Author: Don

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

I could also call this entry, like the last one, “a dollar short and a day late.”   More like, two weeks late.

So, there’s two weeks’ worth of progress.  There were good and not-so-good reasons I missed writing time for the past two sets of Wednesdays and Fridays in a row.  This week, I’m batting 0 for 3 so far.  Oh, I’ve made tiny bits of progress, but not enough to justify X-ing out my days.  OTOH, I did score a win by finishing the first phase of my seekrit non-fiction project. 

Oh, well.  Better to light an inch then curse the dark, right?

Reading is Fundamental

Yes, it’s sad.  I missed a week of posting what I’ve read and how my writing has progressed.  What can I say?  It’s been one busy blur… lots to talk about about, and actually one or two things I can’t just yet.

But, ’til then, back to business.  Here’s what I’ve read over a fortnight.  It wasn’t much…

Yeah, yeah, I know I said I was going to get to Ted Chiang’s Stories of Your Life and Others, but it’s hard carrying around and reading a dead tree book while maneuvering through an upstate New York winter.  So I started one of the many ‘zines I purchased for my Nook during the holiday season, namely Apex Magazine #15.

  • “Fair Ladies” by Theodora Goss.  A lovely, richly-detailed story.  Not entirely certain how much I bought the trajectory of the main character’s arc, though–at least not through the time gap near the end.  4 out of 5.
  • “Four Is Me! With Squeeeeee! (And LOLer)” by Nick Mamatas.  A story about the future told in a data-stream of consciousness.  Exquisite!  5 out of 5.
  • “Secret Life” by Jeff Vandermeer.  There’s a reason people tell you not to write office-space-as-metaphor stories.  The one you write will never be as good as this one.  5 out of 5.

Then I loaded up Clarkesworld 50 for the heck of it…

  • “On the Banks of the River Lex” by N.K. Jemesin.  In comic book terms, this was sort of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman meets Brian Wood’s DMZ. I feel like I have to give it a 5 out of 5, since the one thing that sticks in my craw about this story isn’t the story’s fault.  It’s just that, sort of like DMZ, the obvious love for NYC comes across as something I, as a reader, could only really understand if I was cool enough to have once lived there.
  • “Seeing” by Genevieve Valentine.  I don’t know how I’ve managed to miss her fiction.  It took me awhile to remember that I was reading Clarkesworld and not Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet.  In other words: dystopic astronomy and space-travel FTW!  5 out of 5.

From Lightspeed Magazine 2…

  • “No Time Like the Present” by Carol Emshwiller.  Since precious few other writers can keep you invested in a story whose plot you’ve figured out all of two pages in, this gets 5 out of 5!

“Going back to Cali, stylin’, profilin’…”

Layna Pimentel gave me one of these, so I’m stylin’ and profilin’!  Personally, it reminds me how I really need to spruce the place up a bit.  I mean, I guess it’s stylish in a retro, used Salvo thrift store outfit kinda way.  Yeah, or not.  But anyway, I won and I’m grateful!

The rules of the Stylish Blogger Award call for me to tell seven things about myself.  I’ll give it a shot, trying not to repeat anything I might’ve said before.

  1. I have lived in what can be described, to varying degrees, as “college towns” for 10 years, now, and I’ve loved it!
  2. I have hit a woman–but in a sparring match, and only after having been hit and kicked a few times first. (And not ‘cos I was a gentleman, but because she was too fast.)
  3. I have Huey Lewis & The News’ whole catalog. Shut up.
  4. I videotaped the entire Jon Pertwee run of DOCTOR WHO off the local PBS station when I was a kid. 
  5. I know enough knife fighting techniques to know how dangerous a prospect it is.  I, however, am not really much of a threat to anyone.
  6. The first, and so far only, concert that ever came close to making me cry was Cassandra Wilson. (The clip isn’t from the actual show, but from the same tour.)
  7. I never considered myself a “horror writer,” though I guess, technically…?

“What is this thing called love?”

I’ve joked before about how I look at my last two publications of 2010, which fall under the umbrella of “weird erotica,” and think to myself, as David Byrne sang, “My God! What have I done?”

Pulling double duty, Harry Markov reviews both of the anthologies in which I’ve appeared recently, and he does so on Valentine’s Day, no less.  Because nothing says Valentine’s Day like zombie sex and tentacle pr0n…

Markov mentions my story “Sublimation” in his review of Rigor Amortis over at Innsmouth Free Press, which he says “…pushes all the right buttons in a lust-filled story about human cruelty and zombies used as sex toys.”

You might argue whether or not “Rigor Amortis fails as zombie erotica,” but the part about how “it succeeds as an examiner of the human heart and the human libido after death”–yes, that!

