Everything Old is New Again...Sort Of...

After last year's release of Let It Be Naked, Capitol Records will release The Beatles Love in a couple of weeks. The difference between the two releases? Let It Be Naked was not manipulated; rather the official release was, with Phil Spector's orchestral and choir overdubs, among other things that sent Paul McCartney into orbit. With Love, long-time Beatles producer George Martin (along with his son Giles) has augmented and linked several Beatles songs together with additional instrumentation, newly-discovered vocal tracks, etc.

Do we really need this? Probably not. Does Capitol really want to juice more money out of Beatles fans? Definitely. Capitol understands that there aren't any more hidden Beatles tunes to be discovered; we're finished, done. We can't even throw something together as the (then) surviving Beatles did a few years ago with "Real Love" and "Free as a Bird," featuring pre-existing vocals by John Lennon. That was sort of cool, but those tunes are hardly standouts in the Beatles canon.

I actually heard the Love version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" a few days ago. The orchestration is okay; it's not offensive, it's somewhat interesting, but if I want to hear the song, I'll just put The White Album into the player.

Musicians argue all the time over performance practices, especially in classical music. What did Mozart really mean when he wrote a forte? Did Tchaikovsky really want five fortes in the Finale from Symphony No. 4? You can find musicians who'll just about come to blows over whether to perform pre-modern music on contemporary or original instruments.

So is the release of Love really such a big deal? I guess it is for Capitol. I don't plan to buy it, but if it's playing, I'll give it a listen. Or maybe I'll just dust off that old Rubber Soul LP instead.

Hold Your Breath for 13 Weeks

Six weeks into Season Three, the fine folks at ABC have decided that Lost will take a 13-week hiatus, returning on Feb. 7 to begin sixteen more episodes. During those thirteen weeks, ABC will air a new show (or maybe mini-series would be more apt) called Day Break, which actually doesn't look bad.

Of course that means we'll have to wait and speculate for thirteen weeks. 91 days. 2184 hours. 131,040 minutes. But who's counting? Maybe that will give me time to get caught up on Battlestar Galactica Seasons One and Two.






More on the WFC awards later.
Today's short story: "A Temple of the Holy Ghost" - Flannery O'Connor

World Fantasy Report

Reality still hasn't quite settled in yet (Let's hope it never fully does), but since I have been home for well over 36 hours, I'm probably coherent enough (Well, maybe not) to give a brief report on WFC.

As John mentioned on his blog, WFC is much more than panels, book signings and the dealer room. I attended only a few panels, the best of which was Saturday morning's Horror, Dark Fantasy and Other Fiction that Go Bump in the Night.

Any panel with Stephen Jones and Ann VanderMeer is worth your time and this one was no exception. Jones mentioned that horror will endure because it keeps reinventing itself with the times and culture. VanderMeer said that two of the basic aspects of horror, sex and death, are universal, motivating us more than anything else. Everyone understands that, although they may not want to face it. Nancy Holder seemed to agree, stating that horror is an emotional mood, not a genre.

I'm glad the panelists brought up this topic: People often ask "Why do we need horror in the world we live in now?" The more visceral the real horrors of life, the more we need escape. Jones said that horror should be confrontational, not just violent; it should stick with you.

It was a great panel. It could have gone on for two hours and I wouldn't have budged.

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I only attended two readings: Jeffrey Ford and Holly Phillips. Ford read a story in manuscript (but which will appear in the upcoming anthology Inferno) which was vintage Ford: weird, funny, disturbing, quirky, wonderful. I believe it was called "The Bedroom Window." Correction from John: "The Bedroom Light"

The only story I'd read by Holly Phillips before last week was her WFC-nominated story "The Other Grace," which I enjoyed very much, but the unpublished story she read on Saturday was absolutely gorgeous. I'll be reading her entire collection very soon.

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As John mentioned, World Fantasy is about the people you meet and the friendships you develop. It's always great to see my Clarion friends (we had six show up this year) and instructors, as well as meeting new folks. The more I write, the more I realize that the friends you make along the way constitute the best part of writing.

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And now, the part everyone wants to know about....

FREE books from the book bag/exchange table:

The Lost District - Joel Lane
Mockingbird - Sean Stewart
The Nymphos of Rocky Flats - Mario Acevedo
Best Short Novels 2006 - Jonathan Strahan, ed.
A Princess of Roumania - Paul Park
The Mount - Carol Emshwiller
Last Week's Apocalypse - Douglas Lain

Purchased:

Best New Fantasy - Sean Wallace, ed.
Forbidden Cargo - Rebecca K. Rowe
In the Palace of Repose - Holly Phillips
Howard Who? - Howard Waldrop
Skinny Dipping in the Lake of the Dead - Alan DeNiro
Catalyst - Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Secret Life - Jeff VanderMeer

Books I should have bought while I had the chance:

The Keyhole Opera - Bruce Holland Rogers
20th Century Ghosts - Joe Hill

Tomorrow: Thoughts on the WFC Award Winners

Post-Halloween Thoughts, WFC Preparations and Other Stuff Guaranteed to Waste Your Valuable Internet Time

You'd think the World Fantasy Convention powers-that-be would have enough wisdom to prevent these two clowns from attending, but they have foolishly allowed us free (well, not exactly free) access to the con starting tomorrow. (This photo of John and me was taken at the recent Capclave by Andy Duncan. Thanks, Andy!)

Halloween was fairly uneventful. Since our greyhound Bullet normally sends young children running for the safety of their parents' waiting cars on Halloween, we've found the best thing to do is set out a bowl of candy, refilling it every hour or so while watching a movie or two with the hound. Cindy had her running group last night, so I got to choose the movies. (Bullet lost his voting privileges when he sided with Cindy to watch Memoirs of a Geisha several months back.)

I made a couple of discoveries which weren't too surprising:

1 - The TV show Night Gallery is nowhere near as good as I thought it was as a kid. Disc One is all I've seen in 30 years, but if it's any indication, the show suffers from overacting, gimmicks and weak adaptations of good stories. C.M. Kornbluth's short story "The Little Black Bag" is a wonderful tale in print that should have been a home-run, especially with Burgess Meredith starring in the NG episode. Although it's probably the best of the lot, the frame around the episode is very clumsily done. Fritz Leiber's "The Dead Man" would have been a good episode, but runs too long and explains far too much to the audience (plus the device that makes the whole thing work isn't executed well at all). "The Nature of the Enemy" is downright embarrassing, but at least it's short.

From what I've read, Rod Serling isn't really to blame. The producers wanted more "weird monster" stories, rather than the imaginative thought-provoking tales that made The Twilight Zone such a hit. As a result, they got the monsters-and-gimmicks they were looking for.

I'll probably keep watching, though. I remember several episodes that I'd like to see again, in particular ones starring John Carradine as a creepy old man trying to scare a couple of kids and Richard Thomas as a starving man offered corpses to eat.

2 - John Carpenter's The Thing, however, still holds up well after nearly 25 years. (Has it been that long?) Although it hasn't happened lately, Carpenter used to make some pretty good stuff. Every time I see The Thing I ask myself if I really like the ending or not. Last night I liked it.

Well, it's almost time for WFC, which means the ol' blog will be silent for a few days. If you're attending, I hope to see you there. If not, I'll be back early next week with a full report.

Things To Do on Halloween

The possibilities are endless. If you live in the Baltimore/DC area, you couldn't go wrong by visiting Poe's grave at Fayette and Green streets in Baltimore. Check out Andy Duncan's comments here.

If you are inclined to stay at home handing out goodies to the neighborhood kiddos, my good friend Kelly Shaw has some great movie suggestions for you here.

At some point, Bullet and I will probably watch either the original 1963 version of The Haunting or the 1982 remake of The Thing, both great (and as different from each other as they can be) horror flicks.

Of course, I'm very tempted to start the new Conrad Williams novel The Unblemished, which arrived just a few days ago. Ah, so many choices.

