| story that doesn't go anywhere |
[May. 4th, 2008|12:55 pm] |
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This morning, a gentleman told me that, ten years ago, he had to give up Chinese food because they put too much LSD in it. |
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| I haz frickin' story (guess who quit smoking?) |
[May. 1st, 2008|07:58 pm] |
There are a slew of things I mean to write about but the TOC of Phantom has been revealed and (alas, currently without my middle initial H. which makes me feel less like Brite or Kiernan than I like to feel) my story "Jonquils Bloom" will be in it...
There are many amazing writers whose work I love to read. And me.
I've read the Mamatas and the Cisco and they make the book worth buying.
http://pgtremblay.livejournal.com/279276.html?view=2054124#t2054124 |
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| detritus |
[Apr. 12th, 2008|06:49 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | quotes | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | assemblage 23 | ] |
"From the cosmic point of view, to have opinions or preferences at all is to be ill."
Lawrence Durrell
"All middle-class novels are about the trials of three, all upper-class novels about mass fornication, all revolutionary novels about a bad man turned good by a tractor."
Christina Stead
Fun recent email header, except I'm veggie: "Who's up for dried mice?" |
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| Spasticities |
[Apr. 8th, 2008|11:46 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | bookstore | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | depeche mode | ] |
Quote overheard in a bookstore:
"Why would anyone drink hot chocolate when they can have lots of single malt scotch?" |
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| happy birthday, chip! |
[Apr. 1st, 2008|07:34 pm] |
I don't pay attention to birthdays. I expect people to remind me a few weeks in advance every year. It's mostly because I barely know what day it is. But, because April 1 jumps out and he's one of the most daring and innovative authors alive...
Happy Birthday Samuel R. "Chip" Delany!
Your workshop in grad school was one of the coolest things ever. |
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| he can have my title |
[Mar. 24th, 2008|07:26 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | cronenberg | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | poe aka ann danielewski | ] |
The book I'm working on will almost certainly have sequels.
And I wanted the next one, the one after this current one that is taking forever, to be called Consumed, as a nod to the Plastikman album that I used to be really, really into...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumed_(album)
But this debut novelist, who is better known for other things, has always claimed that, "At a certain formative time I read Nabokov and William Burroughs. The modernists especially Beckett. In fact, my ambition was to be an obscure novelist."
So, fabulous film genius who has inspired me for decades, you can call your novel Consumed and I'll come up with something else. It's okay. I'll probably be obscure with or without the title and I owe you for warping my braincells so wonderfully:
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/master-of-body-horror-films-writes-his-first-novel-796257.html |
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| happy birthday to lawrence ferlinghetti |
[Mar. 24th, 2008|06:18 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | books | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  nostalgic | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | dismantled - straight up | ] |
Happpy Birthday to a living legend of poetry, bookselling, publishing and more.
(I normally don't know birthdays without checking, but this was in Publisher's Weekly and it jumped out. I've seen him read twice and I'd love to see him read again.) |
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[Mar. 22nd, 2008|06:51 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | xerotime | ] |
Wow. Today feels interesting. I've dealt with 48 emails and made some progress on writing projects.
I'm tired and trying to figure out what to have for dinner. Then I'll call my parents and watch Southland Tales, No Country for Old Men or The TV Set or maybe some Hammer Horror. I'm trying to be good with my media purchasing, but I caved and bought a used box set.
I also picked up T. A. Pratt's Poison Sleep.
And I'm so excited for X-Files 2 that it's silly. |
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[Mar. 21st, 2008|02:47 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | skinny puppy | ] |
The more books you read, the more those books become connected to every other book ever written.
Eventually, it's more like one really, really big book whose pages keep falling in and out of order. |
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| blacksun festival saturday |
[Mar. 13th, 2008|09:41 am] |
Statistically, I don't think that anyone on my f-list will be going to the Blacksun Festival in New Haven, CT. Years in industrialdom and gothdom, I won't be shocked to bump into people I know, but (even though it's unlikely) I figured I should post that I'll be there Saturday, March 15.
I'll probably show up around three pm or sooner. Zombie Girl and Assemblage 23 are playing, among others, and I'll be taking notes, maybe photos, for an article in a lovely national magazine.
So, if you know me or looking to give a journalist your random take on the weirdness or countercultiness of the Blacksun Festival, please give a comment.
Further details of the fest are here:
http://www.blacksun-festival.com/schedule.html |
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| death to jack (because everyone else is doing it) |
[Mar. 7th, 2008|05:45 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | jack haringa | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | natick, ma | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  surprised | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | msi - mastermind | ] |
Jack Haringa, ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) mssrcrankypants, I like you but your time has come to kiss it all goodbye...
