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greygirlbeastI'm keeping this short, because yesterday was a bad, bad, bad day for Spooky and me both, but more for Spooky. And no, I'm not talking about that endearing gent "Colonel Panic."
A few points though:
1) Yesterday I finished "Ex Libris," an endeavor that required of me the writing of an additional 1,424 words, bringing the story's total word count to 10,555. "Ex Libris" and "The Yellow Alphabet" will comprise The Yellow Book hardcover chapbook offered free with the limited edition of Confessions of a Five-Chambered Heart (pre-orders coming soon, I think). As for "Ex Libris," I think it was one of those stories where the composition consisted of me trying to pound some offending part of myself to pulp against a granite boulder. Or between two bricks. Whatever. Maybe this story is my way of punishing myself for the ending of "Tidal Forces," or the "happy" ending I gave The Drowning Girl: A Memoir. Would I call "Ex Libris" horror? Well, writing it certainly required that I draw a great deal of horror from myself and place it on the page, an amount of horror disproportionate to, say, terror, awe, and wonder. Call it what you want. I'm just glad to have it out of me. Sometimes, I dislike getting such an undimmed view of my psyche. Also, people can either deal with the fact that a large part of one paragraph is in binary code, or they can have a hissy fit. Either way works for me.
2) If you have received your copy of Two Worlds and In Between, please turn to page 300, and if there is some bizarre mutilation to that page please say so here. I have a copy with this defect, as does another person who purchased the book. I mean, a person who purchased the book. Since I didn't. Purchase it, I mean. Anyway, page 300. "The page was flayed. A thin narrow layer of paper was peeled down from the top removing the words, gradually gets wider and ends about 1.5 inches from the bottom of the page. The strip was rolled like a little pillbug." So, now. Look at page 300.
3) I wrote in my November 13th entry:
For Sirenia Digest #72, I want to do another "Question @ Hand" feature, as we haven't done one in quite a while, and I actually have fun with them. Yeah, fun. Imagine that. Anyway, I'm taking requests. That is, it would be great if people had suggestions, as I'm drawing a blank. So, you know, something along the lines of "What if you had me alone for twenty-four hours with nothing but a spork and a bottle of rubbing alcohol, and I was hogtied, and no one would ever know what you did, what would you do to me?" Only more imaginative. That sort of thing, in keeping with the flavor of the digest, which means none of that "I just want to read to you (or let you write) and make you a cup of tea" nonsense. Get your hands dirty. I do it every day.
I'm still taking suggestions. When I have the perfect one, I'll post it here, and all replies will be private and viewable to me and only me. The ones I like best will appear, anonymously, in the digest. This anonymity encourages, I hope, genuine depravity.
4) I spoke with Harlan yesterday afternoon. We played a labyrinthine game of tag until he finally got me on the phone. He isn't well, and last night he was appearing at a gathering honoring his work in television. And if, by the way, you've not read the work of Harlan Ellison, you are to remedy this at once. Deathbird Stories (1975) would be an ideal place to begin, or The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World (1969), I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (1967), Shatterday (1980), or if you can get your hands on The Essential Ellison (1987)...look, just anywhere is a good place to start. But if you think yourself versed in science fiction and fantasy and are not intimately familiar with Harlan's work, you're wrong, and you need to fix that oversight. He is one of a tiny handful of writers without whom you'd not be reading me today. He's never been afraid to raise his voice, a voice filled with furious anger and terrible beauty, and for this I love him. I am determined to find myself in Los Angeles soon, to visit.
Furiously Terrible, By Proxy,
Aunt Beast
Postscript (2:23 p.m. CaST): Also, I want to move to Amherst, to be surrounded again by fossiliferous Mesozoic rocks; but I don't want to leave the sea.
A few points though:
1) Yesterday I finished "Ex Libris," an endeavor that required of me the writing of an additional 1,424 words, bringing the story's total word count to 10,555. "Ex Libris" and "The Yellow Alphabet" will comprise The Yellow Book hardcover chapbook offered free with the limited edition of Confessions of a Five-Chambered Heart (pre-orders coming soon, I think). As for "Ex Libris," I think it was one of those stories where the composition consisted of me trying to pound some offending part of myself to pulp against a granite boulder. Or between two bricks. Whatever. Maybe this story is my way of punishing myself for the ending of "Tidal Forces," or the "happy" ending I gave The Drowning Girl: A Memoir. Would I call "Ex Libris" horror? Well, writing it certainly required that I draw a great deal of horror from myself and place it on the page, an amount of horror disproportionate to, say, terror, awe, and wonder. Call it what you want. I'm just glad to have it out of me. Sometimes, I dislike getting such an undimmed view of my psyche. Also, people can either deal with the fact that a large part of one paragraph is in binary code, or they can have a hissy fit. Either way works for me.
