Night was falling, quote by George Saunders

“Night was falling. Birds were singing. Birds were, it occurred to me to say, enacting a frantic celebration of day’s end. They were manifesting as the earth’s bright-colored nerve endings, the sun’s descent urging them into activity, filling them individually with life nectar, the life nectar then being passed into the world, out of each beak, in the form of that bird’s distinctive song, which was, in turn, an accident of beak shape, throat shape, breast configuration, brain chemistry: some birds blessed in voice, others cursed; some squeaking, others rapturous.” 

GEORGE SAUNDERS, “Escape from Spiderhead”

“Escape from Spiderhead” appears in George Saunders‘ collection TENTH OF DECEMBER (Random House, 2013), available at Amazon.com.

Birds: The Earth’s Nerve Endings, quote by George Saunders

“Night was falling. Birds were singing. Birds were, it occurred to me to say, enacting a frantic celebration of day’s end. They were manifesting as the earth’s bright-colored nerve endings, the sun’s descent urging them into activity, filling them individually with life nectar, the life nectar then being passed into the world, out of each beak, in the form of that bird’s distinctive song, which was, in turn, an accident of beak shape, throat shape, breast configuration, brain chemistry: some birds blessed in voice, others cursed; some squeaking, others rapturous.”

GEORGE SAUNDERS, “Escape from Spiderhead”

“Escape from Spiderhead” appears in George Saunders‘ collection TENTH OF DECEMBER (Random House, 2013). Find the book at Amazon.com.

WHAT OTHER WRITERS THINK OF GEORGE SAUNDERS:

“Not since Twain has America produced a satirist this funny.”  Zadie Smith

“George Saunders makes the all-but-impossible look effortless. We’re lucky to have him.” Jonathan Franzen

“An astoundingly tuned voice—graceful, dark, authentic, and funny—telling just the kinds of stories we need to get us through these times.” Thomas Pynchon 

Illustration: “Birds at sunset,” watercolor by Linzy Arnott. Visit Linzy at linzyarnott.com.

Jan. 19th Happy Birthday, Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe, born on January 19, 1809, lived a short, eventful, productive life — leaving this world at just 40 years old. Poet, editor, literary critic, publisher, short story writer, playwright, journalist, essayist — and inventor of the modern detective story — Edgar Allan Poe was one of the all-time great stylists and innovators. And we wish you a happy 204th birthday, Mr. Poe — and a happy afterlife forevermore.

Illustration: Final stanza of “The Raven” in Edgar Allan Poe’s handwriting