Severed Dreams...

If you've seen the ad in which a woman is sexually humiliated by "bad" soap bubbles who don't even know what a loofa is, rest assured, according to the form response received by complainers, that the commercial is not supposed to be interpreted literally.

It's true, the oggling, harassing soap bubbles are in fact a literary symbol, a metaphor if you will.

I mean, just in case you dirty dirty girls out there were worried about possibly being denigrated for your holiday love handles by the shampoo or something.

• 08:18 Alarm clocks are evil. #

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This morning, I dreamed I was going to see Spamalot in Boston. Not a local production, but the touring company production. Somehow, my friend baron_saturday was involved in the show, and he came up to me before it started to tell me that the actor playing King Arthur couldn't make it that night, and would I be willing to play the part instead?

"Surely there's an understudy," I said.

"I'll go check."

He came back to say that yes, there was an understudy, but no, he didn't want to go on stage. In fact, he wanted nothing to do with the production at all. So would I consider doing it?

"I don't know the part. I'd have to read off of a script the entire time."

"They'll write that in so it makes sense."

"Tell them I won't do it if they're going to bind my boobs down. I've got too many lines and it'll be too hard to project through the entire play if I can't expand my rib cage when I breathe."

Next thing I knew, I was backstage with the costumers, who were fitting me in a red sequined top and skirt for my initial scene -- the scene where I would stumble upon the prone body of King Arthur, and then be roped into taking his place for the rest of the show.

"Cool, this will show off my tattoos!"

"We're not sure we have size 11 pumps, so you may have to do that scene barefoot. We'll give you a pair to carry so it looks like you just took them off because your feet hurt. Thankfully, you're the same height as the guy playing Arthur, so you'll be able to wear his costume for the rest of the play. Would you mind doing it braless?"

"Actually, yes, I would. Besides, the audience is in on the joke that I'm actually a woman, so there's no point in minimizing things down there."

At this point, I woke up.

Bummer! I wanted to see more.

RT @Cat Fancy Fembot via Facebook - Large Hadron Collider Live Webcams! http://ping.fm/vAD9l

I hope people didn't come away from my last CakeWreck post with the idea that only proletarian supermarket bakeries make awful cakes. I snapped this photo this morning at well-known capitalist front Whole Foods:



Man-faced slugs emerging from the chrysanthemums?

Puppetry of the penis gone even more horribly wrong?(You probably don't want to click on that link, btw. Not too deeply anyhow.)

What happens when you have employees with a $2500 per annum healthcare deductible and a $12/hr wage?

You tell me.



The amazing thing is that there are some handsome cupcakes right next to these little monsters. I wonder if the turkeys (and boy are they turkeys) will be a quarter a pop come this week's lonely lonely Friday.

Under The Dome is one of the better Stephen King novels of recent years.

I enjoyed Blaze, with its homage to Of Mice and Men and what I considered a dash of Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men. Yet, I still feel ambivalent toward Lisey's Story, which had its moments, but had a better book cover; it was a tough read. Duma Key, on the other hand, offered tons of memorable scenes. Which says a lot, since the last first-person novel he wrote and that I read (that I can remember) was Christine and it was another book I didn't enjoy. I think because it didn't seem the narrator (whose name I can't even recall and won't take the effort to research) didn't seem to change throughout the course of the novel. You could tell it in the way the character related events; he sounded like an ass, offended that the universe dared to spoil his teenage years. King's use of first person in Duma Key showed a range of emotion and it was a pleasure to sink into the head of Edgar Freemantle (no problem remembering that character's name).

So far, I'm a little more than a week into reading Under The Dome, more than a quarter through its 1,000-plus pages, and the experience reminds me of those days when I sat down and read non-stop. The book builds a hell of a lot of momentum in a few short pages. It's difficult to put down. My muse is wearing her plot hat, trying to figure out what's going to happen and why things started in the first place (even analyzing the cover for nuances, for heaven's sake); it's a rush trying to finish while I still appreciate how well King builds character and shows different places.

