I think it was a short story and not a book, kind of Lovecraftian, there’s this young feller that lives in a castle or mansion with a butler (maybe), pretty miserable existence IIRC. Seems he decides to climb a tree or a tower or something to reach the moon.
Some stuff happens, then he makes it all the way up and discovers he’s been living underground and the “moon” was actually a hole through which he reached the surface.
Thnaks
That’s the start of Lovecraft’s “The Outsider”.
Thanks! Wasn’t exactly as I remembered, but possibly more interesting because of it.
Only “Name that story” thread I could find, and why start a new one?
A story by a crack addict about how he gave up crack and started writing. Using the pencil he carried around as the plausibly deniable stub for loading his crack pipe.
Lee Stringer, “No Place To Call Home,” published in Street News. Grand Central Winter: Stories from the Street — Lee Stringer, Author
My turn? If I may, posted for the third time here (this still drives me crazy and I’ve never had an answer):
The story involves telepathy. I read it as a kid in the early 70s; it was a book of my mom’s which I assumed was at least 10 or 20 years old at the time. Short story length; not a novel; part of a collection of short stories. I always had an idea it was Ray Bradbury, but no longer think that.
In it, an accused wife-killer is brought to trial. He’s pretty obviously guilty, but one woman juror has doubts. She stares into his handsome, handsome face and feels they have a telepathic connection – he is pleading with her to believe in his innocence. She is the holdout juror for acquittal, and successfully brings the rest of the jury around.
She and the acquitted man marry. She is proud of herself when she reveals, after their marriage, that she has a fair amount of money, which she has carefully saved up despite a modest income. He is pleased but not surprised, because she is clearly frugal and prudent, which is why he loves her.
In a moment of tenderness he accidentally, telepathically reveals that he did, in fact, murder his first wife for her money. He sincerely wished they could have had a little more time together, but now that she knows…
Thank you. I heard Lee Stringer read “The Pencil” on radio, and it was very good. Second time over, it still blows me away.
I see that he’s got cancer, and there’s a current go-fund-me at the top of that page. There’s not much activity: that last one is me.
Sorry about the telepathic wife killer. No idea.
Truth echoes fiction. Or maybe the woman read the same story.
Charlotte also told us that she has a telepathic connection to Frazier while she sat in the courtroom and watched the trial. “I could see into his mind and I knew he was innocent. It was a supernatural connection.”