2) If you have received your copy of Two Worlds and In Between, please turn to page 300, and if there is some bizarre mutilation to that page please say so here. I have a copy with this defect, as does another person who purchased the book. I mean, a person who purchased the book. Since I didn't. Purchase it, I mean. Anyway, page 300. "The page was flayed. A thin narrow layer of paper was peeled down from the top removing the words, gradually gets wider and ends about 1.5 inches from the bottom of the page. The strip was rolled like a little pillbug." So, now. Look at page 300.
3) I wrote in my November 13th entry:
For Sirenia Digest #72, I want to do another "Question @ Hand" feature, as we haven't done one in quite a while, and I actually have fun with them. Yeah, fun. Imagine that. Anyway, I'm taking requests. That is, it would be great if people had suggestions, as I'm drawing a blank. So, you know, something along the lines of "What if you had me alone for twenty-four hours with nothing but a spork and a bottle of rubbing alcohol, and I was hogtied, and no one would ever know what you did, what would you do to me?" Only more imaginative. That sort of thing, in keeping with the flavor of the digest, which means none of that "I just want to read to you (or let you write) and make you a cup of tea" nonsense. Get your hands dirty. I do it every day.
I'm still taking suggestions. When I have the perfect one, I'll post it here, and all replies will be private and viewable to me and only me. The ones I like best will appear, anonymously, in the digest. This anonymity encourages, I hope, genuine depravity.
4) I spoke with Harlan yesterday afternoon. We played a labyrinthine game of tag until he finally got me on the phone. He isn't well, and last night he was appearing at a gathering honoring his work in television. And if, by the way, you've not read the work of Harlan Ellison, you are to remedy this at once. Deathbird Stories (1975) would be an ideal place to begin, or The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World (1969), I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (1967), Shatterday (1980), or if you can get your hands on The Essential Ellison (1987)...look, just anywhere is a good place to start. But if you think yourself versed in science fiction and fantasy and are not intimately familiar with Harlan's work, you're wrong, and you need to fix that oversight. He is one of a tiny handful of writers without whom you'd not be reading me today. He's never been afraid to raise his voice, a voice filled with furious anger and terrible beauty, and for this I love him. I am determined to find myself in Los Angeles soon, to visit.
Furiously Terrible, By Proxy,
Aunt Beast
Postscript (2:23 p.m. CaST): Also, I want to move to Amherst, to be surrounded again by fossiliferous Mesozoic rocks; but I don't want to leave the sea.
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no subject
Date: 2011-11-16 05:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-16 05:28 pm (UTC)We were lucky enough to hear Harlan last night and it was truly one of those evenings that will be remembered and treasured for a lifetime.
I am envious. He did yell me that the venue was sold out, which pleased me.
no subject
Date: 2011-11-16 05:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-16 05:41 pm (UTC)Thank you. That's good news. At least I now know it wasn't universal.
no subject
Date: 2011-11-16 06:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-16 06:36 pm (UTC)Very good.
no subject
Date: 2011-11-16 05:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-16 05:58 pm (UTC)Thank you. Very good.
Page 300
Date: 2011-11-16 05:54 pm (UTC)Re: Page 300
Date: 2011-11-16 05:58 pm (UTC)Looks fine in my book, as do all the pages.
Excellent.
no subject
Date: 2011-11-16 06:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-16 06:18 pm (UTC)Thank you.
no subject
Date: 2011-11-16 06:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-16 06:19 pm (UTC)Another clean page 300 here!
Beginning, fortunately, to sound as if it wasn't a common problem.
no subject
Date: 2011-11-16 07:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-16 07:50 pm (UTC)I'll check page 300 when I get home, but I just wanted you to know #362 arrived yesterday evening in San Antonio, Texas. Simply sublime and exquisite. The chapbook is gorgeous, too.
Thank you!
no subject
Date: 2011-11-16 08:36 pm (UTC)D.
no subject
Date: 2011-11-16 08:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-16 08:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-16 09:33 pm (UTC)That's wonderful.
If you have received your copy of Two Worlds and In Between, please turn to page 300, and if there is some bizarre mutilation to that page please say so here.
Clean, here.
He's never been afraid to raise his voice, a voice filled with furious anger and terrible beauty, and for this I love him.
Harlan Ellison is one of the writers I cannot remember reading for the first time, although it was early high school when I went through used book stores for everything of his I could find. I hope you can see him soon.
Also, I want to move to Amherst, to be surrounded again by fossiliferous Mesozoic rocks; but I don't want to leave the sea.
Hm. I was going to suggest you move to Maine, but the Mesozoic portion of the state's fossil record was famously scoured off by orogeny and glaciers. I'm afraid the Kittery Formation is Silurian.
no subject
Date: 2011-11-16 11:51 pm (UTC)Harlan Ellison is one of the writers I cannot remember reading for the first time, although it was early high school when I went through used book stores for everything of his I could find.
