Author: Don

“Funny days in the park. Every day’s the Fourth of July.”

More pics from this year’s Ithaca Festival at Stewart Park.  The weather was beautiful, so it was pretty crowded.  I didn’t stay long and didn’t really pay as much attention to individuals as I did the other day.  I visited the drum circle and saw a smattering of bands, but I spent most of my time watching the Ithaca Shakespeare Company’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  I’m sure you’ll be able to suss out those pics.

I have to say, I think that was the true highlight of my festival this year.  Not only did I like the performance, but it was fun watching little kids get into it, and reacting to what was in front of them, rather than to “The Bard.”

Here are the rest…

“People talking, people laughing. A man selling ice cream, singing Italian songs…”

The weather might’ve slowed the Ithaca Festival down a bit, but once the sun came out, so did most of the people.  The only things missing were some of the bands I’d seen on the Saturday part of the Ithaca Festival for years.  They either just aren’t on the schedule or were playing on different days.  But still, I had my camera, and therefore, more potential story prompts.  More importantly, I ran into some cool folks!

Some friends of mine had a booth for the second (maybe third) year in a row, doing business as Flying Whale Studios.

I’ve talked a bit before about artist Jime Grabowski.  I first saw her work at the local comics show a few years ago.  A print of “The Doll Factory” hangs in my home office, and I can pretty much stare at it for a good hour or two at a time. 

Check out her site Prettylines.  Trust me, just go there now.

Anyway, here’s the lot.  Every year, I want to call the album “Saturday in the Park,” like the Chicago song.  But the park–i.e. Stewart Park–is tomorrow.

“I am an artist. I LOVE a good party. So, truce. Commence au festival!”

Summer in Ithaca has officially started, with the Ithaca Festival Parade, after which will follow three days of some of the best people-watching a writer could ask for!  I realize how prickish that must sound, and I’ll cop to saying/feeling that in a prickish manner when I experienced my first Ithaca Festival.  I’m not sure what changed, but I feel like it was something more than a mere moment of clarity. Anywho, the fact remains that every parade, I get a bunch of potential new story ideas, which is why my camera is my best friend this time of year…

My pals, the Ithaca League of Women Rollers (mostly Bluestockings, with a smattering of Sufferjets), were rolling at the parade, too.  Unfortunately, they were rolling a little too fast for me to get better pictures. 

“I can still hear you saying you would never break the chain…”

All I can say is, never say never… 🙁

I can say, though that May does look a bit better than April, which looks a damn sight better than March.

The life drama of the past few months is sort of heading toward better.  Some potential (good) dayjob drama is coming down the pike.  But life has eased up a bit, leaving me room to put some effort into my writing again.  Fiction, that is!

I’ve put the Serling project temporarily on hold for the rest of the week (although, I’ve already “failed” at this on a couple of occasions) and am working on a couple of short-stories, both for upcoming anthologies.  I almost forgot how good it felt!  After those first drafts done (I have a good 2-3 months for them), I’m hoping to use some of that momentum to finally get more done on my novella project. 

Yup, I think I feel like a writer again for the first time in a long time.

The Seekrit Nonfic WIP — Revealed!

I’ll be giving my first academic presentation ever at Ithaca College’s 2011 Rod Serling Conference in September.  The conference is “an interdisciplinary academic conference dedicated to the works of Rod Serling.”

Here’s my abstract…

Where Else Would You See a Story Like This: H.P. Lovecraft Adapted for Rod Serling’s Night Gallery

Writer H.P. Lovecraft describes “Weird Fiction” as a literary form which focuses on evoking atmospheric and psychological dread, as opposed to the simple description of physical horror.  Adapting this literature for film and television typically relies on the depiction of physical horror as a concession to visual media.  Two successful attempts to adapt weird fiction with its sense of dread intact are found in the anthology series Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, where such weird tales as Lovecraft’s own “Cool Air” (adapted by Rod Serling) and “Pickman’s Model” (adapted by Alvin Sapinsley) found a natural home.  An exploration of Serling’s and Sapinsley’s individual approaches to adapting Lovecraft’s work for Night Gallery will show how, despite allowances that were made for the television medium (and in some instances, because of them), they succeeded to a greater extent than other film and television adaptations of the same material.

Now, I just have to finish writing the paper. I already know that I’m starting the presentation with this video clip…

Maybe I overdid it with the cloak and dagger, but I just couldn’t bring myself to say anything publicly until I got the proposal submitted and received a response.  I did tell a few select individuals what I was up to (Though I accidentally spilled the beans a bit when I was interviewed on Functional Nerds a couple of months ago).  But the folks I told were the ones I trusted to talk me out of this if they felt they had to.  I’m glad they didn’t!

Nope, Still No Damn Jet Packs

(via Paleofuture)

This year’s local Spring (W)rites literary festival snuck up on me this year. Like last year, I made it to a single event.  Yesterday, I attended a panel on “Sci-Fi vs. Sci-Fact” with local authors Nick Sagan (yes, Carl’s boy) and Paul McEuen.  I almost didn’t come, because I’ve been to this panel at sci-fi cons before.  But the names drew me.  

