Hobknobbing

I went to the local comic-book show last Saturday and got to hang out a bit with VERTIGO editor Will Dennis, who steers such fine books as DMZ, 100 BULLETS, and Y: THE LAST MAN. I also attended a talk he gave last Thursday at the library. The talk was billed as a how-to on breaking into comics, but as usually happens in I-town during talks like this where only an interested few show up, the talk regresses into chilling out and talking shop. Which is still cool. I heard lots of stuff about the biz that I’ve heard before, but that sounds more real coming from someone neck-deep in it.

Besides, where else was I gonna sit two feet away from comic book legend Roger Stern? God, I’ve lived in this town for two years and I’m still too nervous to talk to the man. He’s a veteran with cool war stories, talking about stuff like conversations he had with folks like Frank Miller back in the day.

The show itself was fun. The scenery wasn’t as interesting since I got there as soon as it opened, beating the crowd. Not that it’s Nerd Prom or anything, but the room is small and can get cramped in short order. I continued rebuilding the lost collection of my youth, finding books I’d owned in years past in “good” to “very good” condition. Stuff like old issues of Rom and Dectective Comics from the early 80s–comics that are twenty-five years really, really old–that I remember, for example, buying in a 7-11 that’s no longer around, etc.

My “big score” was a discounted copy of Adrian Tomine’s Summer Blonde. I’m telling you, it’s a must-read. His stuff always keeps me enthralled.

Good Reads

I know it looks like I just buried my nose in a book the whole weekend. In fact, I took my Saturday and went to the local comic show where I got to hang for a few minutes with an editor from VERTIGO comics. I’ll talk about that next time, maybe.

  • Italo Calvino, “Good for Nothing”
  • Karen Jordan Allen, “Alternate Anxieties”
  • Amy Hempel, “Pool Night”
  • Rachel Pollack, “Burning Beard: The Dreams and Visions of Jacob ben Joseph, Lord Viceroy of Egypt”
  • Barry Hannah, “Water Liars”
  • Barry Hannah, “Love Too Long”
  • Barry Hannah, “Coming Close to Donna”
  • Mary Robison, “I Am Twenty-One”
  • Barry Hannah, “Quo Vadis, Smut?”
    (Comments on it, here)

100th Post

What better way celebrate than to cross-post something that only an übergeek like me could possibly appreciate?

This so fucking rules!

EDIT: Needed a new clip, since the original got yanked.

Good Reads

You’d think that since my last entry, I hadn’t read any stories since June. So untrue. I’ve had other things to write but my reading list, but I figure I’d just try to get back into the swing of it.

So, some (but not all) of the cooler short stories I’ve read this past week…

There, But for the Grace of God

My crit group is not like this, thank Christ. Now the business, from what I’ve heard, might be a different story…

(Sent by a fellow group member.)

EDIT: I’ll be damned, I thought I’ve seen this image before. Neil Gaiman posted it on his blog a few days ago in an entry I “starred” for later review in Google Reader. I found it since I’m home sick from The Diamond Mines today, and going through my horrendous backlog.

Tough Love

Sorry this is long overdue. Stuff to do, sick at work, writing to do, etc. But, I’ll go ahead and talk about the responses to the portion of “Masked” that I’ve read for group, about 10 pages just before the ending.

The Good

  • The group saw a good crescendo in the tension I was trying to build.
  • People liked the dialogue. It seemed realistic, they said. Script-like with tons of subtext. The way two brothers would talk to each other.
  • Someone commented on certain “little touches” I’ve added, descriptions about what my characters did while talking. (Hey, it’s not for nothing that I read all that Carver, Beattie, and Hempel.)

The Bad

  • I had a scene where the protagonist was listening to one side of a telephone conversation. For one, the conversation was probably too long, since some of the stuff in the conversation was repeated in a subsequent conversation. I got lots of useful suggestions on how to shorten the conversation.
  • A comment was made about the unclear relationship between the protagonist and another character–although I think any confusion would be cleared up if the story was read in toto.
  • I could’ve written a certain flashback scene a little better.
  • Some plot points I included in the back end of the story would probably better off in the beginning.

The Ugly
Okay, maybe these parts weren’t “ugly,” but I felt these comments needed special attention. I haven’t quite figured out exactly how to incorporate these particular changes yet.

  • Someone commented about a scene that takes place in the outdoors. Granted, I didn’t read a section that might have fleshed out a description of the outdoors, but I’ve thought lately to just how much trouble I have writing descriptions. (Call it a consequence of reading all that Carver, Beattie, and Hempel.)
  • Okay, so the story involves an unseen enemy. I thought I could refer to it as such, trying not to resort to stuff like, The Unseen Evil That Must Not Be Named. Now, no one suggested for a minute I do that. But, I could really use some sort of consistent tag to use throughout the story.

Well, I sent the whole 29-page beast to five folks in my writing group. I’ve heard back from one and I’ve got four to go. Then, I’ll edit, then I’ll send it out. Hopefully, this’ll be one I get paid for!