The Rialto Books Review vol.012 -- Available Now
The Rialto Books Review vol.012 is now available and can be purchased here.
The Rialto Books Review vol.012 includes the second installment of Alex Ranieri’s second novel, I Depart a Stranger, The Sally by Russell Block and The World’s Greatest Bodybuilder by Russell Block, now in its entirety.
I Depart a Stranger
by Alex Ranieri
Duncan retreated a step or two; Anna stopped. After that first moment, he found himself unable to meet her gaze, though he wasn’t embarrassed; but still, he could not meet her gaze.
“I don’t know why, but I had a feeling you were still here; after Robert left, I doubled back, and I’m sure it was to find you, though I made out to myself it was only to see the Old Masters. Are you still very angry?”
She asked this with evident anxiety; and at the mention of Robert’s name, it’s true, Duncan’s scowl returned. But it was quickly overpowered by bewilderment and confusion; caused not only by his strange experience, but also by how different this Anna was from the imperious girl he had met earlier. Where before she had seemed merely another statue, holding out a laconic hand; a figure of Justice, impervious to all human pleas or hopes; standing in front of him now, she was all hurried sentences, blushes, and naturalness.
The Sally
Act I Scene I
by Russell Block
BERTRAND. Tell me now, Edison, for that I know these edifices of stone will not be so charitable with me, if your eyes find the same offense in their ostentation as do mine. Plentitude such as this crowds scarcity out and leaves belief not but a beggar.
EDISON. The company these mansions keep is good as is the litany if you find offense in them when none is meant.
BERTRAND. To be sure, were but it for these fences, whose rusted hinges of neighborliness a mockery make, I would discover upon entry into their halls a miscue in their posture, if in their decorousness no ottoman is amiss.
EDISON. How surprised your supposed hosts would be to discover, upon your arrival, the offending matter right below their upturned noses.
The World’s Greatest Bodybuilder
by Russell Block
With the dawn, the empty gym, though soon to be bustling, appears placid. My exercise begins the way it does every morning. Determination evident in my every feature, the breathing that I do before every session enlivens the heart, stimulates the capillaries, and then I close my hands around the bar. First of all, and there are many pieces of equipment surrounding the place that I choose to begin, with my eyes toward the ceiling, the pull-up is commenced. These daily workouts never fail to strengthen the muscles or provide a sense of purpose. Some of the most elite bodybuilders in the world fulfill their daily prerequisites in this facility. In fact, before I even get my chin all the way over the bar, although that is an inevitability, the best of the bodybuilders, whom I recognize as peers of mine, begin to parade through the door. I can never arrive sufficiently early to get more than a few chin-ups deep into my routine before I see the others enter. Now especially, with the other bodybuilders beginning to grab massive dumbbells as they do bicep curls, and as they squat beneath unfathomable weights, I feel incredibly far behind having just once gotten my chin over the bar.
More excerpts from The World’s Greatest Bodybuilder can be found here and here.
