Author: Don

A Little Ghost Story

It’s Halloween and while I feel dead, I’m not quite there (yet). The past two weeks of “vacation” from the dayjob consisted of the Viable Paradise Writing Workshop (VPXX represent!) followed almost immediately by the World Fantasy Convention, to say nothing about all the requisite travel. So given the holiday and my current state, how about I share an old ghost story…

***

Sitting in the kitchen, staring out the patio door into the darkness past the deck, I’m reminded of the story of my grandmother, one of many things my mother handed down to me:

At midnight, every night for months, my Lola dressed in her finest Spanish gown, went out on to her front porch, and screamed for her husband to come home. No one tried to stop her. See, her generation wasn’t unfamiliar with visits from the dead. A young woman calling out into the humid, Philippine night, was pitiable, but not beyond the bounds of reason. My grandmother’s family and townmates shrugged it off, until the night the screaming stopped after only a few moments. They rushed outside, afraid she’d hurt herself, or worse. Instead, they found her standing on the porch, smiling.

“He heard me,” Lola told them. “He came home.”

***
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Chapter XLIII

Sorry I’m getting to this a day late, but it’s been a hectic couple of weeks. Chapter XLIII of my life began yesterday, and I’m hoping for some big things. I ended Chapter XLII with two major accomplishments: a promotion at the dayjob to a managerial position which not only gives me an office with a door I can close, but also the funds to attend the 2016 Viable Paradise writing workshop. That’s VP20, everyone! Or, is it VPXX? I’m partial to the latter myself, because it reminds me of a Chicago album.

Speaking of which, the song below is from Chicago XXXVI. With things to look forward to, I’ve been wondering if a new year requires a new attitude…

I think it’s time for you to lose that cynical suit, now.
You’ve worn it out and man, the jacket don’t fit you no more.
–Chicago, “Something’s Coming, I Know”

Let’s give it a shot…

“Agony in the Garden” in THE CLEVELAND NEIGHBORHOOD GUIDEBOOK

I mentioned this was coming, but now it’s here: THE CLEVELAND NEIGHBORHOOD GUIDEBOOK from Belt Publishing, which has a bit in it by me called “Agony in the Garden.” I got a kick from reading it out of my contributor’s copy. I have to say, these are really nice books!


If you’re in the 216, you have several options for getting yours: The folks at Belt will have a booth at the Cleveland Flea on June 11 and will be holding a launch party at the Market Garden Brewery on June 22. (Alas, the dayjob prevents me from making the trip from NY.) I’m also told the books should be available now at Mac’s Backs, Loganberry Books, CLE Clothing, Cosmic Bobbins, and Native Cleveland.

If you’re not, or are just anxious to get your hands on “The Least Practical, Most Literary Guide to Cleveland,” get yours now!

For Belgium, the Philippines, and a Better Job…

Time for my Good Friday ritual… showcasing the land of my ancestors!

Ruben Enaje has done this for the 30th year in a row now. This was the guy who lamented a bit having to do this last year (his 29th) for lack of a successor. But now, he’s doing this for Belgium. And, because he’s Filipino (and you know how we are), he has other reasons…

Enaje, a sign painter, says he also prayed for peaceful Philippine presidential elections this year and a better job.

Mabuhay ng Pilipinas, muh’fuckers!

(via)

Rise! (Again.)

If you look closely, you can see my energy level.

Let me start by saying this isn’t a “Poor Me” post. But sometimes a little whining is therapeutic.

I was knocked out for a week with laboratory confirmed Flu A. One of the clinicians I work with told me that people who’ve said they’ve had the flu and miss work for a couple of days really haven’t had the flu. I’m starting to think that’s true because as I think back, it seems to me that I haven’t been sick like that in a long, long time. I’m pretty sure I was delirious the first night.

Anyway, I got better but damn if it wasn’t the exact wrong week to miss work. It was a week of project deliverables, most of which made it in. But some didn’t, and still haven’t. So the week I came back (last week) was catch-up week, and I don’t mind telling you it was a harder fight than surviving the flu. I’m still chipping away at it, even as I’m processing this week’s work.

Thing is, all this happened about a week after Boskone, at a time when I just felt I’d recaptured a sense of urgency about my writing. I’m not talking “inspiration to write.” I’m talking about a feeling of something I could harness, aside from my own willpower, to leverage myself out of the writing slump I’ve been in for a couple of years. (Yes, I’m in a slump, despite an upcoming publication.)

But it’s hard having to constantly climb out of a pit, and that’s kind of where I am right now. Not ready to give up or anything, not by a damn sight. Not even as I still feel some lingering effects of something-or-other (shortness of breath, a cough that still hasn’t gone away, near constant malaise and fatigue). My boss (who’s a registered nurse by training) finally chided me enough to give my doctor a call tomorrow.

And, so begins yet another climb back up.

Quickie Review: HENERAL LUNA (2015)

I don’t know enough about the history to have a good picture of what the real Antonio Luna was like. I do know that the Luna depicted in the film is every hard-ass Filipino I’ve ever known from the generation before mine. Jovial one minute, borderline abusive the next, before going right back to jovial. I suppose in a lot of ways, HENERAL LUNA is more about the Filipino mindset in general, with the way it portrays the good, bad, and ugly of just about every Filipino peccadillo I’ve ever known. Take “the ties that bind” for instance, and all the ways that loyalty to family, the barangay, the province interfered with things like nation-building. “It’s easier for the earth to meet the sky,” Luna says in the film, “than for two Filipinos to agree on anything!”