(inspired by http://www.hailsaten.blogspot.com/ and all the other entries)
“How’ve you been, man? We’ve only met four times so I don’t exactly know you well enough to worry about you in any terrified or nailbiting fashion, but I know you’ve been through enough health issues and loss that I care about your well-being in a way that I don’t for most mere acquaintances who I happen to like and whose blogs I read.”
“Geoffrey, you’re socially awkward.”
“Yeah. Congrats on everyone loving your story in Bandersnatch.”
“Um, yeah. Thanks.”
“I always feel weird because when we first met we hit it off really well because we’d read and liked so many of the same books but then I promised to write you an essay on Jack Ketchum and then I didn’t write it because nonfiction suddenly became impossible. I tend to be a person of my words. I don’t leave my apartment lately because the world is crumbling and fragmenting, but my own words -- not the big ones that spin out of my mouth when I’ve tried to talk to you about literary theory and you've so disagreed -- have always seemed reasonably solid. Meaning, form and content, those are malleable, but words themselves...”
“You’re odd and you prattle. You vanish into ethers because ethers are all you know and all you deserve. You talk at people like you’re hosting a public access tv show. It’s not even real conversation. You might be way into the Decadents and Ligotti but you make no sense when you prattle. I picked up on that early on…”
“I really like Dead Reckonings too but I can’t offer to review stuff for it because I’m just not doing the nonfiction thing with any success. It confuses me. I can’t seem to get stories off the ground unless I get to make parts up. And reviews always get in the way of knowing people. It’s so hard to have a long conversation with a writer when you start by telling them that you’ve never liked their writing and that the reason that they’re a hack is because everything they’ve ever believed in should be eviscerated.”
“Do you always go on and on about how everything leaves you confused and that you’re obsessed with destruction and death?”
“Pretty much, Jack. It’s all I have to offer the world. That and book recommendations. The kinship I feel with you is that you’re bright and well-read, and also into horror. Back when Shocklines was worth checking three times a day, I figured you and I did a smidge of good by educating the meatheads about the literature that’s not aimed toward their lowest common denominators.”
“Seems like you waste a lot of energy carrying on and on about things you can't control. What else have you been up to?”
“I still drink way too much coffee and spend hours glaring at strangers. The bookstore takes up most of the time that I should be spending writing. And I surf the Net too much. I get dragged into creating weird silly wordplay things when I should be working on actual writing. By the way, the new Nine Inch Nails album, Ghosts I-IV, is the best album in years for wandering around and glaring at strangers.”
“I teach high school near Worcester.”
“Oh, I know. Teaching struck me as a real job, so I fled after one semester. A kid called the bookstore about a month ago and needed Nick Mamatas’ Under My Roof and Nick told me it was for your class and I thought of you. Didn’t get in touch or anything, you know, just thought of you inside my head and hoped you were well.”
“We should get together, go out for nachos or something. Maybe at ReaderCon.”
“Totally. I always go to ReaderCon. Necon scares me too much. I don’t know where my life goes. Why doesn’t everyone read good books? Books that communicate more than wish-fulfillment and escape?”
“You’re boring me. I have to go do things and other stuff.”
“No, I’m sorry, Jack. There’s a point, pardon the pun, to all of this and we’ve had enough fun. I have to poke you in the eye with this large knitting needle now. It’s not something that makes sense; it just has to be done. It’s not personal. It’s, um, the opposite of that Fergie song – even though I’m thrusting a thin metal rod into your face, aiming for nonexpendable areas of your brain tissue, it’s all rather detached. I’m blameless on this whole shindig and I’m not a big girl now.”
“Argh! Ah. This pain is unmappable.”
“Bye, Jack. I hope your death is either really quick or slow enough that you get to hang around for years but this whole ‘knitting needle into your eye thing’ wasn’t my idea. I mean, I’m the one who decided to pop you in the cornea with a semi-sharp metal tube, but please blame all the other people who've killed you today. Everybody’s doing it and we're all going to feel strangely guilty if you actually die today. It’s not my fault that the world is a horrible place. I promise to live in shallows, regrets and could’ve beens… I’m not a bad person. I’ve always been a pacifist.”
“Uguh, agaah. Tell my wife I love her.” |
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[Mar. 1st, 2008|12:17 pm] |
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| a bookly request |
[Mar. 1st, 2008|12:12 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | bookly | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | marilyn manson | ] |
"Do you have any books by or about Jake Hererra? You know, the guy with the hat?"
*makes hand gesture that looks like handstyling a pompadour*
(At first, I wondered if he was a professional athlete. I'm often stumped by the sports questions...)
Answer in a moment. |
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| hello world, thank you for the madness |
[Feb. 9th, 2008|03:26 pm] |
For a parsec, I'm seeing a confluence of clarity in the world. Why does everything only make sense to me when Mercury is in retrograde?
