Day 1,625, Quasi-Quarantine: Extrasensory Perception, Visions, Covid Combine To Propel "You Like It Darker" Into Another King Short-Story Masterpiece

 

“Well, I tell myself, we call it a gift and we call ourselves gifted, but gifts are never really earned, are they? Only given. Talent is grace made visible.” 

~ “Two Talented Bastids”

Bookended by the strong opener "Two Talented Bastids" and the emotional "The Answer Man," "You Like It Darker" is Stephen King summoning his fastball in yet another short-story collection. Filled with Easter eggs from his entire oeuvre, this book balances quick burns ("The Fifth Step," "Willie the Weirdo," "On Slide Inn Road," "Red Screen") with novellete-length stunners like "Danny Coughlin's Bad Dream," "Rattlesnakes," and "The Answer Man."

“The stars we see at night are just eternity’s first inch.”

~ “The Dreamers”

"You Like It Darker" balances an emphasis on dreams and visions with insights on mortality and toxic masculinity. The specter of Covid overhangs much of the work, lending an air of isolation and paranoia to the festivities.

“He wonders if he could change his name, ditch his family, and get a job at some little bank in an Australian town. Learn to call people mate and say g’day.” 

~ “On Slide Inn Road”

The author manages to pay tribute to Flannery O'Connor ("On Slide Inn Road") and H.P. Lovecraft ("The Dreamers"), while hat-tipping his own works like "The Shining" and "Doctor Sleep" ("Danny Coughlin's Bad Dream"), "Duma Key" ("Rattlesnakes"), and "Tommyknockers" ("Two Talented Bastids").

“What had Jim the bridge keeper said? Dusk, you know. Real things seem thinner then.”

~ “Rattlesnakes”

Along the way, he combines interesting concepts ("Finn"), potentially misplaced entries ("Judge Judy"), and familiar republications ("Laurie"), maintaining the ability to hit you hard in just eight pages ("The Fifth Step") or drag you along at high intensity for 151 ("Danny Coughlin's Bad Dream").

King varies his locations from his trademark Northeast, roaming to the Midwest, Ireland, New York City, and Florida. His customary stellar character-building is ever-present, giving fans of this format yet more evidence that better short-story writers would be difficult to find.

“You like it darker? Fine. So do I, and that makes me your soul brother.”

Day 1,618, Quasi-Quarantine: "The Berry Pickers" Uses The Northeast As Backdrop For Tale Of Loss, Identity, And Redemption

“When we arrived from Nova Scotia, midsummer, a caravan of dark-sinned workers, laughing and singing, travelling through their overgrown and rusting world, the local folks turned their backs, our presence a testament to their failure to prosper.”

This melancholy tale has a bit of everything, from kidnapping to grief to redemption to murder to hope to rage to abuse to faith to racism. Amanda Peters uses short, staccato sentences to propel the pace, giving a great story the space it needs to overpower suspect prose.

“There is a code among the dying: let the living speak. They have longer to atone for it.”

Some readers may question the sheer number of tragic coincidences that impact a single family, and it can be difficult to determine the motivations and mindsets of certain characters. Yet "The Berry Pickers" is deeply emotional and absorbing, making it one of the rare books that makes a saccharin, tidy ending both acceptable and welcomed.

“The dash saddens me. The simplicity misses so much. It doesn’t allow for all the downs that bring a person low or the joys that lift them up. All the bends and turns that make up a lifetime are flattened and erased. The dash on a tombstone is wholly inadequate.”

Day 1,617, Quasi-Quarantine: Miami Foregoes Need To Triple Down On Skill-Position Speed On Day 3 Of The Draft

Somewhat surprisingly (and perhaps shortsightedly), Miami loaded up on skill-position players on the draft's third day, landing a running back (Tennessee's Jaylen Wright) and two wideouts (Virginia's Malik Washington and USC's Tahj Washington). In between, the 'Fins landed an edge rusher (Colorado State's Mohamed Kamara) and a safety (California's Patrick McMorris), which fit much better into the "need" category than the other three selections.

The pluses: Wright was assigned a third-round grade and deemed the No. 83 overall player by draft analyst Dane Brugler, though Miami grabbed him with the 120th overall pick, in the fourth round. He's seen as an explosive, speedy (4.38 seconds in the 40-yard dash) home-run hitter, which makes him a scheme fit.

Kamara is intense (described as an inspirational captain) and productive (30.5 career sacks), with a high-effort style that lends itself to a rotational role at a position of need due to injury.

