An interesting structure (gimmick? excuse?) for short fiction and essays

September 6, 2001 12:58 PM

An interesting structure (gimmick? excuse?) for short fiction and essays -- The current topic is Aluminum -- "The roll of Alcoa is in the kitchen, in the drawer by the sink. Go get it. Now. Cover your head entirely, using all of the roll just to be safe. Be sure it's loose enough so you can breathe. Leave a tiny slit to see through, about as wide as a line of type on your computer monitor. Lean your head forward, close to the CRT, so you can read these words, a line at a time. Are you ready? Good. Now let's talk about the dangers of exposure to computer monitors. "
posted by fpatrick (4 comments total)

Its too bad. I came across this website (thru usr/bin/girl) a couple of months ago when the guy was just starting. The first couple of stories were very good, but they seem to have gotten progressively worse.

Beryllium is my personal favorite, but the Nitrogen story comes across like he wasn't trying, and I know he ripped off the Magnesium story from some other science-fiction story that I read as a kid. Can anyone confirm this?
posted by thewittyname at 1:29 PM on September 6, 2001

I don't know if Magnesium is something I read as a kid, but it does sound a little like The Last Starfighter.
posted by eyeballkid at 2:40 PM on September 6, 2001

It also sounds like Ender's Game.
posted by stoneegg21 at 4:47 PM on September 6, 2001

I prefer Reynold's Wrap® Aluminum Foil, it's the 'good food wrap'... just ask Pat and Betty

[or ask my father who worked there forty years]
posted by hotdoughnutsnow at 7:12 PM on September 6, 2001