"We are removing their faces, collecting their skins, we are reeling the liars in."

[greygirlbeast]

And here it is Friday, and only seven days until we leave for Portland (and that's counting today). So things are getting weird and hectic. I've never been to Portland, but Spooky lived there for three years, 1996-1999, and has tremendous trepidation about returning. So, we're coping with that, too. But I am not a traveling writer. There seem to be so many traveling writers these days. By "traveling writer," I mean writers who spend a lot of time on business-related trips (i.e., workshops, conventions and conferences, expos, and book tours). I love to travel, if it's purely for the sake of traveling, but I'm really not one for writing-related travel (except in the sense that any given trip may inspire stories). So, this sort of thing is rare for me. And it makes me very anxious.

I also don't know how writers who spend so much time engaged in writer-travel get anything written. I wouldn't be able to get anything written.

I was wondering, the other night, why people seem resistant to the idea of writers having public personae. It's perfectly normal (and common) for actors and musicians. But with writers it seems to piss people off (including other writers), or at least annoy them. I sort of have a public persona. The person you see at a con isn't precisely the person I am in private. I found it necessary a long time ago, both to alleviate my anxiety about public appearances and because the person I am in private is terribly anti-social. So, for cons and signings and readings I have this other Caitlín persona I put on. I wear her (though she's changed over the years). Trust me, she's much nicer to be around.

---

Yesterday, I decided, we needed one last day off before the mad rush to the trip. One last day just for me and Spooky to be calm. So, about three p.m. we headed to Conanicut Island (the right way round), out to West Cove, our favorite beach for sea glass. When we arrived, there was a large group of scuba divers. It's a popular spot for scuba, but I'd never seen so many at once before. Most left shortly after we arrived, but some lingered in the cove, occasionally rising to the surface like strange aquatic hominids. The weather was good, warm and only a few clouds. We found some good glass, but some really spectacular bones. West Cove is also a good bone beach, mostly bird bones. Yesterday, I we found an assortment of wings bones and vertebrae from cormorants, gulls, and other birds, and I also found a spectacular gull jaw, complete with yellow-orange keratin sheath. Really gorgeous. I also found three bones I'm fairly certain belong to a seal, which is a first.

I've often imagined, while at West Cove, carrying out a weird sort of "future paleontology" study there. I mean, imagining what the sandy, pebbly deposits there would be like ten or fifteen million years from now. And trying to reconstruct the local fauna, assuming the bones I'm finding would be preserved as fossils. A diverse avifauna would dominate the assemblage, with lots of fish and very rare mammals.

Yeah, I'm a science nerd.

Anyway, we stayed until it was almost dark, and the tide was coming in. We watched two mallards, and a sad sort of sea gull that seemed to be following them around. We tried to decided if a cross between a gull and a mallard would be called a "gulk" or a "dull." We finally, reluctantly, headed back to the van about six-thirty p.m. I wanted to stay all night, listening to the lapping waves and watching the sky and hearing the birds. There are photos, at the end of this entry, behind the cut.

Oh, I read Richard Bowes' short story, "Knickerbocker Holiday" (from Haunted Legends), on the way down to the island.

---

I think I have to do an interview for Weird Tales before we leave.

---

In all this discussion of eReaders, one thing in particular strikes me as absurd. And I'm honestly not trying to pick on anyone, I'm just being honest. What strikes me as especially absurd are the people who tell me they absolutely could not live without their Kindle or Nook or whatever. They are fervent in this claim, and I assume they truly believe what they're saying. I'm just not sure they've thought very much about what they're saying. I mean, they got along just fine without these devices a year or two or three ago, right? And now they can't live without them? I kind of have to assume this is hyperbole, that they're very enthusiastic and overstating their case. Because, otherwise, it's absurd, and I like to think people aren't absurd (though clearly most are).

I think about recently acquired tech that is very dear to me. Say, my iPod (I'm still using a sturdy old fossil of an iPod from early 2005). Or my very low-tech mechanical pencils. Or the PlayStation 3. Our digital cameras. Or certain programmes, like Second Life and World of Warcraft. These things are dear to me, to varying degrees, and I use them a lot. But can I live without them? Sure. I did just fine before they came along. So, it's hard for me to imagine these eReader users keeling over from shock or wasting away if they were ever suddenly deprived of their Nooks. Or Kindles. Or whatever.

When they say, "I can't live without my eReader," they must surely mean, "I don't want to live without my eReader," or even "I can't imagine living without my eReader."

Rarely does it help an argument to overstate your case.

