![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greygirlbeastI'd certainly not planned not to make entries for the past two days. But there's been damned little to report. We were hit with a sort of micro-heatwave, compounded by outrageous humidity. Which pretty much made working in the House impossible. On top of that, I've been in a worse-than-usual funk, which I suspect is the comedown after last week (book release, filming at the Arboretum, hanging out in Boston, signing at Pandemonium, etc.). Add to that stress over book sales. So, I thought it best I stay away from the journal for a bit. Last night, the rains came, blocking our view of the Perseid meteor shower, but driving away the heat and rendering the House livable again.
But, we got out of here yesterday, and drove down to the public library in Peace Dale (1890-1891), one of my favorite libraries in the state. We'd meant to do this on Monday, and my week thus far might have been more productive if we had. But Monday was Victory Day, and Rhode Island is the last state in the Union that still celebrates it, and all the libraries were closed. Anyway, I sat in the Peace Dale public library, in the glorious AC, and for a while I only listened to an audiobook of Jeremy Irons reading Lolita. That seemed to jog my senses back to life, and I made pages of notes for the novel that I have to write next, beginning in September, now that The Red Tree is out in the wide, wide world. I think I may have found a plot, and I have to report it has nothing much to do with vampires. And though the working title is Blood Oranges, it also has nothing much to do with citrus. Later in the day, when I had no more notes to write, I read part of a biography of Walt Disney, which was fairly surreal after Jeremy Irons and Nabokov. The library closed at six, and we headed back to Providence. The rain caught us just as we made it back into the city. There's a fairly random set of photos below, behind the cut. Oh, I also mailed out three copies of The Red Tree yesterday, to various people to whom copies were owed.
There was a moderate seizure on the way to Peace Dale, and I hate when they happen in the car. But I was wearing my seat belt, and have no bruises or chewed mouth parts to show for it.
We've added a little bit of new content to the website (thank you, Chris), including a new video clip on the front page, and a free downloadable wallpaper based on the accumulated "evidence." (thank you, Nicola). Much more new content is on the way. Spooky's still editing the "trailer." And I very much want to encourage readers to submit potential content, whether it's visual art or additional "evidence" and scholarship related to the "red tree" and other phenomena at or near the old Wight Place. Just send it to me at greygirlbeast(at)gmail(dot)com.
I received a marvelous care package yesterday from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
txtriffidranch, which included a copy of Cristiano Dal Sasso's Dinosaurs of Italy, which has been on my Amazon wishlist for about two years. Thank you, Paul.
Yesterday I also read a very, very good review of The Red Tree, one I have already called "extra splendid." I love it all the more because it was not written by a professional book reviewer. Increasingly, pro reviews seem to me like one-paragraph book reports. Anyway, you can read the review here. It is marvelously spoiler free, by the way.
Okay, today I must write. I'm three days behind schedule, at this point. Not much more to say, anyway. We've been watching Space: Above and Beyond, and proofreading The Ammonite Violin & Others, and eating things you don't have to cook.
The post office in Slocum, my favorite in Rhode Island.
I managed to get a shot of this groundhog (Marmota monax) trundling across a front lawn on Upper College Road, near URI.
My "work station" (I deplore that term) in the Peace Dale Public Library. I forgot to get an exterior shot, which is a shame. Gorgeous building. And I love the idea of "graphic noes."
Thunderheads over Providence, view to the northeast.
As above.
View to the west, as the clouds swallow the sun.
All photographs Copyright © 2009 by Caitlín R. Kiernan and Kathryn A. Pollnac
But, we got out of here yesterday, and drove down to the public library in Peace Dale (1890-1891), one of my favorite libraries in the state. We'd meant to do this on Monday, and my week thus far might have been more productive if we had. But Monday was Victory Day, and Rhode Island is the last state in the Union that still celebrates it, and all the libraries were closed. Anyway, I sat in the Peace Dale public library, in the glorious AC, and for a while I only listened to an audiobook of Jeremy Irons reading Lolita. That seemed to jog my senses back to life, and I made pages of notes for the novel that I have to write next, beginning in September, now that The Red Tree is out in the wide, wide world. I think I may have found a plot, and I have to report it has nothing much to do with vampires. And though the working title is Blood Oranges, it also has nothing much to do with citrus. Later in the day, when I had no more notes to write, I read part of a biography of Walt Disney, which was fairly surreal after Jeremy Irons and Nabokov. The library closed at six, and we headed back to Providence. The rain caught us just as we made it back into the city. There's a fairly random set of photos below, behind the cut. Oh, I also mailed out three copies of The Red Tree yesterday, to various people to whom copies were owed.
There was a moderate seizure on the way to Peace Dale, and I hate when they happen in the car. But I was wearing my seat belt, and have no bruises or chewed mouth parts to show for it.
We've added a little bit of new content to the website (thank you, Chris), including a new video clip on the front page, and a free downloadable wallpaper based on the accumulated "evidence." (thank you, Nicola). Much more new content is on the way. Spooky's still editing the "trailer." And I very much want to encourage readers to submit potential content, whether it's visual art or additional "evidence" and scholarship related to the "red tree" and other phenomena at or near the old Wight Place. Just send it to me at greygirlbeast(at)gmail(dot)com.
I received a marvelous care package yesterday from
txtriffidranch, which included a copy of Cristiano Dal Sasso's Dinosaurs of Italy, which has been on my Amazon wishlist for about two years. Thank you, Paul.Yesterday I also read a very, very good review of The Red Tree, one I have already called "extra splendid." I love it all the more because it was not written by a professional book reviewer. Increasingly, pro reviews seem to me like one-paragraph book reports. Anyway, you can read the review here. It is marvelously spoiler free, by the way.
