u/Tyrion_Slothrop

Viva La France

I'm curious: if you had a major publisher want to make an anthology of short fiction chosen by you, to show what kind of person you are, what would the ToC be?

1. Laird Barron, "Tiptoe" or "The Forest"
2. George Saunders, "Puppy"
3. Thomas Ligotti, "The Bungalow House" or "Our Temporary Supervisor"
4. Joe Hill, "Pop Art"
5. Faulkner, "A Rose for Emily"
6. T.E.D. Klein, "Petey" or "Children of the Kingdom"
7. Karl Wagner, ".220 Swift" or "Where the Summer Ends"
8. Michael Shea, "The Autopsy" or "Uncle Tuggs"
9. Bruno Schulz. "Street of Crocodiles," or "The Cinnamon Shops"
10. Kelly Link, "Stone Animals"

I love Nabokov, particularly Lolita and Pale Fire, but I have yet to venture into his short fiction. I have the collected stories, but it's a bit daunting to begin (I prefer shorter collections); I tend to read collections of short stories over collected works.

If you had to choose his 5 best stories to begin with, what would they be?

I’ve read this short novel a decade ago and remember loving it, so I’m rereading it. It’s one of the most bizarre novels I’ve ever read. Somehow mundane, boring life in a small town—with a dramatic dam—is rendered incomprehensibly bizarre. I can’t quite explain it, but the prose somehow makes everything nightmarish and eerie, almost like a David Lynch western. Hawks is like McCarthy amalgamated with surrealism. Anyone else have a better description of Hawkes’ prose? Anyone read this too?

I’m currently an analyst for Credit Union. The work is pretty cool: focusing on skills for the HR department. I’ve been at this job for a year, but I can’t shake the specter of AI. I know it’s only a matter of time before layoffs come. I’m considering going to a trade school to learn to be an electrician. I’ve studied electricity a bit through different tech certs, and I found it interesting as I enjoy learning how things work. Should I pursue becoming an electrician? Or will that be replaced to? I’m paranoid! 😂

If I get laid off, I’m hoping to get some kind of severance that I can put towards a trade school. 🤷

I’m almost 40–I just want a stable job!

My god, the last 200 pages of the modern library edition are borderline torture. I know, I know: this is an important moment in the narrator’s life and shatters his illusion of higher society, etc etc. give me a good reason not to skim 😂. Looking forward to the next volume though.

Divine would have been the greatest choice to play the Judge.

I’m not talking cheesy death metal—I’m talking Swans, Scott Walker, Sunn0))), etc.

I need to eat more vegetables!!

I may have the palate of a toddler, but I have to say I loved moussaka (I baked it instead of frying so it was fairly light, excluding the bechamel topping).

What other dishes have as many vegetables and taste as good as moussaka? I'd like to try my hand on cassoulet, but that might be too involved.