greygirlbeast: (dr10-1)
Caitlín R. Kiernan ([personal profile] greygirlbeast) wrote2008-04-25 11:57 am

Cephalopotamusosaurusocerasaphant (Fun with Hybrids!)

Yesterday, I did a very respectable 1,472 words and finished the new and still untitled vignette, the one for Sirenia Digest #30, not #29. Truthfully, I'm not sure what to make of this piece (it comes in at a total of 3,950 words). It's stranger than usual, and darker. I think unrelentingly brutal would be the most precise description, and all I can figure is that it came from the "place" where I am at the moment. It makes me think of early Dunsany, if Dunsany had written odes to sadism. Spooky likes it a lot, but I just don't know. I half suspect I should lock it in a drawer somewhere and never take it out again. Instead, though, I'm sending it to [livejournal.com profile] sovay today to see what she thinks of it.

April has been a productive month, in spite of itself. First, I wrote "Flotsam" for #29 (April 4-6), then I began Chapter One of The Red Tree (April 14) and did 28 pp. before realizing my problem with the "Editor's Note" (April 19). And then I wrote this latest piece over the past three days. Now, I'll either begin the second piece for May's issue of the digest, or go back to The Red Tree far sooner than I'd hoped possible. Likely, I'll get the May digest out of the way first. And the introduction to A is for Alien.

I packed four more boxes yesterday, the rest of the VHS tapes and more books. I'm packing in a way I've never done before, a little at a time, as I'm just not up to the Big Push I usually do two weeks before a move. I've told Spooky that if I like this place in Providence as much as we expect to, I'm not leaving for thirty years, at least. I did get Outside yesterday, once the writing and packing were done. We took the picnic blanket [livejournal.com profile] blu_muse gave us and spread it out at the top of the hill in Freedom Park near Moreland, beneath the oaks. I dozed a little and undoubtedly got bugs in my hair. And took some photos, mostly from the lying down position. The time Outside did me good. There was a hawk, and we heard woodpeckers, though we never spotted one (wait, Spooky says she saw one). Anyway, they're behind the cut (the photos, not the woodpeckers):





Tree, sky, and contrail.



Looking west towards Freedom Parkway and downtown Atlanta.



A tree that I love and will miss.



Two more episodes of Millennium last night. And my thanks to Merma, Omega, and Pontifex for some exquisite rp last night. Fire and blood — what more do I ever need? Tonight, of course, we get Byron and Doctor Who and Battlestar Galactica. I think the day will be consumed by the busyness of writing, rather than by actual writing, and by packing.

[identity profile] robyn-ma.livejournal.com 2008-04-25 04:53 pm (UTC)(link)
You still have VHS tapes?

Is that even legal?

[identity profile] greygirlbeast.livejournal.com 2008-04-25 04:55 pm (UTC)(link)

Is that even legal?

I hope so, as I have a mountain of the things.

[identity profile] robyn-ma.livejournal.com 2008-04-25 05:09 pm (UTC)(link)
They may still be legal in Atlanta, but recently Rhode Island passed the Digital Storage Act which strictly prohibits the sale or possession of any videocassette media. There are border guards to enforce this, and the penalty is up to five years in jail. Things have changed since Spooky left.

Fortunately people get around this by disguising their videotapes as books, and there are underground VHS clubs where people gather to watch videotapes. They never speak, and they cannot meet your gaze.

[identity profile] scarletboi.livejournal.com 2008-04-25 05:39 pm (UTC)(link)
I've finally replaced almost all of our VHS...

I think the only things we have left on VHS are:

the first few seasons of Earth: the Final Conflict recorded from television for Kat
a Propaganda video magazine (the boys are hot, what?)
Jacob Two Two and the Hooded Fang, with Miranda Richardson and Gary Busey
a Cure bootleg
a collection of Peter Murphy videos
a "Goth Box" collection of videos
Rozz Williams' PIG

[identity profile] greygirlbeast.livejournal.com 2008-04-25 06:38 pm (UTC)(link)

a Propaganda video magazine (the boys are hot, what?)

Oh, indeed.

[identity profile] stsisyphus.livejournal.com 2008-04-25 06:24 pm (UTC)(link)
It's stranger than usual, and darker. I think unrelentingly brutal would be the most precise description...

And these, I find, are the better pieces. Or, at very least, the ones which are sexier.

[identity profile] greygirlbeast.livejournal.com 2008-04-25 06:37 pm (UTC)(link)

And these, I find, are the better pieces. Or, at very least, the ones which are sexier.

I do hope that you are right.

[identity profile] loki1978de.livejournal.com 2008-04-26 09:33 am (UTC)(link)
Just for my mad try to keep up with you:
How far into Millenium are you?

[identity profile] greygirlbeast.livejournal.com 2008-04-26 05:01 pm (UTC)(link)
How far into Millenium are you?

We've watched the first eight episodes.

Blame Sweeney

[identity profile] reverendcrofoot.livejournal.com 2008-04-26 09:39 am (UTC)(link)
I think unrelentingly brutal would be the most precise description, and all I can figure is that it came from the "place" where I am at right now.

Thanks for the recommendation. The only thing I would've done differently is have Miss Loveit take up a butcher knife and protest vehemently at her mistreatment. Someday...