O c t o b e r 2 0 1 7 9 9 Fiction “Downstairs” - Linden frederick Novel Graphics Night Stories the book is launching in tandem with “Night Stories” the exhibition at Rockland’s Center for Maine Contemporary Art. Here’s a taste of six of the 15 duets created when writers responded to paintings. Richard Russo, Downstairs Painting: Downstairs, 2016. Oil on linen. For thirty-two years we have championed the fine art of fiction. Linden Frederick’s new project is a mash-up of fiction illustrating fine art. S he’s not a gifted thinker, his sister. All her life she’s arrived at bizarre conclusions based on dubious logic. Unnervingly, though, she’s seldom wrong about him, a fact that’s always made him just a little crazy. She opens the door before he can knock. “Roger.” “Maggie,” he says, his voice sounding funny after so many hours alone in the car. Stepping back into the hall, she teeters and he instinctively reaches out, remembering too late that this is what she always does. And that he always falls for it. God, he hates her.