greygirlbeast | "Shot by security cameras..."

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Current Location: Oenotria Scopulus
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"Shot by security cameras..."

Two nights (well, mornings) in a row now, I've slept more than eight hours. Amazing.

Yesterday was, in large part, given over to email and other bits of business related to the "Best of" volume. I think that tomorrow I will most likely be posting a table of contents. There are only a couple of details left to be ironed out. Regarding the art section in the lettered and/or numbered state, I'm very pleased to report that both Richard Kirk and Vince Locke are on board. I still have several other artists to speak with, but Rick and Vince are the heart of that part of the book.

I did get some writing done yesterday. I wrote a new poem, "Atlantis," which will go out to those people who so kindly donated to help me get Spooky's birthday present this year. Each will get the poem, on a good paper stock, numbered and signed. I sent the poem to

sovay and

nineweaving, and their reactions were heartening. It's good to write something that I can see is good. That might sound odd, but it doesn't happen as often as you might think.

Plans have been finalized for my appearance at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival and CthulhuCon this year (October 1-3) in Portland, Oregon. I may also arrange an offsite book signing. So, if you're one of the many Portland people who've been asking me to make an appearance in that area, you got your wish, and I hope to see you.

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Last night,

wolven posted this about "Sanderlings," and I want to repost it:

Thank you for this story; it keeps unfolding, in my mind. Particularly The Boy on the beach. Watching the transition, watching The End, Clara's only interaction with the "Outside World;" and, throughout their interaction, after the light in the room, I kept hearing the line "whatever it is that Sanderlings eat." The colour, the Life leeching simultaneously into and out of Mary.

But always the boy. Always his civil, pitying response. The Recording "Angel" holding vigil over all that Clara has lost the ability to appreciate, in her choosing to not see the terrible things. This vigil feels like... an inventory, or a survey, or an engaging and deep meaningful rumination on that which will soon be passed on to him. There's no malice, there. Just an inevitability and a weight.

As the only perspective external to the house, it is... arresting.

Oh, and I came across this thoughtful, articulate, respectful, and utterly wrongheaded review of The Red Tree.

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Last night, we watched the last two episodes of Season Three of Nip/Tuck. It was a good finalé, but not nearly as powerful as the end of Season Two, which was one of the best hours of television I've ever seen.

I also got in some very excellent rp in Insilico. After failing an empathy test, Xiang 1.5 has managed to elude capture by IPS officers by signing on with a salvage ship called Beowulf. IPS jurisdiction doesn't extend to ships in orbit. The captain obtained, through highly questionable means, a new shell for Xiang, a chassis that's mostly organic, all blood and bone and muscle, and her positronic matrix was transplanted. The process was successful. Her ident chip was replaced and her AI completely shielded. She can finally pass for human. She's signed on as security with the Beowulf, assuming the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer and a new name, Grendel Ishmene (her choice, not mine). Her new body was designed for military use, primarily offworld black-ops wetwork, so...wow...I am going on about this. Sorry. On those rare occasions when rp in SL works, it's wonderful.

The platypus is glaring at me with his beady black monotreme eyes. I dare not disobey.

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I'm glad you... found my comment worthy of being reposted, in the body of your post. Though with no other comment, than being paired with the "Wrongheaded review" of The Red Tree, I don't know how flattered I should be. Heh.

Either way, I'm looking forward to tonight's Weird SF Music Video.

Though with no other comment, than being paired with the "Wrongheaded review" of The Red Tree, I don't know how flattered I should be.

Sorry I wasn't clear. I found your comments very insightful and flattering, thank you. It was a sort of "compare and contrast" thing, placing them before The Wrongheaded Review.

I had hoped that was the case, but didn't want to sound presumptuous.

Still making my way through the rest of The Ammonite Violin..., but, again, thank you, for "Sanderlings."

You know, it was those "tantalizing pieces" and how they weren't resolved in The Red Tree that made me love the book. It makes you wonder and it's more realistic than having all the pieces put into place as if it's one of those neat mysteries where they always find the murderer in the end, how he did it and why. I just found the ambiguity satisfying in it's own way. I like some mysteries to stay mysteries.