I didn’t consider this ’til just this second–you’d think my story “The C-Word,” set in Innsmouth, would be somewhere in IFP.  I’m not bothered, though, since Cthulhurotica is mentioned more than a few times there.  Markov does mention it over at Rise Reviews.  I have to say, I agree with him when he says that, “What you, as the reader, must know about “Cthulhurotica” is the anthology’s conviction.  I’ve never read an anthology so sure in its identity, with a such a strong voice or as consistent in its theme.”

“That’s the sound of the men working on the chain gang”

Leave it to me to lose writing days on the month with the fewest…

No, I’m not having a pity party.  I’m just saying that not only did I miss a couple of days, I even low-balled some of my goals just to make sure I had Xes to make.  Still, better to light an inch than curse the dark, eh?  I did make progress with the seekrit nonfic WIP and even started a new flash story.  Which reminds me, I should find something to do with my last flash, huh…?

Reading is Fundamental

I spent last week with the rest of Karen Joy Fowler’s new collection What I Didn’t See and Other Stories.
[Edited to add: My Working Writer’s Daily Planner says it’s KJF’s birthday today–Happy Birthday!!]

“Familiar Birds.”  It’s funny how I keep coming across these “Back when I was a kid” stories lately.  I liked this one even better than I liked Mark Rigney’s “Portfolio” from LCRW 22.  5 out of 5.

“Private Grave 9.”  A detailed account of a character’s slow almost(?)-descent into… something.  5 out of 5.

“The Marianas Islands.”  It had my favorite passage in the book so far, and one of the more interesting main characters.  The ending was a little too abrupt for me.  4 out of 5.

“Once when I was four or five I asked my grandmother to tell me a secret, some secret things only grown-ups knew.  She thought a moment, then leaned down close to me and whispered.  ‘There are no grown-ups,’ she said.”

“Halfway People.”  Probably has my second-favorite line in the collection, but I’m pretty sure it’s my favorite story overall.  5 out of 5.

“But a story never told is also a danger, particularly to the people in it.”

“Standing Room Only.”  One story with John Wilkes Booth, dancing around his most infamous performance in the Ford Theater?  Okay.  Two?  I don’t know. 3 out of 5.

“What I Didn’t See.”  Loved the ending, but it just took a little too long to get there for me.  3.5 out of 5.

“King Rat.”  This was in the Trampoline anthology, but I hadn’t gotten that far yet.  A nicely solemn riff on the Pied Piper story.  5 out of 5.

“They’re doin’ the Bump N Touch. They’re doin’ the Dap-Dip. EVERYthing.”

I’d been looking forward to seeing Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings since they were here two years ago.  It was less of a straight-up concert than it was a real soul/R&B revue.  It was a party!

Two nights ago, my evening started a bit early in a new(-ish) bar and on Facebook with my new “friend,” Binky Griptite…

(Yeah, could’ve been a Daptone Records intern, but who cares?)

Binky and The Dap-Kings started off with one of my favorite songs of 2010, “The Reason.”  A couple of tunes later, Binky introduced the newest rising star in the Daptone soul universe, a “young voice,” Charles Bradley!  As in, 62 years young and still kicking ass!  I was too far away (and dancing) to get any decent shots.  But I did get him to sign his No Time for Dreaming CD I bought at intermission.

Afterward, the Dee-Kays warmed us back up.  By this point, I was down near the front!

After this point, I just remember a blur of funk and dancing…

Sharon & Charles showing us how it was done back in the day.

I got to hang around for autographs at the end.  I didn’t have anything for Sharon to sign (I already got her the last time she was in town), but I did get to thank her for coming back.  In return, she says, “Give me some sugar” and plants a kiss on my cheek!!

I will NEVER wash my cheek again!

And then, brother Charles did me the honor…

The Mrs. had the honor of becoming a 3rd Dapette…

…while I snagged autographs from Bosco Mann and Cochemea Gastulem, who were giggling uncontrollably for some reason.  Probably because some woman snagged my pen to get them to sign her ticket, and then I went, “Hey, as long as you’ve got my pen…”

I have to say, my con experiences have paid off.  I wasn’t half as fanboy-ish and starstruck as I could’ve been.  Of course, the Daptone Records folks always seemed like cool, friendly folk all around, and approachable, which made it easy.

“Chain, chain, chaaaaaain…”

I didn’t get much done last weekend.  It was pointed out to me that I do tend to overdo it a bit during the week, and that maybe it’s worth taking a night off during the week.  I’m starting to agree–better to lose an evening or two rather than two whole fucking weekend days!  And I gotta tell you, as evidenced by the fact that I’m not going to be able to check off yesterday and probably not tomorrow, this week isn’t looking so good, either.

