A black-humor cautionary tale of chronic encephalopathy told in the first person. The others in the story have little to say until the son near the end, and he says little. The story certainly evokes gloom, its target, so it must be given a thumbs up. It does not need dialog or a long cast of characters or local color & scene-setting or many of the other props of the short story. You may have a talent for horror-writing. Somebody on substack is soliciting stories to be compiled into an homage to Stephen King's "The Shining". Contributors will be paid in recognition rather than coin of the realm, unless sales of the compilation exceed some number. I do not remember the substacker's nom-de-substack, sorry.
Wow. Grim. Life lived hard but catching up, winding up for the final punch. Fantastic piece!
Thank you! Lot of autofiction in this one…
A black-humor cautionary tale of chronic encephalopathy told in the first person. The others in the story have little to say until the son near the end, and he says little. The story certainly evokes gloom, its target, so it must be given a thumbs up. It does not need dialog or a long cast of characters or local color & scene-setting or many of the other props of the short story. You may have a talent for horror-writing. Somebody on substack is soliciting stories to be compiled into an homage to Stephen King's "The Shining". Contributors will be paid in recognition rather than coin of the realm, unless sales of the compilation exceed some number. I do not remember the substacker's nom-de-substack, sorry.
Thanks, Jim! It was Chuck Palahniuk who put the call out, I believe.
Shocking and very very good. I love the use of the fast forward idea.
Thanks, Andrew!