"Bradley Denton - One Day Closer to Death" - читать интересную книгу автора (Denton Bradley)

ONE DAY CLOSER TO DEATH
Eight Stabs at Immorality



Bradley Denton


Contents

Foreword
The Territory
Skidmore
Killing Weeds
Captain Coyote's Last Hunt
The Calvin Coolidge Home for Dead Comedians
We Love Lydia Love
A Conflagration Artist
Blackburn Bakes Cookies
Afterword




Foreword
I'm writing a foreword in order to avoid finishing the new story that will anchor this book. But
since writing a foreword still involves sitting at a keyboard and staring at a blank screen, I'm able to
feel as though I'm doing real work. And as any semiobscure fiction writer will tell you, feeling as
though you're doing real work is the most important part of the job. Especially if what you're really
doing is anything but the job itself.

See, my problem in this case is that the new story is about death. And like any sane person, I'm
scared of death. So I'd rather do this.

But since this is a foreword to a book of my stories, I ought to say something about the stories
themselves. And in looking them over, I've discovered a startling thematic connection:

They're all about death.

This is a revelation that explains a lot.

I mean, jeez, no wonder I write so slowly. It's because every story I try to tell scares the crap
out of me.

I will say this much for myself, though. If the stories in this book are any indication, I am not
morbidly obsessed with or depressed over any one aspect of death. No, in the Dentonian world,
death comes in many forms and flavorsтАФand I'm not happy about any of them.

This reminds me of a wager I once made.