Friday, December 23, 2011

Whose that author?


Tim had suggested that we start a new series called whose that author. So can you guess who wrote this:

And you couldn't explain that to your mother and father, who were creatures of the light. No more than you could explain to them how, at the age of three, the spare blanket at the foot of the crib turned into a collection of snakes that lay staring at you with flat and lidless eyes. No child ever conquers those fears, he thought. If a fear cannot be articulated, it can't be conquered. And the fears locked in small brains are much too large to pass through the orifice of the mouth. Sooner or later you found someone to walk past all the deserted meeting houses you had to pass between grinning babyhood and grunting senility. Until tonight. Until tonight when you found out that none of the old fears had been staked— only tucked away in their tiny, child-sized coffins with a wild rose on top

20 comments:

windbag said...

Freddie Mercury. It was in the liner notes of Queen's "A Night at the Opera" album.

...or...not...maybe it was Freddie's evil twin.

Trooper York said...

Nah not quite.

I thought the Riptide clue is both obscure and confusing.

Just what I am going for.

chickelit said...

No idea. Though the idea reminds me of my recurring childhood nightmare: a hovering, animated, darkness in my room which emanated from the furnace register.

The Dude said...

Okay, I had no idea, then I lit up a cigarette from a town a bit west of here, next thing I know, I turned into a pillar of salt. As for the author, well, I wouldn't walk a mile to read his work, regardless of what color said mile was. But he is royalty, don't you know...

chickelit said...

I wouldn't walk a mile to read his work,..

I'd walk a mile for a cameltoe.

The Dude said...

What about a mistletoe?

Trooper York said...

You got it Sixty. I love it when the answer is even more obscure than the question. Perfect.

chickelit said...

If our DL can find a photo with both cameltoe and mistletoe--I'd walk 10 miles.

The Dude said...

Yep, the writing of Steven Mistletoe is unmistakable.

windbag said...

My answer was too obscure.

chickelit said...

My answer wasn't even obscure--it was an attemped threadjack.

Please don't ban me blogfather.

ricpic said...

I disagree that naming or explaining your fears makes them go away or conquers them. That's the assumption that undergirds all of psychotherapy, which has been a complete failure...except for psychotherapists. Let me amend that a bit: while chronically frightened people are undergoing psychotherapy it may help a bit, but the minute they can no longer unload they're back to square one -- their fears.

ricpic said...

chicklit in bad faith!

Anonymous said...

Stephen King, Salems's Lot.

Years ago when I was working in Milwaukee County mental Health Complex, the old buildings from 1889 were still standing. They were old , scary and rife with flying cockroaches, despite spraying weekly in the wards.

Each ward was a locked one, the nurse on duty carried a set of keys for 6 wards that she was responsible on her shift, with nursing assistants manning the wards.

The elevators in the buildings were so creaky and rickety, with the iron sliding grates, I never dared using them, so I took the back stairwell. I happened to have been working the graveyard shift while reading Stephen King's The Night Shift.

At this time we had a nurse who was having a mental breakdown and would come to the buildings in the middle of the night, letting herself in with her keys, we were allowed to take home in those days.

I was being paged from ward to ward that night , as it was a full moon (seriously, it seemed they all went completely bonkers during a full moon), so whilst running up and down the back stairwell and being spooked because of the Stephen King book I'd been reading, who do I bump into headlong but the crazy nurse with a crazed look on her face.

I don't know where she went because I ran onto the ward after bumbling with the keys, looking absolutely white with fright, my nurses aides thought I saw a ghost , nope just a crazy nurse, who ended up being a patient herself.

Anonymous said...
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ndspinelli said...

Allie, Love work anecdotes, keep them coming.

Anonymous said...

Milwaukee County Insane Asylum

Nick, I have so many stories from my years at County Psych, I'll space them out a bit. I could tell you guys and gals some stories about strange tricks dead bodies do.

TTBurnett said...

Agree with nd. Keep 'em coming, Allie!

You know, this blog has some damn good commenters and is getting really good really fast.

ndspinelli said...

Allie, My only suggestion is to save the creepiest anecdotes for Halloween. But, spacing them out is a good idea because, "I'm a space cowboy, bet you weren't ready for that."

blake said...

I've taken a shine to th--oh, you guys already got it.