Assigned a third-round grade by Brugler, Washington may have simply been too good to pass up by the Dolphins in the sixth round -- Brugler had him as the No. 90 player in the draft and Miami got him 184th overall. He was second in the nation in receiving yardage (1,426 overall) and a team captain with only four drops in three seasons. Importantly, Dolphins draft guru Simon Clancy tabbed Washington as the best prospect at the East-West Shrine Bowl.

A former running back, McMorris is described as having good play recognition, physicality (6-0, 207 pounds), and versatility. That's the extent of the good news on this sixth-rounder (198th overall).

The 'Fins landed another small wideout Washington (5-9, 174 pounds) in Tajh, who was rated as a fifth- or sixth-round pick by Brugler but landed 241st overall, in the seventh round. One of Caleb Williams's favorite targets, he can stretch the field vertically (five 50-plus-yard catches to lead the conference), is strong after the catch, is durable, possesses return skills, and had a single drop as a senior.

The minuses: At 5-10, 210 pounds, Wright is viewed by some as inclined to avoid contact and was an afterthought in the receiving game. Miami also traded a third-rounder in 2025 for this selection, despite already having Raheem Mostert, De'Von Achane, Jeff Wilson, Chris Brooks, and Salvon Ahmed in the backfield.

Kamara will be 24 years old by the time the season starts, so his ceiling is perceived to be limited. He has been described as undersized (6-1, 248 pounds) and stiff, with struggles in the run game and with avoiding penalties.

Washington is another wee 'Fins receiver (5-8, 191 pounds) who is challenged to overcome jams, lacks long speed, and does not have much experience on special teams. Granted, there appeared to be some conflicting analysis of the wideout in his scouting report, so the minuses for Washington would appear to be debatable.

McMorris was rated as a priority free agent by Brugler based on a lack of impact plays (two interceptions in the past two years), poor angles, iffy technique and balance, questionable range, and shaky tackling. That's ... a lot to overcome.

Like Malik, Tajh Washington is described as struggling against physical coverage, with a poor catch radius, short arms, and small hands. If he is to perform in the slot -- his most likely role -- he would need to improve his patience in route-running, according to analysts.

The bottom line: While the best-player-available approach is usually the right one, did Miami really need to triple up on skill-position players when the only offensive lineman taken (Patrick Paul) is described as an extreme project? The Dolphins also had seven picks and did not take a single defensive tackle -- despite losing Christian Wilkins in free agency -- nor a cornerback, despite an aging and depleted corps.

In addition, the 'Fins loaded up on undersized players again, despite the team's well-documented struggles against physical opponents when the weather gets worse late in the season. 

It's also important to note that the Dolphins surrendered a third-round pick next year to take Wright, though the team is likely expecting compensatory picks after losing some key players in free agency. 

The early impression is that Miami will come out of this draft without a starter -- technically, Chop Robinson could start early in the campaign due to injuries to both Jaelan Phillips and Bradley Chubb -- for the third year in a row (obviously, never a good sign). With so much of the salary cap tied up in so few players, general manager Chris Grier is digging himself a big, big hole by struggling to replenish departing talent via the draft.

Day 1,616, Quasi-Quarantine: Still Stuck Up On That Crow's Nest

 

Up here, I'm still up there.

'Til next time ...

Limerick Friday #625: The OBX, Ever On The Horizon -- Day 1,606

No matter how long it took

Can't wait for that ocean overlook

The view is the best

From atop the crow's nest

With a cooler and a book

Frauds abound

Ineptitude astounds

Voluntary attrition

The desired condition

But man these fuckers just stick around

Football races near

As camp hits its gear

Hope mixed with dread

At the season ahead

But still just glad it's here

Barnacles cling

Try to horn in on a thing

Don't contribute shit

But want the credit

Easy to see this approach's king

Salt in the air

Wind in your hair

The waves roar

The beach does restore

As you let go of every care

Last time ...

Day 1,605, Quasi-Quarantine: Overwhelming Grief, Immersion Drive Dystopian "Prophet Song"

“ … She can see that the world does not end, that it is vanity to think the world will end during your lifetime in some sudden event, that what ends is your life and only your life, that what is sung by the prophets is but the same song sung across time, the coming of the sword, the world devoured by fire, the sun gone down into the earth at noon and the world cast in darkness, the fury of some god incarnate in the mouth of the prophet raging at the wickedness that will be cast out of sight, and the prophet sings not of the end of the world but of what has been done and what will be done and what is being done to some but not others, that the world is always ending over and over again in one place but not another and that the end of the world is always a local event, it comes to your country and visits your town and knocks on the door of your house and becomes to others but some distant warning, a brief report on the news, an echo of events that has passed into folklore …”

A claustrophobic dystopian tale, "Prophet Song" makes a not-so-very strenuous leap from contemporary society into totalitarian terror. Paul Lynch's chosen setting is Dublin, but it could be so many cities and states in the current political climate.

