10/6/09 - Another Two’fer… Weekend Recap and Tasty Tidbit
Sorry, seems like I have trouble with Mondays. Here is my weekend recap.
Courtesy of Dark Quest Books, we attended the Collingswood Book Festival on Saturday. There was some threat of thunderstorms throughout the day, but in actuality it rained for all of ten minutes and was bloody hot after that. Still, we all enjoyed ourselves and did fairly well as far as sales go. Not so much on the books this year, but as I saw vendors with non-book related stuff last year, I’d brought my costume horns, which never fail to draw attention, if nothing else. I sold quite a few. We paid for four spaces, but could only manage to come up with three tents, which is just as well because across the aisle from us was the Kettlecorn tent and their structure didn't strictly fit into their 10 x 10 space so we put our tentless space facing them and put the other three around it. Worked out well for CJ. He was highly visible to those coming down that aisle, face on :)
Others sharing the space were Jonathan Maberry, John Passarella, Hildy Silverman, CJ Henderson, Bernie Mojzes and Mike McPhail. And, of course, Neal Levin and Tina Randleman. Everyone enjoyed some sales, though I don’t suspect any of us sold as much as we are used to. A combination of the economy and the weather report.
The rest of the weekend was spent stocking up on costume horns for the upcoming weekend’s Witches Ball, in Mt Holly, NJ, being held at the Mill Race Village. I have never made so many at once, but with the press the organizers have given me I want to be sure to have plenty to choose from. Mike McPhail and Bernie Mojzes will be attending the Ball as well. And, in keeping with the holiday, there will be a costume contest, which I am very much looking forward to.
Now…I owe a Tasty Tidbit, I believe…Something creepy, today, I think…in keeping with the pending holiday ;)
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The Silvers
By Danielle Ackley-McPhail © 2009
I saw Silvers down below today.
Posing as art.
Frozen in tableau.
Motionless, looking past the crowd at nothing.
Nothing is all they miss.
I used to want to be a Silver.
Before I knew better.
Now all I want to be is nothing.
I always run into them in the subway.
In the evening.
When everyone is too harried,
too weary to see them for what they are.
I am not everyone.
My link with society is loose at best.
I work very hard at not being
what they are looking for.
I hid beneath grim.
Beneath filth.
Beneath festering scabs.
I hide and I watch for them.
Those on their pedestals are easy to spy.
The identifiable threat.
I must watch for those that have found
what they are looking for.
A skin to slip inside.
A place to hide in the open
Unsuspected.
Today's Question: What was the oddest thing you've seen in the subway or on Mass Transit?
For me it wasn't something odd, really, so much as something cool. There is a train station in Manhattan...It's 14th and 8th on the A-line, and everywhere you look there is quirky bronze statues by Tom Otterness. In fact, here's a bonus Tidbit, a poem based on that artwork. Look him up, I'm sure you'll find pictures of the statues
Life Underground
(inspired by the bronze statues of Tom Otterness)
They lurk
In the station
At 14th and 8th
Deep beneath
The city streets
The demifae
Masquerade
As artwork
Ancient power
Cloaked beneath
Antiqued brass
Full, round
Gentle curves
Hold the illusion
Of softness
Cute, formless faces
Betray nothing
But on the sly
Black-dimple eyes
Flatten into dashes
Conspiratory winks
Only I spy
The slight bow
Of their mouths
Shimmer
With the ghosts
Of impish smiles
As I hurry by
The magic of the city
Couched in casual sculpture