#bad prose

[gayseball]

On Baseball

[elucubrare]

"His eyes and his smile increased a trifle" and other sentences that really needed a second pass

[adorablemarie]

Background radiation

I'm checking in on my friends.

Are they all still okay? Are they all still there?

Are they still fighting?

The same ammunition that's been recycled since I discovered the battle. Spent fuel that's never not been dangerous, taking lives by proxy. Keeping people in exile.

They're fighting for their homeland. Where we grew up. They say we can't live here. But we can't leave. We live here now, just like we always have.

I check on my friends, and see how much I can stand. It's painful being out here. Some days are worse than others.

I know the fight is senseless. Sometimes I end up fighting anyway for awhile before I realize it's more damaging to me than anyone else, and most of the people here aren't fighting.

They don't need to. Neither do I.

I check in while I can tolerate the background radiation.

How damaging is it today?

[irrevocable-itinerant]

“Do you think the trees are in love?” She said. Waiting for an answer I could not give, for how could I know? The trees don’t speak to me anymore, not since I was young.

What could I know of love after burning all the olive branches I ever received. Watching this cold world drive families apart, the likes of which I thought invincible. In the shaking of my hands I could not write the word in the dirt with a stick let alone feel it in my heart that I wasn’t entirely sure still resided in my chest.

“No” “why?” ....Because when I was young the trees were wise, and I think they would know better.

[heckofabecca]

FLASHBACK: It was 1943 and the Red Army was invading West Germany. Men were dying like barflies, Nazis and straight allies alike. A stench rose above the battlefield, the stench of so many bodies not decaying yet because they were mostly still alive. Battle had yet to be joined. The Russian commander blew the charge, and his side crashed toward the enemy. A heavy armor platoon sank its teeth into the German lines, chewing up soldiers as if they were fried calamari with dipping sauce. The dipping sauce was blood. D-Day hadn’t happened yet, by the way. It was still 1943. END OF FLASHBACK, AND A NEW CHAPTER STARTS………NOW!

“The Maltese Pelican” by N.S. Dolkart. Bad prose at its finest.

[gayseball]

[elucubrare]

a selection of descriptions of Our Hero

Sam first took in that, then the wild mop of curly hair, cut short in front and long in the back, the way a lot of kids on MTV cut theirs—a dark nylon jacket, with a good shirt underneath, and a soft scarf instead of a tie—dark slacks, not jeans—boots—the first impression was reasonable. But not exactly fitting the image of a corporate recruiter. The face was good; high cheekbones, determined chin, firm mouth, fine bone-structure and curiously vulnerable-looking eyes...

+

Sam noticed that he walked with a limp, one he was at pains to minimize; that he moved otherwise with a cat-like grace at odds with the limp...

+

"We would," Tannim said firmly, nodding so that his unruly mop of dark, curly hair flopped over into one eye, making him look, thin as he was, like a Japanese anime character.

[elucubrare]

“Dad ground his teeth for a couple of seconds. “Okay, look, your mother says that Cleo feeds your unnatural obsession with ancient cultures. You eat, sleep, and breathe ancient Rome and Egypt. That’s all you talk about. You don’t even go to movies, or try out for sports, or—” “I thought you detested sports when you were in high school?” “I did.” Dad’s mouth pressed into a tight white line. “But at least I tried out for football and basket—” “Does my ‘unnatural’ obsession embarrass you? Is that the problem?” Dad propped his elbows on the table and massaged his temples. “No, son. I love you, and I’m proud of you for being a scholar of the ancient world.”

i'm really sorry, all i'm getting from this is that she's equating being a classicist with being gay and it's hilarious

"Now, I don't mind those people reading ancient texts. but they shove it in our faces. they speak Latin in public and talk about how there was no single Homer right out loud."