Your stories often begin with this warm extended hand, an invitation. I always find myself settling in more to my chair, my thoughts quieting. It’s quite lovely. Not knowing where you’ll lead me but a sense that your heart is at the front of it all. And this one doesn’t stray. Gregor and his quiet refusal to conform to this world, leading you further into the landscape (both literally and metaphorically) of truth and stillness. Looking forward to where you both lead me next. 🙏
“The abrupt silence was more deafening than the drone of the engine.”
I always love your critiques, Kimberly. Now I'm gonna do the Substack thing and sell next week's installment....just you wait...oh man...will truth and stillness triumph, stay tuned! ;)
I'm enjoying writing this one, so many themes. And thank you, I am writing with my Heart at the front and I love you saying so :)
The writing grabs me immediately--will say more, but first the quotes: Studies in Pessimism, Myth of Sisyphus if I remember correctly and I know meaning is to come. Jonathan, I am so taken by you, by finding you here--as we've said, neither of us would have found each other without this site--that alone amazes and adds to our literary community, such as it is.
Gregor is built with an understanding of how we write character on the page with defining details. Hurrah and waiting for part 2.
PS: On Camus, I've written much about his work -- some of that on Inner Life if you search around there ... as time allows, but as you say, "being that I haven't much time left" ... That phrase alone kept me reading...
Thank you Veronika, and for your eagle-eyed spying of Rilke's influence on this one.
I was chatting to the wonderful poet and wordsmith @Fotini Masika, about Keat's and Rilke. Where Rilke's letter to Keats goes on to say, "love the questions themselves...Do not now seek the answers...the point is, to live everything...Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer," is something of an influence on this story. :)
Now I'm confused. When Rilke was born, Keats wouldn't have been around to correspond with him... I remember this quote straight from Rilke's famous 'Letters to a Young Poet'.
If you haven't read these letters, you must! They are a rich source of inspiration xx
Oh my goodness, thanks Veronika, I had always (quite absently) assumed those Letters To A Young Poet were to Keats, but of course you're right, how could they be? Ah yes, exposing my ignorant laundry so publicly is character building at least ;)
Innit! This week (and next) you're getting a good old fashioned (not so toward the end...) rollicking page turner :) Boy oh boy The Crow delivers eh! 🤣
He he, this Substack is overpowering my resistance to this "marketing" baloney.
Anyhow, I don't know why Fotini, but I kinda guess you'd sympathise with Gregor's appraoch to (ordinary) work...maybe I'm wrong?
You are wrong. Sympathy is a word too mild for the awe and the envy (yes that too) I feel towards George :) The weird thing is that your story came to me after a conversation I had with my husband about that very 'work attitude' just the previous night. And the weird thing is that it feels not weird at all. Am I making any sense?
Yep, it's not weird. Every sane person is thinking about their attitude to an enforced system of labour that demands everything of you and returns nothing but different levels of financial compensation, none of which has anything to do with their value or worth of the work. Especially when most of what we all do is fast adding to the extinction and destruction of the natural world. And that's not even getting close to the psychological of philosophical concerns with work. So yeah, you're making a huge amount of sense. As usual.
Gregor reminds me so forcefully of someone I know who is finding it impossible to find a place in the world simply because of this intense Gregor-like integrity.
This is exceptional stuff - your stories draw the reader in quickly, immersing us in a completely new reality before we know what’s happening. That, my friend, is a gift.
Seriously Eric, thank you. I am trying to write well, but I guess none of us would be "real" writers if we didn't occasionally think, "WTF am I doing!?" So I really appreciate your saying that. Now I just need to actually finish part 2 🤣
“I could never have imagined a friend like Gregor. He saved my life. I only wish I could have done the same for him.”
What a masterful way to start a story, and keep me wondering what is to come. As I always do with your stories, I am already crawling around between sentences, a magnifying glass in one hand and a compass in the other. Deciding when and if I need to chart a new course, or stay right where I am and search a bit deeper. 🧭🕵️♀️
I love that you have ‘penned’ a few clues. For now, I close my eyes, imagine I am pawing through snow wearing a heavy coat of dark grey fur and for a few moments, outside the realm of my own existence ,I am part of the pack. And indeed, it was “paradise”. I knew a Gregor once, he met his fate ,alone, deep in the forest.
My own recommendation ;
The Shimmering Delicacy Of All Things (02/16/2024)
Man it’s a VERY strange January up here. Climate chaos effect is most powerful in the poles and such. When it snows (it’s just got to again) Benny and I are angelling like crazy!