Really though, it’s pretty even-handed and definitely far from self-hating, from the way we romanticize memories of home and hearth, to the way a loving mother starts a conversation with her grown son with a smack to the mouth, to the universal Filipino response to someone with a competing interest, no matter how compelling: “Who do you think you are?”

The dramatis personae is huge and the film did its best to keep the characters straight, and to highlight and summarize historical events with small text blocks, almost like a graphic novel. But I think its still struggled with its scope. Still, HENERAL LUNA’S strength is in its depiction of the people. You may not like everyone in the film, but it’s very possible to feel sympathy for all of them. Well, except for maybe Emilio Aguinaldo — but then, that’s always been the case with ol’ Magdalo.

Boskone 53 Quickie Recap

Photo credit: Brenda Noiseux

I’ll always remember Boskone 53 as “The one where the Guest of Honor bought me drinks, to say nothing about all the other connections and, more importantly, the re-connections I made with folks. I don’t think I knew just how much I needed that.

Between that and participating lots in the program, I had a great time! If nothing else, the mask I wore to the Superhero Open Mic (where I did a monologue from a Cleveland hero) helped me purge decades of negative feelings about never having a decent Halloween costume that would accommodate eyeglasses!

God willing and the creeks don’t rise, see you next year!

ICYMI: a Con and a Publication

BOSKONE 53. In case you missed it, I’ll be in Boston this weekend, doing the panel/reading/drinking thing. I won’t be hard to find, so come say hi!

COMING SOON. A short essay of mine will appear in THE CLEVELAND NEIGHBORHOOD GUIDEBOOK by Belt Publishing, which drops in May. It aims to be “… the most useful, least authorized resource for Clevelanders, Cleveland ex-pats, visitors, and potential new residents.” And to that end, I plugged a small corner of my former patch of Greater Cleveland.

Where I’ll Be at #Boskone

Gonna be at Boskone 53 the weekend of February 19? I am. Here’s my mini-interview with those fine folks, and here’s where I’ll be…

What’s New In Comics?
Friday 17:00 – 17:50, Burroughs (Westin)
Accessing information about DC and Marvel releases is pretty straightforward. But what are the other must-read comics that might be flying under your radar? Whom should you keep your eye on? The comics universe is always expanding; which are the new voices you mustn’t miss?
James Moore (M), A.C.E. Bauer, Robert Howard, Don Pizarro

Reading: Don Pizarro
Friday 19:00 – 19:25, Independence (Westin)
(…wait, wut?)

Hidden Heroes
Saturday 10:00 – 10:50, Harbor III (Westin)
Sometimes the hero of a story isn’t its true protagonist. A commonly accepted example is Sam Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings, who more and more centers the action as the story concludes. What other examples occur to us? Why might an author choose to focus on someone other than the hero? Can the hero ever be the antagonist?
Michael Swanwick (M), Chris Irvin, Mary Kay Kare, Don Pizarro, Beth Meacham

How You Get the Word Out: Starting and Running a Successful Podcast
Saturday 14:00 – 14:50, Harbor III (Westin)
Podcasting gives us an outlet to share our thoughts and ideas with the world, and everyone seems to have something (perhaps a lot) to say. But is podcasting right for everyone? How do you go about “bootstrapping” a podcast? What do you need and what do you need to know? How do you attract and keep an audience? Where do you find a place to host your site? Successful ‘casters pass on their secrets.
Steve Miller (M), Kate Baker, C.S.E. Cooney, Don Pizarro, Brianna Spacekat Wu

How Binge-Watching Could Change TV
Saturday 16:00 – 16:50, Marina 4 (Westin)
The binge-watching phenomena has clearly changed the way we watch television, in-genre or out. Is it also altering the way they create it? Marathon viewers are a mindful audience, who retain more information and understand longer story arcs. Is this leading to more complex characters, more complicated plots — more compelling shows?
Ginjer Buchanan (M), Garen Daly, Daniel M. Kimmel, Don Pizarro, Steven Sawicki

Superhero Open Mic
Saturday 21:00 – 22:20, Marina 1 (Westin)
Kapow! Live from Boskone … enjoy the knock-out stylings of our program participants and audience members who share their open mic skills in the first-ever Superhero Open Mic. Each person gives his/her best 5-minute superhero performance – story, poem, song, skit, interpretive dance, or whatever! OPTIONAL: For extra appeal, feel free to come dressed as a superhero!
Walter H. Hunt (M), Kenneth Schneyer (M), C.S.E. Cooney, Carrie Cuinn, E.C. Myers, Garth Nix, Don Pizarro, Lauren Roy, Mary Ellen Wessels

Come say hi!

Offering This Simple Phrase; Nothing in the Dark; Writing

OFFERING THIS SIMPLE PHRASE.

NOTHING IN THE DARK. Writer George Clayton Johnson (Logan’s Run, Star Trek, The Twilight Zone) passed away the other day. I had the honor of meeting him at my first Rod Serling Conference in 2009, where he gave one of his legendary stream-of-consciousness rants about everything under the sun, much of which was repeated in this interview, which I watched being given.

WRITING. Got the acceptance email for PROJECT RUST last month! I’ll announce the details when the publisher does. Selling some writing always feels good; cracking a market you’ve targeted feels even better. And even as I cross this project off my list, another one comes on board, in addition to PROJECT FLOSS and PROJECT FIELD. Let’s call this… I dunno… PROJECT RICE.

I’ll be out in the 216 until after the holidays. Catch you on the flip!