "Punk" and your very nice comments!

Thanks for reading and commenting on How To Burn Years, David. I appreciate it.

David I am so glad you liked Above the Clouds... and just love what you wrote about it, thanking you profusely

Love love your comment on my Darklings. Happy I am. Ta very much, mister.

Thanks, David, for your read and comments about "Recruitment."

It's nice to get a good review (of "Night & Day") from such a fine writer. Thank you!

thanks so much for "picking up" on Table For One. Your approbation means a lot to me. I guess regular old probation would also mean a lot, but in a rather different way. You know what I mean. Anyway, thanks!

Thanks, David--the banana scene was fun to write!

Of course! I love the White Mountains and I really love your story!

Thanks for reading my story, I appreciate it!

Thanks so much for the great comments about "Moro", David. I appreciate it so much. I was going to ask you yesterday about the title of your play, "Jaws of Kronos"--where does t hat come from? I know Kronos was a Greek god...?

David, this new fictionaut really appreciates your feedback. Thanks very much. Indubitably.

Dave, thank you for your comments on "Sand." It means a lot to me.

David,

Thanks so much for reading and commenting on "Threads." It's much appreciated!

(The Other) David

David, I'm glad you enjoyed the musical time-shifting tale about the Devil and Mr. Johnson. You saw right through it, of course. I appreciate hearing from you.

Really appreciate your always kind words, David. Thanks!

ha! everybody loves a good cliffhanger...

David, Thanks for your comments on "Florid Psychosis." You are absolutely right--the word "but" does not belong in line two. Good eye! (I just kind of like it there! Quandary. Quandary...)

Hi David. thank you for the very nice things you said about my story "Medicine"!

David, Thanks so much for the close read of Tomorrowland. I loved what you wrote about the father: creepy, yes, how he preps. And the culture steers.

Thanks for reading Off With Your Head and the nice comment, David.

Thanks for the amazing comment on 4P28! I appreciate the read, and I'm so glad you liked it.

David, that was really nice what you wrote about "gutter" I'm glad it pulled at you that way, thanks!

Last November, Trex Hastings from Blunder Fudge interviewed the band on the origins of several of their most famous songs:

TH: And your first hit, "Sausage Soothsayer"?

PM: That was Brian’s wonder child. We was in the studio and Liam horfed on the mixer and what came out was sorta scary and scarlet, like them blood sausages me Blarney gran made me eat as a child, and Brian looked at it queerly, all starry eyed and mystic shitty like and said, “I got a revelation, lads, like this little world around us ain’t as bad as we thought, cause if ya get the shit oughta ya, ya can be just as good as the others.” And we moaned and rolled our eyes and he said” That there’s the sausage Soothsayer.”

TH: That’s a gas, truly, man. But what about, “Beast Ribbon”? I have to say that’s a favorite of mine.

PM: “Beast Ribbon” came about because Liam was always dressing like a damn dandy in the early days, thought he was Bowie or somethin–he dolled up a lot, wore the

Thank you so much for your feedback on "1958-1961." Being the first poem I've written in nearly two years now, your encouraging words meant a lot :)

David, thank you for your comment on "The Power of Bad Words."

Yes, Montreal is a great place! I'm happy to have landed here (originally from NYC) --- it is ripe with inspiration for stories :) I recently drove through Franconia State Park; it is gorgeous!

Hi David, Know what you mean about Montreal. I used to live there, and I miss it often. What a great city!

David,
thanks for your kind comment about Admiral Cheng Ho. I actually don't live far from Bolinas (well reasonable driving distance). it's a comparison I never thought of, but it's a pretty fascinating way of looking at it.

hello david. thanks for the read and comment on "the re-enactments." much appreciated.

David, thank you! I’m trying to follow your great example. ;) You were the first one to that story, if I remember correctly. Thanks for all the support. And thanks for stopping by my profile a few days ago. The profile is again under construction (much like myself, these days). Take care!

Hi, David. Thanks for reading 'Unfit-V.' You give some of the best comments. I appreciate it very much: and also the fav.

I was thinking the same thing, some little comedic seeds thrown about...but what theme?

Thanks for your comments on "At the back of the crowd" David - look forward to reading more of your work.

