The music helped and I felt better when I woke up this morning, but I’m all melancholy again. Can anyone give me short stories or poetry, preferably easily found on the interent, that can help me out?
I don’t know about “heartbreak” stories, but I find that Vonnegut’s collection of stories, Welcome To The Monkey House, makes for good comfort reading. There’s some science fiction stuff, but also more conventional stories that are written in a style quite different from Vonnegut’s usual sparse, kinetic prose. I particularly like “Who Am I This Time?”, “Go Back To Your Precious Wife And Son”, “Deer In The Works” and “Miss Temptation”. And “Epicac” probably deserves the medal as most heartbreaking love story/sci fi ever written. (It’s a take on Cyrano De Bergerac with a computer unwittingly providing advice to a lovelorn programmer on how to woo their common love.) I don’t care for the title story, though.
“Susanna’s feathery hair and saucer eyes were as black as midnight. Her skin was the color of cream. Her hips were like a lyre, and her bosom made men dream of peace and plenty for ever and ever. She wore barbaric golden hoops on her shell-pink ears, and around her ankles were chains with little bells on them.”
– “Miss Temptation”, K. Vonnegut
I can only dream of crafting prose only half as well as that.
Good luck to you.
Stranger