"The needle sticks and the penny drops."

[greygirlbeast]

1. At least seven and half hours sleep last night, which is a definite improvement, even if it was necessary to take a larger dose of Ambien (which I'm trying not to take) to achieve those results. I feel more rested than I have in days, which is not to say I feel precisely rested. Just better.

2. Yesterday, I managed to get through backed-up email. And I signed the signature sheets for the limited edition of The Ammonite Violin & Others. I had a hot bath. About 4:30 p.m., despite the foul weather (slate skies spitting snow and sleet and rain), we headed down to Narragansett for opening day at Iggy's, our favorite clam shack. Fish and chips, clam cakes, Manhattan-style clam chowder, and doughboys. Oh, and root beer. Afterwards, we drove on down to Point Judith and Harbor of Refuge. The wind was gusting to something like 40mph, I think, and the windchill was vicious. I only got out of the car for a few minutes. The wind and rain lashed a peridot sea, and the only sign of life we spotted was a lone eider duck bobbing in the surf well away from shore. I took a few photos, that I'll post tomorrow.

3. I am pleased to announce that "Hydrarguros" has sold to Subterranean Press, and will appear either in Subterranean magazine or a forthcoming anthology.

4. I've had a longstanding policy regarding the reading of unpublished, unsolicited fiction. That is, manuscripts sent to me by readers. It's a simple rule. I don't do it. I never have, which makes it a fairly longstanding policy, indeed. Lately, though, I've been getting a veritable flood of unsolicited manuscripts from people I do not know. These will not be read, and, for the most part, I won't respond. I also will not be held accountable if something in them should show up in a story or novel of mine in the future. But the potential for accusations of plagiarism is only one of the reasons I've made a rule of not reading unpublished mss. Anyway, I'm going to alter the longstanding rule, somewhat. From now on, I will read unsolicited mss.. However, all authors must first sign a waiver absolving me of any future allegations of copyright infringement that may appear to arise from my having seen unpublished works. I will charge (a very reasonable) $50/page, for which authors will receive copyedits and a generalized critique. My name and quotations from the critique may not be used to "blurb" or otherwise attempt to sell the manuscript. Payment must be made in advance of my reading the work, and is non-refundable— no exceptions. I will respond to authors within 90 days of receipt of their manuscripts. By these rules, and only under these rules, will I disregard my longstanding policy regarding the reading of unpublished, unsolicited fiction. Yes, I'm very serious. If you are actually interested in this service, you should contact me by email, greygirlbeast(at)gmail(dot)com, prior to submission. If you think all of this somehow does not apply to you, I would wager you are wrong.

5. Last night, Spooky and I saw Lars von Trier's Antichrist (2009). I found it brilliant, in all possible ways a film may be brilliant. Both Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg gave superb performances. I'll say a lot more about this film after I've had a while to think on it. Actually, I'm still in that place where I'm only allowing myself to have emotional reactions to it, and trying to save any intellectual reactions for later. But, yes, brilliant, beautiful, and certainly the most terrifying film I've seen in a long time.

6. Yesterday I promised to post some of my photos from the RISD Museum of Art, so here they are:





One of my favorite paintings in the museum, William Bradford's Artic Sunset (1874).



The Hugnet Frères Art Nouveau fireplace surround (1900) I mentioned yesterday.



Detail of the fireplace surround.



Detail of the fireplace surround.



Self portrait using the reflection from the Hugnet Frères piece.



Impressionist gallery.



The glass chandelier by Dale Chiuly.



How can I not think of deep-sea things?



The Main Gallery.



In the Main Gallery.



I think I spent at least as much time sitting as walking (only photo here taken by Spooky); these days, my feet are hardly up to long museum visits. Fortunately, this museum has lots of benches.



Winslow Homer's On a Lee Shore (1900), as we leave.

All photographs Copyright © 2010 by Caitlín R. Kiernan and Kathryn A. Pollnac.

Comments

[robyn-ma.livejournal.com]

'Anyway, I'm going to alter the longstanding rule, somewhat.'

Oh, Christ, are you sure you want to go there? You don't have enough time and energy as it is.

And yes, Antichrist — the Homotopy to Marie of cinema. Ever notice that it takes artists like von Trier and Lynch, who certainly wouldn't consider themselves 'horror filmmakers,' to push horror forward a few leaps?

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Oh, Christ, are you sure you want to go there? You don't have enough time and energy as it is.

No, I don't. But...if someone is willing to pay the fee and abide by the strictures I've set forth here, well...alas, I always need the money.

Ever notice that it takes artists like von Trier and Lynch, who certainly wouldn't consider themselves 'horror filmmakers,' to push horror forward a few leaps?

Yes. But, then, they're not constrained by the expectations of a "horror" genre.

[robyn-ma.livejournal.com]

'if someone is willing to pay the fee and abide by the strictures I've set forth here, well...alas, I always need the money.'

Truth.

Are you gonna impose a minimum page count so that you don't get a bunch of one-page microstories? Then again, hey, 50 microstories is $2500.

Also, if someone actually sends you a novel-length manuscript at, say, 450 pages (or $22,500), does that mean you'll take us all out for ice cream?

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Are you gonna impose a minimum page count so that you don't get a bunch of one-page microstories?

Nope. No minimum. No maximum.

Also, if someone actually sends you a novel-length manuscript at, say, 450 pages (or $22,500), does that mean you'll take us all out for ice cream?

The very idea amuses me enormously, that someone would might pay that for a critique, considering the average advance on a novel is something like $2,000-$3,000.

[stsisyphus.livejournal.com]

Also, if someone actually sends you a novel-length manuscript at, say, 450 pages (or $22,500)...

Jesus fuck, if anyone has that kind of money to drop on getting someone to copyedit and comment on a manuscript, then they...

Fuck, the mind boggles to conceive an imaginative portrait of the kind of person who would actually be able to do this.

Which is not to say that the money wouldn't be well-deserved in a karmic sense, but daaaaahmmmmn...

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Fuck, the mind boggles to conceive an imaginative portrait of the kind of person who would actually be able to do this.

I agree it's fucked, but people do it, and then publish the books themselves (and here we get into the shadowy world of "vanity press").

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

'if someone is willing to pay the fee and abide by the strictures I've set forth here, well...alas, I always need the money.'

Truth.

We need someone to show that it's possible to abide by the structures, i.e. I somehow picture Neil Gaiman taking Caitlin up on the offer. He'd behave properly!

[jdack.livejournal.com]

I'd wager that's a pretty brilliant move actually. Will scare off quite a few of the potential submitters, but might potentially make a few dollars.

Sounds like win/win to me.