Ari Berk's Blog, page 2

The Quotable Death Watch...

Night Thoughts

Returned home yesterday after a month's traveling in the west. Just a few moments ago, I sat down at my writing table for the first time since getting back. On a piece of scratch paper, I found a mysterious note. Words in black ink. Not mine. Not Kris's. Not Robin's. Did the house-sitter take up my customary chair and pen this query to the genius of the house in the silence of our absence? Or perhaps the hob left it? Or the cat? Or some wandr'ng spirit, momentarily drawn in by the gravity of my obvious love of the past? Who can say? It was left face down on the desk and I think it was not left there on purpose, which makes it a little more wonderful...

"...how many years has it taken you to accumulate this collection? Where did you start and what ways have these wonderful things come to you?
What is the wheel?
How does it work?"

Ancient Spirit, Modern Voice

So a few days ago, some folks on Facebook were mentioning the first Mythic Journeys conference back in 2004, a gathering (of artists, writers, poets, musicians, scholars, psychologists, dreamers, imaginauts, celebrants and wandering bards) of near epic proportions I was honored to help organize. One of the most enjoyable parts came when friend Charles Vess asked if I would like to write the introduction to the catalogue that would accompany an art exhibit to run concurrently with the conference. It was a delight to wander through the worlds of those paintings, sculptures, and photographs. As a result of the recent chatting about the conference, a friend asked to read the essay I wrote for that exhibition catalogue, so I thought I might brush the dust off it and put it up on my website so anyone interested could also read it if they liked...and here it is:

http://www.ariberk.com/ancientspiritmodernvoice.html

...and if you'd like to learn more about the Mythic Imagination Institute, the organization behind the conference, you may do so here:

http://www.mythicimagination.org/Mine/main.html

Nightmare time. No, really. Don't look at these dummies...

Shared by friend Alan Lee, here is a site with some truly disturbing images of period ventriloquism dummies. Now I am wanting a whole abandoned house of these things in book three of the trilogy. The plot has no need for such a thing, of course, but, lord, they need to live somewhere outside my head now...

I wish I hadn't looked, frankly. So, of course, I must share them. "Enjoy."

http://io9.com/5913114/vintage-ventriloquism-portraits-were-incredibly-unnerving

New Review, Old Book!

I rather like it when, out of the blue, someone discovers, on some dusty shelf, one of my older books and takes the time to say a few words about it. In a way, I think, it's more fun to find a book on your own, to have no preconceived notions, to have read no reviews, and then just fall into that world and make your own way through it. So...here's a loverly little review of Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Letters, a book I made with artist Brian Froud. It is a thing of mild madness. Truly. I remember the publisher telling us we had one dollar and ten cents to spend on "mechanicals" (all the little notes and flaps inside the book). A flap cost .07, an envelope cost .10, etc. Brian and I were in Los Angeles at the time. We went down to the stationary store and bought all these envelopes and card stock and began cutting it all up, scribbling all over everything. We planned out the whole interior of the book on my mother's kitchen table! There was wine involved, or was it tequila? I'll say no more.

Enjoy the new review...
http://creativesketchbook.blogspot.com/2012/05/bookshelf-lady-cottingtons-pressed.html

...and, if you like, a little more about this book may be found here:
http://www.ariberk.com/cottingtonletters.html

Schools Out! Woodkid - Run Boy Run

This is absolutely wonderful. I am pretty sure this is how my son feels everyday when the school day ends. I sure did when I was his age...

A medieval queen joins the cabinet...

I like stuff...

A new addition to the cabinet of curiosity may be found here:

http://www.ariberk.com/cabinet.html

Chapter 33 of Death Watch posted...

Just in time for the post-Thanksgiving return to the grind...a little distraction...
Chapter 33 of Death Watch--wherein our hero meets some of Lichport's most eccentric specters--lovingly uploaded for your enjoyment.

Who says death and humor can't go hand in hand...

http://www.ariberk.com/deathwatch.html

I Like Stuff...

I love relics and oddities.

More often than not, an artifact is the point of origin for my writing, so I thought I might, every so often, share a thought or two about the some of the objects I've found inspiring.

So, join me for a few ruminations on some well-favored curios. More to come!

http://www.ariberk.com/cabinet.html

First Novel Published!

Yesterday, my first novel (and 10th book) DEATH WATCH was published. Beyond excited. Though it was only four years ago I knew it would be a book, the world of DEATH WATCH has been with me a LONG time. From my strange, dark, seventeenth year, to all the days I ditched school to wander the cemeteries of Los Angeles, to all the books of weird and wondrous funereal lore I've sought out....this book has been waiting a long time to be born. And now, here it is between two covers. Amazing.

I have put lots of DEATH WATCH-y things up on my website to peruse: the book's first chapter, several quotes of an antiquarian nature from the book itself, photos that I used for reference in creating Lichport, the town where the story takes place, and a bunch of AWESOME reviews that I am so, so, grateful for. All that and more can be found here:

http://www.ariberk.com/deathwatch.html

Enjoy!