I was thinking the other day I don’t have near enough O. Henry. in fact, I don’t have any. Time to fix that. Why not start with one of his best stories, the Ransom of Red Chief. The story first appeared in the July 6, 1907 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. It has been…
But there was no stopping Brother Jerry when he set his mind to something. He could hear his people as they started singing down below. First, just the soft whisper of a tune; but then, as more people joined in, it was almost like a church choir. It was time for a song … I…
With special guest star, Chemise Lacoste. Also, special guest appearances by Ted Handsome and Fletch… My last acid trip: it wasn’t good. In fact, it was a total disaster. California sober, my ass. I had just come from the Grateful Dead concert and was having so much fun I wasn’t ready to come down yet.…
I’ve already begun planning my next dream vacation, and it’s all because of just one little-ole oatmeal raisin cookie. Let me explain. To begin with, there was nothing little about that cookie. It was a big cookie, a Big Fat oatmeal raisin cookie. As big as the moon! I didn’t even know I like oatmeal…
Who here hasn’t ever had to confront the loud neighbor? In my day, I was exactly that neighbor. Then I discovered the Grateful Dead. There goes the neighborhood… “Hey,” said the man to his neighbor. “Just two songs. real quick. I promise.” “Sure,” she said. No problem. Just two songs” At 4am she was pounding…
2BR02B by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. was originally published in the digest magazine If: Worlds of Science Fiction in January 1962. Everything was perfectly swell. There were no prisons, no slums, no insane asylums, no cripples, no poverty, no wars. All diseases were conquered. So was old age. Death, barring accidents, was an adventure for volunteers. The…
by Sentimentally Philly… About every twenty years or so I find myself cruising by the little three-bedroom house where I grew up. The idea is that all those wonderful memories will come rushing through like some time machine, transporting me to the glory days of my youth. It never quite pans out that way though,…
Ted Bundy was a rock star. He’s the only serial killer ever to escape prison; and he did it not just once, but twice. He’s also the only serial killer brave enough to wear a bowtie in public. Imagine, Ted Bundy free after all these years… They let Ted Bundy out of jail the other…
by Roberto Dinero… Hi. My name is Roberto Dinero, and I’m from the LA. East LA. The mean streets, where it all goes down. Shit. Okay, so you know who I really am. What gave it away? But that’s not the point. Everybody has the right to use a pseudonym. If Martin Lieber gets to…
THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren’t only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and…
by Murderously Philly… “Hi, my name is Ted” I say to everybody, “and I’m a serial killer.” “Hi, Ted,” says everybody. Everybody always says Hi. Welcome to Serial Killers Anonymous, a twelve-step program for rippers, rapers, stabbers, stranglers, axe murderers, chainsaw enthusiasts, and just about every type person who ever murdered over and over again,…
Nobody burst onto the scene more explosively than Chuck Palahniuk back in 1996 with his breakthrough novel, Fight Club. And the 1999 movie directed by David Fincher wasn’t too shabby, either. If you’re one of the few people who hasn’t read Fight Club–or you’re like me and you just can’t get enough–here’s a little taste.…
TIME MAGAZINE asked HUNTER S. THOMPSON, a former copy boy here who went on to an even more exciting career as a gonzo journalist, to report from the set of the movie being made of his 1971 book, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, in which Johnny Depp plays Thompson and the author appears in…
The Euphio Question by Kurt Vonnegut. A short story from “The Monkey House”, (1968) LADIES AND GENTLEMEN of the Federal Communications Commission, I appreciate this opportunity to testify on the subject before you. I’m sorry—or maybe “heartsick” is the word—that news has leaked out about it. But now that word is getting around and coming…
One hot evening in Padua they carried him up onto the roof and he could look out over the top of the town. There were chimney swifts in the sky. After a while it got dark and the searchlights came out. The others went down and took the bottles with them. He and Luz could…
Flashbytes 