clues at the scene

clues at the scene

Sunday, July 17, 2016

Broken Angels

At left, copyright-free image of stone angel hosted on wikicommons as photographed by Roland Geider at the St. Peter and St. Paul cathedral (uncertain which one ... does not appear to be in St. Petersburg).

I'm finding the theme of broken angels - those who would do good but whose natures lead them from that end - to be quite compelling lately.

I'm drawn to the "incidentally bad"  which is to say those who normally do good but in an instance of crisis make the choice that then spirals beyond their control.

I hope your writing is taking you down the darker alleys of the human psyche. I've found my niche in rural noir. I've found my people.

Back to the ink.

I hope your fingers remained stained the darkest black and your fountain pens flow smoothly.

Watch the neighbors. They're not who you think they are.

(waves).

2 comments:

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

Jack, I love this idea of broken angels. I enjoy reading books where the characters aren't always people we can root for.

I'd found this post in the Guardian last year and tweeted it...a nice reading list, I think, although you've likely read them all! https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/may/20/top-10-rural-noir-novels-american-fiction I wonder if you'd come up with a different top 10 list. I enjoy Ron Rash's books in particular, but I may be prejudiced because my dad taught with him in Clemson (and because his setting is somewhat local to me).

jack welling said...

I love Ron Rash's _A World Made Straight_. Awesome that your dad taught with him.

I thought his treatment of the events of the past intruding on adolescents/new adults was wonderful ... Coming from 25 years in Lawrence, KS which was torn apart in Quantril's raid. It resonates still ( New high school is Free State High for example ).

I was always surprised to learn of past turns of character overlooked - or not - in the small town in which I spent my youth. I learned the sheriff had backed the fire truck over a wife beater's legs once and it solved the domestic abuse problem while the sherif and this fellow went deer hunting together in later life. You can't find those stories everywhere.