My Introduction to Mr. Dixon
Received another couple of library books yesterday through delivery. The one I'll mention here is excerpted below (oh, for the squeamish, this excerpt is rated R for Tarrantino-esque violence):
And from there the story progresses in a kind of fugal/contrapuntal fashion through the stories of all of the strangers affected by this action on the part of Mr. Randall. One must say a compelling, if disconcerting, introduction to the prose works of Mr. Dixon--noted here a few days ago for his forthcoming book.
(Oh, and if you want to see some of my fetishistic pickiness--I asked myself in the notes on this passage, "why 'smashed' rather than 'shattered' and why 'pierced and ear lobe' when 'tore off an ear lobe' would be a more accurate accounting? Now the latter we would make out as a humorous understatement, but one does wonder.)
from "14 Stories"
in 14 Stories
Stephen Dixon
Eugene Randall held the gun in front of his mouth and fired. The bullet smashed his upper front teeth, left his head through the back of his jaw, pierce an ear lobe and broke a window that overlooked much of the mid-town area. A chambermaid on the floor said to herself, "What kind of noise is that--that sound like bullet and a window being broke. But maybe it wasn't either."
And from there the story progresses in a kind of fugal/contrapuntal fashion through the stories of all of the strangers affected by this action on the part of Mr. Randall. One must say a compelling, if disconcerting, introduction to the prose works of Mr. Dixon--noted here a few days ago for his forthcoming book.
(Oh, and if you want to see some of my fetishistic pickiness--I asked myself in the notes on this passage, "why 'smashed' rather than 'shattered' and why 'pierced and ear lobe' when 'tore off an ear lobe' would be a more accurate accounting? Now the latter we would make out as a humorous understatement, but one does wonder.)
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