Whatever you do, everybody have a happy, safe Halloween. (Two more days to WFC!)

Cindy Conquers the Marine Corps 10K

I'm very proud of Cindy for completing the Marine Corps 10K Run yesterday (which is connected with the Marine Corps Marathon) in downtown DC. The way she's going, I wouldn't be surprised if runs the whole marathon soon. I expect she'll be ready for a half-marathon very soon. (I told her I'll stick with the half-miler.)



The Clydesdales were even there at the end of the race, giving out free beer. (Well, the Clydesdales were more or less supervising.) Free beer? What a race! Sign me up!



These guys weren't doing much. Looks like Skippy was guarding all the good stuff.




Cindy after crossing the finish line - a job well done! Of course they had other free stuff - bagels, sports drinks, egg beaters...but after the beer, who really cares? Anyway, I'm very proud of her. It doesn't seem that long ago that she and I were huffing and puffing at the track at Lamar High School in Arlington, TX. (The only difference is I'm still huffing and puffing.)

Speaking of huffing and puffing, I saw a woman preparing herself for the 10K by puffing a last minute cigarette. That's what I call training. And sacrifice. And some other things.

Just a few more days until WFC...

Resting Places

Did you know that the most common non-religious name for a cemetery in this country is Evergreen? It's true - there's at least 101 of 'em. I found this out by doing a little research for my current graveyard story, which should be ready to go out in a few days. (I did not choose the name "Evergreen" for my story, however.)

Speaking of this story, I'm breaking one of the rules I've heard for years, that diary or journal stories generally don't work well in fiction. I tend to agree. I remember telling a good friend of mine a couple of years ago that I didn't think her novel in diary/journal form would work.

So why am I doing it with this short story? (And it is pretty short; should end up no longer than 5000 words.) Maybe because it's the best way for me to discover who my narrator really is and becomes through this weekly journal. I might decide to take the journal element out once I've read the completed first draft, but for now it's working. We shall see.

A revised version of "You Can Say Anything You Want" got rejected yesterday, sent to someone else today. That makes only six stories out there in the pipeline, which is fewer than I'd like. I'm hoping to have at least two more stories out there before Thanksgiving. If I can just get Fred to punch the clock a little more often, I think it'll happen. Maybe he's been hanging out at Evergreen...

Countdown to WFC

One week from now (or less, if I just can't stand it) I'll be packing for World Fantasy in Austin, TX, where I'll eat/drink too much, sleep too little, and purchase far too many books. But hey, this is World Fantasy, right?

It'll also be good to be back in Austin. Cindy and I lived there in 1996-97 while I was teaching at Bailey Middle School and Murchison Middle School. But if anyone asks me how to get anywhere, they'll be out of luck. I don't even think I could find our apartment after being gone for ten years. But Austin is definitely one of the nation's coolest cities, regardless of whether you're lost or not.

There are a few places I'd like to revisit. Although it's several miles from Austin, The Salt Lick can't be beat for great barbecue. Maybe some of us can get a group together and drive on down.

Book People, The Largest Bookstore in Texas (and what else matters?) is a must-stop. Unfortunately, I'll miss the Howard Waldrop/Ellen Kushner/Kelly Link book signing due to my flight time, but they'll all be at the con anyway.

In the meantime, I'd better make some money...

Capclave Report

My good friend John and I decided to run over to Capclave for a Saturday-only sampling. The only other con I'd been to previously was World Fantasy (twice), so I certainly wasn't expecting Capclave to match WFC in size or quality, but it was quite good.

John and I went to the dealer room first (of course) where we literally bumped into Andy Duncan and his wife Sydney. It's always great fun to see Andy and it was a real pleasure to meet Sydney. (And it's also nice having them in Maryland.)

Most of the panels we attended were pretty good. I always enjoy the wit and wisdom of David Hartwell, who had a lot to say about why we have dividing lines in genre and how they came about in the first place. And I enjoyed the panel on the TV show Lost, where I discovered that compared to some fans, I am only a casual observer of the series.

Which brings me to the best panels:

The Future of Small Press Magazines consisted of four panelists: Neil Clarke (Clarkesworld), Ed Schubert (InterGalactic Medicine Show), Lawrence Watt-Evans (Helix) and Sean Wallace (Fantasy Magazine).

Each publication is different in their format, their payment and their philosophy. While Clarkesworld pays 10 cents a word, they only publish two stories a month, one by an established writer and one by a relative newcomer. (The stories appear online and in chapbook format. Online is free, chapbook is not.) Fantasy pays 2 cents a word, but includes a healthy twelve stories an issue. Wallace says that he feels it's more important to include more 4,000K (or fewer) stories than one or two stories of novellete or novella length, that most readers seem to want to read shorter fiction. (I tend to agree with him.) Helix is not an open submission publication, but they do tend to publish stories by established authors that's been turned down by other mags because they're too controversial.

There's a lot more to say about this panel and Endings: Slingshots and Other Varieties of Wrapping Up, but if I'm going to get to the gym before it closes, I've gotta go now. More later (pending interest). All in all, a good con I plan to attend again next year.

Keep It Short?

I'm wondering how my writing would change if I read only short stories for awhile, say three or four months. Don't get me wrong, I love novels, but when I'm in the middle of reading one, I tend to get caught up in the entire world presented in it, including all its complexities and structure. Then when I sit down to work on one of my stories, I get a little overwhelmed with the possibilities of ideas, structure, character, etc. I know and understand that you don't have the room in a short story to explore an entire world, but I'm wondering if a tighter focus in my reading would provide some boundaries in my writing, which right now tends to roam all over the place.

Speaking of writing, another 500 words on my "dead people" story. Really it's more of a graveyard story than a dead people story. It took me awhile to explore what's going on in the narrator's head and after some false starts, the story has shown me where it needs to go. Now it's flowing pretty well.

Not much going on this weekend, but my good friend John and I will be attending Capclave next weekend, which will be a nice warm-up for World Fantasy next month.

How 'Bout Them Cowboys?

As you may recall, back in April of this year, T.O. signed a three-year, $25 million contract with my former favorite team of 30+ years, the Dallas Cowboys. At that time, I made a statement that I refused to cheer, root, pull for or even give a nod in the general direction of the team as long as Jerry Jones keeps T.O. around. In fact, I've cheered for every team that plays against the 'Boys. (Let me tell ya, it's tough cheering for the Redskins.) It's my hope that:

1 - The Cowboys will lose as many games as possible, and miserably.

2 - Jerry Jones will decide T.O. isn't worth $25 million and will trade him/pay him out and cut his losses (which should be many) at the first opportunity.

It's also my hope that Parcells/Jones/etc. will find a quarterback that's under the age of 30 that can lead this team to some type of future...that is after T.O. has gone and I can cheer for the Cowboys once again.

So has T.O. been the non-factor on the field/distraction off the field I thought he'd be?

You betcha.

Owens had three catches on Sunday for 45 yards. Plus at least one dropped pass that I saw (I only watched a few minutes) which caused the Philadelphia fans to erupt in laughter, finger pointing, knee-slapping and other forms of jubilation.

Plus (according to the articles I read this morning) T.O. behaved in his usual immature fashion, spouting off, yelling and screaming, pouting, etc. on the sidelines.

But I guess that's what Jerry Jones wanted. Let's see...a 38-24 loss to the Eagles, three catches, 45 yards, zero touchdowns, multiple tantrums....how's that $25 mil. contract workin' for you, Jerry?

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On the positive side, 500 words this morning on a brand new short story that has nothing to do with T.O., football or money. Just lots of dead people.

Stepping into the 21st Century

Well, I'm finally making the plunge. Everyone in the known universe has made fun of me (and rightly so) for years, so this weekend I'm buying a cell phone family plan.

