S.G. Browne

Fiction Friday: Dr. Lullaby

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting excerpts from each of my four short stories included in the recently released Dark Arts Books collection, Swallowed by the Cracks, which is available for order through the Dark Arts website.

Below is an excerpt from the opening of “Dr. Lullaby,” a short story that takes place in Manhattan and is the concept upon which I’ve based one of my future novels.

*************************

DR. LULLABY

People still get confused about my name.

I suppose I shouldn’t take it personally. After all, it’s not like I’ve ever done any interviews or tried to set the matter straight. I’m not even the one who came up with the moniker. I think The New York Post was the first to print it. That was my first big headline. The one that turned me into a local celebrity. Though celebrity isn’t really the right word, since no one knows for sure who I am. Who any of us are.

Still, you’d think that after all of the press surrounding the events that have transpired over the past few months, people would understand what it is I do. But from what I hear on the street and on talk radio, a lot of people still think I’m some kind of serenading physician or an academic pedophile.

I’m thinking I need to hire a good publicist.

Before I go any further, I should probably explain a few things. So let me start at the beginning. Or maybe we should start in the middle. Isn’t that where stories are supposed to start? In the middle? Not with the hero graduating from college and getting a job working for an advertising agency in Manhattan, then getting downsized and blowing through his severance and savings in less than a year and trying to figure out how he’s going to earn a living.

You don’t start with all of that expository crap.
The wistful reverie.
The character building.

It’s not: Lights. Camera. Backstory.

What you start with is action.

*************************

“Dr. Lullaby” can be read in its entirety in Swallowed by the Cracks.

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail
Filed under: Fiction,Fiction Fridays — Tags: , , — S.G. Browne @ 6:08 am

1 Comment »

  1. […] from the book? S. G. Browne has posted an excerpt of one of his stories from Swallowed at his blog. Check out “Dr. Lullabye” now. And then… buy the […]

    Pingback by DarkArtsBooks » Swallowed By The Cracks debuts at WHC 2011 — May 14, 2011 @ 7:50 pm

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment


6 − four =