Ever think what do chicken-sexers think all day?
Well, this chicken-sexer thinks mostly him and me and Sweet Miss Stringbean.
Make him Billy Boillit, sometime mill rat, most time drunk, my best friend. Make me Sarno, chicken-sexer. Make Sweet Miss Stringbean Billy's sweetheart.
Thus begins Peter Christopher's "The Careerist."
Electric is the word that jumps into my mind every time I read a Peter Christopher story. The language is unique and fast-paced and the sentences have a rhythm to them that carry me as a reader from beginning to end with no disruptions.
Christopher includes humor, both good and amazingly bad, allowing Sarno, the narrator to tell some horrible jokes that create a scene of humor by being so bad. This comes down to being a love story, one that involves all three of the characters Sarno discusses in the opening paragraphs as it's not simply romantic love between Billy and Sweet Miss Stringbean, but the love of friendships within the trio that truly get examined here. But again, they are examined with the white hot heat of Christopher's language propelling the way forward.
My first experience reading a story (or two) by Peter Christopher came thanks to David McLendon and Unsaid. Seeing both his reply and Peter Markus' comment, I rushed out and found a copy of his only collection, Campfires of the Dead, within which you can find this story--it's an amazing collection. Search it out.
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