Daniel Morris's Blog, page 9

The Canal: $5.99

Due to a recent drop in the price per barrel of fiction, The Canal can now be yours for $5.99. Plus Rocket is now only $3.99.

Pulp: Ship Master

Ah, Ship Master. As a writer, this is the kind of book that, well, once you’ve been exposed to it, it’s impossible to escape the influence of its style and technique.

The sun was high and yellow and beat down on them. It was hot.

I’m not going to lie -- I have that highlighted.

Ship Master involves the adventures of treasure hunter Cliff Stafford. There's a pirate legend, a ghost, and plenty of, uh, interpersonal relations. I think I paid $5.00 for this at a used book store about 7 years ago, and

Gowanus News: Its In Literature

Updates on the Gowanus Canal, the real life inspiration behind The Canal.

I just discovered that the Gowanus Canal got a couple of mentions in the novel Netherland by Joseph O'Neil (2008, Pantheon), a book which won the '09 PEN/Faulkner award for fiction and garnered a good amount of literary acclaim.

A passage of special note from the book:

Over the next week there is a trickle of follow-up items, none of them informative. But apparently it is interesting to readers, and reassuring to certain trad

Gowanus Canal News: It's In Literature

Updates on the Gowanus Canal, the real life inspiration behind The Canal.

I just discovered that the Gowanus Canal got a couple of mentions in the novel Netherland by Joseph O'Neil (2008, Pantheon), a book which won the '09 PEN/Faulkner award for fiction and garnered a good amount of literary acclaim.

A passage of special note from the book:

Over the next week there is a trickle of follow-up items, none of them informative. But apparently it is interesting to readers, and reassuring to certain trad

Random Fiction: The Foggy, Foggy Dew

Now that's some foggy dew. Weird syntax aside, 'Foggy, Foggy Dew' is apparently an English folk song, so I'm assuming that's the precedent for the title, although I find that pretty disappointing, as I rather like the idea of foggy, foggy dew springing fully made from some writer's mind, or in this case, Charity Blackstock's mind. Speaking of Charity Blackstock, a little googling reveals that it's a pseudonym for one Ursula Torday, which itself sounds like a pseudonym, which itself raises distur

Old Books: The Foggy, Foggy Dew

The Foggy, Foggy Dew, originally uploaded by Daniel Esq..

Now that’s some foggy dew. Weird syntax aside, ‘Foggy, Foggy Dew’ is apparently an English folk song, so I’m assuming that’s the precedent for the title, although I find that pretty disappointing, as I rather like the idea of foggy, foggy dew springing fully made from some writer’s mind, or in this case, Charity Blackstock’s mind. Speaking of Charity Blackstock, a little googling reveals that it’s a pseudonym for one Ursula Torday, which i

The Foggy, Foggy Dew

Now that’s some foggy, foggy dew. Weird syntax aside, ‘Foggy, Foggy Dew’ is apparently an English folk song, so I’m assuming that’s the precedent for the title, although I find that pretty disappointing, as I rather like the idea of foggy, foggy dew springing fully made from some writer’s mind, or in this case, Charity Blackstock’s mind. Speaking of Charity Blackstock, a little googling reveals that it’s a pseudonym for one Ursula Torday, which itself sounds like a pseudonym, which itself raises

Gowanus News: Dude Jumped In

Updates on the Gowanus Canal, the real life inspiration behind The Canal.

Firefighter Richard Staiti jumped into the Gowanus Canal recently. Furthermore, he swallowed some water. That's right, HE SWALLOWED CANAL WATER. Considering that the Gowanus is described in the Daily News article as being "infamous for its high levels of cancer-causing PCBs, raw sewage and venereal bacteria" (and considering all the weirdness that this leads to in my book) it wasn't too surprising to find that after emergin

Order This Book

Be sure to check out my friend Michelle's book 'The Gastronomy of Marriage.' It doesn't come out until September, but you can pre-order a copy on Amazon...[image error]

Everything I Know, I Stole From Martin Amis

One of my favorite writers is Martin Amis, and particularly the books Money and The Information (which I tend to prefer in that order).

When I began working on The Canal I was definitely modeling my style on his, and The Canal contains some definite echoes and remixing of Money’s prose and point of view. Of course, the thing about trying to write like Martin Amis is that, well, you quickly realize you’re never going to be able to write like Martin Amis.

Here’s a quick passage I randomly picked out