Part IV /surreal comedy/ Written by Dany Tanner Fake passport in hand, Bobby “Nikolai” Petrov made his way to customs, sweat beginning to form on his hairline. Do I look nervous? He wondered. OMG, I’m starting to sweat! I’m probably turning red! I look suspicious, and this is the country that tried toContinue Reading
I’m introducing the guest post of Clara Godwin-Suttie about Georges Simenon. I’m familiar with his work; I read the first book about Maigret when I was 12-13. Currently, I’m reading his biography, The Mystery of Georges Simenon, written by Fenton Bresler (a second-hand book – the last one – I got viaContinue Reading
PART III /short story – surreal comedy/ Written by Dany Tanner The meeting was a total bummer. After Mr. Robinson ran out of the room, Bobby plopped into his solid-gold spray-painted RIG (Really Important Guy) swivel chair and began to bawl. One by one, his advisors collected their belongings and skulked off. OnContinue Reading
Tristan Tzara, born in Romania in 1896, did not live a happy life. He survived two World Wars and life as a Jew in Europe during the Holocaust. He was also an incredible man, a founder of Dadaism, who wrote plays, poetry, essays, manifestos, directed films, painted and composed music. While itContinue Reading
Talk is cheap Empty barrels make the loudest noises Speech is human; silence is divine Speech is silver; silence is golden These are just a few popular sayings that extol the virtues of silence. From our childhood days when our mothers chastised us for being too loud at the table, we’ve alwaysContinue Reading
Absurdism is, in a philosophical sense, the idea that there are no gods, higher purpose, or order to things. At least, that’s what Wikipedia told me. With that in mind, it’s pretty easy to find humor in the mundane. For example, consider a rubber duck. Humans tend to be highly sociable butContinue Reading
We used to believe that Dostoevsky had always been the beacon of Russian literature. How else could it be? He’s always belonged to the pantheon of great Russian writers: Tolstoy, Gogol, and Chekhov. Well, not everything is as it seems. Great recognition only came to Dostoyevsky and his books after a delayContinue Reading
I just finished reading the book, Beautiful Writers by Linda Sivertsen. She runs the Book Mama website and the Beautiful Writers Podcast. In the book, she shares her writing journey and sparks each page with remarkable and honest advice from famous authors we admire. As a young writer in Los Angeles, Linda SivertsenContinue Reading
Written by Erla Maas You notice that your friend has stolen something from the store. You know that your friend’s actions are wrong, but he is your friend. Do you rat out your friend, even if he is doing something wrong or not? Welcome to the moral dilemma! A moral dilemma determines howContinue Reading
written by Laolu Ogundele What makes you laugh? Seriously, this is not a trick question… Okay, let’s narrow the question down. What kinds of films make you snicker, giggle, and guffaw? Whatever your answer is, do you know that it would likely be different if you lived 100 years ago? What ifContinue Reading