John Dufresne's most recent novel is No Regrets Coyote (W.W. Norton & Company, 2013). He has written four previous novels, including his first novel, Louisiana Power & Light (1994), as well as Love Warps the Mind a Little, (1997), which were both New York Times notable books. His other novels are Deep in the Shade of Paradise (2002) and Requiem, Mass. (2008).
Christmas is a great time for carousing. Men drink homemade brews that are concoctions of sorghum and millet solution, honey and yeast.
Woody looked up and down the car; his head swiveled smoothly left and right in a bit of calculated theater. He’d already chosen a victim for his disarming smile, a nervous woman with two young children, all of them wearing I LOVE NEW YORK polo shirts still creased from the store shelf.
Turning to the screen before Noah flicks it off, I speculate that Norma Shearer must be unable to move in her square-tipped shoes, shrinking under the carapace of her gown, seamed with celluloid diamonds up to the cleavage, fossilized by powder.
Now, sex and pregnancy are no longer separate. Before Baby, you sought out the former with a Mike Tyson vengeance and when in the middle of the former you did your best to avoid the latter.
So, my father went to medical school, and worked as a magician on the side, which I’m sure he’d had an interest in since childhood, and to top off the act, he became a psychiatrist.