Cindy's had a cell phone for years. I bought her one when we lived in Austin in 1996. She commuted to UNT in Denton, TX and I wanted her to have a little added security. (Denton's a dangerous place, ya know.) It was one of those big clunky Motorola phones that looked and felt like a gray brick. Then she got a prepaid phone that she's been using for a couple of years. But now we're getting the real thing. I told her as long as I can get "Like a Rolling Stone" as my ringtone, I'll be happy.

Not to get ahead of ourselves, but we're wondering how many people have disconnected their land lines and use cell phones for all their calls. What do you think?

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Sent out a new story today called "Thicket" which clocked in at exactly 5,000 words.

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Everybody have a good Columbus Day Weekend. Go discover something.

Some Thoughts on Lost - Seasons One and Two (plus a few minor spoilers)

Awhile back, Cindy and I spent several weeks watching Lost Season One via Netflix. We enjoyed it enough to rent Season Two as soon as it was available, watching the entire season in a matter of days.

In a way, Season One is like a prologue for Season Two. Sure, a lot happens in Season One: the crash, of course, and all the weird things going on, but most of Season One shows us who these characters are (and were) thorough backstory.

Without giving anything away, the stakes are raised big-time in Season Two. This season is (for the most part) fast-paced, exciting, intriguing and addictive. But there are a few factors that bring cause for concern:

Sometimes the character flashbacks seem to work against themselves. Much of the backstory provides essential information on why the characters act (or should act) the way they do. But that's part of the problem. We see what these characters are about, then back on the island, their behavior is sometimes inconsistent with what we've learned about them in the flashback. Sure, their whole lives have been turned around since the crash, but people will certainly still carry around their baggage. For instance (again, without giving too much away for those who haven't seen the show), we learn that there's something in Kate's past that makes a man like Sawyer not only a big turn-off, but downright odious. Yet she sure spends a lot of time with him. You can see other inconsistencies with other characters as well.

Certain characters appear in deus ex machina fashion, only to disappear after serving their purpose to get the main characters where they need to go for that particular plot point.

I have some other minor issues, but my main concern is that the writers/producers of the show will never be able to tie all the loose ends together. There's an awful lot to be explained at the end of Season Two and I just have to hope that Lost is not jerking our chains at the end of the season just to say "Gotcha!"

We shall see. Season Three begins in two days.

Which brings up another point that bothers me.

When Season Three does start in two days, it's only going to run for six weeks, followed by a thirteen-week break, after which the season will conclude. Talk about jerking your chain....

But again, I'm willing to go along.

For now....

Random Thoughts

First, if you have any interest whatsoever in speculative fiction, you should read James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon. An excellent, informative, entertaining and long overdue biography. Highly recommended.

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Second, if Flannery O'Connor were alive today, I'd camp out on her front porch, sidestepping the peacocks, telling her how wonderful she is each time she opened the door. I've been chipping away at several of her stories from The Complete Stories. O'Connor read lots of Joyce, Kafka and Faulkner and that conglomeration of influences shows up in many of her stories. Many of the stories are humorous, disturbing, horrific, strange, violent, absurd and nihilistic - often all in the same story. She had the uncanny ability to capture small-town Southerners and yet bring out universal concepts, moral judgments and the possibility of redemption from them, and the supernatural, all without stooping to preachiness.

O'Connor was a Roman Catholic, but denominations are never clear from her stories, at least not to me. What amazes me is that so few Christians have read (or have even heard of) O'Connor. These are amazing stories. Start with her most famous, "A Good Man is Hard to Find," which is itself very easy to find: it's been anthologized just about everywhere.

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On the writing front, 600 words tonight on an almost-finished short story.

Now Playing = The Complete Columbia Stanley Brothers

Getting Unstuck or The Battle of the Jeffs

Some excellent comments from the last post. Thanks to all.

It is tough to leave a story alone for awhile. I tend to want to struggle through the muck, waving knives and swords at anything that moves (or doesn't move), getting in the way of my story. But following Ford's advice, I went back to a story that had fizzled out awhile back. I focused on why one of the characters acts the way he does and several pieces of the puzzle fell into place, not all at once, but little by little, like a trail of clues leading me forward. The story is working and I'm excited about it. Like VanderMeer mentioned, I have a general idea of what's going to happen (or might happen), but I'll be open for any self-discoveries I or my characters might find along the way.

This from Sarah Monette. Advice, help and suggestions you can get from others, for which I'm thankful. But you've gotta do the work. Good stuff, Sarah.

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Watched another Blast from the Past on DVD last night, Let's Scare Jessica to Death from 1971. It's a good example of some of the 70's low-budget horror films that often work better than the stuff being made today.

Everybody have a great weekend -

Sort of starts off real slow and then it fizzles out altogether*

The last two stories I've worked on (for the past month) have done exactly that. With both stories, I've started off with a good idea, run with it, then bogged down trying to find the finish line. I can tell that I'm manipulating the endings, something Jeff Ford warned us against at Clarion. I can even point to specific sentences and tell you "That's where it's happening, right there." But I can't seem to "unmanipulate" it.

I suppose that these stories will take care of themselves in time. Probably the thing to do is leave them alone for awhile and let Fred take over. It's frustrating, but everybody goes through it. (I hope they do.)

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I've found that sometimes such fizzling out comes after reading a lot of really great stuff, then trying to write too soon afterwards. It's sort of like watching Roger Federer play tennis then picking up a raquet and hitting the courts. Anyway, lately I've been reading some short stories by Flannery O'Connor, one of my favorite writers.

There's much to admire in O'Connor's work. I certainly appreciate all the Southern touches, but I marvel at how she weaves a spiritual element into each story. The South is filled with spiritually, and not all of it good. O'Connor knows how to bring this out without beating the reader over the head with it. She also knows the importance of word choices. So many of her sentences could have been written with slight differences, but sacrificing much. Hers is a true world of wonder with enough strangeness to satisfy spec fic readers (even non-Southern ones).

My reading has been all over the place lately. In addition to O'Connor, I've been reading:

Scott Westerfeld
Jeff VanderMeer
Anton Chekhov
Dante
Jasper Fforde
Hans Christian Andersen

No wonder I can't write anything....


* from Neil Young's introduction to "Don't Let It Bring You Down" from the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young live album 4-Way Street.

"Can you do this? Without CGI?"

Beam Me Up?

It was more like "Beat me up" if you wanted to own the three seasons of the original Star Trek series on DVD just a few weeks ago. The price of each individual season has lately dropped from over $100 to $45 at Costco. Hmmmm...usually means there's a "new" edition coming out soon....

And there is. CBS/Paramount will begin broadcasting digitally enhanced versions of the original series, beginning on September 16, so the DVDs won't be far behind. (But at what price?)

From startrek.com:

The most noticeable change will be redoing many of the special effects, created with 1960s technology, with 21st century computer-generated imagery (CGI). Upgrades include:

Space ship exteriors – The Enterprise, as well as other starships, will be replaced with state of the art CGI-created ships. The new computer-generated Enterprise is based on the exact measurements of the original model, which now rests in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
Show opening – The Enterprise and planets seen in the main title sequence will be redone, giving them depth and dimension for the first time.
Galaxy shots – All the graphics of the galaxy, so frequently seen through the viewscreen on the Enterprise's bridge, will be redone.
Exteriors – The battle scenes, planets and ships from other cultures (notably the Romulan Bird of Prey and Klingon Battle Cruisers) will be updated.
Background scenes – Some of the iconic, yet flat, matte paintings used as backdrops for the strange, new worlds explored by the Enterprise crew will get a CGI face-lift, adding atmosphere and lighting.
The refurbished episodes also feature higher quality sound for the famous opening theme. The original score by Emmy Award-winning composer Alexander Courage, has been re-recorded in state-of-the-art digital stereo audio with an orchestra and a female singer belting out the famous vocals. A digitally remastered version of William Shatner's classic original recording of the 38-word "Space, the final frontier..." monologue continues to open each episode.

