in my last life I was a one-legged Nazi whore

[greygirlbeast]

It's done. Finally, it's done. I finished "Bradbury Weather" about 5:30 p.m. yesterday. I did 1,351 words yesterday, bringing the total length of this story to 15,097 words, which, in my estimate, makes it a short novella instead of a short story. Today, Spooky and I will read through the whole thing, beginning to end, to see how it works as a whole, looking for errors, etc. It will be published in a few months in the second issue of Subterranean Magazine, along with a new interview and a reprinting of "Andromeda Among the Stones."

This morning, I got word from my film agent that a couple of Very, Very Big producers want to see The Dry Salvages. I shouldn't say who, of course, but they don't get any bigger. I doubt this will come to anything, but it's a good feeling, nonetheless.

The cold Spooky and I caught at Dragon*Con has left me with one of my interminable, lingering coughs.

What else happened yesterday? I fell asleep on the sofa again. We cooked a big pot of chili with lime, fresh jalapeno, and tequila. We rented Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, one of those films I'd refused to see in a theatre for fear of it being spoiled by cretinous, loud-mouthed fools. It was worth the wait. Brilliant. Beautiful. More poignant than I expected. A film that is simultaneously frightening and sad and sweet. Sweet is not a bad thing, if it's not handled by a hamfisted moron. Whoa. I just used "moron, "cretinous," and "fools" in the same paragraph. Good for me. Anyway, I thought Jim Carrey's performance was very strong. A very, very fine film. Afterwards, Spooky told me the story of Hobart the One-Footed Duck of Piedmont Park and Frank the Luminous Goldfish of Doom (who is, you see, responsible for Hobart's handicap). Then we went to bed early, around midnight, and I fell asleep to Lisa Gerrard and candlelight.

Thanks to everyone who voted in the "Best Novel" poll yesterday, all fifteen of you (a total of 89 people have voted so far) . But I still need eleven votes to reach 100. So, please, if you haven't voted already, click here and scroll down to "9/24/04 12:51 pm." Thank you.

Back to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind for a second. I really did love this film. I think Joel Barish will be added to my list of heroes.

I was just reading about some cretinous, moronic fool (yes, all three at once) giving douglas_clegg shit for not blurbing his book. docbrite has already expressed my feelings on this sort of thing quite well, so I shall be lazy and quote her:

I understand that it can hurt when, after you've sweated blood writing a book, someone who could help you says they don't have time to read it. I know that. But as a writer yourself (I'm addressing the imaginary rude person here, of course), you should know that writers often need to exercise careful control over what goes into their heads. It may not be that your book doesn't interest me, but that I'm in a phase where I need to read about a certain subject, or in a certain style, or can't read fiction at all for fear of having someone else's voice bleed into mine. It's never personal. Furthermore, when you ask a writer for a blurb, especially a writer you don't know, you are intruding on his life and putting him in a slightly awkward position, because he remembers when he was young and hungry and had to do that kind of thing himself. (He's likely still hungry, but never mind.) That's not necessarily bad or wrong -- it's a hazard of the trade -- but the writer owes you nothing. Even a polite refusal is gravy. Being rejected and ignored are hazards of the trade too, and you'd do well to learn that early.

Damn straight.

Comments

[wishlish.livejournal.com]

I drank a can of Red Bull this morning (got home last night at 10:30 due to the flooding in the Philly area because of tropical depression Jeanne) (hey, if she's depressed, can we give her tropical Prozac?). Then I looked at the bobbing head alien icon you provided.

Now I'm bobbing up and down. I'm dizzy. Happy now?

(hee hee)

During the flooding, in which the only way home was to drive three hours where normally 20 minutes would suffice, a lot of roads were closed. One was the road to the PA Turnpike, which I normally take to go home. The woman in front of me tried to argue with the cop, stating she could make it in her SUV. I wish he had let her; I needed the entertainment. But I guess they didn't want to fish her out, so...

Final note- if those producers don't realize that Dry Salvages will make them super-rich, they're stupidly stupid. The thing is a movie with words. All it needs are people to make it into pictures.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Final note- if those producers don't realize that Dry Salvages will make them super-rich, they're stupidly stupid. The thing is a movie with words. All it needs are people to make it into pictures.

Garda, you just made me blush. Sheesh.

