That and end times.
Which is to say that LitReactor let me talk about these books and you may read that here. You may also excerpt below. Cool? Indeed.
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"Can't we just get some peace?
"And look, there is a lot more than this sentiment going on in the superlative short story collections Deadheading by Beth Gilstrap, The Cult in My Garage by Duncan Birmingham and JERKS by Sara Lippmann, but I keep coming back to it anyway.
"I know how loaded this comment is. I could be talking about anything. COVID, for most of us certainly, and the way it continues to envelope and warp every conversation, event, hope and possibility. But it doesn't have to be COVID or COVID alone. There are so many challenges right now. Well, it feels like there are, and does anyone really want to dispute that?
- Surges in crime and violence in cities across America.
- The Texas and Mississippi abortion laws.
- School shootings.
- Evictions.
- Homelessness.
- Endless racism, misogyny and homo/trans- phobia.
- So many refugees in so many places with such little support.
- Derechos and tornadoes and climate influenced weather patterns.
"This now sounds like a rant.
"And it is.
"It also sounds like an annoyingly random, not very thoughtful surface-level laundry list of shit I read about in the paper this morning.
"It is.
"However, we're approaching the end of a year, and possible the end times, and there's so much suck. Big suck. Lots of suck. Social issues, climate shit, too many guns, world-wide terrors of all kinds. I'm not here to make anyone feel any better either. I don't have any solutions or ideas. Or maybe I do. Would they make a difference though? It doesn't feel like it.
"Can't we just get some peace?
"I which we could, but I don't know, and yet, we still have art, thank God, movies, music, theater and writing.
"Really, we do."