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Dread in Madrid and other stories

by Eusebius Clay (Goodreads Author)

1.0 of 5 stars 1.00 · rating details · 1 rating · 0 reviews

This book contains four short stories that could be read collectively as a novella, or individually. Each story is highly experimental; a synthesis of poetry and prose. Dread in Madrid is the story of a columnist who works for a wine tasting magazine. Phillip describes himself as "a married bachelor trying to file for a divorce with death." He is a human being who is Afri...more
     This book contains four short stories that could be read collectively as a novella, or individually. Each story is highly experimental; a synthesis of poetry and prose. Dread in Madrid is the story of a columnist who works for a wine tasting magazine. Phillip describes himself as "a married bachelor trying to file for a divorce with death." He is a human being who is African-American. He is bi-sexual. The story can best be described as an intoxicated flurry of words inspired by Dionysus. While Phillip is on an absinthe binge in Madrid watching European football, he has an existential crisis; plunging into despair, symbolic disorder, and later, a prostitute. He has blood on his hands. With no one left to posit as the object of his revenge, he decides to rebel against language, grammar, self-identity, and structure. He begins to doubt the Cartesian cogito, the existence of himself, and the existence of other minds. The story ends shortly after he achieves the fullness of his jouissance.

      Pistol Pete, the second story, is historical fiction. The Caucasian protagonist, Pete, is a human being who identifies as a "closet homosexual." He does not reveal his sexual orientation in the story because he is in the military. As a first person narrative, the story puts you right in the cockpit of the legendary and venerable P-51D Mustang as you experience the bombing of Berlin first hand through the eyes of Peter Jenkins. The story is set in 1944. Featuring detailed and rich descriptions of air combat maneuvering, it is an epic tale full of action, adventure, and heroism.

      Springtime is a deceptively simple story about several patients in a mental institution. The protagonist, Chris, is a heterosexual, Caucasian male. The stream of consciousness attempts to capture the thought process of a human being who suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder. The story spans over the course of a typical day in a half-way house.

      The Watcher is set in Seattle, Washington. The protagonist, John, works in a dental office. As a former female, he received sex reassignment surgery, but is still attracted to women. He is a human being who is a Latino, transgender person. On his lunch break, he eats at the same restaurant each day and watches the street musicians. He lives a life of quiet desperation. John becomes intrigued by one musician who plays a steel drum called a "hang" from Switzerland. The story also has an antagonist, McFadden, a young man who is still trying to cope with his father's suicide. The total page count of the entire novella is approximately 60.(less)

Kindle Edition, 45 pages

Published January 3rd 2013 by Eusebius Clay

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Zainab Sajid marked it as to-read
Jun 29, 2014

Jun 04, 2014 Eusebius Clay rated it 1 of 5 stars · (Review from the author)

Cathy marked it as to-read
May 31, 2014

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About Eusebius Clay

I have recently researched my lineage and discovered that I am a direct descendant of a roman senator from antiquity. I'm not sure what that means or what implications are involved.

The first book I ever read on my own was a children's abridged version of the Bible when I was four, complete with cartoon illustrations. Although I had many abridged picture books from which to choose on my bookshelf...more I have recently researched my lineage and discovered that I am a direct descendant of a roman senator from antiquity. I'm not sure what that means or what implications are involved.

The first book I ever read on my own was a children's abridged version of the Bible when I was four, complete with cartoon illustrations. Although I had many abridged picture books from which to choose on my bookshelf, for some reason, I chose that one. As far as reading was concerned: I came, I saw, I conquered. I crushed the entire collection of Dr.Seuss, ravaged Roald Dahl, and then demolished Dickens. At some point, in the early years, a time that now only exists as scattered snapshots in my memory, I blew through Grimm's Fairy Tales. My favorite genre at that time was not romance, mystery, or thrillers; I was enamoured by fantasy and fables. I distinctly remember reading "The Hobbit" in fourth grade over a period of a couple of days. I read "Beowulf" in Middle School. The Catcher in the Rye left a bad taste in my mouth, and Catch-22 only amused me slightly.

High School turned me off from math and science even though English was my weaker subject. It was at about that time that I read Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World (and later, the doors of perception), Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet. I enjoyed Steinbeck, but now he is merely a figment of my imagination. I decided to steer towards Shakespeare.

Against all odds and statistics, I decided to major in English and minor in creative writing. If I were a rational person, I would have looked at the numbers from standardized test scores and played the winning hand, but love and passion aren't rational, and I loved literature.

In college, I received an "F" on a paper I wrote about Margery Kempe, which I titled, "The Evils of Avarice." On the weekends, I would read Jane Austen and Faulker in the college library on a beanbag in a remote corner. When I would get bored, I would take breaks to play chess with a jovial gentleman who was a Mathematics major. When the single chess set in the library was occupied, sometimes we would play in our head.

I excelled at creative writing, but I'm not sure if it is a subject that can actually be quantified or compared. I was better at "creative writing" than I was at "English" according to my GPA.

I studied the major works of William Shakespeare abroad at Oxford University. I never read "The Tempest", but I am now tempted to, at the expense of the success of my current creative project. The highlight of that experience was the play "Sir Thomas More" at Stratford, and a Midsummer Night’s Dream at The Globe.

After college, I spent an exorbitant amount of time in libraries and bookstores. Some days I would arrive in the morning, read four to five books, and leave at night. My favorite place to do this was in a comfortable leather chair at Border’s bookstore. I was deeply disappointed when they went out of business (perhaps people like myself were partially to blame because I didn’t always purchase some of the books that I read), but I am very excited about new technology and sites like Goodreads. Please do explore my virtual bookshelf to see some of the books I have read. I hope you find a few that pleasure you.

I do not believe that any American writer, with a few exceptions--Poe and Melville mainly--has ever come close to anything any British author has ever created. After I read "Moby Dick" (which may or may not have been inspired by Poe's "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym"), I felt a sudden and violent urge to throw every American classic I had ever read straight into the trash. I am using hyperbole of course, but the American literary fiction that you see in bookstores now, I believe, has a very low chance of withstanding the test of time, not because of a lack of talented authors, but rather, we have authors writing for publishing companies that instruct writers to write literary fiction that they (less)

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