For example, one of the main characters references our sitting President as the "Blackguard-in-Chief," as well as a "pro-abortion son-of-a-buck" and "you monkey." I don't know King's political affiliation, and it doesn't much matter, because whatever his beliefs, I applaud his audacity. Just ... wow. :-)

John Kessel has been publishing short fiction since 1978 and since then has gone on to make his mark in the field of SF/F. He won a Nebula Award in 1982 for his novella "Another Orphan," and more recently (2009) for his novelette "Pride and Prometheus," a story melding the tales of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. With friend and writer James Patrick Kelly he has edited three anthologies, included the just released The Secret History of Science Fiction. Since 1982 he has taught American literature, science fiction, fantasy and fiction writing at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. I'm a pleased to offer this interview with one of the finest writers in the field of spec. fiction today.


The idea for "Pride and Prometheus," the melding of these two works by Austen and Shelley, seems one destined to be discovered and written--but you did it first. Did it come to you recently and beg to be written, or is it one you'd been tossing around for a while?

The idea came to me during a Sycamore Hill critique session in 2005 of Benjamin Rosenbaum’s story “Sense and Sensibility’ (since published in his collection The Ant King and Other Stories). Ben’s story is a bizarre take on Austen, and in speaking of it I realized that Austen and Shelley were more or less contemporaries, that Frankenstein and Pride and Prejudice would have been in bookstores at the same time in 1818. But the writers, and stories, are very different, coming out of different sensibilities. It seemed a story that demanded to be written. I set out on it in March of 2006. In figuring out what the story was I discovered a lot of things that helped, such as the fact that the town of Matlock is mentioned in both Frankenstein as a place that Victor and Henry visit, and in Pride and Prejudice as being near Mr. Darcy’s estate of Pemberly.

What were the particular themes and ideas you were trying to bring forth with this story?

Marriage and finding a suitable mate. I realized that Frankenstein’s creature turns savage because he is completely alone, without anyone who loves him. And in Austen of course all the plots turn on the difficulty and dangers of finding a suitable mate. The ironies and cross-fertilizations were irresistible to me.

A second idea I pursued was the difference between the novel of manners and morals, of which Austen is an originator, and the science fiction novel, of which Shelley is an originator. The two traditions have in some sense been at odds since the beginning. Bring an sf author who teaches and loves classic literature, the differences between and potential merging of the two was also of great interest to me.

When crafting "Pride and Prometheus," how did you incorporate the styles of these two authors to make the story your own?

It was hard, since the tone of the two writers is so different. Mary is a Romantic, and Austen is not. Frankenstein is a gothic novel, and Austen mocked the gothic novel in Northanger Abbey (though she could not have mocked it without having read a lot of them). In the end I thought of my story as “Frankenstein takes over Pride and Prejudice,” beginning in Austen’s mode and shifting into the gothic as it goes along, then pulling back in the end. The climax of the story is a discussion about marriage, which ends in a brief scene of physical violence you would never find in Austen.

Any idea what Miss Austen would make of "Pride and Prometheus"? Of the two inches of ivory you brushed beyond?

Well, I have my own small territories I habitually explore, the way she worked over her very small social milieu. But I hope, like her, I can get at some larger things through that. I would hope that Austen would at least see that I meant no disrespect to her great novel and its characters.

Your work often features political themes. In regard to science fiction, why do political themes matter to you?

I think almost all fiction has political implications, even if unintentional. If you have values, you have politics, it seems to me. So it’s natural that my stories reflect the things I care deeply about. In some, such as “The Last American,” my politics are more overt. I’m not sure that’s my strongest work. I suggested a long time ago that all sf writers want to change the world. I’m no exception.

You've taught at Clarion many times. Do you see one reoccurring problem that new writers face that seems the most difficult to overcome?

Learning what makes a story different from a collection of paragraphs, scenes, vigorous but not-meaningful action. You can write, even sell, a lot of fiction without grasping what makes a good story. It took me years before I began to grasp this. I suppose some might say I still haven’t.

Another way to cut it: Figuring out what it is you can write that is not completely derivative, that somehow expresses your individuality but also connects with an audience. It takes time to do this.

