Back away from the light...

[greygirlbeast]

I did a very satisfying 1,669 words today, 8 pp. in about five hours. But, regrettably, it wasn't on "The Path of Silence," but a new piece, "The Voyeur in the House of Glass." Last night, as I began to drift down towards sleep, I realised that I simply do not presently have time to finish "The Path of Silence" for Sirenia Digest 13. Perhaps I can finish it for issue 16 (March). I actually began work on this story on March 5th, intending it for Sirenia 4. But it's just too ambitious and personal a piece, and I cannot rush it.

Anyway, so far, I'm very happy with "The Voyeur in the House of Glass," which resulted from a brainstorming session between me and Spooky this ayem. We were tossing ideas back and forth, and I'd scribbled sideshow in my notebook, and she started talking about voyeurism, and suddenly it just clicked. It does not usually happen that way. Not for me, at least. With luck and motivation and Red Bull, I'll finish this story on Tuesday. It will be a bit more erotic than the stories in the last couple of issues. Also, 13 will include a new piece by sovay (Sonya Taaffe), which makes me very happy.

Today, someone was asking about the planned e-version of Tales of Pain and Wonder. Those of you who kindly volunteered to do hypertext for the stories, I have not forgotten you. Expect to get text files sometime in January. It could be later than that, but certainly not any sooner. There's just too much other work right now.

Also today, some last minute work on The Black Alphabet chapbook.

I was looking back over what I wrote yesterday about this new sf novel idea being a place to work through some of the outrage and anger I feel towards humanity, and I just thought I should say, it's more than that. It's also a way to work through my sorrow at everything that's being lost, through my regret and despair, and also my own species dysphoria. And hope, too. Maybe in that story I could find a little hope, something that might yet serve me better than the Giant Space Rock and the Immaculate Order of the Falling Sky.

jtglover asked:

Which of your works would you consider literary vs. non-literary? I have a hard time imagining you writing, you know, simple space opera or other "non-literary" SF.

I know this question is the result of the comment I made yesterday, quoting my agent on the market for "literary sf." Those were her words, not mine. Personally, I consider all fiction to be literature and therefore to be literary. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th ed.) defines literary as "Of, relating to, or dealing with literature." And it defines literature as: "1. The body of written works of a language, period, or culture. 2. Imaginative or creative writing, especially of recognized artistic value." For my part, that means all fiction, because whether it is great or merely good, mediocre or perfectly awful, all fiction possesses at least some rudimentary artistic value. Fiction is lit. All sf, dark fantasy, "horror," weird fiction, slipstream, etc. is, by definition, literary. There is a very odd and self-deprecating tendency among genre writers and genre critics and genre editors to reserve literary for mainstream fiction or even only that which has become canonical. To my mind, this is monumentally wrongheaded. All of my work is literary, because all of it is literature, because all of it is fiction.

Also, I got a wonderful, long e-mail from corucia regarding population stability in micro- and macroorganisms, limitations to exponential population growth, and the biology of stationary-phase cells, all as might relate to the the sf novel in question. But I think I'm gonna save that for tomorrow, as I am bleary and there are miles to go before I sleep and you know how that goes.

Last night, I watched something on the Science Channel about plate tectonics and vulcanism, and then Spooky and I watched Finding Neverland (2004). I don't know why it took me so frelling long to see this film. It's quite brilliant and entirely beautiful and magical, and I strongly encourage you to see it. Johnny Depp gives one of his best, most-understated performances, and Dustin Hoffman is superb. It's just a grand film, start to finish.

Okay. I'm extremely tired and still need to add a couple of things to the the eBay auctions. I'm listing another Daughter of Hounds ARC, as well as a hand-corrected and signed unbound galley for the same. Because gas bills must be paid, and roofs must be kept over our heads, even when publishers drag their feet. Both these items will be five-day auctions, so they'll finish up before Xmas (though, obviously, we can't get them to you until after Xmas). Please have a look and bid. Thank ye.

Comments

[grandmofhelsing.livejournal.com]

Sales-wise, Dickens was the Stephen King of his day. He also wrote serialized fiction that was only later compiled into novels. And if there is a non-arbitrary definition of "literary" literature vs. "non-literary" literature, I've yet to see it.

[fibro-witch.livejournal.com]

If you have not watched the extras on the DVD yet by all means do. Go to the 'mistakes and out takes' Wait till the end.

I don't want to blow it, but I laughed so hard it hurt.