Although I’m willing to cut myself a break tomorrow.  Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings are coming to town!

Reading is Fundamental

For starters, I finally got around to those last two stories in Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet 22:

“Portfolio” by Mark Rigney. In the continuum of “when I was a boy…” stories from Steven Millhauser and Peter S. Beagle’s “Uncle Chaim and Aunt Rifke and the Angel” this one was (thankfully) closer to Beagle. Rigney’s & Beagle’s stories both involved painting. Hmm. 5 out of 5.

“Dearest Cecily” by Kristine Dikeman. The narrative got me over my initial “Oh god, not another story told in letters!” reaction PDQ! 4 out of 5.

Next up was something that caught my eye in my RSS feed. “Taking Flight” by Ben Tanzer at Metazen. I’ve introduced you to Ben before. I dug Ben’s narrative of what future generations from the late 21st century onward will eventually call “the same old story.” 4 out of 5.

The rest are from Karen Joy Fowler’s collection What I Didn’t See and Other Stories.

“Booth’s Ghost.” John Wilkes is in it, but he’s not the main character. Brilliant. 5 out of 5.

“Last Worders.” Nice story with great setting description. The end was a little telegraphed for me, though–maybe not the detail, but the fact of it. 4 out of 5.

“The Dark.” Great story but with too many narrative threads that left me unsure which character or situation to really invest in. 4 out of 5.

“Always.” This one was more my speed–a character I could sympathize with in a situation, while weird, I could still understand. 5 out of 5.

Write Hard

I won this, and now I’m about to pay it forward.


The rules say (and we all know how good I am about rules, right)…

When you win:

1. Post the picture above to your blog. You can link here if you want. It doesn’t have to become part of the permanent clutter of your sidebar. Goodness no.

2. List at least three writers who you feel live up to the “write hard” spirit. Think: writers who work at their craft, writers who never give up despite the odds, writers who constantly turn out quality work. Writers you admire. Optional: explain why you think they are awesome.

3. Include these rules or a link to them.

4. Notify said writers of their victory. Ask them to pass on the torch.

5. Continue being awesome.

Hey, I’ll do one better.  I can give you four. 

Mercedes M. Yardley.  You know how I idolize all those big-name writers whose writing wisdom revolves around, “There are no excuses, the muse is a myth, there is no writer’s block.  Just sit down, STFU, and write!”  But the thing is, when I fail at getting writing done–and I often do–there’s a subconscious comfort in knowing that I’m not my heroes.  No, I’m not Ray Bradbury, so of course I couldn’t just churn out a story this week, I subconsciously think.  It’s all good.

Then, I look at Mercedes.

Seriously, just read her blog.  With everything she has going on, no one would ever blame her for missing a writing day.  Except she almost never does.  Or when she does, then she’s slushing or doing other writerly things–or, she’s doing wifey/motherly things.  What she doesn’t do is give herself the excuse to whine about how there’s no time.   No playing the world’s smallest violin for her!

If she has no excuses, I sure as hell have no excuses, not by a damn sight. 

This is what Mr. Pink thinks of your writing excuses–and mine.

Calista Taylor.  I joke about my ADD-like inability to focus on writing anything longer than a 5,000-word short story.  As most of you know, the thought of writing something novel length has always scared the piss out of me.  Dedicating yourself to a project that big is one thing.  But knowing that even if you succeed in cranking it out, it could all still go down the drain if you can’t find an agent…?  Or, even after you find an agent if no one buys it…?  Or, even after someone buys it, it gets gutted or even axed for no good reason…?  All that time and thousands of words… *shudder*

Yet, you know who’s been sticking it through all of those stages, and more than once?  Cali.  And that’s why I know she’s within a hair’s breadth of it.  She’s given me a front row seat as to exactly what the ups and downs of novel publication looks like, and you better believe I’m taking careful notes.

There’s a two-way tie between Regan Leigh and Layna Pimentel.  These two write as hard as anybody, but how they have time for that and still keeping up with their network of friends and contacts, to say nothing about the stuff going on in their lives, I have no idea.  It’s all I can do to keep from turning anti-social to the point of misanthropy (Some might tell you I’ve failed miserably).  The thought of hosting something like Query Chat?  Damn, Regan.  Beyond me, I tell you.  And if anyone I’m following on Twitter is a real social butterfly–and I don’t mean just perpetually pinging them on #followfriday or #writerwednesday, but actually interacting with folks–it’s Layna. 

Now, I don’t want to obligate anybody.  Merc, Cali, Regan, and Layna have better things to do than pass this thing forward.  I didn’t, but I love ’em all and I would’ve done it anyway.