mark richard: the ice at the bottom of the world isbn 0-385-41544-3 is a great collection of short stories. here’s a short excerpt from the first story stray:
i wake up in the middle of the night. my brother floats through the window. out in the yard, he and a stray [dog] have each other on the end of a rope. he reels her and i make the tackle. already i feel the fleas leave her rag-matted coat and crawl over my arms and up my neck. we spray her down with the whole can of bug spray until her coat leathers like soap. my brother gets some matches to burn a tick like a grape out of her ear. the touch of the match covers her like a blue-flame sweater.
and now i just googled this great rant by mark richard. what a brilliant author.