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Alan Bray
- 4 days ago
- 4 min
Anything Is Possible
This week, a new one, Elizabeth Strout’s 2017 book Anything Is Possible. Dena recommended Elizabeth Strout to me; I’ve read Olive...
Alan Bray
- Sep 15
- 4 min
Has This Been Foreshadowed?
First, by way of apology, sorry that I didn’t publish a post yesterday as has been my habit for more than two years. Everything is all...
Alan Bray
- Sep 7
- 5 min
The Interpreter of Maladies
This week, a new one, Jhumpa Lahiri’s 1999 short story, The Interpreter of Maladies. It was originally published in Agni magazine and...
Alan Bray
- Aug 31
- 3 min
Aaron Burr Leaves The Building
This week, I’d like to begin with an admission of error—no, I’m not joking. As Baby’s father says to Johnny in Dirty Dancing, “When I’m...
Alan Bray
- Aug 24
- 4 min
Dream A Little Dream Of Me
In Eudora Welty’s First Love, a twelve-year-old boy, Joel Mayes, encounters Aaron Burr and Harman Blennerhassett, two figures, as we saw...
Alan Bray
- Aug 17
- 1 min
The Porous Texture Of Snow
My short story, The Porous Texture of Snow, is a finalist in Narrative Magazine's Spring Story Contest. Many thanks to Tom Jenks and...
Alan Bray
- Aug 17
- 4 min
First Love
This week, a new story, First Love, written by last week’s author, Eudora Welty, and first published in 1942. First Love is classic...
Alan Bray
- Aug 10
- 5 min
Saying It
What can be said about No Place For You, My Love? It is beautifully written, breathtaking. But the story remains enigmatic. Two strangers...
Alan Bray
- Aug 3
- 5 min
We're Not In Kansas Anymore
Last time in our discussion of Eudora Welty’s No Time For You, My Love, I threatened to get into the manner in which Ms. Welty presents...
Alan Bray
- Jul 27
- 4 min
No Place For You, My Love
This week, a new story, No Place For You My Love, by Eudora Welty, originally published in the September 12th, 1952 issue of the New...
Alan Bray
- Jul 20
- 4 min
You Have To Go Back To Go Forward
What we have been shown in William Trevor’s melancholy After Rain is that Harriet, the protagonist, has an epiphany while coming out of...
Alan Bray
- Jul 13
- 5 min
Baby The Rain Must Fall
This week, let’s continue looking at After Rain by William Trevor. During the first scene that shows the protagonist, Harriet, having...
Alan Bray
- Jul 6
- 5 min
After Rain
This week, after two abstract pieces about re-reading and time, let’s return to a writing example, William Trevor’s short story After...
Alan Bray
- Jun 29
- 5 min
Time Remembered
An excellent novel or short story is immersive. The “story-world” becomes the reader’s world; one feels as if one knows the characters,...
Alan Bray
- Jun 22
- 4 min
Re-Read
All reading is re-reading, according to some very savvy folks. This sounds like a paradox, my friends, after all, reading is different...
Alan Bray
- Jun 15
- 4 min
Surprise!
In my exploration of Gilead, the first book of four by Marilynne Robinson, I have attempted to look more at its writerly aspects vs. the...
Alan Bray
- Jun 1
- 5 min
The Prodigal Son
I think it’s fair to say that the central conflict/story in Gilead is within the relationship between Rev. Ames and Jack Boughton....
Alan Bray
- May 18
- 7 min
Please Read The Letter That I Wrote
What is the style of Gilead? I find it harder to analyze Gilead as a piece of fiction because it reads like a convincing memoir and/or...
Alan Bray
- May 4
- 5 min
Gilead
“I told you last night that I might be gone sometime, and you said, Where? And I said, To be with the Good Lord, and you said, Why? and I...
Alan Bray
- Apr 24
- 1 min
Forgotten Melodies
As promised, my short story, Forgotten Melodies, has been published on the Narrative Magazine website as their story of the week. I'm...