Gregor is a character that resonates with so many people I think, either part of themselves of someone they know. That rebellion and independence mixed with a deep knowledge that something fundamental is wrong...
How will Gregor cope with all the unsolved in his heart? Stay tuned ;)
Just for information reading you this morning inspired me to finish my own very first piece for Substack. I get a lovely sense of community here. Left Facebook in the dust during Covid and never was on Twitter/X which now feels like a moral victory. I’m liking Substack though.
I'm so happy to hear that Ali, thank you for saying so. You know there are so many reasons for writing, and I have plenty, but to hear that you've been inspired to finish something yourself surely adds another reason to the list :)
I've never been one for those other socials really, but my experience here on Substack has been very positive, so welcome friend to the gang.
Can I tempt you with another read? Here's a peculiar little story I quite like:
Your stories often begin with this warm extended hand, an invitation. I always find myself settling in more to my chair, my thoughts quieting. It’s quite lovely. Not knowing where you’ll lead me but a sense that your heart is at the front of it all. And this one doesn’t stray. Gregor and his quiet refusal to conform to this world, leading you further into the landscape (both literally and metaphorically) of truth and stillness. Looking forward to where you both lead me next. 🙏
“The abrupt silence was more deafening than the drone of the engine.”
I always love your critiques, Kimberly. Now I'm gonna do the Substack thing and sell next week's installment....just you wait...oh man...will truth and stillness triumph, stay tuned! ;)
I'm enjoying writing this one, so many themes. And thank you, I am writing with my Heart at the front and I love you saying so :)
Gregors don’t die, they just turn into cockroaches.
Someone should write that one ;)
😄
The writing grabs me immediately--will say more, but first the quotes: Studies in Pessimism, Myth of Sisyphus if I remember correctly and I know meaning is to come. Jonathan, I am so taken by you, by finding you here--as we've said, neither of us would have found each other without this site--that alone amazes and adds to our literary community, such as it is.
Gregor is built with an understanding of how we write character on the page with defining details. Hurrah and waiting for part 2.
PS: On Camus, I've written much about his work -- some of that on Inner Life if you search around there ... as time allows, but as you say, "being that I haven't much time left" ... That phrase alone kept me reading...
Thanks Mary, it's a pleasure having you read and comment. And I'll certainly check out your thoughts on Camus :)
Your intro is incredible! Irresistible…
The opening paragraph of three short sentences cracks your readers heart wide open.
Drawing on Rilke’s reminder of patience and weighing it against a note of urgency is pure sleight of word magic…
and then you take us on a sledge ride to this Wow-factor-ending... can't wait for Part 2
Thank you Veronika, and for your eagle-eyed spying of Rilke's influence on this one.
I was chatting to the wonderful poet and wordsmith @Fotini Masika, about Keat's and Rilke. Where Rilke's letter to Keats goes on to say, "love the questions themselves...Do not now seek the answers...the point is, to live everything...Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer," is something of an influence on this story. :)
Rilke's letter to Keats?!
Now I'm confused. When Rilke was born, Keats wouldn't have been around to correspond with him... I remember this quote straight from Rilke's famous 'Letters to a Young Poet'.
If you haven't read these letters, you must! They are a rich source of inspiration xx
Oh my goodness, thanks Veronika, I had always (quite absently) assumed those Letters To A Young Poet were to Keats, but of course you're right, how could they be? Ah yes, exposing my ignorant laundry so publicly is character building at least ;)
Nothing better than a good old story about wolves and men for these last days of January.
Gripped!
Innit! This week (and next) you're getting a good old fashioned (not so toward the end...) rollicking page turner :) Boy oh boy The Crow delivers eh! 🤣
He he, this Substack is overpowering my resistance to this "marketing" baloney.
Anyhow, I don't know why Fotini, but I kinda guess you'd sympathise with Gregor's appraoch to (ordinary) work...maybe I'm wrong?
You are wrong. Sympathy is a word too mild for the awe and the envy (yes that too) I feel towards George :) The weird thing is that your story came to me after a conversation I had with my husband about that very 'work attitude' just the previous night. And the weird thing is that it feels not weird at all. Am I making any sense?
Yep, it's not weird. Every sane person is thinking about their attitude to an enforced system of labour that demands everything of you and returns nothing but different levels of financial compensation, none of which has anything to do with their value or worth of the work. Especially when most of what we all do is fast adding to the extinction and destruction of the natural world. And that's not even getting close to the psychological of philosophical concerns with work. So yeah, you're making a huge amount of sense. As usual.
Don't tempt me to throw at you another fortune cookie. Not that you need one, you see right through me. As usual.
