dennis scharnberg

“Tell it all, Jim,” said Lieutenant Walser. “I want you to tell me everything.”

Allison Cowling, Night of the Detective.

“The walls are moving,” said Brenda, with a tone of concern in her voice. “The walls are moving!”

Bertram Worcester, The Smiling Killer.

“What if actors could smile, Jennifer? Right there in front of the camera. Wouldn’t that be good?”

Ralston Dowd, A Spot of Bother.

“Where are the smirks of yesteryear?”

Patrick Malmsey, Collected Poems.

What is a world?

Hampton Fancher, Variations on the Red Barn Con.

TV: a means of casting spells.

Nathaniel Bumppo, The Final Word.

“I guarantee nothing,” said Mr. Hammer, as though he had spoken the line many times before.

Myrtle Mawby, Cabinets and Drawers, a Novel.

Bimboo: particularly stupid bamboo.

Clive Morrow, A Crustacean’s Dictionary.

We owe it to ourselves to notice the obvious.

Godfrey Tooke, Collected Aphorisms.

Modernity makes us stupid.

Amanda Willcoxen, ed., The Literary and Philosophical Fragments of Gregory James Sallust.