A Sad Tale

Eli Horowitz is an astute and powerful editor over at the McSweeney's corporation. I'm not aware of everything he has edited, but I know he oversaw a fantastic (in every sense) book called THE PEOPLE OF PAPER by Salvador Plascencia. Mr. Horowitz was also kind enough to make some top-notch suggestions about a story of mine called "The Big Dud," which appears in the twentieth issue of the McSweeney's magazine, on sale now. In this, Part VII of our continuing look at comic books as the root of all literature, Mr. Horowitz chimes in with an elliptical remembrance that raises more questions than it answers: "Our only comic books were free ones," he writes, "like 'Spiderman and the Fun Reading Gang.' Oh, except actually I remember finding in our basement a comic in which Conan the Barbarian is in outer space. There are also some space wenches involved at some point." How did that comic book get into the basement? This is one - but hardly the only - mystery that emerges from Mr. Horowitz's brief but fraught account. Perhaps in the future we shall discover some answers - together! - as members of the blogging community! This is what it's all about, people.