#ethan rutherford

(Source: Danielle Earl Photography)

(Source: Danielle Earl Photography)

"I’d read about the superstition—maybe sailor story is a better term—of the “Klabautermann”: a spirit who joins a ship during her voyage. He’s small, invisible, wears a funny hat, and sometimes he helps on deck. Other times he’s more like a gremlin who messes things up. In some versions he makes himself seen by the crew, and if that happens, if he becomes visible, it means the ship is doomed. For the longest time, I thought, I’ll have a spirit be aboard and only the boys on the ship can see it, but they don’t know what it is. They just know that it’s there. That idea morphed and Old Sorrel took shape. Old Sorrel is a completely different kind of spirit, of course. He doesn’t help out and has plans for the ship, but the idea of a visitor unseen by most did come from the Klabautermann in particular. But Old Sorrel, with his bird head and boy’s body, slowly became his own vengeful creature of the sea."

I’m done buying books for the rest of the year 💀 couldn’t have capped it off with a better pull than a signed hardcopy of The Dying Grass for only 80 bucks (CAD). currently reading that copy of miss macintosh, my darling, a huge tome that i am enjoying quite a lot. at 1321 pages it may be the longest single volume book I’ll ever read.

(Source: Danielle Earl Photography)

From The Peripatetic Coffin and Other Stories by Ethan Rutherford, reviewed for The Rumpus by Lindsey Silken