Random quote and unrelated photo of the week

Stories are, in a sense, a scam. There was never a clerk as unconflicted, docile and pathetic as Akaki Akakievich, but from the subterfuge that such a man could exist, Gogol made the wonder that is "The Overcoat." Ghosts don't show up to save the stingy, and many stingy die unsaved, but "a stingy guy stayed stingy, then died" is not a story, and is certainly not "A Christmas Carol." Princes don't invite their entire kingdoms to the palace, but if at least one doesn't, our story is "Once upon a time Cinderella miserably cleaned, forever and ever."

George Saunders
"Soviet Deadpan"