Yesterday, I noticed a gentleman chortling to himself and pointing at a magazine. He was like Burgess Meredith playing a Batman villian, engaging in multiple punchlines, tapping at the page and laughing to himself, ignoring anyone who was watching.
It was the new Consumer Reports, the one with SUVs on the cover. Ten minutes later, he was doing the same thing to a Boston Road Atlas. Whoever put him in the suit did a good job of dressing him.
greygirlbeast is overwhelmed by support as her fans and netizens pour in financial support and well-wishes for medical issues:
greygirlbeast is one of my favorite writers and all around creative people. Here's a letter about her books that someone wrote to her that says just about everything I would've said, if I'd written it *snicker*: http://www.caitlinrkiernan.com/2004/06/headache-headache-headache.html
And she's sold a new SFnal story collection!
lagringa is partway to that amazing thing that she so richly deserves as she finally gets to be a literary agent:
And last night, buymeaclue, nihilistic_kid and I had dessert, then with infinitehotel, we had Chinese food and dessert a second time.
nihilistic_kid made me laugh so hard that spicy sesame noodles shot out of my nose and sold me a copy of dgk goldberg's new short story collection http://www.dgkgoldberg.com/ ,
infinitehotel gave me an ARC (from way back when) of Craig Clevenger's The Contortionist's Handbook (http://www.welcometothevelvet.com/forumdisplay.php?f=15)
and buymeaclue reminded me that there was a point years ago where I was a gym rat.
And today is a day off. I guess it's okay that I'm not getting much done.
"If I had a life, I probably wouldn't notice...
If I had a mind, I wouldn't let it choose for me..."
Dismantled, Had A Life |
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| last friday at the middle east |
[Jan. 27th, 2008|09:55 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | awake | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | the birthday massacre | ] |
The Birthday Massacre was very lovely live.
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| dear death lehger, i still have a fever |
[Jan. 22nd, 2008|06:41 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  sick | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | david gahan - kingdom | ] |
dear death,
i am sorry that dangerous drug rumors have followed you for so long, especially if they caught up with you.
i am sorry that i have only seen two of your movies and they were not good.
i am sorry that i have strange tastes in art and it was not your fault that you were often cast with people that i avoid watching.
but, no, the order and the first 20 minutes of the brothers grimm did not inspire me to seek out more of your work.
but here's the problem, dude: that pic of you as the joker was supercool.
i watched batman begins exactly yesterday (along with magnolia and something else because i was too sick to read even) and kept thinking that you were going to rock it.
and now when you finally are supercool (yeah, yeah, some of your roles are way praised and prized, i will watch them eventually because i just got to magnolia because i am slow) you will be buried in the ground.
last i'd heard you were trying to break into the music biz and directing and dating gemma louise ward.
i'd say best wishes on those ventures, but you are dirt now. |
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| useless snippet / i am yikky |
[Jan. 21st, 2008|02:44 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | illness, novel | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | sick | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | tv | ] |
“Peppermint tea was made by Hades. Many years ago, he loved the river nymph Mintha so damn much that it hissy-fitted his spiteful wench of a mother-in-law, Demeter, and she interceded, with the help of her daughter, and turned Mintha right into dust. Hades’ love of promiscuity caused mint to grow from the dust of his favorite river nymph.”
I'm out of it so I can't seem to think of anything in the world.
Someone has gone to get pizza. Will it help? Who knows?
The above is a long gone bit from the novel-in-progress, back when it was very Gaimany and imbued with other peoples' myths.
The scene is gone, the locale is gone, two of the three characters in the scene are gone and the one who survived had her name changed.
If I get more sleep, I presume I will know where I am again.
The car is parked wrong. Do they ticket on Dr. MLK jr. day? |
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[Dec. 29th, 2007|11:29 am] |
Tomorrow is my birthday. All I really wanted was Ragnarok, because that would be so cool to watch, but instead, I'll settle for a long winter's nap.
Last week, a customer asked for "4-D Puzzles." I told her that she meant "3-D," but she disagreed and made some strange hand gestures where her fingers came together like latticework. I almost gave her the three normal dimensions to start with and see what she'd add, but I could tell she wasn't going to get it. |
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| i'll see your lies and raise you some lulus. |
[Dec. 13th, 2007|03:12 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | snow | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | thoughtful | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | pop will eat itself | ] |
I accidentally caught smidges of both Iowa debates. They're like those poker shows that come on late at night.
The presidential candidates shape their answers based on whether they're going first or last.
You shouldn't have alarmist comebacks when you go first, but some of them tried.
But, unlike the poker shows, the presidential candidates are always bluffing because none of them have any good cards at all. |
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exhausted