—ALL OF MY CLOSEST FRIENDS ARE WORDS 

 

…That’s (above) the proof for my new book, number 5. 

What, what?

I spent all week combing through it. What’s amazing is that I’ve already edited the manuscript multiple times, as has the publisher, but in book form all the mistakes and typos pop off the page and, sadly, there were plenty of them.

The good news is they’ve been caught and soon (maybe a couple of months) this new baby will be out in the world.

 

…I was thrilled to have this story (below) recently published, in one of the very most revered, and one of the first, online magazines.

 

https://www.unlikelystories.org/content/fragile-like-a-bomb?fbclid=IwAR3hwfru4_P2uKFRBcL4CUN_lOkEuiuZ2M6cXe5Fu295B-b20MCgw7pBTmY

 

The story came about when I was on social media and saw a writer friend who’d just got “Fragile Like A Bomb” tattooed on her chest, and for whatever reason, it sparked something and I wrote the above piece in roughly five minutes, maybe less. 

For me, that’s usually the way my best writing comes—vomited out in a frenetic gush. 

The feedback I received about it was really nice and kind and surprising, considering that it’s such a tough piece…

 

--Hauntingly good.

--Powerful stuff, Len. The images, wow.

--Damn! The one-sentence structure really ratchets up the tension in this piece. Another stunner, Len.

--Wonderful!

--Powerful!

--Wow, Len, what a story!

--well done

--Wow - “clicking like teeth” (had this image front and center throughout the piece, and after; so visceral!)

--LOVE THIS, Len! Powerhouse! A fierce one-sentence killer

--Another excellent piece, Len.

--Wow

--So good!

--So powerful. Love that last sentence.

--Len, an amazing piece Fascinating multi-layered piece that doesn’t take sides. I love that, and it. 

--"Because the fuse inside you has been lit.”—wonderful piece

--WOW!!!!!!!!! 

--Excellent!

 

…On Wednesday here, I shared my favorite excerpts from 100 Boyfriends. The book is slim, and on the surface, basically about a guy who is a sex addict and has sex in every place imaginable, in every manner imaginable. That would sound gratuitous and hackneyed, but, underneath the rampant and raw sex-capades, there is a massive amount of pathos, self-loathing, reflection, turmoil, and confession. 

It’s my most marked-up book ever, which is really saying something.

Here, then, are the second excerpts…

  

--Q: Where do hippies fuck, and how is it?

--A: IN TENTS MAN, INTENSE!

 

--The moon had put a soul filter on everything.

 

--There’s the voice that asks, “Am I really choosing to be this person?”

 

--It was the blocking that killed or illuminated the expression, the business of what to do with the hands or feet when trying to convince others that you are someone else, movement always being the pure indicator of how truthful one was being.

 

--My only desire is to be desired.

 

--“I just wait to be wanted. It’s killing me, Doctor.”

 

--“The problem with you..” is a fucking horrible way to start a sentence.

 

--I understand that life, by design, is a competition.

 

--I knew at my core that he was waiting to unzip his face.

 

--I’m blindsided by how abruptly it all happened, how fast he left his phone off the hook.

 

--Everybody is left with the ghost of somebody else, aren’t they?

 

--Knowing is always half the battle.

 

--I don’t care for a journey. I’m making a map that says YOU ARE HERE.

 

--I knew it was a total fucking lie, but it was still sweet to hear.

 

--Drama is more dramatic when you’re drunk.

 

--“Sober fun” was damn near an oxymoron.

 

--He thought about how some love burns itself up and some love freezes itself to death.    

 

--Droughts were personal and factual.

 

--He remembered that his body still had one valuable gift: it was available.

 

--He settled for the small things in life, like how caller ID was as close to telepathy as he was ever going to get.

 

--I was afraid that if I kept that light on in my brain all I would notice is that I’m mostly triggered all, or most of the time.

 

--When someone like me is hyper in tune with their trigger light, it’s tantamount to a gazelle in the Serengeti—the feeling that something is always coming to eat you.

 

--I am reminded that my job as an older brother will never be done.

 

--My life was all flashbacks that never materialized. I was too young to realize how this feeling would stain me permanently.

 

--Abandoned building are like abandoned people—they die sooner.

 

--As the saying goes: He’s so gay, Hellen Keller could tell.

 

--My inner compass was at a very loud volume.