---

At Eastside Market, I saw a book with the excruciatingly embarrassing title Wuthering Bites, and a cover that was clearly meant to look like one of the Twlight covers. And the book's exactly what it sounds like, Emily Bronte's novel rewritten with vampires. Can we please stop doing this? It was never very funny, and at this point these parodies seem like parodies of parodies. Which is to say the gimmick is on beyond tired. Stop milking it. Please.

---

I almost forgot, there's a very nice review of The Ammonite Violin and Others at The San Francisco Book Review (review by Ariel Berg). I love this bit: "Those whose imaginations flourish best in the dark will find a great deal to love in The Ammonite Violin."

Okay. Here are the photos. I need to get to work, and Spooky has to go to the post office.





Crab claw and acorn.



An assortment of sea treasures.



A very small and perished crab.



The author (a paragon of glamor) searching for beach glass.



My box of wonderful things. The gull jaw is visible.



West Cove (view to the east) from sand level.



The setting sun setting the trees on fire (view to the east).



And the sun is lower still (view to the southeast).



Mallards and a sail boat (view to the south).



Driving through Jamestown (view to the west, obviously), and the sun was amazing.



Crossing the West Passage of Narragansett Bay, heading back to the mainland (view to the west).

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

Comments

[birgitriddle.livejournal.com]

At Eastside Market, I saw a book with the excruciatingly embarrassing title Wuthering Bites, and a cover that was clearly meant to look like one of the Twlight covers. And the book's exactly what it sounds like, Emily Bronte's novel rewritten with vampires. Can we please stop doing this? It was never very funny, and at this point these parodies seem like parodies of parodies. Which is to say the gimmick is on beyond tired. Stop milking it. Please.

I own a copy of Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies, but haven't read it yet because my mind insists on me reading the original text so I won't be influenced by the parody or something of that sort. Then again, I've been trying to read more "classic" novels over the last few years and I believe I'm starting to get somewhere. At least I know now that I do not care for Hemingway.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

At least I know now that I do not care for Hemingway.

Oh, I adore Hemingway, warts and all.

I own a copy of Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies, but haven't read it yet because my mind insists on me reading the original text so I won't be influenced by the parody or something of that sort.

Didn't care for the original, and can't imagine slogging through the parody. I think I look at these books, and sometimes the concept is funny. And it might make a funny fifteen minute sketch. But a whole book?

[sovay]

Yeah, I'm a science nerd.

You saw the fossils in California?

I love the first three photographs especially. Thank you for them.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

You saw the fossils in California?

No, I'd not seen this article. Thank you!

[anghara.livejournal.com]

Wuthering Bites.... the book's exactly what it sounds like, Emily Bronte's novel rewritten with vampires. Can we please stop doing this? It was never very funny, and at this point these parodies seem like parodies of parodies. Which is to say the gimmick is on beyond tired. Stop milking it. Please.

Oh, dear god, THIS. With bells on. People who depend on scavenging OTHER people's stories and turning them into Franken-novels by stitching in completely unrelated gimmicky currently popular tropes (Zombies? Austen? REALLY?) are increasingly ticking me off. Write your own original story, dammit, and if you don't have one then leave room on the bookstore shelves for people who actually DO....

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Write your own original story, dammit, and if you don't have one then leave room on the bookstore shelves for people who actually DO....

*applause*

[xjenavivex.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the pictures. I am a rather anti-social person. I do not like business travel. I am also shy in person which makes for a huge disconnect between my in person and online personas. I feel I must wear a mask or be someone else.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

I feel I must wear a mask or be someone else.

Yes. At ReaderCon in 2009 my anxiety was so acute I did actually wear masks.

I'm late to the table on this, but...

[seph-ski.livejournal.com]

I have a deep love for both my book collection and my Kindle. The additional sensory input and comfort you get from holding a bound book adds a ton of flavor to the reading experience, but my Kindle allows me to save valuable shelf space for only the treasured tomes, to increase the font size when my eyes get tired, to search my whole digital library for a quote or tiny bit of info I can only vaguely recall, and to shamelessly read smut in public without wondering if anyone's going to give me grief over it. Perhaps my favorite aspect of having a Kindle though is traveling with it. It is such an immense joy for me to take such a large portion of my library with me wherever I go. I had a luxurious selection of titles to choose from on my last trip to Ireland when I was awake at 4am thanks to jet lag. It's for that reason that I often have both a bound and a digital copy of my very favorite reads.

Re: I'm late to the table on this, but...

