"This flood will swallow all you've left behind."

[greygirlbeast]

I swear to whichever goddess is presently in the mood to listen, if these weird dreams keep up, I'm going to have our water tested for LSD. This time, I was a high-school student somewhere in the Ozarks, only it was an Asian vampire film involving nanites, a very gory Asian vampire film that just happened to also be a musical (and I blame "Once More, With Feeling"). Most of the twists and turns are now forgotten, lost to me, but it was one of those dreams where you're simultaneously a character and someone watching what's happening, as though it's a movie. The whole thing played itself out twice, except the second time through I realized there were scenes I'd somehow missed the first time. It ended, finally, with the realization that the "vampires" (for want of a better word) could only be killed by running a long silver needle through their left temple and leaving it there. It sounds funny now, but it was truly, genuinely terrifying (and not just because of all the singing schoolgirls and choreography). One detail I recall very vividly, a sort of ad or pamphlet urging graduates to remain in the town after graduation. Drawn in a very 1950s style, it showed three deliriously happy people: a jock in his letterman sweater, a cheerleader, and a very bookish girl.

Meanwhile, because we are apparently in competition at the moment in the surreal dreams department, Spooky was having a dream about stealing absinthe from Harlan Ellison's locker. I asked her if the dream was set in a high school, and she said no, there was just this locker. Anthony Stewart Head was with her (she says he was not Giles), and he could open the combination lock on the safe by listening to the tumblers. There was someone else with them, a third, but she couldn't recall who he or she was. They took the pilfered bottle of absinthe to a cornfield, but the corn had only just begun to sprout, and so didn't make much of a hiding place.

So...now I am awake. I think. No one but Nick Cave and Blixa Bargeld are singing, and I take that as a good sign.

Yesterday, I did 1,214 words on "The Mermaid of the Concrete Ocean," which I expect to finish today. Also, Tuesday, and again yesterday, I forgot to mention that on Monday I'd done all the requested line edits and a couple of minor rewrites on "As Red as Red," which will be appearing in Ellen Datlow and Nick Mamatas' forthcoming anthology, Haunted Legends.

Please do have a look at the current eBay auctions. Thanks. I should stress that my personal stock of both The Five of Cups and Tales from the Woeful Platypus (hardback trade editions) is getting very low, and I'll not be offering many more copies of these two books. Your bids will be much appreciated.

By the way, if you're going to make it to my "How I Wrote A is for Alien" solo presentation at ReaderCon 20, I think I'll be handing out sets of the four images by Vince Locke that did not actually appear in the published book. How's that for incentive? Frankly, I have no idea how I'm going to spend an hour talking about writing the anthology, especially given that it was written over a period of four years, as individual short stories, and not as a single volume. But, these things always seem to attend to themselves, so I expect I'll do fine, and great fun will be had by all. And, of course, Henry the Horse dances the waltz.

I'm going to go finish my coffee now. The platypus is giving me the hairy eyeball.

But wait..."Evidence Found for Ancient Mars Lake". A body of liquid water the size of Lake Champlain, which existed 3 billion years ago. Exquisite.

Comments

[robyn-ma.livejournal.com]

'Spooky was having a dream about stealing absinthe from Harlan Ellison's locker.'

He doesn't drink, so he must've left it in there for her to find.

I'd keep an eye on her if I were you.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

He doesn't drink, so he must've left it in there for her to find.

This snag in the dream's logic was discussed.

[txtriffidranch.livejournal.com]

Just because he doesn't drink doesn't mean he wouldn't have any. I don't drink, either, and I'm fascinated by absinthe just because of its color. (Hell, I have several large chunks of industrial glass from Hot Springs, Arkansas, all the color of absinthe, that I hang onto just because of the color. The Czarina regularly finds me staring into them, and it's partly because they're almost the same exact color of Lake Michigan off Manistee in the summer. If I could just break off a chunk of the lake and take it home with me, I wouldn't need the glass.)

[txtriffidranch.livejournal.com]

I read the article about the Martian lake, too, and I'm thrilled. What I want to know is if this lake lasted for 300 million years after the Noachic Period ended, then where are the carbonates that would have developed? (I'm not being skeptical about the article. I legitimately want to know how Mars could have that much standing water and still hide traces of carbonates from the ongoing flotilla of orbiters searching the planet. Something doesn't add up, and when someone figures it out, we're all going to smack our heads and scream "Why didn't I see that?")

Completely unrelated, did you and Spooky get your buttons?

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Completely unrelated, did you and Spooky get your buttons?

Yes, thank you!

And that's a very good question, about the "missing" carbonates, if they truly are missing. I need someone to send me the paper these articles are based on, if they are based on more than a press release (I've not been able to figure that out).

[ardiril.livejournal.com]

Format that dream as a series synopsis and you could probably sell it to one of the minor production houses. Of course, the final product will not resemble it in any way, but you still get the "Series Concept by Caitlin R. Kiernan" credit.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Format that dream as a series synopsis and you could probably sell it to one of the minor production houses. Of course, the final product will not resemble it in any way, but you still get the "Series Concept by Caitlin R. Kiernan" credit.