I just found the ambiguity satisfying in it's own way. I like some mysteries to stay mysteries.

Well, that's my philosophy.

Hurray that you're coming to the HPL Film Festival. I'm sure I'm one of many Oregonians who is very much looking forward to your appearance.

"she suffers some sort of self-indulgent mental breakdown as a way of avoiding dealing with the reality she’s primarily responsible for generating for herself"

Really? I took her mental breakdown as being part of the Tree's "evil" and power. The twisting of reality that itself was capable of. But then again, I'm just a normal reader, although I think the different views and ideas that Kiernan can evoke are part of her allure.

I'm left wondering how the hell a "mental breakdown" can be "self-indulgent." To me, that's sort of like saying Sarah has a "self-indulgent" heart attack.

i agree 100%. that is very derogatory toward people with mental illnesses, and reinforces the 'you just aren't STRONG enough' trope people trot out all the time.

also, i feel like the reviewer is incapable of filling in blanks and wants his hand held.

and reinforces the 'you just aren't STRONG enough' trope people trot out all the time.

Coming from my own personal perspective (and, again, noting the novel's autobiographical elements), the comment made me wince. Yes, I found it insulting, but it also presented a view of mental illness I found unfathomable.

Also, i feel like the reviewer is incapable of filling in blanks and wants his hand held.

Incapable, or too lazy. Or convinced by fashion that he shouldn't have to fill in the blanks. He definitely wants his hand held.

It also fails to take into account how much the "tree" is pushing her over the edge. We never truly see Crowe's strength because in addition to her medical and emotional issues she is also under the quasi-supernatural effects of the tree. How much would she have been able to cope if not under constant assault by her budding relationship with a figment roomate and the increasing tension/terror as she realizes the power the tree has? Or am I giving the tree to much Lovecraftian credit and totally missed that this book is purely about mental illness and the trauma the illness itself is capable of?

"Coming from my own personal perspective (and, again, noting the novel's autobiographical elements), the comment made me wince. Yes, I found it insulting, but it also presented a view of mental illness I found unfathomable."

Unfathomable, exactly.

Wonderful news!

When he says the book must be read in "bits and pieces", well...i couldn't put it down, even called work to tell i was sick, because i just had to keep reading..
Also, the reviewer seems like the kind of reader with no imagination, as he seems to need to be told everything. Liked also the part where he says there's nothing wrong with an author "examining themselves via their writing"...well, nice he lets authors write what they want, how generous of him... And isn't all work of fiction, at least in part, autobiographical?

When he says the book must be read in "bits and pieces", well...i couldn't put it down,

That was one of the parts that actually didn't offend me.

And isn't all work of fiction, at least in part, autobiographical?

It is, which I've said publicly, repeatedly. But if he knows that (and it doesn't seem that he does), he probably thinks that's "self-indulgent."

I think the crux of his problem goes back the reader response theory (which I abhor) and the idea of a "reader-writer contract" (which I deny). He thinks the author has a responsibility, an obligation, to provide a certain sort of traditionally coherent narrative to the reader. I think that's absurd.

But like I said, I found it an articulate review, even if I also found it utterly mistaken in most of its conclusions.

"the idea of a "reader-writer contract"

is something i never get from some readers. If a reader "demands" to find exactly what he wants to read in a book, well...he/she just should write his own book. I couldn't imagine opening a book and not be taken on a journey full of unknown parts and paths. I must add that i often find exactly what i want in books, yours for example, but it's not the content itself, the "plot", it's more the mood, the characters, the words and voice of an author, etc...and the unknown paths.
I may be wrong, but i think the only responsibility an author has is regarding him/herself. To write something that is true to him/herself. Otherwise, it will not be true for anyone.

And yes, the review was respectful, he liked The Red Tree, but maybe it is the sort of book too complex for him..

I may be wrong, but i think the only responsibility an author has is regarding him/herself. To write something that is true to him/herself. Otherwise, it will not be true for anyone.

