RIVAL SCHOOLS - Wring It Out

Walter Schreifels has been writing this kind of song for more than 20 years. There's nothing new and innovative here, but that doesn't mean I am able to get it out of my head. See also, Gorilla Biscuits and Quicksand:

FULL DARK, NO STARS

Just finished this King novel. Read it in under a week, in fact. Not much of an accomplishment in prior years, but with a wife who works nights and two children, I'd say its pdq.

Four great page burning stories that do what Mr. King does best: The pages melt away, and you are immersed in his world. I don't know how he does it. I try to pay attention to his technique, but instead I get lost in the story. Which is why I remain a "Constant Reader."

He did use some of his old tricks in these stories. No one pissed themselves, but two characters clenched their fists painfully tight. None to the point of bleeding, like in many of his stories. And shockingly, there was only one "Ayuh," though three of the tales were set in Maine.

Despite twenty years of reading his material, I have many books left to consume. No doubt, Absent Reader, I will get to them all.

INVICTUS

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley


Finally watched "Invictus" last night. Difficult to imagine the horrors experienced by Mandela and his family, and the compassion born after his strife is something we should all seek.