Okay, today I must write. I'm three days behind schedule, at this point. Not much more to say, anyway. We've been watching Space: Above and Beyond, and proofreading The Ammonite Violin & Others, and eating things you don't have to cook.
The post office in Slocum, my favorite in Rhode Island.
I managed to get a shot of this groundhog (Marmota monax) trundling across a front lawn on Upper College Road, near URI.
My "work station" (I deplore that term) in the Peace Dale Public Library. I forgot to get an exterior shot, which is a shame. Gorgeous building. And I love the idea of "graphic noes."
Thunderheads over Providence, view to the northeast.
As above.
View to the west, as the clouds swallow the sun.
All photographs Copyright © 2009 by Caitlín R. Kiernan and Kathryn A. Pollnac
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 04:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 04:50 pm (UTC)I did, and they are wonderful. The little one now resides atop my iMac. As for more, sure, nah. Thanks, but I already leave enough strange little things around Providence.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 07:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 08:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-13 05:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 04:55 pm (UTC)http://roflrazzi.com/2009/08/11/celebrity-pictures-william-shakespeare-stephenie-meyer/
no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 05:05 pm (UTC)Thanks. But all the idiotic pro-Meyer comments at the bottom really ruin it for me.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 05:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 05:13 pm (UTC)Sorry the funny came with stupid people attached.
Sadly, funny almost always does.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 05:23 pm (UTC)That is really awesome wallpaper. Also, the clouds.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 05:26 pm (UTC)Also, the clouds.
I have cloud-loving moods.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 06:17 pm (UTC)We had some good clouds on Monday.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 06:53 pm (UTC)Beautiful.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 05:35 pm (UTC)Reading the words Blood Oranges together made me squirm uncomfortably. If that was your intention, then mission accomplished.
I only listened to an audiobook of Jeremy Irons reading Lolita ...
His turn as HH in the film remake is quite good ...
no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 05:41 pm (UTC)Cool. But that wasn't my intention. To me, they're sexy when placed together, more than anything.
His turn as HH in the film remake is quite good ...
I haven't seen it, but I must.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 05:52 pm (UTC)I can see that (even if I don't necessarily relate) ...
I haven't seen it, but I must.
It's a treat, really. (One viewing and your vision of a guy playing piano in a bathrobe will be forever changed ...)
no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 06:34 pm (UTC)I have always loved the fruit; for no mythological reasons whatsoever, I associate them, like pomegranates, with under- and otherworlds.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 06:52 pm (UTC)Somehow, I managed never to see a blood orange until 1996, when
no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 08:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 08:48 pm (UTC)Absolutely.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 05:52 pm (UTC)Yes, the weather was just disgusting the past couple of days. So humid everything is clammy. We are still waiting for a nice storm to end it. Happily it is overcast right now.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 08:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 08:49 pm (UTC)I do hope you're better soon.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 09:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 09:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 09:34 pm (UTC)Looks like a few of the Barnes & Noble stores in the area have it in stock...
At least they claim to online.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 09:37 pm (UTC)This is really...weird.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 09:43 pm (UTC)Here's the sad truth. You're average employee at a chain bookstore won't know much at all about what's on the shelves. Especially if you're talking about a fairly obscure author, which I must admit I am. I'm getting a lot of reports of the book having already sold out at B&N and Borders, here and there, and being reordered (which is good). But not all employees would know this sort of thing.
At any rate, thanks for ordering!
no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 11:23 pm (UTC)Of course I've got to roll on up on your latest work! C'mon, girl. What do you think are the chances of finding a new musical theme for the novel in your inbox in a few weeks? :)
no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 11:34 pm (UTC)I certainly would hope that every copy sold out...but most of the places I went through didn't even have the novel listed in their stock charts.
Well, as Spooky said above, this conflicts with what their online stock listings show. So, I have no idea.
C'mon, girl. What do you think are the chances of finding a new musical theme for the novel in your inbox in a few weeks?
That would be cool. I could even put it on the website, if you're interested. Regardless, I hope you like this one, as it truly is different from what has come before (more in its language than theme).
no subject
Date: 2009-08-13 12:10 am (UTC)I've been getting a lot more...orchestral lately. I'm currently working on a suite based on Thomas Ligotti's "Dr. Locrian's Asylum," one of my alltime favourite stories (you know how obsessed I am with antique metal hospitals). I'll put a sample of it in a day or two so y'all can check it out!
no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 11:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 11:31 pm (UTC)I'm curious about what spiral notebook that is. It looks like the print on it is two lines to a regular line, unless you're using quadrille.
It is, in fact, quadrille. Good call.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 11:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 11:38 pm (UTC)Mead Cambridge? They make about the best spiral quadrille
Bingo.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-13 04:32 am (UTC)I couldn't help noticing your picture of the groundhog. I thought the boyfriend and I were the only ones who would take such photos of these poor little fellows that most think of as "pests". We had three baby ones in our backyard last summer. Nothing made for a cuter photo than the mama her and her three babies.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-13 05:58 am (UTC)I adore them, even though they ate my cucumbers back in the days when I lived in the country and could grow cucumbers.
Love your icon.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-13 05:13 pm (UTC)I think we should live peacefully with the animals around us as much as possible. Groundhogs, skunks and others are welcome to burrow by my house and squirrels are welcome at my feeders. Toads, bats and snakes need no invitation to drop by. Heh, right now a woodpecker (variagated I think) is pecking on the siding by my window. :)