I think that I first read his Dangerous Visions and Again, Dangerous Visions anthologies. But, then, in high school, I began with Deathbird Stories.
Hm. I was going to suggest you move to Maine, but the Mesozoic portion of the state's fossil record was famously scoured off by orogeny and glaciers. I'm afraid the Kittery Formation is Silurian.
Alas, this is too true. Not that there are not awesome things in Silurian rocks, but...I'm a Mesozoic beast.
no subject
Date: 2011-11-17 12:45 am (UTC)Angry Candy was my first.
no subject
Date: 2011-11-17 05:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-16 09:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-16 11:52 pm (UTC)Just got mine! #350 there is a tiny little area at the top of page 300 about an eighth of an inch wide square that looks like loose paper fibers or something. I probably wouldn't have even noticed.
Well, that's the least severe case I've heard of so far.
no subject
Date: 2011-11-16 10:46 pm (UTC)"Question @ Hand"
"Construct a funeral rite for me."
no subject
Date: 2011-11-16 11:52 pm (UTC)"Construct a funeral rite for me."
Very, very good.
Hope Spooky is doing better.
She's hanging in there.
no subject
Date: 2011-11-16 11:13 pm (UTC)I'm an absolute nightmare of a reader. In the last ten years, I think I've read exactly *one* book that I would not change a thing about. (Caitlin R. Kiernan's The Drowning Girl: a Memoir, which comes out next year and everybody should read it because it's a freaking masterpiece.)
no subject
Date: 2011-11-16 11:54 pm (UTC)I'm an absolute nightmare of a reader. In the last ten years, I think I've read exactly *one* book that I would not change a thing about. (Caitlin R. Kiernan's The Drowning Girl: a Memoir, which comes out next year and everybody should read it because it's a freaking masterpiece.)
Wait. Who said that?
no subject
Date: 2011-11-17 04:06 am (UTC)Wait. Who said that?
Elizabeth Bear, in an interview for the UK Science Fiction and Fantasy Network (sffchronicles.co.uk).
Harlan Ellison - I must have read him in my very early teens when I was reading everything in the local library's SF section, but at that time I didn't bother with names of authors - I just read. In high school I read 'Memos From Purgatory', and then went on a royal tear reading everything I could find. Some stories were familiar ("Oh! THAT'S who wrote that story!). His section of the bookshelf is still one of the largest.
My copy of Two Worlds (#16) seems to be pristine. Thanks also for including the illustrations section at the end - some of my favorites were there...
no subject
Date: 2011-11-16 11:21 pm (UTC)I'm thinking it would've been more apropos to find such a peel in "Onion".
Anyway, the book is beyond gorgeous, and I'm thrilled with it.
And, for the travelogue record-of-sorts, copy MINE, also known as #307 of the limited edition, came to Billings, Montana.
no subject
Date: 2011-11-16 11:56 pm (UTC)My flayed page isn't 300. It's page 296. It's a curious-looking thing. I did carefully unroll the flayed bit, and it is all there, so that's something.
Spooky & I are going to consult a book restoration lady about a possible fix.
I'm thinking it would've been more apropos to find such a peel in "Onion".
I entirely agree.
And, for the travelogue record-of-sorts, copy MINE, also known as #307 of the limited edition, came to Billings, Montana.
Insert pin...
no subject
Date: 2011-11-17 12:38 am (UTC)A poem of sorts
Date: 2011-11-17 01:03 am (UTC)The pillbug
sea. perhaps
a trick
map.
narrow
"Allen's Reef
would
through
scrubbed
think
before
anaysis of
"There
said. "It's
see it,
describing
does it say?"
bottom of the
siltstone. But
Devonean, probably
there you go.
he'd whispered
next half hour
hundred million years
had right to be
a hand, something
ought to just
shaking his head.
thing's gonna cause?
maybe I'm beginning
might as well have
pyramid."
rumbles somewhere
drops of rain. Lacey
black line of Allen's Reef
no subject
Date: 2011-11-17 03:27 am (UTC)Got #452, which is fun for me because that's the answer to the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life with a five in the middle. (Anyone ever play Riven? Fives everywhere. One of my favorite games.)
Numerological silliness aside, it's beautiful. Congratulations!
Speaking of Harlan, I'm reading Deathbird Stories now. Quite yummy. (Perhaps not a technical literary criticism term, but I like it.) Before coming across your work I'd somehow never really read much Shirley Jackson, Lovecraft, or Harlan Ellison. Now I'm reading and enjoying all three, and your work too, of course. Beyond measure. Thanks.
no subject
Date: 2011-11-17 08:05 am (UTC)I read Shatterday once, years and years ago. Over here, I think Harlan's best known for Dangerous Visions.
A Mysterious Package has arrived at my folks' house. I'm hoping to add another pin to your map tonight!
no subject
Date: 2011-11-17 08:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-17 10:44 pm (UTC)