Full Blog--All Posts

This week, a new work of fiction, “A Sport and a Pastime” written by James Salter, published in 1967. I first learned of Salter belatedly...

Who is the narrator of “Starting Out in the Evening?” Is it Brian Morton? Is he “telling” the story, displaced across space and time to...

What’s missing in “Starting Out in the Evening” is as significant as what’s present. A lot is missing; the novel consists of...

All right, sit down everybody. I’m going to continue talking about “Starting Out in the Evening,” but first I have a few (other) thoughts...

One of the joys of “Starting Out in the Evening” is the lovely interconnectedness of it—the integrity, if you will, of a story that...

This week, a new book—Brian Morrison’s 1998 novel “Starting Out in the Evening.” I saw the film version of this novel first, in...

As I mentioned several posts back, I saw the film version of “The English Patient” before reading the book, an interesting phenomenon. It...

Today, I want to write about how verb tenses are used in “The English Patient” to—(WTF? Sounds like a snooze-fest, pal. Maybe catch you...

Last week, I identified two modes of narration in “The English Patient,” the (nearly) invisible narrator who tells the story of the four...

This week, a new novel, Michael Ondaatje’s “The English Patient.” In 1995 I was browsing in a bookstore in downtown Chicago and saw “The...

I have spoken at tedious length about the narrator’s voice in “Love in the Time of Cholera,” best beloved. (I’ve been wanting to write...

Before setting out once again on my discussion of “Love in the Time of Cholera,” I should probably issue, belatedly, a spoiler alert....

Here’s that first line again—"It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love.” The...

Here’s that first line again—"It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love.” The...

Here’s that first line again—"It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love.” The...

I have decided to post more regularly on this site—it seems that The Fictional World of Alan Bray could contain fiction by other authors....

I'm happy to say my short story "The Underground" was selected as a top ten finalist in the 2019 Blood Orange Review Literary Contest.

My short story "This Year's Winner of the Starbuck's Prize" was a semi-finalist in Ruminate Magazine's William Van Dyke Short Story Prize.

I'm honored that my short story "The Porous Texture of Snow" has been long-listed in the Fish Short Story Prize for 2019.

appy Halloween. My story "Already She Was Root" is live on the Eclectica site. The whole issue is great; many thanks to Tom Dooley and congr