I see you because I'm transparent myself.
Gregor reminds me so forcefully of someone I know who is finding it impossible to find a place in the world simply because of this intense Gregor-like integrity.
I think there's a Gregor in all of us, but yeah, some of us really lean in. I kinda wish more did.
Hello Gregor. I didn’t want this to end… and luckily it hasn’t, roll on next Friday. Here’s to non conformity and places that are as they should be!
"Here’s to non conformity and places that are as they should be!" Gregor couldn't have said better himself :)
Wonderful writing Jonathan. I hear my marketing background enmeshed here. Love it! How you realise your points and argument. Touché!
Ha ha thanks Síodhna. Maybe we should start an Agency, Barefoot Rage, Tell your story like it REALLY is! He he
This is exceptional stuff - your stories draw the reader in quickly, immersing us in a completely new reality before we know what’s happening. That, my friend, is a gift.
Looking forward to part 2.
Seriously Eric, thank you. I am trying to write well, but I guess none of us would be "real" writers if we didn't occasionally think, "WTF am I doing!?" So I really appreciate your saying that. Now I just need to actually finish part 2 🤣
“I could never have imagined a friend like Gregor. He saved my life. I only wish I could have done the same for him.”
What a masterful way to start a story, and keep me wondering what is to come. As I always do with your stories, I am already crawling around between sentences, a magnifying glass in one hand and a compass in the other. Deciding when and if I need to chart a new course, or stay right where I am and search a bit deeper. 🧭🕵️♀️
I love that you have ‘penned’ a few clues. For now, I close my eyes, imagine I am pawing through snow wearing a heavy coat of dark grey fur and for a few moments, outside the realm of my own existence ,I am part of the pack. And indeed, it was “paradise”. I knew a Gregor once, he met his fate ,alone, deep in the forest.
My own recommendation ;
The Shimmering Delicacy Of All Things (02/16/2024)
That image of crawling between sentences with a magnifying glass is utterly wonderful. I hope I can deliver something worth finding...
Thanks Lor, you made my day :)
Now off with you- there must be snow by now❄️🏆🐾
Man it’s a VERY strange January up here. Climate chaos effect is most powerful in the poles and such. When it snows (it’s just got to again) Benny and I are angelling like crazy!
"I could never have imagined a friend like Gregor. He saved my life. I only wish I could have done the same for him."
Those first lines are all the enticement I needed to read on...
Gregor reminds me of someone too close to mention, too non-conformist, too antiestablishment, too wild-in-the-country!
I fear for the end of this story but cannot wait either... do I read a grain of truth within these words Jonathan?
There's a grain of truth in all words I reckon ;)
Gregor is a character that resonates with so many people I think, either part of themselves of someone they know. That rebellion and independence mixed with a deep knowledge that something fundamental is wrong...
How will Gregor cope with all the unsolved in his heart? Stay tuned ;)
Loved this! Is Gregor partly real? Bet him and Hayduke from Monkey Wrench gang would cause much mischief.
Thanks man, I had no idea about the Monkey Wrench Gang, but now I do I'm going to seek it out. Sounds right up my street :)
And yes...stay tuned for the oncoming mischief...
Fantastic story, Jonathan. I await the second installment with anticipation.
To us all being patient with all that is unsolved in our hearts 🥂
Thanks, and love your comment Holly. Hold still, patience, patience... :)
My morning read. Slow start but characters develop and intrigue. I am deep in snow, parka’s zipped ready to be one with wolves.
Those wolves :) The chaos and hullabaloo of the human idiocy slowly dissipates as the wolves bring regal silence...
Cliffhanger. 😊
Just for information reading you this morning inspired me to finish my own very first piece for Substack. I get a lovely sense of community here. Left Facebook in the dust during Covid and never was on Twitter/X which now feels like a moral victory. I’m liking Substack though.
I'm so happy to hear that Ali, thank you for saying so. You know there are so many reasons for writing, and I have plenty, but to hear that you've been inspired to finish something yourself surely adds another reason to the list :)
I've never been one for those other socials really, but my experience here on Substack has been very positive, so welcome friend to the gang.
Can I tempt you with another read? Here's a peculiar little story I quite like:
https://jonathanfostersthecrow.substack.com/p/skimming-along-the-fragile-surface
He he that made me laugh, nice Ali, nice
😊
I recommend A Love Letter A Prayer. It is indeed both and a tribute. It's the one which hooked me.
Can't wait for part II 🌻
Thanks for recommending rena, that's so kind :)
I'm looking forward to part 2 too ;)