“Stories are like bees. You unscrew the lid and out come the bees…
We choose the stories that have the most bees, the tales that sting
us good, leaving us surprised and sore at first, then free to worry
at our leisure the tender, inflamed spot, the attention focused,
ourselves wide awake and alive.”
– Richard Russo,
winner of the Pulitzer in 2002,
commenting on a short story he’d read