With Mark Van Name you founded the Sycamore Hill Writer's Workshop. How did this come about and what makes it different than other workshops?

In 1984, Mark moved into his large house in North Raleigh. Gregory Frost made the idle comment it would make a good place for a workshop. Mark and I took that and ran with it, organizing a four-day workshop mostly for writers living in North Carolina. After that first year it expanded and moved to several other venues.

The workshop really wasn’t any different from the Milford workshops started by Damon Knight back in the 1960s. A group of professional sf writers gather, by invitation, in some place, each bringing the draft of a new unpublished work. They live together for a week, spend days critiquing each other’s stories, eat meals together, hang out in the afternoons and evenings. It’s stimulating and exhausting. With variations, this is the plan for Walter Jon Williams’ Rio Hondo workshops and numerous others in the genre.


Your latest reprint anthology that you co-edited with James Patrick Kelly is The Secret History of Science Fiction, where you explore the convergence of mainstream fiction and literary SF. When choosing stories what were you looking for?

We were looking for stories from the period of 1970 to the present that were real sf, or close enough so that we could make a case. In the event, we purvey a broader definition of sf than what is traditionally published in the sf magazines, but that has some history going back to even before Gernsback and the invention of sf as a separate genre. We wanted stories that were by writers within the genre, by writers who cross over from the genre to the so-called mainstream, and by writers firmly associated with the mainstream and not with genre.

You've spent quite a bit of time looking into slipstream, the edges of the genre. What is it about it that appeals to you?

The edges of genre are often where interesting work is being done. The edges of genre are where definitions and assumptions are regularly challenged.

What are you working on now? What's ahead for you?

I have a couple of new stories on submission but not accepted anywhere. I want to take another run at a lunar novel I started a long time ago. I don’t want to jinx it, but I’ve also worked with my agent of a proposal for an sf TV series. There’s talk about a James Patrick Kelly-John Kessel-Jonathan Lethem hybrid collection.

I just want to keep writing new things that interest me, and that will I hope interest others.

I would be remiss if I didn't wish lotusice a happy birthday. Hope it's a very good one. :-)

Today is the official release day for Jim Butcher's First Lord's Fury, the sixth and last volume of the epic Codex Alera series.

For years he has endured the endless trials and triumphs of a man whose skill and power could not be restrained. Battling ancient enemies, forging new alliances, and confronting the corruption within his own land, Gaius Octavian became a legendary man of war-and the rightful First Lord of Alera.

But now, the savage Vord are on the march, and Gaius must lead his legions to the Calderon Valley to stand against them-using all of his intelligence, ingenuity, and furycraft to save their world from eternal darkness.

Also available today, Princeps' Fury -- now in paperback.

The Codex Alera series:
Furies of Calderon (Codex Alera, Book 1)
Academ's Fury (Codex Alera, Book 2)
Cursor's Fury (Codex Alera, Book 3)
Captain's Fury (Codex Alera, Book 4)
Princeps' Fury (Codex Alera, Book 5)
First Lord's Fury (Codex Alera, Book 6)

Welcome to the fourth (and final) qualifying round in the Meager Puddle of Light Award for Best Opening Line competition.

As with the first three rounds, you can vote for as many entries in each question as you like. When the dust settles, the ten entries with the most votes will go through to the final. In the event of a tie, those in joint tenth position will both (or all) go through.

PLEASE NOTE Apologies, but due to a dumb mistake on my part, I missed out one of the entries from an earlier round. Since I've learned from bitter experience that you can't tweak a poll once you've posted it, I've closed poll #1489737 (posted earlier today), and set up a new one to include the missing entry. Don't worry if you already voted in the original fourth round poll, I've made a note of your selections, but if you'd like to add the 'Death is but a journey...' line, please check the box on the revised poll.

If you haven't already voted in the other rounds, you can find them here: Round one; Round two; Round three

The qualifier polls all close on Sunday November 29th (11:59 US/Eastern)

Have fun.