David, Thanks for your comment on The '08 Election. I'm happy you liked the story.

awwww you are too kind! I also meant to say that there are things about "Love Slut," even in it's brevity, that remind me of the movie "The Savages" with Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman. (I mean this in a good way.)

Hi, David, thanks for reading 'I heard the news today, oh boy!' and your comment is appreciated.

Hi David, thanks for your "Godot" comment. May Beckett forgive me.

Hi David, thanks for your comment and fav on Upstream. I think your profile photo would be pleased to meet my MC too!

Thanks, Dave. Glad you liked "Something, He Wrote."

Thanks for your comment on The Devil's Inkwell, David. As a teenager I went to a Jim Jones revival in my hometown and felt the draw along with the repulsion that many others felt. I knew a few Jim Jones followers when I first moved to the Bay Area. So I was trying to get both the real and the surreal (how else to deal?) into that story. Thanks for reading it.

Thanks for the comment David! The nameless boy toy will always be one of my favorite types of characters to pick on.

...so your bear ain't Nastasia Kinski then : (

Thanks David for your comment on Bedtime Story. Glad you liked the closed circle. So much more than a donor, yes!!

Many thanks, David, for your generous comments on "Goodnight Dogs"!

Thank you so very much for taking the time to read my new story. It means a lot, and I’m grateful for your support. Best to you.

Good of you to read and comment on my Butterfly World. Thanks, David!

I appreciate your response to "Cousin", really.
Best,
RR

Hi David, Thanks so much for taking the time to read and comment on my story! I'm trying to get back into writing fiction, so I really appreciate the encouraging words.

Thanks for the response to "Northeast of Eden". About 25 years ago I went to a previously-obscure sushi restaurant in mid-town Manhattan for lunch after seeing it receive 4 stars in a review in The New York Times that morning. #1 on the menu was "Live Shrimp", which I figured to mean FRESH shrimp. (Wrong.)
Best,
RR

Thanks, David, for your comments on "Not with a bang..." quite spot right about the excesses, especially within the action you pointed out. I know it's work to do worthwhile crits and a generally thankless task more often than not. Not this time. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

David - you are a kind and generous reader, giving of both your insights and your time. I greatly appreciate it.

Thank you so much for your post on The Burning Bed. This is exactly what I'm looking for. But you didn't need to comment about how your critique might be too harsh. Harsh is needed. If we don't have harsh, then we end up with authors like Dan Brown and Lee Child.

Thank *you* so much, David!! I really enjoy your work--all of it!! :-)

Hi, David. I really enjoyed both of your stories featured in Fictionaut Faves. I recently joined the site and you’re the first New Hampshire writer I’ve come across here. I’m looking forward to reading more of your work. Way to represent our NH!

Congrats on the fictionaut faves! Wonderful!

Many, many thanks, David, for reading and faving "Bread, Fish, Serpent, Stone" and whatever that flag day thing is. You always get it, and you always see how it works!

Thanks so much, David, for reading, commenting on, and faving "The Only Still Thing." You get it's "less travelled byways of love"!

Thanks for your comment on "Giving Notice." I find achieving "Everywhere present/nowhere visible" very difficult in this novel I'm working on. Glad it worked somewhere!

Thank you, David, for inviting me to the Rowdies hangout--what an honor! Now just how low can things of a "low comical nature" be?

Thanks very much for your comments. Much appreciated.

Bests. Marc

David, I really appreciate your comments on The Deer Collage. Thank you!

Thanks, David, for your insightful comments on CTR. Very much appreciated.

Thank you so much, David, for reading “Classmates,” the fav, and your comments, always astute and welcome. I like the photo of the bear. Was that bear in your neighborhood? I only see deer and raccoons. And once a opossum, dead, alas.

Another thank you is in order, this time for your lovely comments to "Beach Haven." I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Hi David -- thanks for your comment on Love, Story.

I will get to your long list of stories sometime soon. Trying to find time to check out my new community. Great to be here! So far, I really like what you say in the Why Do You Write section:

"Whatever he said or didn't say, the story would be told, as if it had to be." There's an imperative that comes from within the story itself: It seems it has to be and therefore has to Be Told.

Yes. I love the idea that a story has a life of its own.

David, I really appreciate the positive review of "Snowed In." Thanks.

laughed at your "Fuckhead" comment...nicely played. no charges will be brought, i promise.

