Caress the one, the hiding amaranth...

[greygirlbeast]

I am presently so very not awake, but I wanted to get past the journal entry early today. I have already let so much of December slip past me when there was not a single day to be spared, I can't lose any more days. I can begin losing days again in April or May.

No writing yesterday, but that should be fairly obvious from the paragraph above. I started to have a go at the prologue for Joey Lafaye, but then I got to talking about the book with Spooky, which led me down all sorts undesirable side roads until I was no longer in the mood to write anything. So, I dithered about. Cleaned my office a bit, and cleaned the kitchen a bit. Filed a few things in my big black filing cabinet. But mostly, I dithered. I traded the buggy, unreliable ptp programme Frost Wire for the extremely functional Poisoned, which, after a day of downloads I'd recommend to any Mac user running OS X or higher. I straightened up my desktop (the iMac's desktop). I finally sat down and put my meager sewing skills to work making two little (7.75") beanie platypi. I've been meaning to do this for ages. See below.

The weather was unseasonably warm, still 71F at 5:30 p.m., and I had my first good walk in weeks. I have to try to get back into something like decent shape, and not walking because I'm too depressed to walk only makes me more depressed and less likely to walk. So, we walked all the way to Washita Avenue NE, south of the Carter Center and Freedom Park, before turning for home. There were irises blooming along Sinclair. On the way back, we stopped at Criminal Records, and I picked up copies of Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards (Jim Ottaviani and Big Time Attic) and the first volume of Fantagraphic's E. C. Segar's Popeye collection, I Yam What I Yam. More on both later.

After dinner, we watched Len Wiseman's Live Free or Die Hard, which despite the title, was exactly what I needed last night: a good Die Hard film. A big, dumb action film with just the right ratio of explosions and car crashes to snarling one-liners. It was good to see Timothy Oliphant outside Deadwood (no, I haven't seen Hitman, and won't until the DVD release). Justin Long — the "Mac guy" — was a blast, and Maggie Q was, well, kick-ass hot. Later still, there was some Second Life, because sometimes nothing makes you fell better than roleplaying a cyborg angel in a post-apocalyptic world.

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This comment/question from seph_ski:

As someone who holds your books, Silk especially, in a very dear place in my heart, to hear that there are changes made in the latest mmps makes me wince a little in fear of that "Han shot first" kind of situation. Part of me really wants to pick up the latest and give it a read because I'm quite certain that if you think it's better, it's better. But the sentimental part of me says if I want to reread the story, I should just pick up the well worn and loved copy from my shelf and indulge in the very same copy of the book that completely enchanted me years ago. I read quite a bit, but there' only a short list of books I love enough to come back to (my to-read list is too long to allow for many rereads), and even fewer authors I'm fond enough of to keep up with, so your journaling is the first I'm hearing of changes made between earlier editions and mmps. Is it standard practice for authors to make changes between editions? (I'm a little nervous to hear this answer because it could mean a mass add to my already avalanching read pile.)

I know I'm going to wind up reading your mmps regardless, but I admit I'm still feeling a little conflicted, like reading an edited version would be cheating on an old favorite, ...as ridiculous as that may sound.

I think the revision that always drove me most nuts was the release of Stephen King's uncut version of The Stand. The previously unpublished material was great, but he also, inexplicably, tried to update the text from the mid-1970s to the early 1990s. Hell, he even changed the brand of candy bar that Harold Lauder eats! Anyway, these are not the sorts of revisions I've made. The changes have been made mainly to the book's language, it's voice, not the plot or details or characters. Spyder is still Spyder. Daria is still Daria. Deacon is still Deacon. Some people may not like the changes to the prose, but they were something I felt I had to do, as the old text no longer worked for me. All the changes were entirely voluntary, by the way, and for that matter I was not paid by the publisher for all that editing (and it was a lot of editing). Also, near as I know, it is fairly unusual for writers to make these sorts of revisions to books that have already been published. Oh, and once again, here are the correct links and ISBNs for the new mass-market editions:

Silk (ISBN 978-0-451-45668-7)

Threshold (978-0-451-46124-7)

Low Red Moon (978-0-451-46164-3)

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To help cover my recent and soon-to-come medical bills, we will be beginning a new batch of eBay auctions today or tomorrow. Among other things, we'll be offering copies of the lettered edition of Tales from the Woeful Platypus, with the aforementioned handmade-by-me platypus beanie. Each platypus beanie (actually, they're stuffed with rice, not beans) will be initialed and lettered to match the copy of the book it is sold with. You will recall that the lettered edition of this book was not offered for sale by Subterranean Press (or anyone else). I have been sitting on the 16 copies Bill gave me (K-Z, if I recall correctly — I kept K for myself). We will auction letter X first. I'm not sure how many of these we will be auctioning just now, as I can't say how many platypi I'm going to feel like sewing. We shall see. Details and link TBA.

Oh, and I got another request for my Amazon wishlist, which you may find here. And you can find Spooky's here. Solstice gifts will not go unappreciated.

Okay. I need breakfast and coffee. Then the words must flow.

Comments

[robyn-ma.livejournal.com]

'The previously unpublished material was great, but he also, inexplicably, tried to update the text from the mid-1970s to the early 1990s.'

That was awful, and a lot of work (I'm sure) for nothing, since I have yet to meet anyone who actually prefers the updated version. The Stand emerged from a very specific late-'70s mood. You need to be hearing 'Hotel California' and 'Don't Fear the Reaper' in your head as you read it. Its themes are timeless, but its concerns were very much informed by the weirdness on the world stage back when King originally wrote it. All the early-'90s touches took away the mood. And since I wasn't terribly impressed by the restored stuff in the first place (he was right to have left 'the Kid' out of the first edition), I'm content to re-read the original and forget the new one ever happened. Admittedly, I do own the hardcover of the updated one, though, and the new Berni Wrightson illustrations are nice.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

The Stand emerged from a very specific late-'70s mood. You need to be hearing 'Hotel California' and 'Don't Fear the Reaper' in your head as you read it.

Yes! Thank you.

[robyn-ma.livejournal.com]

Also you need to be thirteen and reading it in paperback on your front porch on a rainy Sunday afternoon and you really have to pee but YOU DON'T WANT TO STOP READING.

...Um. Or that could just be me.

[blu-muse.livejournal.com]

"sometimes nothing makes you fell better than roleplaying a cyborg angel in a post-apocalyptic world."

...or tentacles...

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

...or tentacles...

True.

[seph-ski.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the explanation. I look forward to reading the revised versions.

That's very interesting to know about the uncut version of The Stand too. My friends raved about that story, so I slogged through the uncut version but never quite got into it. I can see where it might have had much a better mood to it in a more 1970s setting though.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the explanation. I look forward to reading the revised versions.

You are entirely welcomed.

[broknmirrorgirl.livejournal.com]

thought with your love of squids that you might get a kick out of these.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8282419