M is for Monday

[greygirlbeast]

Sirenia Digest #6 went out late yesterday afternoon and last night (thank you, Spooky), so everyone should have it by now. I've received some very positive comments on "The Black Alphabet," which is reassuring. Note, though, that this piece will not be reprinted in Tales from the Woeful Platypus, as the collection only covers issues #1-#6.

Spooky says today is an off day. It will only be my fourth in the past forty-two days, so that seems fair. We have no plans. The day is going to be hot, so we'll likely spend most of the afternoon indoors, reading and suchlike. I like the idea of a day off with no plans. Tomorrow, though, I'm going to begin work on the second half of "The Black Alphabet," as I really do intend to get the next issue of the digest out by June 14th.

There was much more work yesterday than I'd expected, and afterwards I was bleary and unfocused. Spooky had gotten a watermelon from the co-op, and we ate watermelon on the front porch and spat seeds into the grass. It was a very good, locally grown, "organic" watermelon, not one of those flavourless, thick-rinded things from Publix. After dinner, we had a long twilight walk around Freedom Park. Most of the day's heat had bled away, and there was the slimmest crescent of the waxing moon. We saw a few lightning bugs, but no bats. The pink and purple remains of sunset hung above downtown Atlanta. I picked some flowers for our altar. It was a very good walk. Back home, we finished Chapter Nine ("Matrix") of The Triumph of the Moon. Hutton's book grows ever more captivating, but...no one, not even a Professor in History at the University of Bristol, should be permitted to use a word like "revivifying" when "reviving" works just fine. Or so I say. Later, we watched Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), which I'd never seen before. Certainly it was better than Star Trek V, but then most things are. Iman was much appreciated, though there was too little of her. Kim Cattrall made a perfectly cute Vulcan saboteur, and I kept singing the Kim Cattrall song from MST3K, mystifying Spooky no end. I was baffled by Michael Dorn's appearance in the film (as ST:TNG had already established him as Worf), but it was nice getting so many Klingons all at once. Oh, and we watched some of the extras on the last Dead Like Me DVD, including the short making-of documentary, Dead Like Me...Again.

That was yesterday.

I think I am in direst need of breakfast. I could murder a produce stand.

Postscript: Cari at Darkshire...you need to e-mail Spooky at crk_books(at)yahoo(dot)com. Your digest bounced last month, and it bounced again last night, so we need a new e-mail. Thanks!

Comments

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

Iman was much appreciated, though there was too little of her.

That was the one where they cast her because she could turn into a cat rather than on acting skills, yes ?

[lesser-celery.livejournal.com]

I read Sirenia this morning, and it gave me great pleasure. Writing to the alphabet has always struck me as a gimmick, a disaster in most writers' hands and best suited in good hands for dark-humorous things like Gorey's. But "The Black Alphabet" is amazing.

You set the reader up with that subtle “Absinthe” vignette, then keep changing style and genre letter to letter, sf in “Biomechanoid,” classical in “Circe,” etc. "Dragon" is a favorite. It reminds me of Blake, with just a twist of Thomas Harris. “Dragon,” “Ink,” and “Mannequin” would make an interesting core for a longer story about people trying to re-shape their own images and bodies. “Kiss in the Glass” is genuinely erotic. I can’t wait to see the rest of the alphabet.

I was also quite taken with "Ode to Edvard Munch." The story has an interesting (and erotic) "human" relationship at its core, and I instantly felt involved. I’m fond of intimate but gritty moods, and I was afraid for a moment that switching to the dream might break the spell. But I needn't have worried. The dream is creepy, scary, and lovely all at once, with elements of the Mythos (e.g., the great blocks of reddish limestone set in place without mortar) mixed with Lilith...and a great sense of smell, something one doesn't often, uh, see in fiction.

[mlle-rouge.livejournal.com]

I loved the Black Alphabet a lot, and I can't wait for the other letters.
Nothing better than Sirenia Digest to read in the morning...

[setsuled.livejournal.com]

and I kept singing the Kim Cattrall song from MST3K

I remember that. They were watching City Limits (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088925/). I remember Dr. Forester saying it featured "James Earl Jones at a low point in his career and Kim Cattrall at a high one."

Of course, that was before Sex and the City. Catrall was the only thing I liked about that show. She was so wonderfully over the top.

I was baffled by Michael Dorn's appearance in the film (as ST:TNG had already established him as Worf)

He was supposed to be Worf's father (or grandfather, I forget which). Tuvok from Voyager can be seen on Sulu's ship (there's an episode of Voyager about it). And the Dax onboard the Enterprise is possibly an early appearance of DS9's Dax symbiote.

I feel my adolescence was well spent.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

He was supposed to be Worf's father (or grandfather, I forget which).

Ahhhhhh.

And the Dax onboard the Enterprise is possibly an early appearance of DS9's Dax symbiote.

I wondered about that. I adored Dax.

[setsuled.livejournal.com]

I adored Dax.

Me too. This is in spite of the fact that I wasn't physically attracted to the Terry Farrell, which I even now am at a loss to explain. I loved sheheit's character, and the idea of herheit. I always wished there were more Dax episodes.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Me too. This is in spite of the fact that I wasn't physically attracted to the Terry Farrell, which I even now am at a loss to explain. I loved sheheit's character, and the idea of herheit. I always wished there were more Dax episodes.

I sort of think she might have been my first alien crush.

[setsuled.livejournal.com]

Did you see any of the episodes with Ezri Dax? I seem to remember you saying you missed the last couple of seasons.

She was cute, and it was interesting they went that far with the symbiote concept. But I sort of felt the series had lost its way at that point. My favourite season was two--it was past the growing pains of season one, and they were really playing with the aspects that were to make DS9 different from the other series. But it seemed in season three they'd begun a slow sinking into a need for Star Trek homogeny. I still watched it, though. I didn't stop until I got kicked out of my mother's house, and then I simply didn't have time. There's still a lot of the last couple seasons I haven't seen.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Did you see any of the episodes with Ezri Dax?

I don't think so. I was watching it religiously until I moved to Athens in '94, and then suddenly there was always other crap to do at night.

I still maintain that ST:DS9 is the very best of ST.

[setsuled.livejournal.com]

I still maintain that ST:DS9 is the very best of ST.

It's usually my favourite, too. I got flak for it in High School. I used to defend Sisko as being the best captain because he was badass like Kirk yet still cerebral like Picard.

But more than that, I loved the atmosphere, and the station's Cardassian design. I'd still love to live on Deep Space 9. And I enjoyed the more conflict oriented character relationships, though I can kind of appreciate what Roddenberry was trying to do with the earlier Treks and their minimal focus on character conflicts.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

It's usually my favourite, too. I got flak for it in High School. I used to defend Sisko as being the best captain because he was badass like Kirk yet still cerebral like Picard.

Though I rate SD9 the better series, Picard remains my favourite captain.

[setsuled.livejournal.com]

Picard's definitely my favourite now. I think my defence of Sisko was mainly a case of me being a partisan DS9er.

Hmm. DS9er. Makes me sound like I spent years panning for gold and am now penniless . . .