The Writer's Life 10/9 - Humans

Jill McCorkle has eleven works of fiction in print and has cracked the NY Times best sellers list. Final Vinyl Days, a collection of nine short stories of varying lengths, was published in 1998. All the pieces focus on the human condition, and there is very little plot to any. The prose and dialogue are solid, and there is a lot of keen insight. The three pieces I enjoyed most are: Last Request, the effect a death bed wish by a mother has on her 30ish daughter; Your Husband Is Cheating on Us, an amusing rant; and It’s a Funeral, RSVP, about a 40ish woman who starts a new business -- catering parties of the terminally ill. The rest, including the title piece, contained nuggets but were not engaging overall, in some instances a long way to go for very little. Most of the viewpoints are those of women, feminist, which leads me to believe the book would appeal more to the fairer sex. 15 users have reviewed the book at Amazon, forging to a consensus of 3.5 of five. I say three.

I’ve watched four episodes of The Walking Dead. The most intriguing aspect so far is that humans will not be changed much by a zombie apocalypse. Of course, they will be steadfast in fighting for survival, a killing without remorse, but they will interact much the same as always. They will not be humbled by the great fortune of having survived. Rednecks remain rednecks, spouse abusers don’t reform, complaints about work distribution abound.

The major indexes took a pounding today, the Dow alone losing more than 300 points. Is the anticipated correction finally here or is it just another false alarm?

The floating book shop had a visit from Occupy Jack for the first time in a while. He riffed on the Middle East, saying there should be separate Sunni and Shia states, just as there is a Jewish state. I suggested that it probably wouldn't keep them from trying to kill each other. Then again, what do I know? Jack says those who read the NY Post are morons. I read it every day. As far as business is concerned, it continues to be slow. My thanks to the young woman who purchased two paperbacks, one of which had been donated by Herbie earlier in the session.

Vic's 4th novel: tinyurl.com/bszwlxh

Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3

Vic's Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
Vic's Short Story Collection: http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tiny.cc/0iHLb Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kx3d3uf
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/rP7o9

Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp

Vic's Horror Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3f

Vic's Blog: http://vicfortezza.blogspot.com/

Vic's Web Site: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/