New Sloth Story

[Sloth]

Breastroke is finished.

Read and enjoy.

http://www.paxacidus.com/read/breaststroke.html

[martino]

when i first read this story about 6 months ago i thought it was well-written but in the end, not pleasurable to read. i didn't forget about it though; in fact i thought about it almost every time i went swimming, or went to london.

a few weeks ago i saw some movies made by sam peckinpaw and my reaction was the same: highly interesting, but dammit, neither the movie nor any of the characters in it were sympathetic. take as an example "the getaway", which manages to make just about everybody in it (including steve mcqueen -- but with the exception of ali mcgraw), pretty unlikeable.

the other day i read breaststroke again and i think it is something particularly good, in the same way that "the getaway" is particularly good. it shows the meanness of the human spirit and how some people can seem to be without redeeming qualities no matter what god gave them. it also shows a certain poetry both underneath and within all that ugliness. i like it, and i think i won't be able to forget it, as much as i would like to.

[Julien]

Iread it about three weeks ago, and shared it with
friends, who liked it almost as much as me.

Are there many differences between the three weeks
ago version and this version ?

[Sloth]

Its the same goddam version as before Julien. No need to read it again. I put it on the front page because I wrote it a year ago and it reminded me of London.

I haven't been writing lately. Not inspired. I've been working trying to get my new business off the ground and also editing a book of short stories (still).

Whats cool is I found a copy of the first story I ever wrote... from a creative writing class in Paris when I was a teenager. So that may be coming to Pax soon once I finish editing it.

Thanks for the comments Martino. I'm glad you dislike it less than you used to. That is really touching on a cold November morning in the belly of the beast.

My wife comes in three three weeks. Yippee! I wonder how long I'll think like that.

[Sloth]

By the way M, that character that you do not find sympathetic is me. This is as close to autobiography as it gets.

[martino]

obviously you are very likeable ooh -- that's what everybody says -- and i am really, really sorry if what i said reads to you as "ooh is one unlikeable guy". that's the opposite of what i wanted to say.

what i meant to say is that the person portrayed in the story is nasty, negative but fascinating. just like a peckinpaw movie, even though the analogy is not the best.

and that of course is a lot more important and worthy of literature than niceness or pure likeability.

sorry to hurt your feelings.

[Sloth]

No worries I am just being me. My feelings were not hurt. Often in my autobiographical stories I display my mean cynical side because its much more interesting than the friendly side.

[<Jack Chiefton>]

I understand what you're getting at with the Peckinpah comparisons Martino. It makes sense and it fits. Speaking of Peckinpah, he directed the best western to ever make screen, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid( one of the only truly good westerns to conclude). And since James Coburn just died and stars in it, I recommend seeing it. With a soundtrack by Bob Dylan, James Coburn comes off as the most unlikeable character with a stoic resonance imbedded in his eyes and manner. The scene of James Coburn in the cathouse is classic, and so is the scene when Coburn meets Dylan and others in a bar.

[mccutcheon]

there is great tits in Straw Dogs. and Dustin Hoffman isn't bad either. The man is on the bus ya know.