Timothy McSweeney's Header Image

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Dave Eggers' The Wild Things is available for preorder, in regular hardcover and
limited-edition fur-covered.

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CARNAC THE JADED.

BY CHRIS SARTINSKY

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CARNAC: The novel as an art form; God; our nation's idealism in the face of disaster abroad.

ED McMAHON: The novel as an art form; God; our nation's idealism in the face of disaster abroad?

(Carnac opens the envelope and pulls out the card.)

CARNAC: Name three things that are dead forever.

ED McMAHON: Yes. Absolutely. That is absolutely right, Carnac.

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CARNAC: Sizzle, hiss, "I have failed you, Satan."

ED McMAHON: Sizzle, hiss, "I have failed you, Satan"?

(Carnac opens the envelope and pulls out the card.)

CARNAC: The sound a Congressman makes when he is splashed with holy water.

ED McMAHON: Ha ha. That is so true. Subhuman filth, all of them. It makes me sick.

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CARNAC: The Jack Abramoff scandal, or a 72 at Augusta.

ED McMAHON: The Jack Abramoff scandal, or a 72 at Augusta?

(Carnac opens the envelope and pulls out the card.)

CARNAC: Par for the course.

ED McMAHON: Yes, Carnac. Our government is bought and sold by crooks, every day—could not agree more.

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CARNAC: The cries of an Iraqi child trapped beneath a pile of rubble; the sane voice of Richard Clarke in the Bush administration before 9/11; prayers to God.

ED McMAHON: The cries of an Iraqi child trapped beneath a pile of rubble; the sane voice of Richard Clarke in the Bush administration before 9/11; prayers to God?

(Carnac opens the envelope and pulls out the card.)

CARNAC: Name three things that go unheard.

ED McMAHON: Right on, Carnac. Right on. We are alone in the universe, absolutely.

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CARNAC: ... Nothing. I've got—I'm getting nothing.

ED McMAHON: What do you mean?

CARNAC: I mean, I'm not getting a psychic reading. I've got nothing.

ED McMAHON: Nothing?

(Carnac opens the envelope and pulls out the card.)

CARNAC: What is the meaning of life?

(The crowd groans.)

CARNAC: Oh, go f*** yourselves.

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OTHER McSWEENEY'S FEATURES:

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Carnac the Jaded By Chris Sartinsky
My Father, as Owner of His Fantasy Baseball Team, Has a Meeting With His Players to Explore Their Concerns About Front-Office Management By Kate Kershner
Thank You, Thank You, a Thousand Thank-Yous, and More
My Choral Dilemma By Jim Stallard
Excerpt From the Unfinished Screenplay You're a Jailbird, Charlie Brown By Jeff Sutter

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