Thank you, David, for reading "Mind You Don't" and for your comments, which are, as always, right on!

yes, sort of next to hampstead - more like kentish town (north) and euston (south) and belsize park (around). see http://www.tourstolondon.co.uk/london-underground-map.gif

is this the shelagh power-chopra-wall or the david-ackley-wall. just asking. i'm actually trying to pass a message to the naked rowdies but perhaps i just use the next available wall for that.

Bless your heart, my dear. Love, Edna

That was great! Full of rich detail and hilarity, very hard to follow. love this: the hopes of their middle class families contained in these sprightly containers...

And I'm going back to the band:

It was a dire and dun-colored year when groupies wept and autograph seekers put down their pens. The Naked Rowdies were on a sated sabbatical. Roddy had a bum leg or so the press was told, and who wanted a gimpy and bloated guitarist up on stage throwing soiled crutches at fans anyway? Behind the dressing room doors, the real picture was pretty grim; Roddy, on his way home after a clumsy threesome with two cousins and a candystriper, had been attacked by a roving band of aesthetically minded hobos. The homeless, tired of being stereotyped as drab dressers (woeful holey wingtips and soiled raincoats) had banded together to form a new "aesthetic". Their new look; jackets and shoes made from discarded Hermes bags. They were often seen crawling the alleys, naked, save their slipshod attir

oopps..the ending messed up. Here's another go:

Cliff and Stu hiked deep into the woods, dripping in sweat, large cumbersome binoculars wrapped around their wizened necks. The summer sun was high and Stu really wished they had brought the thermos of Shandis that Cliff seemed to have “conveniently” forgotten. This of of course was due to the last time they went bird watching; Stu staggering from a dozen Sloe Gins, smashing a nest of Ruby Redstar eggs with his large bottom. “Oh lord Stu, now hold on to your skirt because above is the grand madam.” Stu had never seen one and he looked above and smiled serenely as if viewing an angel. She was quite beautiful–almost translucent, perfectly free of any spotting or marks. My lord they do look a wee naked, don’t they Cliff? and he giggled like a manic child and the bird flew away. Goddamn it Stu, that was our last chance and we’ll never, ever, see a Naked Rowdie again.

Thanks for your comment on Beckett not Joyce. "Real" and "tough," words I like to hear about my writing.

thanks for the ll's, david! will haply check out your fictionals before springing. - carol

Damn! That was pretty hysterical. You've outdone yourself. Not so sure I'll be able to conquer that one.

brilliant! Hilarious! Much better than mine and I fear this one:

Audrey's memoirs, entitled, "The Naked Rowdies" sold better then her agent had predicted. The title itself was a flinty dig at her first husband–a reference to the slew of terrible rows or "rowdies" (as her husband liked to call them after they made up) he often started late in the night. Naked, nuked on gin and nicotine, it was a never-ending nihilistic nightmare.

Ha! Very good.

Or a blurb beneath one of those silly public naked people "Art" projects:

"They were naked and they were rowdy and the streets couldn't hold them. It was a performance piece gone terribly wrong."

Thank you for your comment. And French accent... ;-)

you're welcome david my pleasure entirely. great story romancing the old london cobblestone for me. aww - memory lane: IRA threat at king's cross station. everybody out. the intimacy! a nation united against a green ghost. i really liked your 'message' in the end, too...that was unexpected and there goes sentimentality...

I'm with you on reading length. I live to read. And on occasion read to live when nothing else will do to soothe me.

David, what a wonderful, thoughtful comment you made on Phoenix Complaining! Thanks so much for your careful attention. Made my morning.

David, yes, on The Etymons, please let me know. I am open to suggestions, critiques, pies-in-the-face, or kicks in the ass. Frankly, the more public the better. Thanks again for reading.

Hi David, Thank you so much for the kind comments -- they really mean a lot coming from somebody with your background! I've been so remiss about getting involved here at Fictionaut. I really must fill out my page and start participating a bit. I'm currently rereading A Room With a View and rediscovering Forster's dry wit and economical style. I don't know why I found him abstruse when I was in college --- obviously my problem and not his at all. I'll look at the books you recommend as well. Best, Linda

I have no problem whatsoever with that, David.

Thank you for the kind words too, they truly do mean a lot.

B