• 09:12 You know that good times are ahead, yet you might be seeing yo... More for Leo twittascope.com/twittascope/?sign=5 #
• 12:14 Finally, some fall weather in NYC... #
• 12:26 Am ordering Chinese for lunch. It's a Wanton Soup/Shrimp w/ Lobster Sauce kind of day! #
• 12:40 See what people are saying about BLANKET OF WHITE: www.crimsonscreams.com/collection.htm #
• 15:58 Yahoo is full of suck today #yahoofail #
• 16:04 Let Crimson Screams Productions put your website on the map: www.crimsonscreams.com/design.htm #
• 17:47 My MAC is slowly dying. I just need it for another week or two. I need it to live up to its name: Power Tower... #

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82 day rejection from Weird Tales.

Hoooo boy. A thousand curses upon you shadowravyn for giving me yet another damned way to waste my time... From the pure deeeelight of Nostalgia Chick (the Transformers (1986), Armageddon, and Last Unicorn reviews are hella fun), I had to see this other dude, this this this "That Guy With The Glasses" fellow.

And his review of Red Sonja. Not only is there a spot-on review of a movie that I feel is best viewed with the French dub soundtrack and English subtitles (if viewed at all), but the set up to the review features a response to angry emails issued to his previous Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles review, wherein he complained about the voice actor playing Splinter, the always enjoyable (if lesser known, alas) Mako. That Guy With The Glasses then recounts the vitriolic email responses he got to this poor choice of joke.

The first of these is the subject line for this post and made me laugh uncontrollably for a good five minutes. Hell, I'm still laughing. The other great one is: "You should crucify your privates for making fun of Mako!"

Wow. A deep cleansing laugh. That's what I needed.

Thank you shadowravyn, but I still curse you for nuking my productivity with yet another Intarweb Time Suck.

Writerly duties are taking a backseat to Thanksgiving. Last night I spit out 127 stultifying words on a story that has no plot, just to say I wrote for the day. *shrug* oh well. I wish I had a month or so with nothing to do but write. Wouldn't that be fun? Or would I waste it all as usual? I do usually have 2 hours a day when I'm babysitting, but instead of spending it writing, I usually spend it here or elsewhere online. I'm horrible.

Now, on to Thanksgiving. This is the time of year I stress myself out trying to get the house spicNspan, the windows washed, the cabinets lemon-oiled--all that stuff. This year I promised to start early, at the beginning of the month. But I didn't. No big surprise there, I'm the world's best procrastinator (that's something I never get a rejection for!). And then we went to Disneyland and I thought I still had 2 weeks left when we got home, but WRONG!!!!! there was only 1 week. So I said what the hell. No one but me notices if the house is all shiny anyway. So I gave myself til Christmas for the lemon-oiling. But it's half done already, so technically I'm ahead of myself, right?

And I feel pretty stress free this year for some reason. We'll be 14 or so here at the house, and it's old hat by now, I've done it so much, so no biggy. And then oldest son's birthday on Sunday. And then the CHRISTMAS rush! Whew! Are you tired already?

http://crimesceneni.blogspot.com/2009/11/no-alibis-event-jack-oconnell.html

From the No Alibis newsletter...







Attendees of our Evening with James Ellroy, and followers of the excellent Crime Scene NI will be aware that we have Jack O'Connell lined up to appear at the store. Now, we're pleased to invite you an evening with the man, to celebrate the UK launch of his fifth novel, THE RESURRECTIONIST, on Wednesday 25th November, at 6:30PM.

Described as a "cyberpunk Dashiell Hammett", Jack O’Connell is the author of five critically acclaimed novels, which have earned him something of a cult status. His work has been praised by James Ellroy, Neil Gaiman, Katherine Dunn and Jonathan Carroll, among others.

Another fan, George Pelacanos (author of The Night Gardener), wrote, “In [his] remarkable books, Jack O'Connell has riffed on language, fire-cleansed genre conventions, and stripped the artifice from the modern noir novel, creating a body of work both exciting and entirely original.”

The author lives with his wife and two children in Worcester, Massachusetts.



