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A snowman was murdered last night.
Tire tracks ran across the front lawn.
This murder wasn’t on the 10 o’clock news or on the front page of the paper this morning.
There wasn’t even a tiny blurb in the local paper.
Nobody cares about a snowman, right?
It’s just a bunch of snow rolled into balls with some sticks and rocks, probably made by a kid.
Maybe this kid had nothing better to do.
Or maybe he waited all year for the first snowfall.
Maybe his eyes lit up during math class when the first flakes fell.
Maybe he was the first outside waiting for his mom when the principal called an early dismissal.
A little boy rushing into his house and back out in less than a minute with his snowsuit on.
Spending the entire day gathering, shaping, and creating until it was perfect.
Too excited for dinner, he spent the time calling his grandparents and friends to tell them about his snowman, while he stared out his front window at it. They all came by this morning to see it.
When the little boy woke up at the crack of dawn in excitement, threw his boots and snowsuit on, and ran out the door… maybe he sat and cried.
A snowman was murdered last night.
Tire tracks ran across the front lawn.
This murder wasn’t on the 10 o’clock news or on the front page of the paper this morning.
There wasn’t even a tiny blurb in the local paper.
Nobody cares about a snowman, right?
Shaun Simon is an American comics writer. He is currently writing The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys with Gerard Way for Dark Horse Comics.
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52 Responses to “SNOWMAN • by Shaun Simon”
Comments
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May 28th, 2010 at 1:29 am
Very touching.
One typo – “he starred out his front window” should read “he stared out his front window” – but apart from that, a nice piece.
May 28th, 2010 at 5:00 am
I bet that story was true life? I missed the typo.
May 28th, 2010 at 5:25 am
This is like modern art in prose – not the typical form, none of the old, recognizable shapes. It’s new and refreshing. Plus, it’s altogether a charming story. Wonderful!
May 28th, 2010 at 8:03 am
I have the day off from work today, so I’m not rushing around as usual, feeling like I can’t even read a very short story. I’m so glad I read this one! It drew me in immediately and held my attention throughout. It’s concise and moving.
May 28th, 2010 at 8:08 am
Very cool piece.
May 28th, 2010 at 9:22 am
I guess I should have thought about that when I ran over that snowman last night.
May 28th, 2010 at 9:40 am
Ahh, that is a lovely little piece. I saw myself as a small girl doing just the same thing, the building, the attention to detail, the satisfaction of a job well done and the sadness when my created ‘friend’ either melted or was knocked down by someone. But hey….that’s life I guess <3
May 28th, 2010 at 9:46 am
A great piece – Very different. Agree with Debi Blood, the imagery is wonderful and very well layed out with each sentance.
May 28th, 2010 at 9:50 am
Beautifully written! And sad.
Did this happen to you?
May 28th, 2010 at 10:11 am
Typo corrected; thanks, Ian!
May 28th, 2010 at 10:33 am
A big ol’ thumbs up from me. Layered simplicity, a new flavor with every lick. Nice job.
May 28th, 2010 at 10:39 am
Made my heart go Thumpetty thump thump.
May 28th, 2010 at 10:48 am
So sad. I’ve never seen snowmen like this. Writings like this makes you see normal things in a whole different way
May 28th, 2010 at 11:43 am
Pure genius!
May 28th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
Awwww… poor snowman, and poor kid too..
It´s a very sad history … Frankie, you make me cry with this .. =( … haha
I love you…
Kisses for you and the guys, and for all the mcr babies too…
Love
Agu Twitter: Aguusstinitta follow me
May 28th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
Wonderful piece! Reminds us of the things that really matter.
May 28th, 2010 at 1:07 pm
This is wonderful, serves as a reminder to us all that we should never forget the simple things that gave us such joy when we were young, and how the smallest disappointments were like the end of the world. We get older, become hardened, jaded, and the little kid inside us dies off piece by piece, one more casualty of adulthood.
First snowfall this year, I’m making a snowman with my kids. I need to see life through their eyes again.
Thanks, Shaun.
May 28th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
i think this snowman shold be on the news!
May 28th, 2010 at 2:12 pm
It must be good. I’ve never seen a story get 160 votes half a day.
I think the compactness of the prose is in line with the writer’s usual genre of Comic Books/Graphic Novels.
For me, though, this is such a good story, it would’ve benefited by an expansion of prose.
It’s all tell and no show. The repetition of the first five lines as the last five lines totally did not work for me. Barely average in my few.
But… 160 votes in a half day, knocking on a perfect five, so what do I know.
May 28th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
er….. view.
May 28th, 2010 at 3:06 pm
I like it. But you didn’t make me cry man…almost, but means nothing. Cuz’ i didn’t!
May 28th, 2010 at 3:28 pm
This was full of charm and wondefully painted images from a child’s point of view. Reminds me of the British cartoon “The Snowman” that my grandpa used to borrow for me from his public library. I definitly neede a dash of wintry charm on this spring day. I gave it a five.