I don’t recall the jet pack being mentioned, oddly enough.  The cell phone via Star Trek communicator was, as was Arthur C. Clarke’s geostationary communications satellite, how close science-fiction does/doesn’t/should/shouldn’t stick to science-fact, and the difficulty of science fiction to predict what’s coming down the pike. 

My only gripe is the one I have every time an authors talk or present on topics that don’t necessarily have anything to do with the writing process–i.e. the townies who are determined to make it about the writing process.  I still wince, remembering when Joyce Carol Oates came to town a couple of years ago to talk about a nonfiction work on the social and psychological factors that shaped the writing of Hemingway and Fitzgerald among others.  Sure, I’d’ve loved to have asked Oates about her own writing process, but I thought that talk was neither the time nor the place.  Not to worry though, because a fellow audience member had no trouble chiming in with, “Where do you get your ideas?”  I wanted to smack that person on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper, scolding “No!”

Still, I’m glad I stuck it out to the end.  Chatting with Nick made it all worthwhile, as it always does.  We talked about our projects, the publishing game, and the other writers who’ve walked this town, like that Lolita dude and the Twilight Zone guy. 

That said, yeah… I think I’m done with “science fiction vs. science fact” panels for the time being.  

“Traffic was slow for the crash years/ There’s no other show like it ’round here”

I promised weekly writing progress reports, and I’ve fallen through.  On several levels.  So, here it is.  No excuses, no explanations, other than to say that my personal life has taken quite a few hits and it hasn’t stopped.

Prepare to be underwhelmed…

Pathetic, isn’t it?

I’m turning comments off for this entry.  I’m sure any number of friends will read this, cheer me on, and tell me not to be too hard on myself.  It’s so tempting to let them.  But the only person that’s going to get me writing again, despite everything else going on in my life, is going to have to be me.

With the help of my inner drill sergeant…

“…because I must climb the mast to see what kind of weather we’re going to have tomorrow.”

At the 11th hour, despite a long evening of roller derby NSOing already planned, I decided to attend what I could of the first annual Pippi to Ripley: Heroines of Fantasy and Science Fiction conference.  I’d seen the flyer at my local comic book shop and was intrigued.  I figure I’ve read enough blogs from my favorite SF&F writers on these issues that it was long past time I educated myself at a deeper level than “GenderFail is bad.”

I was only there for half of it, but I think what I saw merits at least the sort of write-up I do for conventions.

So, I got to three sessions of panel presentations and the keynote speech…

Session 1 – Science Fiction Heroines of Film

  • Katharine Kittredge, “Starting with Ripley: Trends in Science Fiction Heroines.”  Granted, I’m speaking as someone who only sort of tracks these issues out of the corner of his(!) eye, but Kittredge’s overview seemed to hit all the points in the development of the science fiction heroine that I’ve ever noticed.
  • Melanie Lorek, “Utopian Fantasy Meets Melodrams: The Female Heroine in East German Film.”  One of the things I don’t like about panel presentations is how an A/V snafu lasting only a minute or two could potentially torpedo a presentation through no fault of the presenter.  That didn’t quite happen here; Lorek managed to get the audience through her main points about the East German heroine.  I wish there’d been more time though.  I was fascinated by this look from a sociopolitical perspective.
  • Leah Summerville Ferrar, “Uhura Kissed a Vulcan: The Marginalization of Women and Minorities in J.J. Abram’s Star Trek.”  There was no point taking notes on this one since I agreed with pretty much every point she raised.  I wished there was a little bit more underneath it, though.  I was already familiar with most, if not all, of the criticisms Ferrar raised through the blogosphere alone.

Session 2 – Adapting Fairytales and Graphic Novels to Film

  • Elieen Weidbrauk, “From Caped Avenger to Ineffectual Virgin and Back Again: Reclaiming the Agency of Little Red Riding Hood.”  I love presentations in which I learn something brand new, in this case, the evolution of the tale from the 15th century to the present.
  • Jamie Warburton, “Seeing Coraline: Visualizing a Heroine in Fiction, Graphic Novel, and Film.”  I meant what I said about my love of learning something new.  In this case, though, it was overshadowed by the shame over not having read or seen Neil Gaiman’s Coraline.  Still, from a Feminist or any other perspective, tracing the evolution of character depictions between different media rarely ceases to amaze me.
  • Shana Kraynak, “Leathered Objectified and Loss of Super Powers: Gender Representation and Reconstruction in the Film Adaptation of Watchmen.”  Another presentation that didn’t leave me with much to write down.  As in Ferrar’s presentation, I was familiar with the property and the criticism over how the film portrays Silk Spectre II.  And like Ferrar’s presentation, I felt I was listening to the sermon from the choir box.   

I can’t resist nit-picking at the session title.  I wasn’t looking for any sort of writing-related panel at this conference and the topics themselves piqued my interest such that I would’ve attended this session in any case.  Still, a cursory reading of the program showed that adaptations were going to be discussed, rather than the process of adapting.  I’m just saying….

