greygirlbeast: (white)
Yesterday was exactly three years ago to the day that I began work on the prologue of Daughter of Hounds. So, it's fitting then that yesterday was the day I finally began to find my way into Joey Lafaye.

Spooky and I spent a good portion of the day just talking about the book — characters, theme, setting, plot, etc. This is usually what I do instead of outlining, writing character profiles, etc. Just talk and think and wait. I have a suspicion that I am now very near the prologue. I might even be able to begin it today. But there are several difficult points I have yet to resolve. For one, the novel is, I believe, set in the late 1970s (which should put to rest any suspicion that it will be in any way a sequel to Daughter of Hounds). For another, I have yet to decide whether it takes place in Georgia or in South County, Rhode Island (somewhere in the vicinity of Peacedale/Wakefield). And going into a novel uncertain of its locale is utterly alien, as place has always been so integral to the books I'm writing. But, in part, this is a novel about a carnival/fair that moves around a lot (though it's not moving around during the story), and in that respect — since most the central characters are carnies — locale really doesn't matter. I am leaning strongly towards Rhode Island, as I think I am done writing about the South. Truly, I have nothing further to say about the South, and I don't want this book to have a default Southern setting just because I am, at the moment, living here, or because I grew up here, or whatever. Silk and Threshold and Low Red Moon are set in the South because they are, to varying degrees, Southern novels. Joey Lafaye won't be. At any rate, the writing will begin very, very soon.

I also have to get started on something for Sirenia Digest #23. In fact, a really good goal for this week would be writing a vignette and the prologue for Joey Lafaye. That's awfully ambitious, so we shall see. Also, I'd still love to hear some feedback on the last couple issues of the Digest.

We still have ongoing eBay auctions, until October 8th. Check those out. Also, if you haven't yet seen Spooky's latest doll, Tilda...I mean, Amelia, you might want to have a look. And I should probably remind you that Beowulf is now available (I will not be auctioning copies of this book anytime soon).

Across the Universe is the first film since Danny Boyle's Sunshine to hit me so hard it just won't leave me alone. Which means we'll probably be seeing it in theatres again. All day yesterday, in between Joey Lafaye, we talked about Across the Universe. Oh, and I read Roger Ebert's review (these days, I try never to read reviews before I see a film), which is fairly spot on.

Oh, and there's a great piece in Spin by Anthony Bourdain about New York City in 1977, so you may want to have a look at that, as well. I admit I was tickled at his comparing the Sex Pistols to the Monkees.

And last night, Spooky made a stir fry with purple Jasmine rice — Khao Gram — which I'd never had before. And then there was Torchwood, and then mostly Second Life and the Dune sim and some of the most sublime roleplaying I've ever had the pleasure to be a part of. Really, some of the very best dialogue I've written, I think.

Okay. Enough for now. Somewhere, there is coffee.
greygirlbeast: (dr10-1)
So, yes, day before yesterday — commonly known as Thursday — after a final fit of editing, I sent the rtf. for the 3rd edition of Tales of Pain and Wonder away to Subterranean Press. It is out of my hands (again), and (again) that is a huge relief. Otherwise, though, Thursday pretty much sucked. It was one of those sorts of Days Off, the sort you have to have a Day Off to recover from.

Oh, my box of contributor's copies of Beowulf finally arrived on Thursday.

Which brings us to yesterday, also known as Friday. We braved traffic and the horror of Buckhead and Phipps Plaza to see Julie Taymor's Across the Universe with a good sound system. Wow. From my perspective, there was nothing here not to love. Of course, you must keep in mind, I adored both Moulin Rouge! (2001) and The Velvet Goldmine (1998), and while Across the Universe is not as perfect a film as either of those, it's awfully frelling good. And, in my opinion, there's no way Across the Universe ever would have happened without those two films. No, I do not write reviews, and this is not a review. Just me saying this is a very special film, and I loved it. Great cameos by Bono and Eddie Izzard, and the cast was, all in all, superb (though Joe Anderson's unnerving resemblance to Kurt Cobain kept, well, unnerving me). I'm very pleased to hear the film is about to get a much wider release. And I will also say something that should be obvious, because, all around me, people keep missing obvious things. This is as much a film about 2007 as it is about the 1960s, as much a film about Iraq as Vietnam, and etc. If my recommendations mean anything to you (and I will not be offended if they do not), see Across the Universe.

After the movie, we met Byron for dinner at The Vortex, then headed home for the season finale of Doctor Who. And again, I will say "Wow." Martha Jones, walking the world. I'd be very unhappy about the ending, if I didn't know that Freema Agyeman joins the cast of Torchwood next season (as well as making returning appearances on Doctor Who). And I do think that "The Sound of Drums" and "The Last of the Time Lords" are probably best watched together as a single episode.

And then there was Second Life, my alternate existence as a Freman woman named Shahrazad al-Anwar, and then, eventually, there was bed. And that was Friday.

Today, I will be spending the whole day thinking and talking about Joey Lafaye, because the time is here. The time was here a year ago, but a thousand things got in the way. Now the time is here, and there are a few things I need to figure out before the novel begins to happen.

If you are an admirer of Spooky's dolls, have a look at Amelia (though I call her Tilda, for reasons that should be self-evident). Also, there are still three eBay auctions underway. The way people have been snapping up the copies of the new Threshold paperback I've listed recently, I am surprised no one's yet bid on this copy of Low Red Moon, because a) it's a better novel, and b) it's not like I do signings anymore.

I think that's all for now. The platypus and I need to have a loooonnnng talk...

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Caitlín R. Kiernan

February 2012

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