The remastered episodes have been converted from the original film into a High-Definition format, which gives viewers a clearer, crisper, more vibrant picture than before, even when viewed in standard definition. Once stations upgrade and start broadcasting HD signals, the episodes will be all ready for viewers to enjoy in HD.

Just for fun, here's a look at the new enhanced Enterprise.

I don't know how I feel about this. Sure, I realize that the show (especially the unenhanced edition) is major cheese, but I grew up on the show and have fond memories of it. Like many of us from my era, this was our first introduction to sf. And even though I haven't watched any of the newer Trek incarnations in the past 20 years or read a Trek novel in 30 years, I still love watching the old shows. (Some of them, anyway.) I like watching the old cardboard sets, the cheap fx, the universal rock-planet that appears in each episode.

Sure, it would be nice to see a cleaner picture, a better soundtrack, and fx with less of a cheese factor. But what can you do about Shatner's bad acting?

Still, I think of those old episodes as an old friend. He stumbles around a bit and embarrasses you sometimes, but he's still hanging in there.

"He's dead, Jim."

Yeah, well....yeah...

Going There

This from Sarah Monette's blog. Competition is something that's part of life; there's no getting around it. It's in how we view it -- and ourselves in it -- that counts. As a teacher, I always tried to instill in my students the idea that you're primarily competing against yourself, trying to go deeper, to explore what you're capable of, which ususally involves moving outside your comfort zone.

When I look back at my stories that show the most promise, nearly all of them involve a journey for me, the writer, to a place that is both challenging and uncomfortable. When I strip away all the safety barriers and protective coverings, I find some pretty incredible stuff waiting to be discovered.

That happened this morning for about an hour with a story that had just stalled for the past several days. It took me to a place that's both scary and challenging, but I stood there in the middle of it and learned a lot about the story and myself. The story is certainly not finished, but the truth (and the power) of it is rising to the surface.

It's a lot easier to compare yourself to other writers, though. But what good comes from it? As Sarah rightly says, there's always a writer that wins a bigger prize or whose book stays on the bestseller lists longer than yours. Those things are ultimately out of our control. But you can control how you challenge yourself by getting out of your comfort zone and making some discoveries that might not feel so good for awhile. But your writing will be stonger.

It's true. Give it a try.

James Van Pelt's The Last of the O-Forms

I just finished James Van Pelt's second collection of short fiction, The Last of the O-Forms and Other Stories. It doesn't take much reading to realize Van Pelt is not only a very good writer, he's also comfortable in a variety of genres. In the fifteen stories in this collection, you'll find sf, fantasy, horror, an homage to Lovecraft, post-apocalyptic stories, stories about high school kids, little kids, birds and animals, a poker tournament, Bogart, Astaire and more.

Van Pelt knows about all these things, but more importantly, he knows a lot about what it means to be human, even when your surroundings pressure you to become something other than human. That he can do this without coming across as heavy-handed or sappy is pretty amazing.

Take, for example, the post-apocalyptic "A Flock of Birds." All we know is that something has wiped out most of the North American population, only about 50,000 people remain. Van Pelt isn't really concerned with how it happened. (Lord knows, it could be any one of a hundred ways.) What he is concerned with is how we handle the days that follow. A middle-aged, balding man named Carson spends his days watching for rare, near-extinct birds while taking care of an ailing woman who has wandered into his house. We've seen this scenario before, lots of times, but Van Pelt doesn't go where you think he's going.

He's never predictable in any of these stories. They're all fresh, well-told and memorable. The title story is one of the most powerful, unsettling tales I've read this year. The only thing I can't understand is why Van Pelt isn't talked about more.

YES!!!

Finally!

Mission: Impossible - The Complete First Season will be released on December 5, just in time to be placed in the stocking of that special someone. Whoot! I have fond memories of the opening credits, the lighting of the fuse followed by a flurry of (what I then thought of as) lightning-fast images of fast cars, ticking clocks, masks being ripped off, stealth-filled shifty-eyed glances, all driven by Lalo Shifrin's much-parodied yet unforgettable theme music. I fear that after forty years this show will now look like major cheese puffs, but I don't care. I've waited a long time to see this show again and purge all images of Tom Cruise from my memory.

Rain, Stories, Novels, Fortune Cookies

Ah, the rain at last. Refreshing, isn't it?

Finished a new story this morning, a 7,000 word monster that may need to be further tamed. It's in the hands of my First Reader right now. Hopefully I'll send it out early next week.

A good friend of mine gave me a gentle nudge to get the revision on my YA novel going, so that's just what I'm going to spend the next few months doing. The novel comes first, then the short stories. Maybe I should tape that to the computer screen.

From last night's fortune cookie:

"Life is a tragedy for those who feel and a comedy for those who think."

Three Notable Passings

This morning, actor Glenn Ford died at the age of 90. When most people think of Glenn Ford, they think of Pa Kent from the 1978 Superman, but that film only scratches the surface of the actor. Ford made several important films, among them two of my favorites, The Blackboard Jungle (which introduced millions to the Billy Haley and the Comets hit "Rock Around the Clock") and the noir classic The Big Heat. I never had half the trouble Ford had as a teacher in the first film and I'll never look at a pot of hot coffee in quite the same way after the second film.

Ford often played tough, rugged characters, but he also had a kind of quiet strength about him that you can detect in nearly all of his roles. My favorite Ford film isn't talked about much, the Western 3:10 to Yuma.

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Singer/songwriter Jumpin' Gene Simmons (not the wildman from Kiss) passed away yesterday at 69. Simmons was one of the first artists to appear on the Sun Records label and worked as an opening act for the young Elvis Presley. Simmons was from the strange and wonderful Itawamba County, Mississippi. Favorite song title: "Peroxide Blonde in a Hopped-Up Model Ford."

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Joseph Stefano, who wrote the screenplay for Psycho and was co-creator of the original television series The Outer Limits died yesterday. He was 84.

Stefano made several changes to Robert Bloch's original novel for the Hitchcock film, most notably the book's opening. Early in the novel, Bloch has Marion Crane arriving at the Bates Motel with her death quickly following. Stefano didn't like it.

"My feeling was that, since I did not know anything about this girl, I wasn't going to care about her when she was killed. So we backed the story up a bit and learned something about her so that when she was killed, it would have more impact."

It sure did.

Here he is, boys and girls...Uncle Bob's back!

Random Recommendations

Right now I'm giving a cursory listen to Bob Dylan's new album Modern Times, which officially releases tomorrow. (XM Radio is playing a sneak preview of the album in its entirety.) Although I haven't been able to give it my full, undivided attention (breakfast, taking care of Bullet, etc.), I've heard most of every song. Without getting into specifics, I can pretty safely say that it doesn't vary much musically from 2001's Love and Theft. In fact, the styles may be even more nostalgic than that release: some blues, rock-a-billy, soft-shoe, a waltz, but very little out-and-out rock n roll. The first time I listen to anything, the music tends to come first, then the lyrics. I just have to look at the big picture for now. But this is Dylan we're talking about, so the lyrics will take time to sort through, demanding repeated listenings. More later.

It is interesting to note, however, that the limited edition featuring four extra tracks (none of them new material) and a DVD of Dylan performing the aforementioned four songs is currently No. 2 on Amazon's music sales. (The regular CD-only version is at No. 3.)

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I bought James Van Pelt's collection The Last of the O-Forms at World Fantasy last year and just started it last night (a mere nine months later). I read the title story and was blown away. If all the stories are as good as that one, look out.

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I just finished Shadows and Silence, a collection of (mostly) ghost stories from Ash-Tree Press. Awhile back Ash-Tree ran a special including this volume and the World Fantasy Award-winning (actually it tied with Dark Matter) Acquainted with the Night. Ash-Tree books aren't cheap, but they're impeccably produced and the stories well-chosen. I was only disappointed with one story in Shadows and Silence, thought most of them were very good and several outstanding.