[seph-ski.livejournal.com]

Ok!Ok!Ok! I voted in your poll. It wasn't an easy decision though, which was why I didn't vote the first two times you asked. I went with my gut and voted for the book I treasure the most, but I have to say it's my favorite because I have an emotional tie to it and not because I like any of the others any less.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

[activistgirl.livejournal.com]

*in best comic book guy voice*
Um yeah, best movie EVER.

Until they make The Dry Salvages, of course.

[robyn-ma.livejournal.com]

eternal sunshine — still my unchallenged #1 film of the year — struck me as being like what total recall might've turned into if david cronenberg had done it. except, y'know, no body issues. thoughtful, weird, disturbing, etc.

[nokomis1339.livejournal.com]

It's done. Finally, it's done.

Huzzah!

And yes, I finally voted in your poll. I wanted to form a concrete opinion on Murder of Angels before I did so.

I'm glad to see you seem to be in a better mood than you have been lately.

~L~

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

And yes, I finally voted in your poll.

Thanks!

And I like your icon so much I may steal it.

I'm glad to see you seem to be in a better mood than you have been lately.

I'm glad it shows.

[nokomis1339.livejournal.com]

And I like your icon so much I may steal it.

Feel free! The lady who made it would only ask that you credit perfumed_kiss and Vertigan in your keywords. She's very very good with Smashing Pumpkins icons.

~L~

[oneirophrenia.livejournal.com]

Hmm. _The Dry Salvages_ *would* make a very superior film...but only if it was directed by, say, Soderbergh or someone with a similar gift for atmospherics. I would literally *demand" Soderbergh since, in my estimation, _TDS_ is sort of like the dark, rusted underside of _Solaris_.

Needless to say, Nyarlathotep already claims all soundtrack rights. We are *this* close to finishing five "songs" based on various elements of the novel...."A self-contemplating shadow" is rapidly becoming my favorite piece we've ever worked on. :)

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

_TDS_ is sort of like the dark, rusted underside of _Solaris_.

I like that.

We are *this* close to finishing five "songs" based on various elements of the novel

Which I look forward to hearing.

[mellawyrden.livejournal.com]

I'm so excited by the thought of THE DRY SALVAGES being made into a movie. I have to go run up & down the stairs for a couple of hours now, to burn off the spaz attack I am having.

[muruch.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on finishing Bradbury Weather, and on the interest shown in The Dry Salvages.

I loved Eternal Sunshine. Not even seeing it in a theatre full of cretinous, loud-mouthed fools could spoil it. Not even seeing it in a theatre full of cretinous, loud-mouthed fools and suffering from hellish Effexor withdrawal symptoms and having a severe bipolar episode and panic attack could spoil it. Though it did fuck with my mind a bit as a result. But that's not necessary a bad thing...

If you haven't already, I suggest seeing Garden State. Though they are completely different films in the details, I had the same pleasant but pensive reaction to it that I did to Eternal Sunshine. Something about the mood and music of the films was similiar. My two favourites of the year.

[activistgirl.livejournal.com]

Huh! I connect the two in my mind as well. And I totally agree about the mind-fuck thing. Similar to the few times I've made the mistake of drinking Burnett's, I felt like I was a rider of the short bus for three days afterward.

[troublebox.livejournal.com]

Plus, wasn’t the big chasm in Garden State called the Kiernan Abyss (or the Kiernan *something*)?… Or was I just hearing things?

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Plus, wasn’t the big chasm in Garden State called the Kiernan Abyss (or the Kiernan *something*)?… Or was I just hearing things?

Whoa. I always wanted my own abyss.

[troublebox.livejournal.com]

Sorry. You have a quarry, not an abyss.

LA-based Svengali Visual Effects VFX supervisor Rocco Gioffre used digital mattes to help create a non-existent location for the Fox Searchlight feature Garden State. Director Zach Braff says people commonly ask him where scenes set in Kiernan’s Quarry were filmed: “Where is that place? It’s in Rocco’s mind,” he says. (Quote found here (http://www.creativemac.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=28045-1).)

Either way, it’s deep and it’s dark.

[asru.livejournal.com]

I am so glad to hear the news about 'The Dry Salvages'. Only problem is, I saw that movie in my head when I read the book - and these people had better do a good job of it! It deserves to be a superb film.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_desert_rain_/]

*applause* Congratulations on making it through "Bradbury Weather".

Will it be in the regular copy of Subterranean Magazine, or come with the hardcover?

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Will it be in the regular copy of Subterranean Magazine, or come with the hardcover?

Both. Bill's calling it the "Caitlín R. Kiernan" issue.