Horatio Alger–Reconstituted by Galley Cat

Unless I’m swamped with deadlines, I find it hard to resist the invitation to write a little something out of my comfort zone. No matter that the invitation is open to every writer on the planet…So I was intrigued to read Galley Cat’s open call for contributions to the World’s Largest Literary Remix a while back. They proposed to take one of Horatio Alger’s boy-makes-good tales–the rather wooden JOE’S LUCK–and remake it in multiple images of any number of conceivable writing styles.

I chose P.G. Wodehouse for my assigned 400 word section. I’m particularly fond of the Jeeves and Wooster stories, but, really, any Wodehouse cracks me up. The world his characters inhabit is vivid and complete and never dull. The dialogue is fast and delightfully easy to parody.

Other writers chose much more vaunted models to imitate. My very favorite in the mix is Margaret Wise Brown’s GOODNIGHT MOON.

Here’s the link. Enjoy!