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greygirlbeastA dreadful sort of day yesterday. Publishing frustration (quite apart from writing frustration). News of a very dear friend's illness. Bad memories. A hundred distractions. And nothing was written, a couple of paragraphs, but not enough to matter. Not with the month slipping away. I won't even bother recording yesterday's word count. So, yes. A lousy writing day. And the only way I can figure out to "catch up" is to manage to write a minimum of 2,000 words per day today, tomorrow, and Sunday. So, it's going to be a push.
Please have a look at the current eBay auctions. Thanks!
Just came across this from a review (at Strange Horizons), by William Mingin, of Realms: The First Year of Clarkesworld Magazine. Mingin writes:
Among the stories tending more to identifiable fantasy is Caitlin Kiernan's "The Ape's Wife," the longest story in the book, a post-modern examination, in effortlessly strong and graceful prose, of Ann Darrow "after Kong" that tries out many possible fates for the fictional heroine. I don't consider myself particularly qualified to give feminist readings, but it seems pretty obvious that this story is about, among other things, shifting from a male-dominated myth (the godlike Kong) to a female- and goddess-dominated myth. But the final privileging of one story over the others is somewhat confusing, nor is it easy to see, knowing what came before, how this particular fate came about. Nor do we know how Ann fell into the hell of unrealized possibilities we find her in. But the whole is quite readable.
I won't quibble about the importance of uncertainty to this story, that one shouldn't know how Ann got into this fix, or precisely how it's resolved. It's a fine review, and I continue to be pleased with the attention this story is receiving.
Not much else to yesterday. Night three of the chicken stew. I lay on the living-room floor late in the day, not writing and moaning about not writing. Spooky's parents dropped by, because they were in town. I've been making my way through the September 2008 Journal of Paleontology, and so there was "A new desmatosuchine aetosaur (Archosauria; Suchia) from the Upper Triassic Tecovas Formation (Dockum Group) of Texas," "A juvenile skull of the primitive African ornithischian dinosaur Heterodontosaurus tucki from the 'Stormberg' of South Africa," and "The anatomy, affinity, and phylogenetic significance of Illemoraspis kirkinskayae (Osteostraci) from the Devonian of Siberia." Spooky finished reading me Poe's "Descent into the Maelstrom," and we began Poe's short (and only) novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838).
Also, I think that, somehow, I have neglected to mention the forthcoming trade paperback edition of Alabaster from Subterranean Press. But yes, the collection will be back in print in April 2009 (!!!), and subpress is now taking preorders.
Okay. All that's left for this entry are the photos from Tuesday at Beavertail:
View to the west, staring into the sun. The base of the ruined lighthouse on Whale Rock, about a mile out from Beaverail.
Nom, nom, nom. An overexposed photo of a gull gorging on stranded fish.
View to the northwest. The tide coming in.
Periwinkles, barnacles, and seaweed. The odd "meaty" appearance of the rock is caused by the leaching of ferruginous compounds from the stone.
The deceased, and somewhat contorted, starfish (Asterias forbesii).
View to the north. Looking up from the rocks at the Beavertail Lighthouse.
The cove (at 41°26'57.16"N, 71°23'59.58"W) where we hunted beach glass. View to the southeast.
Female Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) in the dog roses at the lighthouse.
Some examples of the beach glass we found. The most interesting is the fragment of rare "black glass" (upper left-hand corner; about 2.5 cm wide). "Black glass" is actually green, a dark olive, when held up to a light source. This piece was likely manufactured in the 1700s.
All photographs Copyright © 2008 by Caitlín R. Kiernan and Kathryn Pollnac
Please have a look at the current eBay auctions. Thanks!
Just came across this from a review (at Strange Horizons), by William Mingin, of Realms: The First Year of Clarkesworld Magazine. Mingin writes:
Among the stories tending more to identifiable fantasy is Caitlin Kiernan's "The Ape's Wife," the longest story in the book, a post-modern examination, in effortlessly strong and graceful prose, of Ann Darrow "after Kong" that tries out many possible fates for the fictional heroine. I don't consider myself particularly qualified to give feminist readings, but it seems pretty obvious that this story is about, among other things, shifting from a male-dominated myth (the godlike Kong) to a female- and goddess-dominated myth. But the final privileging of one story over the others is somewhat confusing, nor is it easy to see, knowing what came before, how this particular fate came about. Nor do we know how Ann fell into the hell of unrealized possibilities we find her in. But the whole is quite readable.
I won't quibble about the importance of uncertainty to this story, that one shouldn't know how Ann got into this fix, or precisely how it's resolved. It's a fine review, and I continue to be pleased with the attention this story is receiving.
Not much else to yesterday. Night three of the chicken stew. I lay on the living-room floor late in the day, not writing and moaning about not writing. Spooky's parents dropped by, because they were in town. I've been making my way through the September 2008 Journal of Paleontology, and so there was "A new desmatosuchine aetosaur (Archosauria; Suchia) from the Upper Triassic Tecovas Formation (Dockum Group) of Texas," "A juvenile skull of the primitive African ornithischian dinosaur Heterodontosaurus tucki from the 'Stormberg' of South Africa," and "The anatomy, affinity, and phylogenetic significance of Illemoraspis kirkinskayae (Osteostraci) from the Devonian of Siberia." Spooky finished reading me Poe's "Descent into the Maelstrom," and we began Poe's short (and only) novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838).
Also, I think that, somehow, I have neglected to mention the forthcoming trade paperback edition of Alabaster from Subterranean Press. But yes, the collection will be back in print in April 2009 (!!!), and subpress is now taking preorders.
Okay. All that's left for this entry are the photos from Tuesday at Beavertail:
View to the west, staring into the sun. The base of the ruined lighthouse on Whale Rock, about a mile out from Beaverail.
Nom, nom, nom. An overexposed photo of a gull gorging on stranded fish.
View to the northwest. The tide coming in.
Periwinkles, barnacles, and seaweed. The odd "meaty" appearance of the rock is caused by the leaching of ferruginous compounds from the stone.
The deceased, and somewhat contorted, starfish (Asterias forbesii).
View to the north. Looking up from the rocks at the Beavertail Lighthouse.
The cove (at 41°26'57.16"N, 71°23'59.58"W) where we hunted beach glass. View to the southeast.
Female Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) in the dog roses at the lighthouse.
Some examples of the beach glass we found. The most interesting is the fragment of rare "black glass" (upper left-hand corner; about 2.5 cm wide). "Black glass" is actually green, a dark olive, when held up to a light source. This piece was likely manufactured in the 1700s.
All photographs Copyright © 2008 by Caitlín R. Kiernan and Kathryn Pollnac
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no subject
Date: 2008-10-17 04:32 pm (UTC)Be well.
View to the northwest. The tide coming in.
I love kelp beds. The starfish and the butterfly are also beautiful.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-17 04:44 pm (UTC)Your beach photos always remind me I'm so close to the ocean (on purpose) and don't visit it often.
I admire your resolve to get out of the house and seek out the beauty of our world.
Thanks, as always for sharing.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-17 06:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-17 06:34 pm (UTC)The ribbon was a rosy rust colour, and the beads along one edge were clear gold/crystalline. You kept drawing it across your neck. Because your voice was so predominant in the dream, I thought it might have to do with your writing, and your voice was beautiful like the ribbon!
How curious. And pretty. And vaguely ominous.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-18 03:45 am (UTC)