Confession of a Coward by Charles Bukowski

Confession of a Coward by Charles Bukowski

God, she thought lying in bed naked and re-reading Aldington’s Portrait of a Genius, But… he’s an impostor! Not D.H. Lawrence, but her husband-Henry-with his bauble of a belly and all the hair he never combed and the way he stood around in his shorts, and the way he stood naked before the window like…

MAD Magazine Issue 1 - Oct. 1952

MAD Magazine Issue 1 – Oct. 1952

If you like MAD like we like MAD, then come take a stroll down memory lane with MAD Magazine Issue 1 – Oct. 1952 Enter Here – If you dare… Come check out a whole mess of great Mad Magazine publications at Amazon.com. See more MAD Magazine right here on Flashbytes…   Founded by publisher…

Someone Tell Me What Is Going On by Clive La Pensée

Someone Tell Me What Is Going On by Clive La Pensée

Excerpt… We stopped mid-afternoon for tea and cakes. Vera was very vacant and morose. She was working something through. I decided it wasn’t the moment to disturb her meditations. The cream tea was magic. Perhaps now she can be cheered up? ‘I feel sorry for blokes with beards and mustaches,’ I started. ‘I’ve nothing against…

Sugar

by Richard Hoffman… “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” The fat man is yelling at a large red Mercury backing toward the boy who’s standing frozen with the shopping cart. The windows on the Mercury are down, and the music is loud. The car is shining; even the tailpipes are polished. It stops, rocking; the driver has slammed…

Now It Can Be Told by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Now It Can Be Told by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. – a Kilgore Trout story… The premise of the book was this: Life was an experiment by the Creator of the Universe, Who wanted to test a new sort of creature He was thinking of introducing into the Universe. It was a creature with the ability…

Apolitics Now

by Pachydermy Philly… “Billingham Bokstock was born with an elephant’s head. A real, live elephant’s head. Not only was he the first ever trunk-swinging, tusk-bearing, floppy-eared candidate to run for president of the United States, he was twelve feet tall. The first time he walked into a press conference, his head went crashing into the…

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

The Metamorphosis is a novella by Franz Kafka about a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, who wakes up one morning to find himself inexplicably transformed into a giant, monstrous insect. The story explores themes of alienation, absurdity, and the burden of family, as Gregor’s family recoils from his new form, and he becomes a source of…

John Irving

Interview with John Irving

The following is an interview with bestselling author John Irving (The World According to Garp, The Cider House Rules, The Hotel New Hampshire), titled John Irving, The Art of Fiction No. 93, from the Paris Review. John Irving was interviewed in the cramped back room of his otherwise large and luxurious apartment in Manhattan. A…