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

I can't say these aren't reasons that seem valid for liking your Kindle. Even though I, myself, have no need of a traveling library. Your points are well taken. I just don't think I'd ever enjoy reading from one of those little plastic doodads, anymore than I care to read of a computer monitor (I've tried with Google Books, though I loathe Google Books).

[nykolus.livejournal.com]

two things i do when i get my hands on a new (or old) book: feel it and smell it. try doing that with an ereader.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

two things i do when i get my hands on a new (or old) book: feel it and smell it. try doing that with an ereader.

Smell is a very important part of it for me, too. I fear the day when the smell of pages is forgotten.

[ashlyme.livejournal.com]

I sympathise with the wearing of personae, though I'm not very good at it. I can be pretty chatty with people I've trusted for years or online, but I *loathe* enforced contact with people.

Wuthering Bites sounds bad (and I've never liked Austin) but it could be worse. I just imagined a novel where Kate Bush took on vampires and zombies!

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

I just imagined a novel where Kate Bush took on vampires and zombies!

Actually, that might be okay. Well, not as a book, but as an album, and videos...if she'd not sort of lost what once made her so wonderful.

[from-ashes.livejournal.com]

Before my Nook, I would state that I could not live without books. Now I just say that I cannot live without my Nook. In my mind, it's the same thing. I always have reading material (i.e., books) handy. Otherwise, life would royally suck. And considering the summer, I've had, books (on my Nook) have been a much-needed escape.

So I think maybe that's what we're referring to. Life without reading, would be a life not worth living. It's just now, I have all of my books handy in one little "box."

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

So I think maybe that's what we're referring to. Life without reading, would be a life not worth living. It's just now, I have all of my books handy in one little "box."

I think, then, that my objection is to making an exclusive one-to-one correspondence between books and eReaders. It's like making an exclusive one-to-one correspondence between film and, say, Beta or VHS or Laserdisc or Celluloid or DVDs or streaming from Netflix. To be unable to live without books is not to be able to live without an eReader, as books (at least for now) exist independent of eReaders. If your passion here is reading, you do have another option.

Scary Books!

[spank-an-elf.livejournal.com]

Holy Crap on a Crumpet, I didn’t realize how many of these little monsters existed! I knew about the zombies and sea monsters parodies but a brief peek on Amazon spawned: Little Vampire Women, Little Women and Werewolves, Android Karenina, Romeo & Juliet & Vampires, Jane Slayre, Mansfield Park and Mummies and others. Wow.

Fuck it, leave the monsters alone. Start writing parodies substituting politicians for the monsters. Reading about Nancy Pelosi staking Sarah Palin or Jan Brewer works for me. Imagine how easy it would be to transform John Boehner into a loathsome snake monster or transform Michele Bachman into an insane Medusa-style character. Hmmm...(taps chin).

Re: Scary Books!

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Holy Crap on a Crumpet, I didn’t realize how many of these little monsters existed! I knew about the zombies and sea monsters parodies but a brief peek on Amazon spawned: Little Vampire Women, Little Women and Werewolves, Android Karenina, Romeo & Juliet & Vampires, Jane Slayre, Mansfield Park and Mummies and others. Wow.

And everyone thinks this is wit. It hurts.

Hmmm...(taps chin).

Let's not...

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Awww, man. Wuthering BITES? Really?

And I'd so wanted to see a story called "The Werewolves of Wuthering Heights." I think that would have been much more fertile ground.

Damn.

[fortytricks.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't say my ebook reader will ever replace books for me, but it does have its place, and I do enjoy it.

I think, however, that it would have been most useful to me as a college student. If I could have carried my lightweight ebook reader around campus instead of the backpack full of books, well, I think my back would be the better for it today.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

If I could have carried my lightweight ebook reader around campus instead of the backpack full of books, well, I think my back would be the better for it today.

You know, I'd not considered their utility to students. Hundreds of dollars a semester could be saved, as, in theory, ebooks should be cheaper to produce than hard copies (in practice, academic publishers would likely continue to price gouge). But yeah, far more practical. Especially with something more like an iPad, that could incorporate the text and word processing, etc.

[elmocho.livejournal.com]

I have been sort of late to the e-book discussion.

I work in a peculiar library in the Genealogy collection, and we get most of our stuff through donations. We do have come CD-Roms, but most of our books are on paper. The books on CD usually cause more headaches.

Our staff did get a few Ipads to play 'round with. We tried the Kindle, but it wouldn't work due to the proprietary format. But there seems to be a little more cheer for the Ipad, though I don't share it.

I like a good-looking book, but my preference remains utilitarian: I usually give people the example of a society with no electricity: none of the books on my shelves require charging.

