"We were cut off from the comprehension of our surroundings..."
A sunny day, all day long so far. Our high was 90˚F, with a heat index of 100˚F. Currently, it's still 90˚F, but the heat index has dropped in 99˚F.
And today is the 26th anniversary of the day I learned of Elizabeth's suicide.
I woke late, at 8:30 a.m., and because my time has become so inflexible and regimented, I didn't get any fiction written, because I slept through the fiction writing time. Maybe, I hope, tomorrow. However, I had an email from Writers House, inquiring about "Galápagos," which is being reprinted by John Connolly in an forthcoming anthology. Here's the query:
Should you be in touch with her people over the next day or two - and they only have until Tuesday morning to answer - Caitlín makes a reference to Conrad’s Heart of Darkness as The Heart of Darkness in her short story. Now that’s how it was originally titled for its very first serialised appearance, but Heart of Darkness is the more common and accepted title, and the one Conrad himself adopted for its first appearance in book form in 1902. (In fact, the use of the definite article may have arisen from a misunderstanding, since Conrad refers to the novella in correspondence with his editor as ’the “Heart of Darkess”’.) Most readers encountering The Heart of Darkness with knowledge of the book will think it’s an error, which is distracting. I’ve changed it to Heart of Darkness for that reason.
And the editor is, of course correct. And what makes this so fucking embarrassing is the Heart of Darkness (1899), which I consider the dawn of Modernism, is one of my favorite pieces of literature, and here is this mistake that has been perpetuated every time the story has been reprint, which has been quite a few times. Apologies, Mr. Conrad.
There was a long, unexpected conversation with Mike Polcyn. I called to ask one question, but talk ensued. I worked on the Winifred block
Here's a bunch of shit from Twitter, set off by the new report from the new report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which reports that not only are things worse than we thought, they're getting worse a lot more rapidly than had been expected:
1. Nothing like waking to an IPCC report concluding the climate has been so damaged that "it's code red for humanity." Ah, the 21st century.
2. And before some nitwit starts chirping "That's just a scary headline. Where's the data?", well, HERE'S the data, the full IPCC report, right damn here: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/#FullReport
3. The COVID-19 pandemic and climate change have in common their ability to instantly bring out a failure to grasp even the *most* basic math and science. "So, what the big deal about *one* degree Fahrenheit?" The melting point of water.
Also: I think one of the most important questions we need to be asking ourselves right now, as Americans, as world citizens, as humans, is...knowing all we know, why is Donald Trump still a free man?
Later Tater Beans,
Aunt Beast
5:08 p.m.
And today is the 26th anniversary of the day I learned of Elizabeth's suicide.
I woke late, at 8:30 a.m., and because my time has become so inflexible and regimented, I didn't get any fiction written, because I slept through the fiction writing time. Maybe, I hope, tomorrow. However, I had an email from Writers House, inquiring about "Galápagos," which is being reprinted by John Connolly in an forthcoming anthology. Here's the query:
Should you be in touch with her people over the next day or two - and they only have until Tuesday morning to answer - Caitlín makes a reference to Conrad’s Heart of Darkness as The Heart of Darkness in her short story. Now that’s how it was originally titled for its very first serialised appearance, but Heart of Darkness is the more common and accepted title, and the one Conrad himself adopted for its first appearance in book form in 1902. (In fact, the use of the definite article may have arisen from a misunderstanding, since Conrad refers to the novella in correspondence with his editor as ’the “Heart of Darkess”’.) Most readers encountering The Heart of Darkness with knowledge of the book will think it’s an error, which is distracting. I’ve changed it to Heart of Darkness for that reason.
And the editor is, of course correct. And what makes this so fucking embarrassing is the Heart of Darkness (1899), which I consider the dawn of Modernism, is one of my favorite pieces of literature, and here is this mistake that has been perpetuated every time the story has been reprint, which has been quite a few times. Apologies, Mr. Conrad.
There was a long, unexpected conversation with Mike Polcyn. I called to ask one question, but talk ensued. I worked on the Winifred block
Here's a bunch of shit from Twitter, set off by the new report from the new report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which reports that not only are things worse than we thought, they're getting worse a lot more rapidly than had been expected:
1. Nothing like waking to an IPCC report concluding the climate has been so damaged that "it's code red for humanity." Ah, the 21st century.
2. And before some nitwit starts chirping "That's just a scary headline. Where's the data?", well, HERE'S the data, the full IPCC report, right damn here: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/#FullReport
3. The COVID-19 pandemic and climate change have in common their ability to instantly bring out a failure to grasp even the *most* basic math and science. "So, what the big deal about *one* degree Fahrenheit?" The melting point of water.
Also: I think one of the most important questions we need to be asking ourselves right now, as Americans, as world citizens, as humans, is...knowing all we know, why is Donald Trump still a free man?
Later Tater Beans,
Aunt Beast
5:08 p.m.