Friday December 13, 2023
Every week we post six lines of a story of ours, a work-in-progress or from someone else’s work that we recommend that has LGBT characters on Rainbow Snippets, here; https://www.facebook.com/groups/963484217054974/?hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen&multi_permalinks=27692899480353418
I’ve gotten a nice response the last couple of years posting a snippet of Oscar Wilde around Christmas. No overtly LGBT characters here but the writer IS Oscar Wilde. Paula always liked that I had “invited Oscar Wilde to Rainbow Snippets.”
I had not read “Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime” before this year. I knew it was about a man predicted to become a murderer but I did not expect the story to be as funny as it was!
Here’s a snippet:
Murder! That was what the cheiromantist had seen there. Murder! The very night seemed to know it, and the desolate wind to howl it in his ear. The dark corners of the streets were full of it. It grinned at him from the roofs of the houses.
First he came to the Park, whose sombre woodland seemed to fascinate him. He leaned wearily up against the railings, cooling his brow against the wet metal, and listening to the tremulous silence of the trees.
Outro:
Isn’t that elegant prose? And yes, this snippet doesn’t indicate a story full of humor.
“Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime” is available online and in plenty of printed places but I first found it in the excellent anthology “Shadow Voices: 300 Years Of Irish Genre Fiction” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58935109-shadow-voices Edited by John Connolly. It not only includes well-known stories but seriously obscure tales and poems. (Remember, Wilde was an Irish Writer!)
And on that note, I will wish you all the best for the holiday season and for whatever the seasons of life brings! —–jeff
authorjeffbaker 
Love this snippet! Love the fact that you’re bringing Oscar Wilde to the holidays! (heart)
Considering your appreciation of all things classical, did you know that Nathaniel Hawthorne can be funny? 0.0 After loving his spooky and sinister tales of sin as a girl, I was utterly stunned to read Tanglewood Tales; where he actually makes the ancient Graeco-Roman myths humorous. You may know of this already, but just in case you didn’t, I thought I’d mention it. 😉
Oh yeah! I hadn’t read any of Tanglewood Tales in a long time, but I’ve been reading the bits from Hawthorne’s diary published as “Twenty Days With Julian and Little Bunny By Papa” about the time his wife and daughter visited her Mother and Hawthorne took care of his little son. It’s charming and includes a visit from Herman Mellville!
Ooo, that sounds interesting! Is there a Kindle version of that story available?
Afraid not! But the Hardback and paperbacks are inexpensive on Amazon.
Lovely choice. I haven’t read this one, but I will.
I have read a lot of Wilde but not this one. How fun is this? Thanks for sharing
You’re welcome! I’d heard about it but never read it!