I should think this would be obvious to everyone. Obviously, it isn't, and people get livid about the importance of that nonexistent "contract."

Two days ago i finished "Tales from the Woeful Platypus", and one of my favorite stories in it is "Untitled 20" (the other two are "Untitled 17" and "The Garden of Living Flowers". Might say something about me i imagine..). In this one, one of the things i loved is that you leave doors open for the reader, i cannot be sure i understood the story exactly the way you meant it, but i like that, the fact that it's not imprisoned in a rigid frame. There is an underlying "otherness" to the already existing otherness of the story (if that makes sense).
And totally unrelated: that night, after finishing the book, i dreamed i met you and Spooky on a train to Prague, you were going there for a museum. I think it was the Mucha museum. The rest were bad dreams, and i always think of your expression of "dreamsickness" in the mornings.

<>Two days ago i finished "Tales from the Woeful Platypus", and one of my favorite stories in it is "Untitled 20" (the other two are "Untitled 17" and "The Garden of Living Flowers". Might say something about me i imagine..).

"Untitled 20" and "Untitled 17" are my own favorites from the book, so thank you.

I suppose that review of The Red Tree was well written but I agree it was wrongheaded. He felt like the book was several books mashed together to try and make one. Were we reading the same thing? I felt like the book flowed well from start to finish and nothing seemed out of place. I'm a fan of blogs and journals and enjoy seeing how others think so the journal aspect from Sarah Crowe really appealed to me. Personally I suck at writing reviews and I know the whole "different strokes for different folks" cliche applies but wow, he really got something different out of it.

. He felt like the book was several books mashed together to try and make one. Were we reading the same thing?

You were, but obviously from vastly different perspectives. I was trying to craft story as "found artifact," which, by necessity, has all those things he didn't like. I feel like he's not so much objecting to The Red Tree, as to an approach to fiction he dislikes.

I love that, "to craft story as 'found artifact'" and that's how I took it. Found artifacts have bits rusted away in places, paint scraped off, colours and lines faded to a mere memory of a depiction. You no longer have the certainty of knowledge, and so what's missing has as much, or more, importance as what's there.

But some writers can't put anything together well, even brand new it has missing bolts, sprung hinges. He knows, really does know, you're better than that, but the comparison nags at some people.

Found artifacts have bits rusted away in places, paint scraped off, colours and lines faded to a mere memory of a depiction. You no longer have the certainty of knowledge, and so what's missing has as much, or more, importance as what's there.

Yes. The presence of negative space within the narrative is very crucial.

And I've read books that felt like multiple books mashed together as one. Made for frustrating reading. I'd disliked Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger and tried to explain (to myself and others) why (http://chris-walsh.livejournal.com/1140015.html); someone else I read online pointed out that the storylines don't really mesh very well with each other, like it was putting together two books. I appreciated the thought. Explained it more elegantly.

The Red Tree -- which I've read twice so far -- did not have this problem. If it had, I wouldn't have read it again.

"He felt like the book was several books mashed together to try and make one. Were we reading the same thing?"

I interpreted Sarah's psychological state and the Red Tree as one and the same thing. Part of what made reading this book enjoyable for me was figuring out the connections between the passages, but I have sadly come to realize that many readers don't like to think while reading. I guess its easier to assume that the writer was too lazy to craft a coherent text, although anyone who reads CRK's livejournal knows she isn't that kind of writer.

You'd think that in this day and age, when blogging is so prevalent, even a casual reviewer would do a little research on an author before writing a book review.

"it’s worth an attempt at reading through" isn't a line you ever want to see in a review, and I think you can assume any review that uses it is worthless. I mean, The Red Tree ain't fucking Ulysses. (Remember when I asked you if it would be possible to read Ulysses while in Dublin and you told me, "Not if you want to do anything else"?)

"it’s worth an attempt at reading through" isn't a line you ever want to see in a review

Yeah...sort of the whole damning with faint praise thing.

(Remember when I asked you if it would be possible to read Ulysses while in Dublin and you told me, "Not if you want to do anything else"?)

Gods, I do. I'd forgotten that.

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