Dracawyn

I’ve noticed a trend with younger writers, especially those writers of fan-fiction, and that is this perpetual need to make their characters faint as a way to wrap up a chapter. Today, I just started reading one in which the author has posted three chapters to date, and in every single one, his main character — a Commander in the Special Forces, mind you — faints at the end. The character is a Canadian and I’m an American, so it’s possible there’s a cultural disconnect that I’m not aware of, but I didn’t think our cultures were that different from each other that the manliest of their men sudden

My parents bought the house on April Fools Day.  It was something of a running joke: should have known, Dad would say, tightening yet another leaking faucet.  It was a sign, Mom said, staring down a nest of carpenter wasps.  In truth, they were never lucky with dates.  Got married on D-Day, had a kid on Thanksgiving.  JFK was assassinated on my Dad’s birthday; Brenda Ann Spencer went on her killing spree on my Mom’s.  Holidays were always a touchy thing. My second birthday was spent in the new house—a gorgeous, rambling affair in the heart of what had been a boom town during the years of the Erie Canal, and was now just a s