Caitlín R. Kiernan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
greygirlbeast) wrote2009-06-06 11:57 am
greygirlbeast) wrote2009-06-06 11:57 am
Entry tags:
Mainlining Perspective
Here in Providence, summer is getting off to a cool start. A high of only 72F forecast for today (61F at the moment), and the warmest we expect to see over the next ten days is 77F, with lots of days only in the 60s. Of course, summer doesn't officially arrive for another two weeks.
Yesterday, I wrote 1,018 words on "The Alchemist's Daughter" (another, better title has yet to occur to me). It's a strange story. And maintaining its voice is a daunting endeavor. But, as I've said before, one of the purposes of Sirenia Digest is to allow me to experiment, and this certainly is an experiment. I was writing until sometime after 6 p.m. yesterday. Every single sentence of this one is requiring me to take so much care.
Pursuant to these thoughts on the difficulties I'm having writing "The Alchemist's Daughter," on this day in 2007 I wrote (the thing about virtual Nebari boobs, that's a reference to my old SL dancing gig):
"One thing I have resisted, as an author, is (as they say in publishing) being 'branded.' There are authors upon whom you may rely to always deliver the sort of story you expect from them, presented the way you expect them to present stories, in voices that have become familiar. And this is what I will never be, I suspect. Just as I must continue to find the meaning and purpose in the stories I am to write (if I am to write them), I must also continue to push myself. I cannot ever become comfortable, because that's when art ceases to be art and becomes something else. Back to what I said yesterday about having written through so much anger and sorrow in Tales of Pain and Wonder and in the early novels (The Five of Cups through Low Red Moon, and The Dreaming) — I do not manufacture emotions, but project them from within myself. This is the only way I know to make them genuine. And if they are other than genuine, well, I'm better off being a virtual stripper in a virtual strip club, showing my virtual Nebari boobs for virtual tips. But you are correct in these observations. Murder of Angels was a bridge. I know I made a conscious effort to move away from what I had been doing, and I began looking to other sorts of fantasy and sf as my canvas and my paints. Some stories will feel rawer than others. I'm a stranger here myself."
I'm encouraged when I look back through the years and see that maybe I'm actually making some sort of progress, and that I'm holding true to the course I plotted for myself (though detours are inevitable).
Anyway, please have a look at the current eBay auctions, to help offset the expense of attending ReaderCon this year. I'll also point you in the direction of Spooky's Dreaming Squid Dollworks shop on Etsy. She says a new beastie will be appearing there within the hour.
As Michael Rowe reports in The Huffington Post, the KRXQ "shock jocks" who recently berated transgender children as "freaks" and advocated violence against them, are being called to task for their hateful tirade. Most importantly, their actions have cost the station a number of high-profile sponsors. I quote: "As of this writing, at least ten national companies have withdrawn, cancelled, or decided not to renew their advertising contracts with KRXQ. They include Chipotle restaurants, the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, SONIC, Verizon, the Carl's Jr. restaurant chain, Wells Fargo, Nissan, AT&T, and McDonalds. Citing the depravity of the content, spokespeople for the various companies were united in their disgust with KRXQ and Rob, Arnie, & Dawn in the Morning." You can read the rest of Micheal's update here, in which we learn that two of the DJs in question have a long history of hateful and obscene speech towards children and women. For my part, I have no interest in hearing apologies from these people, nor from their employer. This isn't the sort of thing you can readily apologize for.
And now, it's time to make the doughnuts....
Yesterday, I wrote 1,018 words on "The Alchemist's Daughter" (another, better title has yet to occur to me). It's a strange story. And maintaining its voice is a daunting endeavor. But, as I've said before, one of the purposes of Sirenia Digest is to allow me to experiment, and this certainly is an experiment. I was writing until sometime after 6 p.m. yesterday. Every single sentence of this one is requiring me to take so much care.
Pursuant to these thoughts on the difficulties I'm having writing "The Alchemist's Daughter," on this day in 2007 I wrote (the thing about virtual Nebari boobs, that's a reference to my old SL dancing gig):
"One thing I have resisted, as an author, is (as they say in publishing) being 'branded.' There are authors upon whom you may rely to always deliver the sort of story you expect from them, presented the way you expect them to present stories, in voices that have become familiar. And this is what I will never be, I suspect. Just as I must continue to find the meaning and purpose in the stories I am to write (if I am to write them), I must also continue to push myself. I cannot ever become comfortable, because that's when art ceases to be art and becomes something else. Back to what I said yesterday about having written through so much anger and sorrow in Tales of Pain and Wonder and in the early novels (The Five of Cups through Low Red Moon, and The Dreaming) — I do not manufacture emotions, but project them from within myself. This is the only way I know to make them genuine. And if they are other than genuine, well, I'm better off being a virtual stripper in a virtual strip club, showing my virtual Nebari boobs for virtual tips. But you are correct in these observations. Murder of Angels was a bridge. I know I made a conscious effort to move away from what I had been doing, and I began looking to other sorts of fantasy and sf as my canvas and my paints. Some stories will feel rawer than others. I'm a stranger here myself."