In gritty cyberpunk-flavored dystopia: We already know that Amazon will sell information if need be. There are companies making online profiles of people, which includes the books they browse for. I'm not sure how secure the Phoenix Public Library system is, so even if they keep my records private-- and librarians have fought for this, bless them!-- would the web browsing that led me to those books remain so?

I think habitual readers are probably the last creature not caught up in marketing's frightening web. We tend to remain inconsistent and have a tendency to remember things we're not supposed to, almost as if they were printed on pages somewhere. We forsake television's flickering inanity for something else, making us less susceptible to commercials or other programming. So in some ways I see ebooks as a way to foist some of that off on us, and also as way of tracking and control. When I go into a used bookstore and buy a stack of books, no one knows what they are except me and the cashier. What do epublishers know? Who do they pass it on to?

And then I actually go down to Phoenix Public Library and look at the dwindling shelves. I remember when the fiction section was nearly twice the size it used to be. Where are the books going? Are they all sucked up into computers? I think that sense of physical floor space changing really gets to me, the same way I've seen wilderness gobbled up by housing developments.

I think the creep between different versions and different devices to read them on isn't a bug, but a feature. They will make you buy the same thing again, which you thought you owned, repeatedly, with no guilt.

Yet, on the other hand, with text and PDF, I've been able to find passages for comparison far better than my memory can. I'm trying to work my way through several translations of Montaigne, and having access to many translations, and the most voluminous French version really helps, and I don't think I could do it as quickly physically... so I can copy them back down into notebooks.

As to the smell of books: I had a few from used bookstores over the years that had a really herbal smell, that I couldn't quite place. Strong perfume? Then, from the library, I had a book that smelled partially like that, but also of smoke. I realized the books I had were from smokers, and that perfume was decades-old smoke on the pages.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

I usually give people the example of a society with no electricity: none of the books on my shelves require charging.

Precisely. The archival value of an etext is severely limited.

In gritty cyberpunk-flavored dystopia: We already know that Amazon will sell information if need be. There are companies making online profiles of people, which includes the books they browse for. I'm not sure how secure the Phoenix Public Library system is, so even if they keep my records private-- and librarians have fought for this, bless them!-- would the web browsing that led me to those books remain so?

Probably not.

When I go into a used bookstore and buy a stack of books, no one knows what they are except me and the cashier. What do epublishers know? Who do they pass it on to?

Okay, at least in theory, the hard copy books are just as traceable to you as are the ebooks. Booksellers and publishers keep close track on book sales, and on demographics...and the potential for abuse does exist. The FBI or DHS or whoever could trace that data if they so desired.

And then I actually go down to Phoenix Public Library and look at the dwindling shelves. I remember when the fiction section was nearly twice the size it used to be. Where are the books going? Are they all sucked up into computers? I think that sense of physical floor space changing really gets to me, the same way I've seen wilderness gobbled up by housing developments.

I think, here, the problem isn't ebooks (which, in theory, take up no space at all). It's libraries deciding (or being told) that their mission is to provide computer access to those without computers (I have issues with this, but whatever). Computer terminals take up a lot of space, and use a lot of electricity, and hardcopy books lose out. DVDs and audiobooks are also gobbling space in public libraries.

I think the creep between different versions and different devices to read them on isn't a bug, but a feature. They will make you buy the same thing again, which you thought you owned, repeatedly, with no guilt.

I'm sure many publishers hope this is the case.

And I agree about the convenience of searchable texts. Though I also worry if this might not somehow make for sloppier researchers.

As for the odor, books history in a sense no digital file ever can, and I greatly value that history.

[ashlyme.livejournal.com]

...If she'd not sort of lost what made her so wonderful.

Yeah. Hounds of Love was her peak; it's almost *the* perfect album, and she never beat it. Quite liked Aerial, though.

I love the smell of books, old and new. Hypocritically (as somebody who smokes and reads compulsively) I don't like smoky books.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Hounds of Love was her peak; it's almost *the* perfect album, and she never beat it.

Yes, it was. The Dreaming is almost like a dry run for Hounds of Love, where she got everything right.

[david6493 (from livejournal.com)]

I have followed many a discussion concerning ebooks versus real books. When my sister told me she literally sniffs her books, I realized people are strange and I shouldn't really worry about what other people prefer. Still, I am aware that if ebooks gains too much traction then some types of books may become scarce in print form. I still remember my childhood disappointment when Taco Doritos were discontinued, and I don't wish that pain on anyone.

