Caitlín R. Kiernan

Nothing written yesterday. Well, almost nothing. I did write the title to the prologue, which will be "The Locksmith of Elfland's Daughter," so that's five words. Go me. I sat here, and sat here, and sat here, and I got five words and some vague ideas. Four or five hours of sitting here, and that's what I got. Last night, I started reading Stephen King's "The Mist" aloud to Spooky (reversing our usual arrangement, but you already knew I'm a switch), and I came across this line, which perfectly summed up my day:

I couldn't think of a thing. The harder I thought, the more easily nothing came.

Yep. My yesterday.

I did find a rather awful error in Brian Froud's Fairies (1978). This is the 20th printing, my copy, and you'd think that by then an error of this magnitude would have been corrected. The following passage, on glamour, is attributed to Reginald Scott:

Could make a ladye seem a knight
A nutshell seem a gilded barge
A sheeling seem a palace large
And youth seem age and age seem youth
All was delusion, nought was truth

The passage is correctly cited as having come from The Lay of the Lost Minstrel, but the book attributes The Lay... to Reginald Scott (ca 1538 - 1599), author of The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584). However, The Lay... was actually written by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1809. I love Froud, and I will admit that I have read this book at least fifty times without catching the error, but then no one was ever paying me to catch it. I do hope it has been corrected in later printings and/or editions.

It seems the BBC2 intervew regarding the Beowulf novelization may happen after all. This development comes courtesy my UK publicist, Samantha Jones, who had the rather brilliant idea of conducting the interview in Second Life, as she knew that I was into SL, and also that the programme's director is into SL, so... We still have to work out the logistics, but I am pleased. Indeed, SL may end my moratorium on live interviews. Details TBA.

Some delightful spam this morning. For starters, this charming bit:

Hi dear,
how are you today i hope that every things is ok with you as it is my great pleassure to contact you in having communication with you, please i wish you will have the desire with me so that we can get to know each other better and see what happened in future. i will be very happy if you can write me through my email for easiest communication and to know all about each other, and also give you my pictures and details about me, here is my email confidence0111@yahoo.com) i will be waiting to hear from you as i wish you all the best for your day.
your new friend.
Miss confidence.

And I do not think that the following is quite what people like Tristan Tzara, Bryion Gysin, and Gil J. Wolman had in mind when they pioneered the cut-up technique (the subject line reads, "You will work wonders in bed with your new long and stiff magic love stick"):

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However, Spooky says she wants a "long and stiff magic love stick." Verily, I am doom'd. Or something. Also, speaking of love sticks, if you are the person (Chris L.) who subscribed to Sirenia Digest on Hallowe'en, Spooky's been trying to email you, but her email keeps bouncing. This mean you should contact her, please and thank you.

Postscript (1:20 p.m. CaST): Refusing the "fall back" for the fourth consecutive year, I am now on Caitlín Standard Time (CaST), which is one hour ahead of EST, four hours ahead of PST.