Amazing imagery from Jack Ketchum--He can phrase something so skillfully that I have to stop and laugh, or reread, or shiver.


1. Cowboys around a fire, pondering an unpleasant reality, from the story "Luck":

They passed the bottle and moments passed silent and sullen as kicked dogs...

2. This is my long dark night of the soul?, from the story "Chain Letter":

His Gethsemane bored him.

3. Your significant other leaves again, and this time, you realize, is the last time, from the story "The Exit at Toledo Blade Boulevard":

The empty hangers in the big walk-in closet seemed ridiculous, poverty awaiting an abundance that would never occur again.

I raise my coffee cup in salute, Jack. Bravo, and thank you.