May 28th, 2010 at 4:18 pm
awww!!! i love it!!
but is sad at the moment
May 28th, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Awesome!!!! Love it!!!
May 28th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
Reminds me a lot of the old Christmas cartoon The Snowman.. nearly cried reading that. Never made a snowman, but wow.
May 28th, 2010 at 5:49 pm
The reason that this story is getting so many votes (high votes too) is that Frank_Iero the rhythm guitarist from My Chemical Romance maked a post about it on his twitter account and it was cross posted to the bands website (mychemicalromance.com)
Its a great story and I enjoyed it and i’m glad others did too.
May 28th, 2010 at 7:10 pm
This is a terrific piece. The fact that someone in a band liked it well enough to post about it and tell people they should read it is a great complement and really gives me hope in modern music. Let’s bring as many people as we can into webistes like this one.
May 28th, 2010 at 7:20 pm
This should be a high school literature text!
Plenty for youngsters to talk about and discuss.
Excellent stuff.
May 28th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
mm.. I dont like it, I dont care about a snowman
May 28th, 2010 at 11:05 pm
might if I share this?
‘Strikes every little heart who understands.
May 29th, 2010 at 1:26 am
To Jacab, that Gerard Way guy that is at the end of the story is the lead singer of My Chemical Romance… just letting you know.
May 29th, 2010 at 3:18 am
maybe this kid will learn something then: never build a snowman in the front lawn, because somebody who not care may kill it.
May 29th, 2010 at 6:05 am
I love it. Such a great story which, to me, is about how we should have respect for others’ creativity and hard work.
May 30th, 2010 at 3:35 pm
This is a very pleasant if sad story? Who cares about the murder of a snowman? Why, the little boy who created him. It’s funny how we adults stop caring about the very simple things. I guess we do have to grow up. Still, we lose something that children have when we accept our adulthood. It’s all right here in this story.
May 31st, 2010 at 4:51 am
Shaun Simon is a creative powerhouse! How fortunate he shared one of his works here for us.
June 1st, 2010 at 9:55 pm
This poem actually made my eyes well up. It reminds me of years and years ago when a times were happier. This poem could mean so much for anyone, and there could be so many underlying themes; I love it. I now want to go into highschool next year and introduce my new english tracher to this amazing writer. And I really wanna read Killjoys, too. Gerard is an amazing artist and he has an amazing mind.
June 3rd, 2010 at 7:15 am
Great job Shaun, took me back to my sons childhood. So much wonder, energy and innocence! I remember exact moments, (seeing it in their eyes) when some of that innocence was stripped away. The realization of how life goes! Trying to make the blow softer, but still letting them learn the lesson. Keep on writing, God bless you!
A.R.
June 16th, 2010 at 7:57 am
Finally a piece of microfiction I’ve enjoyed. That was beautiful. Poetic storytelling.
July 9th, 2010 at 1:09 am
Sad.
July 15th, 2010 at 11:26 pm
this story has inspired me to write a song about this and i will perform it in from of the whole world. nobody will ever look at a snowman the same way ever again
August 15th, 2010 at 1:00 pm
Tracks? What do you mean by tracks?
August 30th, 2010 at 7:25 am
a great piece
it happens everyday
the first time i was very sad, as which was my first snowman,
but now i don’t have any felling,
it take me back to the days when i was in australia
December 28th, 2010 at 6:34 pm
That was a very sweet story, by the way I’ve wrote a story for this site that sort of like this but it’s about a snow angel, it’s called The Snow Demon.
January 9th, 2011 at 4:25 am
[...] context of how many votes the story has received. For example, our all-time highest-rated story, “Snowman” by Shaun Simon, is currently at 4.5 stars with a total of 553 votes to date, and a newcomer to the top stories [...]
January 15th, 2011 at 8:38 pm
This story has been nominated in the All Other Short Stories category of the Preditors & Editors Poll. Voting is open until January 26th.
January 21st, 2011 at 10:09 am
Such a good story,loved it
January 25th, 2011 at 12:58 am
[...] “Snowman” by Shaun Simon (Every Day [...]
March 6th, 2011 at 7:40 pm
Really enjoyed the simplicity of the story as well as the deep meaning conveyed – lost by so many who are so busy.
April 11th, 2011 at 1:08 pm
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?saved&¬e_id=206377966052893
April 27th, 2011 at 5:38 pm
come back and check out wotsworthwhile!
i just figured out your name and if you dont mind i linked it to your twitter!
you guys are amazing, thanks again for letting me photograph you both!
http://wotsworthwhile.blogspot.com/2011/04/nychic-smokers-section.html
May 23rd, 2011 at 10:37 am
Someone built a snow castle on the grass verge alongside the main road. It was brilliant. Every day, more turrets, more windows and a doorway arch which children could walk through, and finally, flags. Someone pinched the flags, then the castle didn’t just melt quietly away. It got kicked down before its time. That didn’t make the news either.
July 22nd, 2011 at 9:20 pm
Shaun, I read this last year but didn’t realize you wrote it, I LOVED IT THEN and LOVE IT NOW!!