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I started watching Veronica Mars Season Two (from NetFlix) this weekend. While it's still early (four episodes), the writing doesn't seem as strong as in Season One. But I'll keep watching. (No spoilers, please.)

Now Playing = "Ain't Talkin'" – Bob Dylan

Goodbye, Pluto and Other Small Things

Astronomers recently announced that the former planet Pluto has lost its planet status. Why? Basically it's too small, so now it'll be called a dwarf. Poor Pluto. Poor kids. Just think of all those textbooks that'll have to be changed now, to say nothing of all the old science fiction stories that have anything at all to do with Pluto. At least we won't have to eliminate a movement from Holst's The Planets. (Pluto hadn't been discovered when he wrote the suite between 1914 and 1916.)

But are any of us really safe? Watch out, Rhode Island: somebody might take away your statehood and declare you a "district." And how about the country Monaco? At 0.7 square miles, it might now be called a city. Maybe even a town or a village.

What about writers? Since I've only had a couple of short stories published, do I still get called a writer?....

Look out....

Hey, everybody --- meet Smiley

Smiley's People

The best part about listening to Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour on XM Radio (other than listening to Bob pontificate) is hearing music you wouldn't normally hear anywhere else. A few weeks ago, Dylan played a song called "Too Many Drivers" by Smiley Lewis. I liked Smiley's barrelhouse voice and thought that if "Too Many Drivers" was a good R&B tune, Smiley probably had lots of others. I filed the information under "To be further pursued (opportunity and funds pending)."

When I was in Daedalus Books & Music (one of my favorite haunts) awhile back, I noticed several CDs on the Proper Records label, a British label that specializes in affordable introductory compilations of artists like Howlin' Wolf, Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, B.B. King, T-Bone Walker, Clifford Brown, Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs, Hank Snow, Charley Patton and a whole slew of others (including my favorite name, Bull Moose Jackson). And there was Smiley, grinning at me from the racks, telling me that at $6.98, Gumbo Blues was a no-brainer.

It was a good decision. The twenty-four tracks on the disc (all recorded between 1950 and 1953) highlight Smiley's belt-it-out voice in a variety of styles. Most of the tunes are a hybrid of straight blues and rock, the early days of R&B. Smiley was from the New Orleans area and you can hear bits of Cajun, jazz, boogie-woogie and other styles throughout his music. Lewis does some nice guitar work, backed by some great sidemen including Tuts Washington on piano, Joe Harris on alto sax and Ernest McLean on guitar. These tunes remind me of Fats Domino (another New Orleans native who was a contemporary of Smiley's), but with more variety and depth. More than anything else, they're a lot of fun.

The liner notes (about three pages of text) provide the basic background on Lewis and his life. While a local New Orleans hit, Lewis never attracted the national attention he deserved. (The huge popularity of Fats may have had something to do with that.) But if you're a fan of early rock, R&B, soul, or just like to have a fun listening experience, Smiley's your man. Check him out.

Back in Town

It's good to be home. It's also good to see my mom moved from ICU to a regular hospital room on Sunday. She should be discharged possibly as early as tomorrow, after which she'll have about 6 weeks of physical therapy. We never would have thought such a thing possible several days ago. Thanks to everyone for their prayers, thoughts and best wishes.

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As you can imagine, I wasn't able to concentrate much on writing, although I made a few notes on some of the stories I'm working on.

I was able to do a bit of reading, reading over a dozen short stories and one novel, Jonathan Lethem's excellent Gun, with Occasional Music.

ICU visiting hours left a large three-hour gap in each day that I filled by visiting the local Borders and the Half-Price Books in Mesa. Found some pretty good stuff at Half-Price including A Saucer of Loneliness: Vol. VII of the Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon and yes, the very first installment of The Year's Best Fantasy (before "Horror" officially entered into the title).

I also picked up a current genre magazine at Borders. No, I won't tell you what it was, but it wasn't F&SF. (I finished the September issue on the initial flight to Chicago.) The magazine I bought is one I've bought before - a mag you'd probably recognize - but I hadn't read it in out two years. I thought the first story was okay, but a weak choice for the lead story. The second - also okay, but that's all. The more I read, the more my disappointment level rose. "I know I can write as well as some of these people," I told myself. Then I read Ursula K. LeGuin's "Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight" from TYBF. Okay, I can't write like that! But I'd sure shoot for LeGuin's level any day.

Maybe those stories I read in the mag are the best stories they receive. (I sure don't know why they'd withhold the good stuff.) Maybe my stories aren't as good as theirs, but I think mine can at least compete. Anyway, it gives me hope...until I read LeGuin, that is.

Now Reading = James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon - Julie Phillips
Now Playing = The Complete Recordings - Robert Johnson

Arizona Update

Thanks to everyone for your emails, comments, thoughts and prayers. My mom came through the surgery as well as can be expected and is on the slow road to recovery. She's in excellent hands at Banner Baywood Heart Hospital in Mesa, AZ. Again, recovery will be very slow, so we're taking it one day at a time. I'll be staying a couple of more days before heading back to Maryland, then will probably come back to Arizona sometime later.

Test

Just a test.

I just found out that my mom is having triple bypass surgery tomorrow. I'll be flying out to Phoenix in the morning and expect to be gone for several days. Thoughts and prayers appreciated.

Ravens/Books/Little Miss Sunshine/Free Books

An excellent weekend started off Friday night with my good friend Jim inviting me to the Baltimore Ravens pre-season opener against the much-hated New York Football Giants. As soon as I saw Eli Manning take the field, I was immediately reminded of many memorable games between Manning's alma mater Ole Miss and my brother's alma mater Mississippi State. (For those of you interested in measuring time, I'm here to inform you that the nanosecond is not the smallest unit of measure. It is, rather, the subatomic interval between the "amen" of the invocation and the first chant of "Go to hell, Ole Miss.")

It was my first time in the Ravens' stadium and I must admit it's a first-rate facility. The game was pretty good too – McNair's opening drive was exceptional for a pre-season game, although I'm sure coach Brian Billick's blood pressure suffered when McNair decided to leap for the opening touchdown himself. Despite heroics and a pretty good running game, the Ravens fell to the Giants 17-16. But Jim and I had a great time.

Two books arrived Saturday, James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips and Shriek: An Afterword by Jeff VanderMeer. Can't wait to start each of them.

Saturday Cindy and I went to the new, improved Baltimore Book Thing. For those of you who don't know, The Book Thing is a location (you can't really call it a "store") that gives away books. That's right, the books are free.

I know what you're thinking. They're all Readers Digest books and such. Not so. I've found signed first editions at The Book Thing, current bestsellers, hard-to-find titles, you name it. It's an incredible place that you have to see to believe. If you're ever in the Balto area on a Saturday or Sunday, check it out.

On to see our friends Juan and Kathleen for a showing of Little Miss Sunshine at the Charles Theatre. If you haven't seen the film, go. Now. Everyone's going to be talking about it and rightfully so. Cindy and I thoroughly enjoyed it. (More on the film later.)

Weekend's almost over. Time to get a little writing done. Everybody have a great week.

Shameless Self-Promotion

Inclinations has just bought and published my story "Results May Vary." You can read it here.

Part of my weekend reading...

The Weekend

Cindy and I babysat our niece Sarah Saturday night and had a really good time. (Really.) I read two books to Sarah - The Foot Book (which she liked) and Tickle the Duck (which she really liked). I also brought along City of Saints and Madmen, but figured maybe that was a little much...

Got a rejection from Asimov's for "You Can Say Anything You Want." The ending (among other things) needed some work, so I spent part of the weekend making it (hopefully) stronger. Now to send it somewhere else...

I also finished True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey. It's the fictionalized story of the Australian outlaw Ned Kelly. I thought the first half of the book was stronger and more interesting than the second half, but I'd recommend it.

