Smart rats

I read a Stephen King short story years ago that I thought was great fun. I can't remember its title or the name of the collection, so there you go. (I tried googling it but my inadequate skills got me nowhere.)

It's about a man living in a house located near a secret government research facility. Unknown to our main character, scientists at this facility are trying to increase the intelligence of animals -- and of course they work with rats.

As per the rigid traditions of sci-fi stories, some of the smart rats escape and end up in this guy's kitchen cabinets. Smart rats. They can read.

I think he left the story in the air at the end, since I can't remember the ending. I foggily recall that the guy tried to poison the rats and they understood exactly what he was doing and were about to retaliate. And there the story ended. I liked it and wanted more.

Anyone out there read it? I'd like to know the story's title.

It's like meeting an old friend

I'm reading the final installment of Armistead Maupin's "Tales of the City" series. It's called "Mary Ann in Autumn". I started reading it today and it was like slipping into a comfortable old jacket.

Maupin's writing is instantly interesting. He doesn't beat around the bush. In fact, there are no bushes. It's non-stop fun. I confess that he influenced my writing -- greatly. I like the informality, the ease of story-telling and the injection of humor into just about everything. I hope people will describe my novels with similar phrases. Army, you helped a ton.

As for the read, it's so damn comforting to be back in the world of 28 Barbary Lane. I'm sure Maupin also felt this when he began writing the book. It's like meeting a group of old friends (the ones you'd like to see, not the other ones).

Anyone else beguiled by this series?

I'm almost there

I've edited 3/4 of Xmas Carol -- and this time it's for real. Within a few weeks I'll be able to say it's done. Phew. Only took forever.

I like the way it sounds. Soon I'll look into finding someone to do the cover. (Casey's not a definite at this time.) But somehow, some way, I'll get the cover done and publish the book. Xmas Carol needs to see the light of day -- or perhaps the dark. In any case, it needs to leave my house and venture out into the world. It's time.

Sucked into the paywall

I give up. For months I've been reading the NY Times by using a software workaround to navigate the paywall. Worked great, by the way.

But I'm spending my nights now with a sick friend. This, in its way, led to me to subscribe to the Times. I need something to do over there while my friend sleeps, and TV is not my cup of tea (unless there's a baseball game on). There's Wi-Fi over there and of course I could use my friend's computer -- but I always hate to do that. It's like trading underwear with someone: too intimate.

We worship the future?

Mark Vernon, at the philosophy and life blog, says something odd in his post about Steve Jobs' passing:

"I wonder whether the high adulation [of Jobs], even sanctification, is at least in part because we live in an age that worships the future". [Emphasis mine.]

Lordy. No one today "worships the future". No one even thinks about it. The future has been wiped from our memory coils because, as I've said here before, no one can even picture the human race going in a positive direction. We are heading directly toward doom.

I think we need to develop a reverence for the future, and my books are an attempt to get people to envision a positive road ahead. But we certainly don't live in an age that even respects the future. If we did, we'd be doing something about climate change, for one thing. But we don't care because there is no future. This is the new American Way.

Seahorses in the Thames

I don't know about you but I've always found seahorses fascinating. They're pretty, they're unusual, they mate for life -- and let's face it, they look almost magical. Today at physorg.com, there's a story about finding them in the Thames:

Evidence of a colony of rare seahorses has been discovered in the Thames, during a routine fisheries survey at Greenwich, the Environment Agency said on Friday.

You always thing of these guys as living in tropical waters, no? The idea of them living near a city that gets very cold is striking. But they assure us the seahorses have been nearby for some time:

Seahorses have often been a visitor to coastal waters around Britain but the agency said recent sightings suggest that there may be more permanent populations around the UK.

If you'd like to read the whole story, you'll find it here.

Just an aside

AP today:

Zsa Zsa Gabor has been hospitalized after slipping out of consciousness at her Los Angeles-area home.

I love the image of "slipping out" of consciousness, as if it's a small, ice-covered island on which we have to continually balance ourselves. Poor Zsa Zsa slipped off the island and fell into unconsciousness, which is the frightening black sea that surrounds this particular island.

Who knows? Maybe that's the way it is.