Now I read most of my books in electronic format. Yet I don't want publishing houses to go away and I don't want every author to be their own publisher. There is value to the current process of publishing a book. Still, I find it interesting that we are discussing ebooks as something to avoid and yet Sirenia Digest is the prototypical ebook. By that I mean it is ONLY available in electronic form. This, I think, is where the format shines. I would gladly pay for the occasional short story, or in the case of SD, a periodical publication. Yet it doesn't make sense for me to have to wait for the traditional publication process in order to enjoy certain stories. Also, it doesn't make sense for the author to go through the additional expense to make those stories available in print.

Now if I could only get Sirenia Digest in ePub format (http://greygirlbeast.livejournal.com/679454.html?thread=8936990#t8936990). :)

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Still, I find it interesting that we are discussing ebooks as something to avoid and yet Sirenia Digest is the prototypical ebook. By that I mean it is ONLY available in electronic form. This, I think, is where the format shines. I would gladly pay for the occasional short story, or in the case of SD, a periodical publication.

I've been waiting for someone to bring this up, and I'm surprised it took so long. I'll address this at length in tomorrow's entry, because, yes, my stance does seem paradoxical, considering Sirenia Digest.

Now if I could only get Sirenia Digest in ePub format (http://greygirlbeast.livejournal.com/679454.html?thread=8936990#t8936990). :)

We just simply haven't had the time or resources or know-how to make this happen.

[jdack.livejournal.com]

If nothing else I hope you get to visit Powell's Books in downtown Portland while you're there. The place is amazing.

Plus they validate your parking in the attached garage if you buy a book. Or they used to at any rate.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

If nothing else I hope you get to visit Powell's Books in downtown Portland while you're there. The place is amazing.

On the one hand, I'd like to very much, but probably won't be able to get there. On the other, the fewer books I have to carry back to Providence the better.

Who we present ourselves to be

[anaisembraced.livejournal.com]

On the topic of public persona's I always think of this quote,

"There were always in me, two women at least,
one woman desperate and bewildered,
who felt she was drowning and another who
would leap into a scene, as upon a stage,
conceal her true emotions because they
were weaknesses, helplessness, despair,
and present to the world only a smile,
an eagerness, curiosity, enthusiasm, interest."


-Anais Nin

Re: Who we present ourselves to be

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Yes, that's perfect.

[ulffriend.livejournal.com]

Although I don't work in a creative field, I definitely have my work face and my private face. In my experience most people do - by and large, work requires different things of people than home life.

Why in the world shouldn't creative people have the same division? If I had ever had even the tiniest bit of doubt that creating art wasn't work, reading your blog cured me of it!

(Side thought: why else would they be called "works of art"?)

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Why in the world shouldn't creative people have the same division? If I had ever had even the tiniest bit of doubt that creating art wasn't work, reading your blog cured me of it!

So, this isn't pointless!

Kindle

[kentallard.livejournal.com]

The biggest advantage I've seen to having my Kindle is that it stops people asking me about the books I'm reading while I'm in public. When I would sit on a bench at the park or grab breakfast at my local diner I'd always get questions about what I was reading and running commentary from random strangers about my choices of reading material.

Now that I have my Kindle with me I get the occasional question about the device itself but for the most part I'm left to read in peace, which is all I really wanted. When I'm home, though, I still go for a book.

[neutralgenius.livejournal.com]

At Eastside Market, I saw a book with the excruciatingly embarrassing title Wuthering Bites, and a cover that was clearly meant to look like one of the Twlight covers. And the book's exactly what it sounds like, Emily Bronte's novel rewritten with vampires. Can we please stop doing this? It was never very funny, and at this point these parodies seem like parodies of parodies. Which is to say the gimmick is on beyond tired. Stop milking it. Please.

Ugh. It sickens me to know that the whole "let's remake it/steal this idea/parody it" view is starting to seep into the literary world more than that of music and movies.

[bbluemarble.livejournal.com]

This isn't "starting to seep." This is a direct result of the popularity/sales of P&P&Z back in 2009 (published in April and the damn thing was still selling like mad at Xmas).

Publishing is just a susceptible to trends as any other market. Did you notice the huge increase in the number of paranormal YA titles in response to the success of the Twilight "Saga" (just for the record, I don't think that word means what Stephenie thinks it means)? Did you notice the re-release of Wuthering Heights and (I think) Pride and Prejudice redone in Twilight colors with their role in the books splashed loudly across the cover?

With any luck, the huge list of newly released mashup titles involved in this evisceration of classic lit is pointing towards the glut before the end of the tail.