I'm encouraged when I look back through the years and see that maybe I'm actually making some sort of progress, and that I'm holding true to the course I plotted for myself (though detours are inevitable).
Anyway, please have a look at the current eBay auctions, to help offset the expense of attending ReaderCon this year. I'll also point you in the direction of Spooky's Dreaming Squid Dollworks shop on Etsy. She says a new beastie will be appearing there within the hour.
As Michael Rowe reports in The Huffington Post, the KRXQ "shock jocks" who recently berated transgender children as "freaks" and advocated violence against them, are being called to task for their hateful tirade. Most importantly, their actions have cost the station a number of high-profile sponsors. I quote: "As of this writing, at least ten national companies have withdrawn, cancelled, or decided not to renew their advertising contracts with KRXQ. They include Chipotle restaurants, the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, SONIC, Verizon, the Carl's Jr. restaurant chain, Wells Fargo, Nissan, AT&T, and McDonalds. Citing the depravity of the content, spokespeople for the various companies were united in their disgust with KRXQ and Rob, Arnie, & Dawn in the Morning." You can read the rest of Micheal's update here, in which we learn that two of the DJs in question have a long history of hateful and obscene speech towards children and women. For my part, I have no interest in hearing apologies from these people, nor from their employer. This isn't the sort of thing you can readily apologize for.
And now, it's time to make the doughnuts....
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Good. I hope in this case money talks loudly enough.
"The Alchemist's Daughter" sounds like a worthwhile experiment.
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"The Alchemist's Daughter" sounds like a worthwhile experiment.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
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http://whatever.scalzi.com/category/big-idea/
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have you considered trying to get a column on it at John Scalzi's 'The Big Idea' section of his 'Whatever' blog? That would certainly bring it to the attention of a very wide audience.
I think maybe Scalzi thinks I'm a jerk. Don't ask why.
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This happened during the Clinton presidency and it's happening again now, only worse. Talk radio is going to get more and more disgusting and hostile, as will the general American culture. All in reaction to having a Democrat in the White House. These right-wing talk shows play to the ignorance and fear of their belching drive-time audience. In such an environment there will, I fear, be more Dr. Tillers and others who are demonized by panderers to the sky-god crowd.
Yeah...
The price of a saner president is a more hateful populace.
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This time, sponsors who use an immersion marketing model pulled their ads. THAT got some attention, I assure you.
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I did not notice any decline in the disgust and hate levels on talk radio during the Bush presidency as compared to Clinton's.
Well, as I've said, it's true I don't listen to much radio, and no "talk radio" (I can no longer even stomach regular DJs). So, perhaps I spoke out of turn.
THAT got some attention, I assure you.
Apparently.
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Not at all, because the talk does just get worse. The biggest problem is most shock jocks have a huge audience and other sponsors are lined up to replace the ones that were lost. Then too, if a shock jock DOES go too far, he moves on to a different city, possibly assumes a different name, and starts all over again. Further, if they run out of markets, they become stand-up comics or comedy writers.
Here's the real kicker though: The FCC only regulates radio and television broadcasts. If those guys were authors instead of DJs and wrote that scene into a book, well, where would we be then? Violence against children is hardly a new topic in the world of fiction, and the perpetrators do not always receive the justice they deserve. For example: The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror: No. 19 has two stories that I can recall (and possibly one or two more) in which the whole point of the story, the horror, is that the perpetrators of crimes against children escaped cleanly.
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Then too, if a shock jock DOES go too far, he moves on to a different city, possibly assumes a different name, and starts all over again.
These two had already been fired from a show in Seattle.
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The issue boils down to taste. You tell a story using the voice of an average Joe on a drive-time radio show and you are a villain. You tell the same story using fancy prose and proper enunciation on NPR and you are celebrated. However, even the taste argument falls apart when cartoons of Bart Simpson raping Lisa remain unchallenged, yet are easily found by typing the keywords into Google.
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For those that care here is the Stations contact (http://www.krxq.net/pages/223883.php) page. One could imagine you could let the station owners now how you feel.
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One could imagine you could let the station owners now how you feel.
As it happens, I have.
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Hoorah!
I don't about you but I feel this victory needs to be washed down with a Big Mac and a Dr. Pepper, unhealthy amount of calories be damned....(seems like some corporations are on our side...)
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I don't about you but I feel this victory needs to be washed down with a Big Mac and a Dr. Pepper, unhealthy amount of calories be damned....(seems like some corporations are on our side...)
Well, I do have reservations. While I am definitely pleased to see these corporations have pulled their ads, I also can't help but think we'd not have seen this reaction if the screed had ben against transgender adults instead of transgender children.
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