Posts by David Benjamin
The name game
by David Benjamin “There are women named Faith, Hope, Joy, and Prudence. Why not Despair, Guilt, Rage, and Grief? It seems only right. ‘Tom, I’d like you to meet the girl of my dreams, Tragedy.’ These days, Trajedi.” ―George Carlin MADISON, Wis.—When I was in fourth grade, drafting my first novel, I dedicated a fat……
Read MoreThe devil you know
by David Benjamin “How low can you go?” —Chubby Checker WASHINGTON D.C.—Smedley, who has been my undercover informant in the nation’s capital since Nancy Reagan’s astrologer, is nervous now because he has, somewhat reluctantly, come in from the cold. He has an actual salaried job in the second reich of Donald Trump and even an…
Read MoreThe element of no surprise
by David Benjamin “Keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland. You will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western bad men, western good men,…
Read MoreThe dialog paradox
by David Benjamin MADISON, Wis.—At age eight, in my first stab at storytelling, I was drawn—perhaps almost instinctively—to dialog. My two protagonists, twin toddlers named Stanley and Peggy, spoke volubly to each other in a cute, infantile dialect, rendered phonetically, in which they turned each letter “L” into a “W”. In high school, my love……
Read MoreGoofing past the graveyard
by David Benjamin “No more ashes, no more sackcloth, and an armband made of black cloth Will someday never more adorn a sleeve, For if the Bomb that drops on you gets your friends and neighbors, too. There’ll be nobody left behind to grieve, And we will all go together when we go … ”…
Read MoreTurning points and detours
by David Benjamin MADISON, Wis.—My current “new” project is a novel called Upstairs, the sixth in a series of smalltown crime novels featuring police chief Jim Otis. I’m fifteen chapters deep in a story that, according to my plan, tops out at thirty chapters. Of course, I don’t believe that latter number for a minute,……
Read MoreThe Windrip Prophecy
by David Benjamin “An honest propagandist for any Cause, that is, one who honestly studies and figures out the most effective way of putting over his Message, will learn fairly early that it is not fair to ordinary folks—it just confuses them—to try to make them swallow all the true facts that would be suitable…
Read More“You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve?”
by David Benjamin “I want you all to get up out of your chairs, I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, stick your head out and yell, ‘I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take this anymore!’” —Howard Beale (Peter Finch), Network, 1976 MADISON, Wis.—Everybody recognizes…
Read MoreThe Dr. Seuss effect
by David Benjamin “On the fifteenth of May, in the jungle of Nool, In the heart of the day, in the cool of the pool, He was splashing … enjoying the jungle’s great joys … When Horton the elephant heard a small noise … ” ―Dr. Seuss, Horton Hears a Who MADISON, Wis.—I’ve always believed—and……
Read MoreMean girls, then and now
by David Benjamin “The dogs were tearing at the girls’ bodies. Irma [Grese] came closer to observe what they were doing. Her eyes were bloodshot. The sight of the blood seemed to intoxicate her. She panted. She was sexually excited—everybody could see that. We stood in a trance, as at a gladiatorial combat.” —Gisella Perl,…
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