On Love and Marriage

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Nicholas Sparks was on NPR yesterday, explaining why his novels were always about love.

I couldn't help remembering an incident, years ago, in a Jiffy Lube waiting room. I was in limbo while my car's oil was refilled with no available diversion save for a few tattered copies of People, some car magazines, and a coffee machine with a carafe of stale caffeine.

There was one other occupant of the room. He was an ordinary little fellow, rather older than me. We introduced ourselves. He started talking about his late wife. How they met, how soon they married, what they meant to each other. What her virtues were. He didn't elevate her to the status of Saint Wife. But it was clear how much they loved one another. And, listening to him, I could tell that it was the love they'd had which made her death bearable to him.

You could pass this man on the street and think nothing of him. If you knew he was a widower, you might well pity him. But, hearing his story, I realized he was one of the blessed of God. He had married the exact right woman for him, and as a result his life was rich and good. Even in her absence, he had her memory.

When he was done, he apologized for boring me. Then he left.

I think of this man from time to time and what an enviable life he had.

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AUTUMN DREAMS (Part 23 of 31)

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Above: Every autumn, I create a Halloween story, write it out on leaves (one word per leaf), photograph the leaves, and then abandon them where I found them. The story is then serialized here, starting on October 1 and concluding on the 31st--All Souls Day.

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AUTUMN DREAMS (Part 22 of 31)

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Above: Every autumn, I create a Halloween story, write it out on leaves (one word per leaf), photograph the leaves, and then abandon them where I found them. The story is then serialized here, starting on October 1 and concluding on the 31st--All Souls Day.

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AUTUMN DREAMS (Part 21 of 31)

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Above: Every autumn, I create a Halloween story, write it out on leaves (one word per leaf), photograph the leaves, and then abandon them where I found them. The story is then serialized here, starting on October 1 and concluding on the 31st--All Souls Day.

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AUTUMN DREAMS (Part 20 of 31)

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Above: Every autumn, I create a Halloween story, write it out on leaves (one word per leaf), photograph the leaves, and then abandon them where I found them. The story is then serialized here, starting on October 1 and concluding on the 31st--All Souls Day.

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AUTUMN DREAMS (Part 19 of 31)

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Above: Every autumn, I create a Halloween story, write it out on leaves (one word per leaf), photograph the leaves, and then abandon them where I found them. The story is then serialized here, starting on October 1 and concluding on the 31st--All Souls Day.

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AUTUMN DREAMS (Part 18 of 31)

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Above: Every autumn, I create a Halloween story, write it out on leaves (one word per leaf), photograph the leaves, and then abandon them where I found them. The story is then serialized here, starting on October 1 and concluding on the 31st--All Souls Day.

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AUTUMN DREAMS (Part 17 of 31)

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Above: Every autumn, I create a Halloween story, write it out on leaves (one word per leaf), photograph the leaves, and then abandon them where I found them. The story is then serialized here, starting on October 1 and concluding on the 31st--All Souls Day.

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AUTUMN DREAMS (Part 16 of 31)

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Above: Every autumn, I create a Halloween story, write it out on leaves (one word per leaf), photograph the leaves, and then abandon them where I found them. The story is then serialized here, starting on October 1 and concluding on the 31st--All Souls Day.

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THE UNIVERSE BOX Just Got A Starred Review in Publishers Weekly!

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I just got a starred review (this is good) from Publishers Weekly. It's the kind of review that every single writer in existence either secretly or overtly believes they deserve. So, rather than synopsize it and sound like I'm full of myself, I'll just post the whole thing below:

The Universe Box

Michael Swanwick. Tachyon, $18.95 trade paper (304p) ISBN 978-1-61-696450-4

Five-time Hugo Award winner Swanwick (Stations of the Tide) swirls together myth and science in this wildly inventive collection. A frequent theme is the interaction of humanity and technology, which is probed poignantly in the bittersweet “Artificial People,” narrated by a newly sentient robot who falls for one of the scientists on her team, and “The White Leopard,” about a man who is able to see through the eyes of his leopard-shaped military drone. In “Requiem for a White Rabbit,” animatronic escapees flee a life of misery in an amusement park. The epistolary “Timothy: An Oral History” imagines the consequences of a scientist in an all-female society engineering a male child in a lab. Swanwick’s wry humor comes through in “The Warm Equations,” a space exploration story helmed by the arrogant Dr. Osborne, and in “The Star-Bear,” about a Russian émigré poet who meets a bizarre celestial being. All of Swanwick’s stories awaken insights into the mystery of being human in an increasingly mind-bending technological world. This is an author at the height of his powers. (Feb.)

And now that that's over and done with, it's back to work for me. I'm currently wrestling with a story that wants to be dull and predictable. I, however, want it to be exciting and surprising. One of us is going to win this argument if it takes all month--and it's not going to be the story.

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AUTUMN DREAMS (Part 15 of 31)

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Above: Every autumn, I create a Halloween story, write it out on leaves (one word per leaf), photograph the leaves, and then abandon them where I found them. The story is then serialized here, starting on October 1 and concluding on the 31st--All Souls Day.

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AUTUMN DREAMS (Part 14 of 31)

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Above: Every autumn, I create a Halloween story, write it out on leaves (one word per leaf), photograph the leaves, and then abandon them where I found them. The story is then serialized here, starting on October 1 and concluding on the 31st--All Souls Day.

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AUTUMN DREAMS (Part 13 of 31)

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Above: Every autumn, I create a Halloween story, write it out on leaves (one word per leaf), photograph the leaves, and then abandon them where I found them. The story is then serialized here, starting on October 1 and concluding on the 31st--All Souls Day.

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AUTUMN DREAMS (Part 12 of 31)

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Above: Every autumn, I create a Halloween story, write it out on leaves (one word per leaf), photograph the leaves, and then abandon them where I found them. The story is then serialized here, starting on October 1 and concluding on the 31st--All Souls Day.

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