As mentioned above, I started Jeff VanderMeer's City of Saints and Madmen (without Sarah). VanderMeer's writing is just incredible, as are his ideas. His new novel Shriek releases tomorrow, although I seriously doubt I'll have City of Saints finished by then. But has that ever stopped me from placing an order? Anyone who knows me at all knows the answer to that one.

A Couple of "Best Of" Encounters

Cindy and I decided to slide on over to our state capitol yesterday (Annapolis, for those of you outside the Kingdom of Maryland) and check out two of the places named "Best Of" in...oh, I don't know, some magazine we picked up somewhere....

The wings at Acme Bar & Grill on Main Street were quite good, certainly deserving of the "Best Wings in Annapolis" title. The wings come in fifteen flavors and are served regular, hot, extremely hot, and insane. I wimped out and ordered "hot" which had just a little kick to them. (Next time I'll punch it up a notch.) It's a tiny place that also features live music at night. In such a tight room, I hope it's two thin girls playing piccolo duets.

Just down the road, Storm Brothers Ice Cream was, I must admit, a bit of a let-down. There were plenty of flavors to choose from (I picked pralines and cream), and the prices weren't bad, but the ice cream didn't seem much better than what you could get anywhere else. Maybe I should go back and pick, say, seventeen or eighteen other flavors. To be fair, ya know.

Speaking of "Best of"s, in an effort to slowly turn Cindy into a spec fic fanatic, I twisted her arm to read two stories from Science Fiction - The Best of 2003: Jeffrey Ford's "The Empire of Ice Cream," which she enjoyed (despite our not-so-best-of ice cream experience of the day before), and "Only Partly Here" by Lucius Shepard, which she didn't care for. Oh well, Lucius is an acquired taste, I suppose. I'll bet Lucius would go for some insane wings...

The Scratching of the Head of Lot 49 (Spoilers)

I finished reading Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49 a couple of days ago and it's fair to say I've been thinking about it ever since. It was my first encounter with Pynchon. I certainly don't plan to read his entire output (which is only seven books), but I'll probably read at least one more, maybe his new book.

So much has been written both about The Crying of Lot 49 and the elusive, ultra-private Pynchon* that I can only add my own stumbling thoughts.

This probably flies in the face of literary scholarship, but if The Crying of Lot 49 were a genre novel, I'd say it was a quest story. Oedipa travels to Southern California to settle the estate of her former boyfriend, meeting several trials, tribulations and dangers along the way. When she arrives, the purpose of the quest has changed – wildly – but her determination is unshaken. Maybe I'm just flat-out wrong, but I couldn't get the quest theme out of my mind. That way of looking at the novel didn't diminish it for me, however. Just the opposite.

The short novel (183 pages in my edition) is jam-packed with paranoia, conspiracy, sex, drugs, rock n roll, communication (and the lack of), entropy, scientific experimentation, deception, corporate greed, puns, psychology, underground networks, and enough cultural references to delight flower children of all ages. All of which is fascinating, but the first thing that struck me about the book is Oedipa's relationship with men.

All through the book, every man Oedipa encounters either disappoints, dupes or uses her in some way. In fact, the entire scheme beginning with the very first letter from her former lover Pierce might be an elaborate hoax. It seems that Pynchon's choice of a female protagonist constantly coming into contact with weak/powerless/deceitful men reaches far beyond any generic postmodern interpretation. She doesn't trust these men (I keep thinking of the multi-layered clothing in the strip game with Metzger), but time after time, she has no choice but to helplessly embrace the information given her by men. Is there no way out?

There's so much to be fascinated about in the novel. It's very possible that the whole journey is a monumental joke played on Oedipa, who – although distracted from her original purpose – is simply looking for answers.

Pynchon seems to be saying that there aren't any answers, that this whole existence is a joke, a universe without meaning. A funny joke, to be sure, at least as long as the quest is going on – depending on whom you ask. (Certainly not Oedipa.) The Crying of Lot 49 came out in 1966, a time ripe with conspiracy theories, paranoia and all the rest. I am interested in reading at least one more Pynchon novel to see if he still appears to embrace the same postmodern world-view posited here. But I have other questions as well.

No one knows whether Pynchon is a complete recluse or if he has personal relationships with people who don't know who he really is. I hope the latter, but from reading the novel, I suspect the former. What do you do with your life for forty years? Okay, write novels, but what else? Is paranoia a huge part of his life? Is personal communication with others something Pynchon feels is impossible? Pointless? Maybe he's playing the same joke on us that's been played on Oedipa. Or maybe he's the one sitting at the auction waiting for answers that will never come. Something to think about.

* "the man simply chooses not to be a public figure, an attitude that resonates on a frequency so out of phase with that of the prevailing culture that if Pynchon and Paris Hilton were ever to meet — the circumstances, I admit, are beyond imagining — the resulting matter/antimatter explosion would vaporize everything from here to Tau Ceti IV." – Arthur Salm in the San Diego Union-Tribune, February 8, 2004

M. Night Shyamalan's new film

They Only Come Out at M. Night (Spoilers)

After weeks of bemoaning the fact that we never see any movies in the theater anymore, Cindy and I decided to treat ourselves to the new M. Night Shyamalan film The Lady in the Water.

Cindy and I enjoyed Shyamalan's first three films*, The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs, but were both hugely disappointed with The Village. But, we thought, everyone deserves a second chance.

You already know the plot (or if you don't, you can find it easily here), so let's talk about the topic I hear most people complaining about: Shyamalan's starring in his own film.

First of all, he's appeared in all of his films from The Sixth Sense on. (And I believe he appeared in Playing with Anger, but I haven't seen it.) Do moviegoers have a problem with a director appearing in his own films? If so, they should also have a problem with some of these people:

Charlie Chaplin
Orson Welles
Alfred Hitchcock
Woody Allen
Mel Brooks
John Huston
Roman Polanski
Clint Eastwood
Kevin Costner
Warren Beatty

And those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

It could be, however, that the problem lies in Shyamalan's character in the movie: a writer whose book will greatly influence not only a future world leader, but millions of people. Is Shyamalan for real? Does he really think so highly of himself that his films are going to change the world? Maybe he's got a bigger head than I thought. If that's the problem people have with his appearance in the film, I can certainly understand it.

If that weren't enough, Shyamalan attacks (literally) movie critics in general, killing one off in the film. Had Shyamalan not appeared in the film (or maybe if it had been a cameo appearance), this jab at his critics would be funny, even a bit charming. But the best way to silence your critics is easy: make a good movie.

Has he done that? The Lady in the Water has a lot of problems and weaknesses, but for me, it still qualifies as a good movie. Sure, the movie's got problems: stereotypical characters, inconsistency in story and character, and the film requires a constant (and very unsteady) suspension of disbelief. There really aren't many surprises here. If you've seen even one of Shyamalan's films, you'll probably have a good idea what to expect. You might even be bored.

Yet in spite of everything I've mentioned, I enjoyed the film.

What?

Yes, I enjoyed it. One of the reasons the film works for me is Shyamalan's obvious passion for the story. Yeah, it's got problems, but he believes in it. He wants you to walk out of the theatre feeling something. Remember how you felt after you saw The Sixth Sense? Probably because you cared about the characters. Shyamalan makes you care about Cleveland Heep (and so does Paul Giamatti in a very good performance), even if you could care less about Story (Bryce Dallas Howard).

And it's entertaining, despite the flaws. Maybe Shyamalan's passion was enough to override all my reasons why the movie shouldn't work.

We might find fault with the film, we might dismiss it by saying "It's just a fairy tale, it's just a bedtime story," but when it's all over, Shyamalan does something that not many filmmakers know how to do anymore: entertain us and more importantly, give us hope.

*Actually he directed two films before these, Playing with Anger (1992) and Wide Awake (1998).

Word Explosion/New Stuff to Watch

Yesterday was one of those rare days that I didn't write anything - I was just too busy. But when I woke up this morning, it was like words were pouring out of me. I sat down and wrote 1600 words non-stop, finishing my new story (Well, a first draft of it anyway) at 6,500 words. Don't know why, but sometimes it happens that way. It's better not to question these things...