NO ALIBIS BOOKSTORE
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david@noalibis.com
ph. 02890-319601

So. We have already had Halloween, and we have already had the holiday which comes between Halloween and Thanksgiving, which is The Day markgritter Brings Home A Pomegranate And Then Ignores It For Weeks. (I hope yours was merry and bright.) I wrote something for Veteran's Day, and it was my first "private" post ever, because once I had written it I felt unready to share it.

Macy's--very specifically not Dayton's--is having a rerun this year on the Eighth Floor. A rerun. "Back by popular demand," says their website, and I say, "Bullshit." Last year's Eighth Floor was not even a story, just a series of Christmas-themed tableaux, and those were constructed from the remains of previous years' tableaux from actual stories--if you'd been to the Eighth Floor a lot you could spot the dwarves from Snow White as elves, and the plum pudding from Mary Poppins, and like that. So it was bad enough last year. And now this year, it's not even the cannibalized remnants of other stories. It's just...the same again. "Times are tough," said my mother, but times were tough in previous recessions. "They're trying to kill demand so they have an excuse not to do it any more," said my father, and I think he's right. I will still have the holiday of Taking The Godkids To the 8th Floor, because they want to go, and I will even enjoy it, but the other kids with whom I've been going are as disgusted as I am. So we will have something different this year. Not entirely sure when or what yet.

I am also--and I am sorry to tell you this--not going to observe that popular holiday, The Day I Call Otto. Otto is a delight. But we can get all the Otto's things at the Ukrainian deli up by porphyrin. If it was just a matter of paying the postage, I wouldn't mind, but I actually want there to be a local place that stocks the Hungarian food items we use. And there's only so much csabai I can justify buying.

Also several people I love are going through pretty tough stuff right now, ill health for themselves or loved ones, unemployment, appallingly bad behavior from people close to them. And it's the first holiday season without Grandpa. Grandpa would be the first person to want us to have a merry Christmas and a happy every other thing we do, and I will by God try. But I don't think even he would expect that it would be on my mind.

So. I have part of the work of a Christmas card done, by which I mean timprov has his part done and I have to do the rest except for some bits we will all three do. It should be a good Christmas card. I am pleased with it. And I have a particular surprise for one member of my family by choice, so there's that, and we have some charity stuff in mind, so there's that, too. I'm still trying to think, though. I want to do things that will be special for people I love, and I'm not sure what goes on that list at the moment.

There will still be Lucia Day, and we'll do the decorating when Matt is here, probably, because Mark will be gone a big chunk of time after that.

For some reason I am feeling uninspired on the baking front. I'm feeling very inspired about Cookie Day--I am positively excited about Cookie Day--and I'm hoping to get it scheduled with Mom and Grandma tonight. But I'm not thinking of a great many things I want to make. I'm sure once we get going we'll have ideas occur to us. But right now I'm not sure what to put on the grocery list for it, other than butter and flour.

What do you want in Christmas treats? Spice this and lemon that and caramel the other? Chocolate-dipped somethings? Or if you don't celebrate Christmas, what kind of treat don't you get enough of?

Squick warning for the anti-hunting contingent: this is about killing a deer.

( One down... )

• 20:49 Shot a rifle (P90) for the very first time and discovered I have good aim...freakishly so. Sam Carter's got nothing on me. #
• 23:06 Finished watching #Dexter an hour ago. I'm still freaked out. No way am I letting anyone at my T-Day table say what they're thankful for! #

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Hilarious #starwarsbandnames meme from @starwars http://ping.fm/YNy4M and Wired Magazines GeekDad http://ping.fm/QFLzS

1. Baby powder
2. Crushed-up Pez

Fail fail fail fail fail.

And now the three unopened bottles I bought last night, when I was steady, will go to the local women's shelter, and I will have to ask my mom to haul my wobbling self around Target on my big PT day so I can do the ensniffening all over again and pick a new body wash that does not smell like baby powder (which is at least reasonable, just not me) or Pez (not a reasonable smell for body wash! just not!).