Session 3 – Television Heroines and Almost-heroines

  • Tara K. Parmiter, “Girl Friday Power: The Hacker Sidekicks in 21st Century Teen Television.”  This presentation seemed the strongest (granted, having only attended 1/2 the conference) in terms of the presenter’s analysis of her topic.  Just seemed the most in-depth to me.
  • Carrie Davidson, “The Doctor’s Companions: A Look at Female Power in Dr. Who.”  Another example of why I don’t like panel presentations.  How does a look at female power in Who exclude Leela, of all people??  Time constraints, that’s how.  Other things were ignored too, but I don’t think the presenter was to blame–how can you possibly cover a huge aspect of a TV series approaching its 50th year in 15 minutes?
  • Allison Hamilton, “Sluts and Seductresses: Victim-hood and Power in Farscape and Misfits.”  I did feel like this presentation made me do most of the work with respect to figuring out exactly what was I supposed to take away about victim-hood and power aside from  “Here’s how strength was depicted with these certain women in these certain shows” and “Here’s how sex/victimhood was depicted….”

The keynote by Feminist Sci-Fi critic Marleen Barr, “A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Feminist Science Fiction Criticism,” was a true delight!  Hers was a story of a very personal journey from convention fan to scholarly critic which brought her into contact with the legendary Octavia Butler, among others.  Nothing I write here could possibly do justice to Barr’s speech, so I’ll leave it there.

I’m very much looking forward to the second annual conference!

Reading Is Fundamental

A lot of my reading last week, when I’ve gotten to it, has been a lot of non-fiction.  But that’s not why you’re here.   You want to know what fiction I’ve read.  Basically, I let myself get carried away with the remainder of Objects of Worship by Claude Lalumière…

“A Place Where Nothing Ever Happens” is a cross between the Twilight Zone episode “Long Distance Call” and Etgar Keret’s vision of the underworld in his story “Kneller’s Happy Campers,” the way only Lalumière can do it. Ending seemed a bit too pat for me, IMO. 4 out of 5.

“A Visit to the Optometrist” obviously had an instant familiarity, after having read “The Ethical Treatment of Meat.”  While I didn’t dig the plotline itself, I loved the idea behind it, namely the competing forces at work.  So, 5 out of 5.

“Roman Predator’s Chimeric Odyssey” is the second thing in almost as many weeks to remind me of Urotsukidōji: Legend of the Overfiend, the first being the discussion over said anime I had on the Functional Nerds podcast. There was probably a little too much going on in it for me. 4 out of 5.

“Destroyer of Worlds” shows that Lalumière and I definitely have read the same comic books. I have no doubt the pictures in my head and those in his were the same. 4 out of 5.

“This Is the Ice Age” is where Lalumière the best job writing the setting, IMO.  The ending didn’t really work for me, though.  It seemed a bit of a let-down after how well the tension was built.  4 out of 5.

##

I’m going to have to add this collection to my list of goodreads reviews I’m behind on, now.

    “The pain will be written on every page in tears…”

    I rarely engage in these writerly literary debates you see on just about every damn social network a writer can be on.  You know the ones: Outlining vs. pantsing.  Writing for money or writing for “Art?”  Literary vs. genre.  Start your online author platform now or later?  Great taste!  Less filling!

    Only two of these sorts of issues have gotten me thinking.  I’ve settled one of them, at least in my mind: I’ll never feel sorry for anyone who got skewered on QueryFail and Slushpile Hell. Because (a) I’m more than happy to learn from their mistakes and (b) You want to NOT be skewered on there?  Then STFU and read submission guidelines, you f**king child!

    Whew.  Now that’s out of the way, I can move on to the second thing…

    And when I write the book about my love
    It’ll be a pop publication, tougher than tough
    When I get down on the pages all I missed
    It will shoot to the top of the best-sellers list
    When I write the book about my love

    -Nick Lowe, “When I Write the Book

    But when I write the book… where will I be able to sell it?

    I won’t bother linking to the plethora of blogs and articles about the death of the book store.  First, the indie book store.  Then, the big box book store.  Because of e-readers.  Or, because people don’t read.  Or, because indies and big-boxes would eat each other. Who knows?

    I, apparently, live in a town that could not only lose one of its major independent book stores (which is actually going to be resurrected… again), but also lost its Borders.  We still have a Barnes and Noble, but for how long?

    R.I.P. Borders #507

    More importantly, to what extent am I to blame?  Oh, sure, I know I couldn’t have bought enough books from either place to have saved them.  I mean, my attitude. 

    Peep this: I was drooling to get my hands on a copy of Karen Joy Fowler’s latest collection, What I Didn’t See and Other Stories.  My local indie bookstore had it–it’d been my go-to for most of the fantasy/slipstream books I’ve ever wanted. Found out Borders had a copy, too.

    But I’d gotten myself a Nook for the holidays.  My intention was to subscribe to all the ‘zines I’d ever wanted to subscribe to–most of them are in .epub format these days.  But, so was What I Didn’t See.  So I caved.  I took consolation in the fact that at least I was ordering the collection from Weightless Books rather than, say, B&N.  But still.

    Maybe I’m just moving with the times, watching the end of an era.