As tempting as this might be, I think that one's best left in the file marked "Leave It Alone."

[ardiril.livejournal.com]

You're right. Anyway, it would probably be an easier sell if you recast it as a reality show. "Asian vampires invade a small town in the Ozarks! Which townie will be the last to leave?"

[maetrics.livejournal.com]

Well, that does sound like an incentive. I will certainly be attending incognito (leaving my lab coat and latex gloves in my jail cell). Perhaps I'll drag a few mutual friends kicking and screaming.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Well, that does sound like an incentive. I will certainly be attending incognito.

Seriously? If so, you'll be the very first SL acquaintance I've met in person.

[maetrics.livejournal.com]

Seriously, and I already have one mutual friend's word she'll go. I'm really hoping I'll be able to get the other to come as well.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Seriously, and I already have one mutual friend's word she'll go. I'm really hoping I'll be able to get the other to come as well.

You know you just ramped my stress level associated with this con by about 50%, right?

[maetrics.livejournal.com]

I did think about that. My offer to be incognito was only half a joke. If it makes it any easier, I'll just blend in with the other stalkers in unabomber wear, and you'll never know I was there.

Course, in the event you do feel up to being sociable, I would be more than happy to treat you and Spooky to a most entertaining night.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

If it makes it any easier, I'll just blend in with the other stalkers in unabomber wear, and you'll never know I was there.

No, no. Yes, I'm antisocial, but that would be horribly rude of me, and I detest rudeness. Besides, there's the element of curiosity at play. I only hope the two of you are not disappointed.

Course, in the event you do feel up to being sociable, I would be more than happy to treat you and Spooky to a most entertaining night.

Well, I'm not sure there's much excitement to be had in Burlington, MA. At least not of a sort I'd want. And the con will likely run me ragged. But we'll see.

[grinkat.livejournal.com]

Speaking as a resident of the aforementioned Ozarks, we could certainly use some Asian vampires around here. Unfortunately, the only music would probably be provided by Branson rejects....

[ardiril.livejournal.com]

The Branson Rejects fronted by Jim Stafford. This is starting to sound viable.

[sovay]

This time, I was a high-school student somewhere in the Ozarks, only it was an Asian vampire film involving nanites, a very gory Asian vampire film that just happened to also be a musical

You should stop drinking the absinthe Spooky steals from Harlan's locker.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

You should stop drinking the absinthe Spooky steals from Harlan's locker.

Evidently.

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

Sounds like he's supplying.

An image of Harlan singing "I'm your pusher man" just went through my head. SO WRONG in SO MANY ways. (Hey, have you ever heard Harlan sing? I know he can, come to think of it.)

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

(Hey, have you ever heard Harlan sing? I know he can, come to think of it.)

As it happens, I have.

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

Cool.

He probably never sang "One Night in Innsmouth (http://pierceheart.livejournal.com/528421.html)"...

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

He probably never sang "One Night in Innsmouth"...

Er...no.

[happyspector.livejournal.com]

Somewhere in the Ozarks... It wouldn't happen to be Toadsuck, Arkansas, would it? If so, it ain't LSD you need to be testing the water for.

Seriously, that sounds so oddly like this recurring horror/comedy radio scenario my friend Lonesome Cowboy Bill and I periodically do (it's his show; I periodically guest star; you can stream it from kkfi.org, 10-Midnight central Sunday nights), I'm surprised you weren't rescued from the vampires by two strapping state troopers who happened to be lovers ("She looked cuter on the milk carton..." BOOM!).

I'll have to tell the cowboy, someone from Toadsuck's been dosing one of my favorite writers!

Welcome to Toadsuck!
Geunine South American Psychadelic Toads;
Taste One Home Today!

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised you weren't rescued from the vampires by two strapping state troopers who happened to be lovers

Actually, before it was over, I was one of the vampires.

I'll have to check out Toadsuck...

[happyspector.livejournal.com]

Not surprising ;-)

Actually, if you tune in this Sunday or the next, the two of us along with Bill's son Jake (he's on leave from the army) will be appearing as "The Toadsuck Trio," a tripped out serial killer traveling bluegrass band originating from guess-where. You'll get some great skits, an eclectic mix of music, and... well, I have a feeling you'll appreciate Bill's distinct brand of political ranting.

Funny enough, after spinning the concept of the place, we learned that a place named Toadsuck, Arkansas does, in fact, exist... as does a facsimile of one of the primary residents, an deranged old hippie who lives in the woods in a house made of old vinyl album covers. I wonder if he has actually has a daughter named Cthulhu Mae (she's... exactly what she sounds like), or if psychedelic toads have actually been introduced to the environment, secreted their juices in the water suply and left the population constantly tripping, leading to a constant ambiguity of how much of the weird goings-on are hallucinations and which are merely oddities revealed to everyone's perpetually expanded consciousness.

Not entirely historically unprecedented, as I'm sure you know. Just ask Broigal >;-)