I'll remember what strawberries tasted like.

[greygirlbeast]

Dreamsick today. And I'll try hard to make this a short entry. My thanks to everyone who left comments yesterday. They were needed and appreciated. They'll be needed again, today, though I doubt I have anything even half so interesting to say. But please, do not try to engage me in anything even remotely resembling an argument. Trust me. Not today. Anyway, yesterday, I wrote 1,197 words on "Derma Sutra (1891)", which I'd thought, days ago, would be a 2,000-word vignette, but which has blossomed into something like actual short story. You can read it, of course, in the forthcoming issue of Sirenia Digest, which will be #32. It will also include a wonderful piece by Sonya Taaffe (sovay), as well as Geoffrey Goodwin's (readingthedark) interview with artist Richard Kirk (who, among many other things, provided illustrations for several of my short story collections (including Tales of Pain and Wonder, Wrong Things, From Weird and Distant Shores, and To Charles Fort, With Love). Not too late for new subscribers to get this issue. Just click here.

Now, I have this list, because if I don't do it as a list, I'll forget something:

1) The KGB Fantastic Fiction Auction was an enormous success. I have the press release from Ellen Datlow (ellen_datlow), cohost of the monthly Manhattan event, and she writes: "New York, NY (July 29, 2008) – The KGB Fantastic Fiction Raffle was a huge success. Sixty nine highly-coveted prizes were awarded to individuals from all over the world, including winners in Germany and Australia. The raffle has generated enough money to keep the series viable for two years. In addition, the hosts will now be able to pay the readers a small stipend for their participation." My congratulations (and thanks) to Mr. Michael Curry, who won the signed copy of the 3rd edition of Tales of Pain and Wonder, and also to Mr. Chris Dill, winner of the one-year subscription to Sirenia Digest, plus all 32 back issues. And if you have no idea what the KGB Bar readings are, and happen to live in the NYC area, you should check it out. I read there in May 2001, and will be reading again on November 16th.

2) Please have a look at the current eBay auctions. Surprisingly, there's still no bid on Alabaster.

3) Don't forget that subpress is now taking preorders for A is for Alien. Yes, this book will very likely sell out before it is published.

4) I'm going to begin a really hard push on the forthcoming mass-market paperback edition of Daughter of Hounds. It'll be out September 2nd, and you can now preorder it from Amazon.com for a mere $7.99 + s&h.

Last night I read more of Fraser's Triassic book, which I've been neglecting and need to finish. Spooky and I unsuccessfully tried very hard to hang a picture, but ran afoul of punky plaster and the weird steel hurricane braces built into the old walls of this place. Maybe we'll have better luck tonight. I had a nap at the feet of Dr. Muñoz. Later, there was Second Life, but really, the less said about that, the better.

Okay. Coffee, Platypus. All set. If I could just stow this dizzying futuredread that's locked onto me like a rabid lamprey. Right now, I choose to blame Generation Why (Or Gen Y, or the Echo Boomers, or what the hell ever you want to call people born in the '80s and '90s), and would like nothing more than to give the whole instant-gratification seeking, peer-oriented lot of them a good attention-span enema. Yeah, sure, I'm getting old. That's a fact. And I'm not happy about it. Another fact. But at least I remember what came before, and I know I'm not entitled, and the world is not here to serve me, or keep me entertained, or hypnotized. For that matter, while I'm at it, I place equal blame on the parents of the Why crowd —— Boomers and Xers —— because, ultimately, they're the ones to blame for this.

Comments

[stsisyphus.livejournal.com]

I place equal blame on the parents of the Why crowd —— Boomers and Xers —— because, ultimately, they're the ones to blame for this.

You know, I can't cop any legitimacy in clinging to a pastoral ideal of culture or a return-to-earth lifestyle. It'd be nice if I could, but I'm a child of the sprawl. I experience a lot more connection to poured concrete and stunted wildflower wastelands broken up by fill dirt (which couldn't ever reasonably be considered soil), and the curious cast-offs of disposable culture. I'm not a natural historian, and I'm not likely to become one. It's something I just don't grok. I don't want to throw blame around, but I also don't want to accept it either. It's no more reasonable to expect myself to embrace wilderness (given my personal spiritual breeding) than it is for you, Ms. K, to embrace the noisome terrestrial landscapes of suburban mercantile retail-colonies. That's not a judgment, incidentally. We find our peace wherever we can - or we don't and take whatever works best until we collapse. In my case, it's partially a conscious decision: you take what you get, under the terms you can manage, and if you're lacking something then its either your own damn fault or it's nothing you can change anyway.

Then again, there are probably many people out there who don't make that decision, hence perhaps your complaint. Decisions cannot be chosen in ignorance of a decision to be made. And then, once more, there is something to be said for the rewards American society implicitly provides for those people who refuse or neglect to examine their spiritual contributions and complexities. Plenty of people are perfectly happy to remain shallow and blank to reflection - and operate very, very well in the absence of such depth.

All this to say, of the many biting jabs which the comic has provided, this Married to the Sea comic (http://www.marriedtothesea.com/042108/what-would-be-cooler.gif) hit me a little hard. Sometimes you want yourself to be a better person, even when you know pretty deep down that you're really not likely to become one.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

All this to say, of the many biting jabs which the comic has provided, this Married to the Sea comic hit me a little hard.

Oh, but it is so goddamn true.

Sometimes you want yourself to be a better person, even when you know pretty deep down that you're really not likely to become one.

I know this feeling all too well. But. Also, I know I will continue to struggle upwards even as I acknowledge that innate downward spiral.

Plenty of people are perfectly happy to remain shallow and blank to reflection - and operate very, very well in the absence of such depth.

We call them free-range Soylent Green (thank you, Paul).

You know, I can't cop any legitimacy in clinging to a pastoral ideal of culture or a return-to-earth lifestyle. It'd be nice if I could, but I'm a child of the sprawl. I experience a lot more connection to poured concrete and stunted wildflower wastelands broken up by fill dirt (which couldn't ever reasonably be considered soil), and the curious cast-offs of disposable culture. I'm not a natural historian, and I'm not likely to become one. It's something I just don't grok. I don't want to throw blame around, but I also don't want to accept it either. It's no more reasonable to expect myself to embrace wilderness (given my personal spiritual breeding) than it is for you, Ms. K, to embrace the noisome terrestrial landscapes of suburban mercantile retail-colonies. That's not a judgment, incidentally. We find our peace wherever we can - or we don't and take whatever works best until we collapse. In my case, it's partially a conscious decision: you take what you get, under the terms you can manage, and if you're lacking something then its either your own damn fault or it's nothing you can change anyway.

I don't think you quite understood the source of my anger and frustration, because, really —— this time —— it has little to do with an appreciation of Nature vs. the absence thereof. Then again, I probably didn't make myself entirely clear, so you're excused.

[stsisyphus.livejournal.com]

I probably didn't make myself entirely clear, so you're excused.

I don't know. I think it was more a response to the comment threads above more than anything else. Thanks for the response anyway.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

I don't know. I think it was more a response to the comment threads above more than anything else.

Ah, yes. Know I see.