Caitlín R. Kiernan

So, first my grateful thanks for the bazillion or so comments to yesterday's post. It's good to know that I'm not talking to an empty room, after all. And after seeing that I'd ranked #23 in the Top 50 in BlogRanks SciFi & Fantasy Novels Category, I feel a bit better about the time I spend on this journal (usually about an hour and a half a day). Your responses were interesting. One thing I'm always surprised to hear is the oft-repeated concern that someone feels hesheit will be intruding or perceived as "stalkerish" or "fanboy/girlish" for commenting. This is most emphatically not the case. I began this blog in 2001 at the urging of Neil Gaiman, as a means of promoting my work. And though I have allowed the blog to become more personal over the years, this remains its primary function. Promotion. This is not my private journal, or some place where my RL friends gather. This is, essentially, a forum that allows me to describe what being a writer is like (for me), someplace to vent, post news, and someplace to interact with my readers. It was built to have comments.

That said, I don't argue online. So I do ask that readers show some degree of discretion in their comments. Don't troll. Don't pick fights. Please don't make what are obviously inflammatory statements. Don't rag on my friends and acquaintances. Otherwise, comment away, please. One thing that's especially helpful is getting feedback on Sirenia Digest. Unlike my novels, and short-story collections, and unlike my short fiction that appears in anthologies, all of which is reviewed, I don't get much feedback on the digest, unless it appears here or arrives via email. Thanks.

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Yesterday, the dithering came full circle. After a long conversation with Spooky, I decided to continue with "The Alchemist's Daughter," despite my reservations. It just feels wrong not to finish it at this point, even if I really shouldn't have undertaken such an ambitious story for this month's issue. Also, I hope to have time to get a second piece written for #43, "The Mermaid of the Concrete Sea." We shall see, as I also have an anthology deadline this month, and various other things to get done, and here we are, already one third of the way through June. Anyway, yesterday, I wrote 1,055 words on "The Alchemist's Daughter."

I have given my agent House of Beasts as a working title for the next novel after The Red Tree, though I don't actually plan to get to the proposal until September.

Things seem to be rapidly coming together for The Red Tree book trailer, by the way. Yesterday (thanks to Sonya, Bob, and Anita) we found our Constance Hopkins, the only character who will appear in the clip. Details TBA. This is such a different project for me, and I'm excited about it. Though it began as a promotional effort, I'm starting to look as it as a creation in its own right. This very, very, very small film we are going to make. This visual impression of the novel. Ah, and I posted another clip from the test footage we shot at Beavertail last Sunday (June 7) to YouTube. I think I'm going to use YouTub, and maybe Vimeo, to post "making-of" snippets as we proceed towards the finished product (which I hope to have completed by mid July). Anyway, here's clip 2 (the wind screws with the mike for the first 27 seconds or so, but then the sound clears up):

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A quick reminder about the current eBay auctions. Several new items up today. Also, Spooky's taking part in the "yart sale" (yard + art = yart) over at Etsy, so you might want to drop in on her Dreaming Squid Dollworks shop. Thanks!

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A reader at MySpace, "Oddly Enough," has written, "I notice Howard Hughes wiggles his way into your blog titles quite a bit, why is that? Some interest you have, or some relevant point I am missing?"

Howard Hughes is one of my quasi-alter-egos. A sort of avatar. Another neurotic recluse with whom I identify on many levels. Sadly, I'm not also a billionaire, and if I were, I'd certainly never loan $205,000 to the brother of a Republican presidential candidate. However, I do save nail clippings, and bottle caps, and movie ticket stubs, and it would be very like me to build a plane that's too large to actually fly. Also, I would have gladly dated Katharine Hepburn. So, you see where I'm going with this. Or not.

The platypus and the dodo say wrap it up. Thank you for your order. Drive around please.

I actually had every intention of there being a Part Two to yesterday's entry, "Halloween the 2nd: Part One." But then I was struck with one of my very rare but excruciating migraines, and many things fell by the way side. Not everything, though, because I get no sick days until March, I think. Too many tales to be told. Too many deadlines to meet.

Dead. Lines.

A little deconstruction is good for the soul. But only a little.

I did manage to find THE END of "Excerpt from The Memoirs of a Martian Demirep" yesterday. It only required of me another 1,403 words, which brings the total for that "vignette" to 2,883 words. I quite like it, though the last few paragraphs came out through that hammerfall of pain. I was amazed to find out later that they actually make sense. All day I was transposing words and letters. I do think the end of the piece still needs just a little work, that there was something it was meant to do that it did not quite accomplish. So, Tales from the Woeful Platypus would be finished now, except I discovered yesterday that I'd forgotten there needs to be one more vignette, which will be exclusive to the limited edition. Once it's written, today and tomorrow, and once I've written the afterword and attended to a few more details, it will be finished. Yesterday, Bill Schafer at Subterranean Press showed me the copy for the website, the little snatch of text that will appear on the ordering page describing the book, and I approved it, so I assume subpress will begin taking preorders on TftWP soon. I considered, yesterday afternoon, changing the title to Scheherazade Redux or something else less whimsical, but Bill likes the original title, and as Harlan reminded last month, I'm too serious. A little whimsy helps the medicine go down and all that. The word count on Tales from the Woeful Platypus presently stands at 21,014.

This last vignette will involve mummification. Right now, that's all I know. Spooky and I have a sort of game we've developed to help me find ideas for the vignettes. I ask her for a word, just one word, and either impulsively or upon reflection she gives me one. Last night, I asked her for a word, and she gave me mummification, which was one I'd not yet done. So, thank you Spooky. Other words she's given me in the last week or two have included sand and plants and doll.

Friday night, I loaned Jim a copy of the Daighter of Hounds ARC, which he is now reading, and last night he sent me the following haikuesque e-mail, which I rather adore:

I started Daughter of Hounds. It's good. Really, really good.

Ghouls are cooler than vampires.

It's really, really good.

Also, regarding "At the Praying Windows," stsisyphus asked, Since no one else has mentioned it, why is there a link to the Only Revolutions website in the text of "At the Praying Windows"? And yeah, I was wondering when someone would bring that up. Short answer, I am in love with the book and could not resist.

Also, I've learned from Bill Schafer at subpress that Alabaster is doing better, saleswise, that any of my previous subpress books. Since almost all of my subpress books have sold out, I assume this means Alabaster is selling out even faster. Regardless, the news pleases me greatly, and I am grateful to Bill for believing in this book for all the years it took me to write the thing.

Also, my thanks to the reader who passed along the link to The Neo-Symbolist Photography of John Santerineross. This artist is new to me, but it's beautiful, beautiful stuff, and you should have a good long look.

Right. The words are screaming my name. Also, I need to get to the Woodruff Library at Emory today, to do some research, which means getting dressed and leaving the house and all that stuff and nonsense, so I probably ought to get to work...