"Blame in on the satellite, that beams me home."

[greygirlbeast]

A sunny start to the day, but I think thunderstorms are on their way. This summer has been so different compared to last year. Mostly, it's been the peculiar, chilly weather and all the rain. I've hardly left the House, hardly seen the sea, in the past two months. i think I was actually getting out more when we had nine inches of snow on the ground. Oh, and there are the tourists to consider. Rhode Island is so heavily dependent, financially, on tourism, which is a deal with dark powers that no state should ever make, but there you go. And the tourists, they are afflicted with such a sense of entitlement. They do not act like guests, but like this is their home, which the rest of us house sit for them during the long cold winter while they're somewhere else. I cannot abide them. So, I avoid the sea, which is like avoiding church or temple or your mosque. The tourists clot about the shore, almost every inch of it, drunken, sun-burnt, half naked, noisy, unruly, and rude, buoyed on surly waves of imagined entitlement. Which is why we could have gone to the shore yesterday, but didn't. The weekends are the worst.

Today, I have to clear out my head and get the second vignette for Sirenia Digest #44 written. Well, started. Only, I don't yet know what it is to be, because yesterday, when I should have been figuring that out, I was too busy worrying about sales figures on The Red Tree. If you've not pre-ordered, it would be a great help if you would. Thanks. And there's the website, which yields interesting tidbits, to those who look closely enough. I will say, I'm very, very happy with how the website is turning out. It's pretty low tech, not sparkling with snazzy java and whatnot, but I like it. The quiet minimalism of it. The starkness matches the novel well.

A date has finally been set for the filming of the "book trailer" for The Red Tree. Well, for the bulk of it. August 2, which will give us only 12 days to get the footage edited and online. Summer rushes past.

The Very Special Auction continues apace. Check it out.

Anything much about yesterday? I tried to think about the vignette I'm beginning today, but couldn't (see above). But I stayed at the desk all day, regardless. I read Angela Carter's "Flesh and the Mirror," and "The Lottery" and "Afternoon in Linen," because favorite short stories are like old friends. I tried to look at Asian porn sites, as they are often the source of inspiration for the tales in Sirenia Digest. But I ended up looking at dinosaur artwork. Yeah, I'm a dork. Sometime before five p.m., there was a very short nap. Only fifteen minutes, because Spooky woke me so I could sleep last night.

We watched Hancock (2008) for the second time last night. It really is an excellent film, and holds up very well on a second viewing. As I said last night on Facebook, the marketing people really screwed the pooch on this one. People went in expecting a fluff comedy about a superhero fuck-up, and instead they get this great (and very funny) Joseph Campbell meets Carl Jung exposition on the role of gods and heroes in human culture. Me, I like surprises, but I've learned that lots of people are ad whores. They want what's advertised, and they set their sights on that, form concrete expectations, and woe betide anyone or anything that thwarts those expectations. Expectation is an enemy of art. And science, too, for that matter. This is one reason I worry about the covers of my books.

I think I got to sleep about 3:30 a.m.

All for now. Gotta go find the story, then find the words.

Comments

[sovay]

The tourists clot about the shore, almost every inch of it, drunken, sun-burnt, half naked, noisy, unruly, and rude, buoyed on surly waves of imagined entitlement.

Patently none of them are familiar with this song:

You laugh at me on funny days, but mine's the sleight of hand
Don't you know I am a joker, a deceiver?
And I'm waiting for the land

—Fotheringay, "The Sea"

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Nice.

[sovay]

Nice.

I discovered it last night. It seemed like one of yours.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Thank you for pointing it out.

[derekcfpegritz.livejournal.com]

Hey, Ms. K--there are two films you need to see: Franklyn, which is an interesting (flawed, yes, but still worth seeing) steampunk/Lynchian tale of broken people, and Orphan, which really may be one of the best "creepy little kid" movies I've ever seen.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Hey, Ms. K--there are two films you need to see: Franklyn, which is an interesting (flawed, yes, but still worth seeing) steampunk/Lynchian tale of broken people, and Orphan, which really may be one of the best "creepy little kid" movies I've ever seen.

Thanks. Added both to the list.

[timesygn.livejournal.com]

... lots of people are ad whores. They want what's advertised, and they set their sights on that, form concrete expectations, and woe betide anyone or anything that thwarts those expectations.

Theirs a mentality similar to the one that becomes irked when their Big Mac doesn't resemble the one on the menu.

Expectation is an enemy of art.

And porn!

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Theirs a mentality similar to the one that becomes irked when their Big Mac doesn't resemble the one on the menu.

Exactly. And the ones who eat at MacDonald's for the comfort that all MacDonald's are the same.

And porn!

A discussion for another time.

[fusijui.livejournal.com]

Sorry if this is covered elsewhere, but I'm not finding the answer (within the limits of my attention span): Is there a way we can preorder "The Red Tree" other than from Amazon? And contribute to the wowing of your marketing cabal, etc?

Sorry to be hoity-toity or whatever, but I've lived in Amazon's back yard since they were born & watched them growing up, and I'm pretty committed to not feeding them a crumb of business.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Sorry if this is covered elsewhere, but I'm not finding the answer (within the limits of my attention span): Is there a way we can preorder "The Red Tree" other than from Amazon? And contribute to the wowing of your marketing cabal, etc?

I haven't addressed it, no. But just Google. Pretty much any online bookseller, such ss BarnesandNoble.com will have it. For that matter, you could preorder from an actual brick-and-mortar bookstore.

I push Amazon because that's pretty much the only preorder retail number that publisher's pay attention to (hence, the one that matters).

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth, I pre-ordered from Powell's (http://www.powells.com) here in Portland. You can decide how you feel about them.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Frankly, I think Powell's is grand, though I only know it by reputation.

[fusijui.livejournal.com]

Powell's is excellent, but geez, maybe I should come down and pick up a copy from them in person, and, you know, look around while I'm there, because, like, I've got self control, right? And it won't end in tears and spinal deformation from lugging books back home, this time...

Thanks for the pointers, everyone -- just looking for a way to maximize the promotional value of my dollars without going Amazon!

[ardiril.livejournal.com]

Doing what I can to paticipate in the auction, but I am stuck in a cardiac ICU and using an ancient mobile browser. I was hoping to put up a hard fight, circumstances contraindicate that occurring. Just my luck.