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My good friend Kelly has several great posts about upcoming films and books on his blog. I can always count on Kelly to recommend good stuff to read and watch. It seems we're often on the same wavelength. A few weeks ago, he recommended the series Carnivale to me, so I had NetFlix send Season One, Disc One.

I have to admit, the first episode was interesting, but didn't really have me doing backflips. But then I watched the second episode and that sucker really kicked the doors in! Now I'm hooked. (The worst thing about the DVDs - there's only two episodes per disc.) If you haven't seen it, Carnivale is about a traveling carnival in 1934 and the strange young man who joins them after the death of his mother, but that only scratches the surface. It's sort of a cross between The Grapes of Wrath and David Lynch. Somewhat unconventional storytelling, but very effective. I highly ditto Kelly's recommendation. Check it out.

Word Count/Get In, Get Out/Mix It Up

The last few days have been fairly productive. I wrote about 1500 words yesterday on a new "short" story and added about 750 words this morning. It's still early in the revision process of my YA novel (Chapter Three of twenty), but it's going well - can't complain.

After experimenting with my schedule, mornings seem to be the best time to work on new stuff. I'm one of those weird people that really doesn't mind getting up early, as long as I've gotten around six hours of sleep. (And as long as there's coffee.) Lately I've been getting up around 5:30, having breakfast/reading, then starting to write about 6:00, usually for a couple of hours. Again, new stuff first, then revising if I have time, using the evenings if I don't.

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Watched a French film (via Netflix) this weekend called Cache (Hidden). I liked it quite a bit, but Cindy didn't care for it. In the extras, director Michael Haneke talked about getting in and out of scenes. He likes to skip all (or most of) the introductory elements that usually begin scenes, the "Hello, how are you" elements, getting to the meat of each scene. Once you're in the scene, let the scene do what it needs to do and get out quickly. Move in quickly, move out quickly.

(The odd thing is that Haneke, due to the subject of the film, breaks his own rule, but he has a good reason. In the very first scene, it seems absolutely nothing happens. Just keep watching. The anthesis of the "Get In, Get Out" rule provides an interesting contrast.)

I haven't seen any of Haneke's other films, but the technique works very well in Cache*. There's a definite difference in telling a story in a visual medium like film and telling one in prose, but I understand what Haneke is saying. I'm sure there's a way I can trim down the unnecessary and mundane in my own work and I'm certainly going to look for ways to do it. I think part of that is realizing that your reading audience is smart. (Not that your film audience isn't.) You give them credit for knowing what's going on without spelling it out for them, but scenes have to have a logical progression, even if they're not linear, even if you have to read it a couple (or more) times. What's there has to work, it has to be comprehensible. Anyway, Haneke's comment is making me analyze my own writing to a greater degree, which is always a good thing.

Maybe one day I'll talk a little bit (or invite you to do so) about the similarities and differences of the process of developing works in the arts. It's something I think about quite a bit, having spent many years in the music world and now kicking around in the writing world. Like the cute little overlapping circles in your first algebra book, the arts have lots of things in common and it can be interesting to look at those similarities. And you never know when you'll find something you can use.

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* I'm not going to tell you anything about the plot and I encourage you not to read about it. I will say that I was on the edge of my seat for two hours and I think you will be too.

Today's Short Story = "Oh, Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad" - M.R. James

A Few Thoughts on Horror

I consider myself very much a horror neophyte. Up until about a year ago, I read very little from the genre, but after being introduced to several writers, novels and stories, horror has taken up a good chunk of my reading. During the past year, I was delighted to discover two reference books edited by Stephen Jones and Kim Newman: Horror: 100 Best Books (1988) and Horror: Another 100 Best Books (2005).

Horror: 100 Best Books (hereafter referred to as 100) contains essays by authors and professionals in the field, citing their choices for the genre's best offerings. The book moves in chronological publication order, starting with Christopher Marloe's The Tragical History of Dr Faustus (ca. 1592) and ending with Ramsey Campbell's Dark Feasts (1987). Each entry provides a summary of the book and other interesting information, including whether (or how many times) the work has been adapted to film (and how successfully), after which follows the contributor's essay.

The majority of the essays offer insights into what makes the work classifiable as horror, sometimes surprisingly so. (Can you really consider Northanger Abbey a horror novel?) Most of the essays are quite good, disappointing only when the writer takes a trip down nostalgia lane ("I remember this story scaring the pee out of me...I was just a little tot when my mom gave me this novel, hoping to keep me off the streets" etc.), practically ignoring the attributes of the work at hand. But for the most part, readers will get a good glimpse into what the book is about and whether they should seek it out.

A word of warning: Some contributors give away too much. I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive Malcolm Edwards for ruining the ending of Iain Banks' The Wasp Factory in 100.

With 100, the essayist's name isn't given until the end, which may not come for two or three pages. At first I was a little miffed at the practice of omitting the contributor's identity until the end, but it's probably a good idea. After all, if you're a writer, you might be negatively influenced by seeing Joe Schmoe's name at the top of the essay – the same Joe Schmoe who has rejected all 47 of your "Stinky the Vampire Boy" stories for his magazine.

My copy is a revised 1998 edition with a List of Recommended Reading in the back, followed by notes on the contributors.

With Another 100, you get the same basic format, except the contributor's name is placed before the book selected, (i.e. "Robert Silverberg on 'The Revenger's Tragedy' by Cyril Tourneur") with the contributor's biographical info immediately following the essay. The writing is generally very good and the excursions seem more limited than in 100. The List of Recommended Reading returns in Another 100, but also included is a Selected Webliography devoted to authors, contributors and titles.

One infuriating aspect of both books (which is no fault of the book or its editors) lies in the availability of the works chosen. Most of the newer books (and even some older titles in reprints) are readily available, but several of the selections were either published in limited editions or by a small press with low print runs (Jumbee and Other Uncanny Tales by Henry S. Whitehead an example of the former, Manly Wade Wellman's Worse Things Waiting the latter) or are simply too expensive. (The lowest priced edition of Michael Marshall Smith's More Tomorrow and Other Stories on Amazon.com is an ex-library edition going for $99.91. Bob Leman's 2003 book Feesters in the Lake will run you $127.25.) Still, reading copies of many of the 200 titles can be purchased on the cheap.

I noticed that several of the books in 100's Recommended Reading appendix were chosen for essay status in Another 100. I suppose you could look at that in a couple of ways. The obvious choices for the first book (Frankenstein, Dracula, Tales of Mystery and Imagination, etc.) open up the door for some overlooked titles to appear in Another 100. But does that mean lesser works might be considered for future volumes? I don't think so. It certainly seems obvious to me, pretty much a rank beginner, that the genre has more than adequate depth and richness for future volumes.

I was talking to my friend Kelly about the possibility and frequency of future volumes. Another 100 was published seventeen years after 100. I hope the interval between Another 100 and Yet Another 100 (or whatever Jones/Newman choose to call it) will be less than seventeen years. I'd love to see a volume every ten years and I think (and hope) that that is workable. In the meantime, we have summations of each year from Ellen Datlow and Stephen Jones (The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror and The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, respectively), as well as others.

In the meantime, you've got 200 books to get through.

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Today's Short Story = "The Rapid Advance of Sorrow" by Theodora Goss from In the Forest of Forgetting

Closer to a Million

Someone - I want to say it was Ray Bradbury - once said that in order to become a good writer, you have to pay your dues with about a million or so words. It's a pretty famous statement and lately I've seen other people blog about their own numbers. I figure I've still got quite a bit of work to do. A rough estimate of everything I've written the past few years comes to about 300,000 words, which is not very much. (This doesn't count my books of notes - freewrites, ideas and sketches, about seven or eight full notebooks.) I have written two novels, one a 60K YA novel (now revising), but most of my short stories are 5,000 words or less.

