New Short Story by Grasshopper

[E.J.]

It's Called "In the Blink of an Eye"

[blue]

:sniffles: Yup, it must be allergies. Uh-huh. :sniffle:

It's a sweet story, but you might sniffle a little bit, another short story in which two boys pass from childhood friends to go their way in life before finding each other again as grown men, and then leading happy lives together.

This one has a metaphor running throughout too, nicely done.

[Tragic Rabbit]

This one has a metaphor running throughout too

Metaphors running loose, huh? Oh, well, I might read it anyway. :p

Kisses...

TR

[Tragic Rabbit]

I dunno about loose metaphors but, dayum, that was a sad and sweet story. Made me cry in several places. Great job.

:sad11:

TR

[The Pecman]

You know, I was gonna say it was corny and a little bit "wandering" in terms of structure, but I thought the ending was very sweet and charming.

And, yeah, even I got a tear in my eye. (I'm getting over a cold, so shaddup!).

[Tragic Rabbit]

Well, yes, a tad corny. More of a feelgood story than anything, Cinderella in the Little Woods.

I haven't read much by Grasshopper. Is the brevity and, well, sort of sparse form the norm for his stories? I liked it and it did make me cry but it was a bit more like a detailed synopsis than a whole story. It was very sweet, truly, I'm just curious.

It seemed to move fast and the point be to have that, admittedly corny, happy ending despite death. The blink of an eye is the title, so maybe the speed and sparseness were specific to this story, a sort of LD view of a life and a love. Are they?

Kisses...

TR

[blue]

The brief or sparse form is more common to his short story work, but this was more so than usual for him. His work in general, and his longer work especially, have a little more room to flesh out descriptions and dialogue. His overall style tends to go for the emotions. I'm not entirely unbiased. I'll admit that I'm a fan. I get the feeling he's trying to expand his stylistic skills. I think he's restless, too, based on his most recent pieces, other than two recent chapters of JHS.

[Tragic Rabbit]

Hmm. Okay, some of youse major fans, can ya recommend one or two titles of short works that are more representative of Grasshopper?

Danke.

TR

[blue]

Grasshopper's stories are listed at:

http://iomfats.org/storyshelf/hosted/grasshopper/

Scroll to the Stand-Alone Short Stories. Each of them are representative of his short story style.

The other major headings give his long-form stories.

His primary contribution is Just Hit Send. I've mentioned it, oh, once or twice. ;) That shows his take on things the best, I think. It's about healing as well as about special-needs or at-risk people.

He wrote Beyond The Rain prior to one hurricane season, and Promises to Keep in response (or maybe rebuttal) to Brokeback Mountain.

Overall, his stories involve nurturing and family groups, and often involve characters who are coming out or delay coming out.

How's that for a summary?

[carolinascribbler]

Two thumbs up! :)

And yeah, have a tissue handy.