"We Were on a Fast Train to a Drunk Oblivion."
-from "Deep Oblivion" by David Lowery
Yes, I’m alive. Been crazy busy this summer: There are
increased responsibilities in the day job, two growing boys keeping me busy at
home, writing and editing duties, and additional promotional stuff for Southern Fried Weirdness: Reconstruction
going on behind the scenes. But it’s not all crazy busy-ness. There was also a nice (but all too brief)
week spent at the beach with cool drinks in hand.
I’m kind of sorry for neglecting the Internets but not that
sorry. I look around and see the same squabbles, the same arguments, the same
in-fighting and that old us vs. them mentality at work in so many places as I
glance daily through the links Charles Tan so expertly and efficiently
rounds-up every day for us on his blog and over at www.sfsignal.com. However, reading these
posts can sometimes be almost as fun as watching current American politicians
discuss the budget and debt ceiling on C-SPAN, almost as peaceful while showcasing
the same willingness to compromise, too… Argh. Enough already! The comment threads go on and on and on and on, an
endless echo saying nothing at all. Question: How many trolls does it take to
start a flame war? Answer: One is enough if they’re carrying a big enough
match. And I hate flame wars. I’ve gone into this before, but online
communication is incomplete communication. One simply can’t debate through text
the same way friends can discuss politics or literature over a beer and a game
of pool. Too much gets lost. It’s easy to fire off personal attacks when you
don’t see the people you’re attacking, hence the popularity of computer-guided
missiles and drones in current military actions. Sure, sometimes it’s necessary
(I guess), but it’s never fun to watch the fallout. Too many civilian
casualties pile up. And no, online flame wars aren’t the same as real wars by
any stretch - it’s not a fair or accurate comparison, not by a long shot, and I
tip my hat to any of you currently serving or who have served in the past and
would never want to diminish your experiences and the sacrifices made for the
safety of your home nation - but I find the trend of depersonalization in all
aspects of our current wired society both fascinating and a little bit
disturbing.
Still lots (MOST) of you are good people, even if (some of)
you do fight about things I find ridiculous. I’ll try to swing by more
frequently. Promise.
Some updates to report:
There have been a few interviews at Fantasy Magazine. I got
to talk to a few of my heroes and create pieces I am proud of over there.
Recent interviews with M. Rickert and Jeffery Ford were real treats for me as
discovering their short fiction a few years ago was one of the key inspirations
that brought me back to writing genre fiction after a long break from writing
anything at all. Their short stories reminded me genre fiction isn’t always just
genre fiction, that it could be something else that transcends the old tropes
and defies established genres to create new genres that are only limited by
one’s imagination, and therefore, almost limitless in possibilities. Reality
explained through unreality. Magic realism, surrealism, unicorns, haunted
houses, and robots should all be able to coexist, right? Sure. Why not? And,
when all is said and done, even the most fantastic story has something to say
about reality if one looks hard enough.
Speaking of stories, my story “The Path” was recently
accepted for publication in the fairly new Australian e-zine Roar and Thunder.
Also, I recently saw the final proofs for the upcoming anthology While the
Morning Stars Sing (http://www.resaliens.com/print-publications/) from
ResAliens Press. This anthology features my short story, “We Are Us,” alongside
many other cool contributions. I see quite a few familiar names on that table
of contents. Also, “We Can Watch the White Doves Go,” is forthcoming in the fall
issue of Innsmouth Free Press.
When it comes to active writing projects, I have written a
boat-load of new short stories so far this summer. Also, continuing to work on
my novel-in-progress, a weird Southern retelling of Orpheus with Asperger’s thing.
Like the acid western novel I completed last year, I’m not exactly sure how to
classify it genre-wise. Not sure how I would market it in the current market
dominated by paranormal romances and YA fiction. All the same, I’m having fun
writing it, but it is giving me trouble. The progress is slow and I do not want
to rush this one. It is by far the most personal thing I’ve ever written. I’m
not worried about word-counts or other randomly generated goals while writing
this one, just worried about getting it right, to make sure it says all I want
it to say in just the right way. It’s sitting between 40,000 and 50,000 words
depending on my mood each day (some scenes keep disappearing only to reappear
in different places in the narrative).
Self-publication stuff: Still planning on producing a
self-published e-book of TOUCH sometime in the future after giving it a solid
edit or two. But that project on the back-burner at the moment. I’m seriously
considering self-publishing a low cost e-book version of my episodic science
fantasy novel, The Fountain at the End of the World. I already have the cover
worked up and have edited it a few times. This collection would contain all of
my “Fountain” stories, including those originally published over at Everyday
Weirdness. I’ve had a few requests from several circles of friends for this
complete novel, and I am seriously thinking about tossing this thing out there
as a gift to everyone who’s been so supportive of me over these last few years.
It’s not exactly a standard commercial project (at around 50,000 words it’s
short for a genre novel, most of it has previously been published, large chunks
are freely available online, etc., etc.), so it might be a perfect text to use
as an experiment in self-publishing. Just mulling this over… What are your
thoughts?