So no matter how you slice it, I've still got some dues to pay, which is fine. Part of the fun of the whole thing for me is the process of discovery, of taking risks, pushing yourself, challenging yourself. And seeking/embracing those voices of encouragement.

While looking for the million word quote in Bradbury's Zen in the Art of Writing, I came across several other quotes:

"For the first thing a writer should be is - excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiamsms. Without such vigor, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches..."

"Who are your friends? Do they believe in you? Or do they stunt your growth with ridicule and disbelief? If the latter, you haven't friends. Go find some."

"...my stories have led me through my life. They shout, I follow."

"Self-consciousness is the enemy of all art, be it acting, writing, painting, or living itself, which is the greatest art of all."

Bradbury also got into the habit of writing and sending out a short story each week. He did this for ten years. (Even if he took two-week vacations, 500 stories in ten years ain't too bad.) I think Jay Lake has been following this method for several years as well.

There's a lot packed into these 158 pages. It's been a couple of years since I read the book; maybe I'll read it again this week.

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600 words this morning on a new horror story.

Today's Short Story = "Lost Hearts" - M.R. James from Ghost Stories of an Antiquary

My niece Sarah's baptism was Saturday. Later that afternoon I read to her from F&SF and as you can see, she insisted on devouring the magazine. Girl's off to a good start.

Just arrived!

Received my copy of the new Theodora Goss collection, In the Forest of Forgetting, a release I've been looking forward to for quite some time.

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Finished Peter Straub's lost boy lost girl last night. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Straub uses several POVs and takes a non-linear approach which is perfect for this tale. Obviously written with many layers in mind, this is a book I'll want to read again before the year's out. Highly recommended - Definitely good enough to buy.

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Nearly finished with the first draft of a new horror story involving a motel, a corpse and a guy named Fred. Something for everyone.

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Saw a sign in a convenience store the other day: Open 25 Hours. It sure didn't look like Bixby, Oklahoma....

Today's Short Story = "Small Magic" - Jay Lake from the June Weird Tales

Our first stop...

...was here.

Maid of the Mist boat ride - a must!

...

Just before The Maid of the Mist boat ride. (We're still dry.)

Vacation!

Cindy and I had an absolutely wonderful time at Niagara Falls, a trip I highly recommend. The trip took about twelve hours on the way up, but we stopped quite a bit. One of those stops was at the Yuengling Brewery (America's oldest existing brewery) in Pottsville, PA, where of course, had a few samples. (It would be un-American not to.)

We stayed on the Canadian side of the Falls for most of the trip, with one day on the American side. Our very first stop was for breakfast. There was only one choice: The Flying Saucer Restaurant, where I had the E.T. Special – three eggs, bacon, sausage, home fries, toast and pancakes. (E.T. wasn't too slim, if you recall.)

For the first two days, Cindy and I checked out most of the touristy stuff on the Canadian side: The Journey Behind the Falls is okay – you travel down an elevator to tunnels that let you see a fair amount of the falls and feel some of the mist. You don't really get that close to the water, but the sound of it from the tunnels is pretty impressive. Go on this first – you'll be disappointed if you do anything else before The Journey.

The Skylon Tower elevator ride gives you a great overhead view of the Falls. Highly recommended, unless you're afraid of heights (which I am – but I still enjoyed it).

You'll have to go to the American side for the Cave of the Winds tour, and you should. You'll get drenched, but it's worth it. (For this, the Journey, and The Maid of the Mist, you'll receive a poncho, but don't count on it to help much on the Cave tour.) The Cave of the Winds is as close as you can get to experiencing the Falls without diving in.

You can take the Maid of the Mist boat ride from either the American or Canadian side. (We took the American side since the line was much shorter.) Highly recommended.

There's tons of other stuff, but if you've read this far, you're either already interested in going yourself or bored stiff. Anyway, we had a great time. (Pictures to follow, if I can get Blogger to cooperate.)

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Reading material for the trip? Since my XM Radio wouldn't work in Cindy's car, we thought we'd read to each other during the drive. We made it most of the way through Prince Caspian (Chronicles of Narnia), one of the few books we could agree on. I read about half of Horror: 100 Best Books and the first hundred pages of lost boy lost girl by Peter Straub which is so far excellent. Magazines? Nada.

Just finished

Dad's Birthday/The Book Thief/Vacation

First of all, a Happy Birthday to my dad who turns 77 today! His secrets to good health: lots of fresh air, working in the garden, catfish from his own pond, and daily meetings with his buddies at the coffee shop. Happy Birthday, Dad!

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I finished The Book Thief last night. This is one of those YA titles that appeals to both kids and adults. It's also a book that's received a lot of media attention (or hype, if you will). The novel is by Marcus Zusak, a 30-year-old Australian writer, and regardless of what you hear, this is not his first novel. Apparently the book was first marketed in Australia as adult fiction, but in the U.S., it's being marketed and sold as a YA.

The story takes place in Nazi Germany. After the death of her young brother, nine-year-old Liesel Meminger has been sent by her mother to live in a foster home in a small town near Munich. As you might expect, Liesel has trouble adjusting to her new foster parents, new friends, and the memories of the family that has been taken away from her. Liesel quickly develops friendships with three very different people: her foster father Hans, a young Jewish man hiding out in their basement, and a boy named Rudy who idolizes Jesse Owens.

Although Liesel and Rudy are a part of Hitler Youth, they both rebel against Hitler's authority – Rudy by acts of childish defiance and food theft, Liesel by stealing books. Of course there's much more to The Book Thief than stealing books: subplots abound dealing with war, death, loyalty, family, love, fear - all of which readers have seen before. But what makes Zusak's novel unique is its narrator: Death.

The use of Death as a narrator produces some of the book's strongest and weakest elements. Death's point-of-view helps Zusak to write with remarkable restraint, avoiding scenes that would typically come across as heavy-handed and sentimental. While it knows what's going to happen to each character (and when), there are many things Death doesn't understand about humans. It attempts to relate human emotions to the colors of the weather, which is effective, if somewhat overdone.

Death also has a tendency (not unlike the Lemony Snicket books) to frequently interrupt the story with word definitions and asides in bold type, leaving no doubt that this is a YA story in which readers should have things spelled out for them. Also much of the book is written in short, sparse sentences, which, when added to the narrator's many excursions, tends to deprive the novel of another level of depth that it should have had. Possibly I'm being too picky. The novel works quite well and is frequently gripping, but I think it could have been superb.

It seems that many readers are ready to immediately elevate The Book Thief onto a list of classic children's/YA literature. I'm not sure I'm ready to praise the novel that highly, but I did enjoy it and have no reservations about recommending it. Good enough to buy.

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Cindy and I will be on vacation for the next several days, so everyone have a great 4th and beyond!

Choices

I spend far too much time dwelling on what most would call "trivial" issues, such as what books to bring on our upcoming vacation to Niagara Falls. Clarion bud Trent had similar issues awhile back and now the shoe is on the other foot. (Literally. As you can see, packing is not going too well.)

As I mentioned to Mr. H, I usually take a novel, a non-fiction and a magazine. Even with those limited categories, I'm having trouble deciding:

Fiction choices:

The Crying of Lot 49 - Thomas Pynchon
lost boy lost girl - Peter Straub
They Thirst - Robert R. McCammon
American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis
Perfect Circle - Sean Stewart
The Night Class - Tom Piccirilli
The Basic Kafka - Franz Kafka (Okay, so it's not a novel...)
Ghost Stories of an Antiquary - M.R. James (Yeah, yeah, not a novel either...)

Non-Fiction choices:

Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets - David Simon
Horror: 100 Best Books - Stephen Jones, Kim Newman, eds.

Magazines:

July Asimov's (one story read)
July F&SF (three stories read)
June Weird Tales (one story read)

There it is. Gotta decide soon. Vote early, vote often.