“We are both scientists, Eilish, we belong to a tradition but tradition is nothing more than what everyone can agree on – the scientists, the teachers, the institutions, if you change ownership of the institutions than you can change ownership of the facts, you can alter the structure of belief, what is agreed upon, that is what they are doing, Eilish, it is really quite simple, the NAP is trying to change what you and I call reality, they want to muddy it like water, if you say one thing is another thing and you say it enough times, then it must be so, and if you keep saying it over and over people accept it as true – this is an old idea, of course, it really is nothing new, but you’re watching it happen in your own time and not in a book.”

After her husband is disappeared by the National Alliance Party (NAP), Eilish Stark gradually switches into survival mode as she must protect her four children -- ranging in age from infancy to 16 years old -- as well as her father, who is descending into dementia.

“He lifts his face and she sees the eyes of a man who has not slept and is met with pity for him, for what is known by the telling of the hands, how the man has been trained for the rules of the game but the game has been changed so what now is the man?”

“History is a silent record of people who could not leave, it is a record of those who did not have a choice, you cannot leave when you have nowhere to go and have not the means to go there, you cannot leave when your children cannot get a passport, cannot go when your feet are rooted in the earth and to leave means tearing off your feet.”

Lynch eschews punctuation to build stellar pacing and an immersive style that puts you both in front of and behind enemy lines -- if only you knew who the enemy was from day to day. The shifting perspectives and lengthy sentences drag you along almost against your will, into a foreboding new reality that is exhausting in its relentless tragedy.

“Your father is with you all the time, she says, even while he’s gone, that is the meaning of the dream, your father came home to remind you that he is always here with you because your father is always alive in your heart, he is here with you now with his arm around you, and he will always be here because the love we are given when we are loved as a child is stored forever inside us, and your father has loved you so very much, his love for you cannot be taken away nor erased, please don’t ask me to explain this, you just need to believe it is true because it is so, it is a law of the human heart.”

While some have taken issue with Lynch's stylistic approach and have alleged that the conclusion feels forced, I found both choices added to the novel's pervasive sense of anxiety, paranoia, and terror. "Prophet Song" is relentless, as bureaucratic entanglements and the profiteers lurking around every corner make family, society, and state less and less recognizable as the descent quickens.

“It is the body that breathes the mind, this is what she thinks, it is the heart that beats the man until the man is beaten and she finds herself reaching out for his hand, whispering, I never wanted you to be anybody else.”

The end result is a stunning achievement, managing to combine both sublime prose with essential reading.

“She looks for Molly’s eyes and cannot find the right words, there are no words now for what she wants to say and she looks towards the sky seeing only darkness knowing she has been at one with this darkness and that to stay would be to remain in this dark when she wants for them to live, and she touches her son’s head and she takes Molly’s hands and squeezes them as though saying she will never let go, and she says, to the sea, we must go to the sea, the sea is life.”

Day 1,604, Quasi-Quarantine: Quaint New Bern Was Almost Impossibly Endearing

 
A recent trip to a film festival led me to discover New Bern, North Carolina, way later than I should have.

Cobblestone streets, early-20th-century architecture, backyard bluegrass wafting on a twilight breeze ...

And bears.

Many painted bears.

The second-oldest town in North Carolina (!), New Bern was founded by settlers from Bern, Switzerland. Apparently, Bern is "the old Germanic word" for bear, so -- naturally -- the animal become the symbol of New Bern.

Alas, my stay was short, but I couldn't resist one last picture of the Neuse River (the longest river in North Carolina and the widest river in America at its mouth!) before a very-early-morning departure.

I'll definitely be back to do some further exploring ...

Day 1,602, Quasi-Quarantine: Multitasking At The Marriott

 

A recent travel opportunity landed me in New Bern, where I somehow found myself doing all of the following:

• Creating a social media presence for a local film festival
• Preparing remarks as a member of a board of directors
• Providing notes on a screenplay
• Starting a new book
• Enjoying an oat soda

Two of those things aren't exactly out of the ordinary for me, but all five at once along the banks of the Neuse River represented a bit of a departure.

I've had worse days "off."

Stay on that grind, Scooter!