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Malefic, part 4
I took the brush and dipped it in the vial, then I began to baste the object like a tiny Christmas ham, now merely a ball of confused elements with jagged pieces of sharp metal and bone poking out and tufts of fur in and through and around the messy mixture. As I...
Malefic, part 3
When I arrived back at the manor where my great uncle had allowed me residence, reluctantly I might add, there was not an inch of dry fabric in all my apparel. The chill had numbed my fingers and I fancied that my hair was singed by the lightning that dogged me every...
Malefic, part 2
Chemicals and their esoteric connection to the sustaining of life had always held a particular fascination for me. From the earliest days I would put salt on a slug, and as it melted, quickly apply a solution of camphor and ipecac and watch as it regenerated before my...
Malefic, part 1
This is the first episode of my new serialized Gothic short story, Malefic. New episode will appear every day or two. Enjoy! ---------- Malefic by Jeffrey Mays I am not sure where Malefic is at this moment. It has never attacked me before, directly. Perhaps I am safe....
The wolf of the steppes
Currently reading: Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse OK. So we don't judge a book by its cover. I listened to this on an audiobook 4 times last year when I had a job that required me to drive down to the Rio Grande valley a lot. This book is SO delicious. What was the last...
Street performer
Imagine you want to create a work of art in fiction writing. Your topic? The nebulous and weighty matter of Identity. Let’s say you draw from all of your life experiences, your belief systems, your worldview. You bring it all to bear. And when it’s all said and done,...
Sorry Please Thank You
I am reading a new book by Charles Yu called Sorry Please Thank You. It is a collection of stories that I bought on a lark because of an article I read in Poets & Writers. Yu seems like a super-friendly, quiet sort of fellow and he has a delightfully creative...
Welcome
My name is Jeffrey Mays. I had another blog for about 4 years where I posted rants and quirky stuff in an undisciplined way, and anonymously. Because it was just for my own fun, and because of the stage of life I was in, I posted a casserole of topics - political...
Conclusion of The Heart in Conflict with Itself
We are trying to understand what William Faulkner meant when he said that all good writing was born of “the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself.” I suggested that such a statement requires the existence of some notion of a soul. And it's no good...
A Bathroom Conversation
[I will return to my discussion of Faulkner tomorrow. Below is something I wrote about 3 years ago. Enjoy.] I went into a public restroom today and noticed what is now undeniable empirical evidence that men have developed a totally new language used only in restrooms....
