Wednesday 5/8/24
I know how much we're all enjoying the work of some masters of fiction lately, so I thought we'd take a look at the beginning of a story by one of these very talented people. Get to delight in another example of a master being masterful. Because these are the best writers. This is amazing stuff. These people couldn't possibly be making it so that there's no modern fiction worth reading. No way.
First sentences are important, right? We've talked about first sentences before. Some from honest to goodness masters, and some by lowly me. Makes sense that they're important, don't you think? A first sentence can get a hold of you. It can tell you that this is really worth your time and energy. It can do the opposite. Tell you all you need to know so that you won't waste your time or energy. You think those are important things, don't you? Your time and energy, that is. Beginnings of stories are important. Every single part of a story, really, is of the utmost importance. Everything has to be a certain way, so that everything may also go together for maximum value and impact.
You have to be grateful that we're lucky enough to have so many masters of fiction out there. Thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of masters. Think about that. That so many people can be so amazing at one thing is just awesome. That we have them to add so much to our lives, to our communities, to society, to culture, the world. What blessings these masters are.
Halimah Marcus is a fiction master. Is she unstable? Is she a bigot? The answers to those questions aren't relevant right now. Did she tell her intern at Electric Literature who became the fiction editor (as a vaunted master in training) at Indiana Review to publish one of her stories at Indiana Review? Again, the answer to that question isn't germane right now. We'll provide all of those answers later. I'm sure they'll be, "No," another "no," and a third "no." Well, maybe I'm not totally sure. Actually...but wait. My bad. Not pertinent to right now.
Would you like to enjoy the start of one of this fiction master's stories? Are you hoping really hard that within virtually no time at all in the story that we'll get talk about writing? A short story with writing talk in it! Because what is more indicative of the outstanding imagination of a fiction master than when they write a story that's about writing person things? Tough to beat.
Imagine trying to compete with this? It's the beginning of "The Party Goers"--which is about going to a literary party; whoa, so surprising!--from The Southampton Review.
I was back up against the wall, trying to look like I belonged, when Julian Gould walked in. I’d heard stories of his own parties, late night and lawless, where he made people feel, with his disregard for tomorrow, like the hard work they were doing was not only serious and worthwhile but that it had desserts. We’d met once before—our introduction so brief I doubted he’d remember. I watched him notice me.
Within ten minutes he was handing me a drink. He wanted to know everything, where I came from, where I worked, why he hadn’t seen me before. I didn’t correct him. He asked my opinion of each writer in the room and either changed the subject or passed on my compliments when that writer, who had inevitably been published in Julian’s magazine, came to greet him. He introduced me as “a promising young editor” even though I was only an assistant.
Masterful, right? What else can you say? People like this enjoy saying "Brava!" but I think I'll just stick with masterful. Simply masterful. If ever we needed proof that here was a master, what better proof could we be offered? Could you do that? Imagine how much ability that took. How long such a person must have worked to master that singular ability. Obviously anyone would thrill to reading it. Go ahead, read the rest--you deserve the full delight of that masterful fiction undertaking.
Are you surprised in the least that that story was cited in the honorable mention section of the 2022 edition of Best American Short Stories? Of course you aren't!
I mean, seriously--has anything in your week got you up on this high that you're on now? Don't you want more by such a master? Don't be upset that this master hates me. We must put our petty personal feelings aside when what we are getting is so mind-blowing. Could you ever do anything this good? I'm not trying to be rude, but what are you a master of? I'm supposed to think I couldn't write anything at this level, so believe me, I'm sympathetic. It does look pretty hard to do, doesn't it? The first clause gives us that "back against the wall" cliche. Think about that. Halimah Marcus is such a master that it didn't even take her four clauses, three, two, before she worked in a cliche. All she needed was the one. Wow.
Damn. Skill. Brilliance. Genius. Right? And everyone in the room at the party is a writer! Now that's the stuff. Don't you think that people who aren't writers totally want to read about a room full of writers at a party? OMG, this just occurred to me: It's probably a room full of masters. Um...mind blown. Yeah. Obviously.
Do you know how much imagination it takes if you're a writer, who is a master fiction writer, who has been an editor, to write a story about writers and editors? It's off the charts, right? You see why we are not using that term "master" lightly. It's totally legitimate.
There's plainly a lot of awesomeness here, so we're just getting started with Halimah Marcus matters.
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