K.A. Laity's Blog, page 133

AudioBoo: Moths

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One touch easy recording, that's what an Audio Boo claims to be. So I had to try it out on my new shiny toy. This is a poem that's supposed to be appearing in a magazine at some point but that was about a year ago that they said so, thus I wonder if it will ever come to be (impatient? I don't know what you mean!). So here's a lovely Atlas Moth photographed by my pal Ayub at the Butterfly World Project (which I'll be seeing this spring!).


















































Moths: a poem of dissatisfac (mp3)





Alert readers may recognise the opening line swiped from a news story headline (thanks again, Mark H-J, for bringing it to my attention) that also appeared in another, somewhat more serious, poem "Lullaby" that appeared in Chronogram last summer:



Moths drink the tears of sleeping birds;
Mothers hear the sound of unspoken words;

Fathers know the wishes in your heart;
The magic of love is the only true art.



Massively busy this week: and Bertie's coming to visit next week. Much to be done, yet there is still time for the idle creation of memes:

Writer Wednesday: John Claude Smith

John Claude Smith is a writer of dark speculative fiction, music journalism, and poetry. Most of the short fiction veers into horror, while the novels tend to meander into a weird mix of magic realism, psychological and supernatural nuances, and, again, horror. Late 2011 saw the publication of his first book, The Dark is Light Enough for Me, a collection of short stories. He presently exists in the SF Bay Area, though soon he will be in Rome again, where he truly lives.



Q: What do you write on? Computer, pad o' paper, battered Underwood? Give us a vivid picture.




A: Usually on a computer, though many tales and, in particular, poems, start by putting pen to paper.





Q: Do you listen to music while you write? Does it influence what you write?




A: I can and often plan specific music for a mood I want to incorporate into a story, but ultimately, when locked in with the writing, it doesn't matter. I hear the voices and motivations of the characters and the music is nothing more than white noise whispering for attention in the background.





Q: Do you write in short bursts or carve out long periods of time to work? Is it a habit or a vice?




A: When I'm deep into a project, specifically a novel, I write for specific periods of time on a daily basis. In between the novels, of which there are two down, with the third novel in the second draft, while I align research for the fourth, I will allow for a less regimented process. It's a part of me as even when not writing, I'm thinking writing. The brain is quite cluttered with stories, stories and, yes, stories.





Q: What writer would you most want to read your work? What would you want to hear them say?




A: There are too many to consider, but the "pop-up" in my brain keeps registering Harlan Ellison as the one, and I would simply like him to enjoy the work…but express his enjoyment in traditionally effusive Ellison manner, perhaps.





Q: On the days where the writing doesn't go so well, what other art or career do you fantasize about pursuing instead?




A: A musician for a post-punk band cut out of the mold of all the bands from England circa 1978-1982 or so, though I have horrible tendencies when playing guitar to turn into a thousand-notes-a-second speed-freak wanker, which derails my fantasy and sends me back to words.





Q: What do you read? What do you re-read?




A wide variety of everything, though for re-reading pleasure, I tend to lean toward a lot of writers whose work stretches even the genres they are slotted in, like Lucius Shepard, Laird Barron, etc. Actually, last summer I did an in-depth reading and re-reading session with those two and a handful of other writers whose work sets the highest standard for what I enjoy, both stylistically and imaginatively, real quality and potency. It was a form of research. I plan to dig into a lot of Weird Fiction writers soon, to research much of what they do, dig into the heart of the weird.






Q: Where did the idea for your latest collection come from? Do you have a surefire
way of sparking inspiration?




The idea was there for quite some time as I have about 3-4 books worth of short stories. It just took my agent to say, hey, how about an ebook, and me responding, why not? I think of it as a good introduction to my work. Inspiration comes to me by simply listening to the world around me, reading widely, living without restrictions. Paying attention. The littlest odd notion can lead to something huge.




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Here's a little taste of The Dark: The excerpt is from the story "The Sunglasses Girl." After an evening of sex in his car with what he thought was a prostitute, our main character, Trane, learns his assumptions were wrong:

She smiled, all teeth, vicious, gleaming with disgust, and took off her sunglasses.




"Remember, you made this choice," she seethed.




The moment was brief. Description was useless, but Trane's mind flashed with unexpected images: vast gulfs of infinite, starless space; yawning abysses where the lost tumbled for eternity; black scars that oozed blindness. He felt an oppression begin to suffocate him. She had no eyes, per se, just the empty sockets where they should be, empty sockets that defined the word "empty" in new, disturbing ways: fathomless wells in which the echoed response of the dropped stone would never speak. They epitomized nothingness, a vast, turbulent nothingness that indicated there was no soul within her, no self, nothing of substance—nothing!—but something of unspecified definition that roiled like a cavern of agitated bats. The nothingness started to leak like viscous black rivers from a whirlpool of resentment and hatred and loathing and spite and so much more negativity—negativity, that was what he witnessed; the whirlpool writhed with an omniscient negativity—Trane's head pulsated with the pummeling weight of her wrath. He gasped, his erection went south, and she put the sunglasses back on.




It was only one moment. 

You can find John on Facebook and Twitter as well as at his blog. Find out more about The Dark is Light Enough For Me and read reviews at Amazon and Goodreads. I just got started reading the collection while traveling back from Scotland and can recommend it for anyone who likes dark horrors with an almost Lovecraftian sense of unease. Thanks for being my guest today!

Tuesday's Overlooked A/V: Pop Hive & Galway Races

Happy Valentine's Day to my sweetie xxx Glad I could spend at least part of the day with you :-)



Good news from Mr B, who shared the link from Dark Valentine Press who now lists the Drunk on the Moon collection as forthcoming this spring (so just around the corner). Also my Fall-inspired noir story "Bill is Dead" will also be appearing soon. Linkage when it's available...



POP HIVE



My BitchBuzz editor Cate Sevilla has started up a new pop culture-themed web tv series. Drop by and experience the bright bubble of fun. Episodes on Vimeo.






Pop Hive: Episode 2 from Pop Hive on Vimeo.





GALWAY RACES/RAISA NA GAILLIMHE



When we visited TG4 the station director told us about the second series of the Irish language soap "Galway Races" so I figured it would be fun. It's a hoot - distinctly odd and I can already see the very local touches. You can watch it and all the Irish-language programming for free anywhere in the world. Next episode is tomorrow night. I'll be watching! Let's make it an international phenomenon. Besides, you get to visit all the familiar sights around Galway. Imagine "Dynasty" in a fairly small town. There's a crashed and burned politician, a tough police chief trying to reform a laughable force when her ne'er-do-well hippie brother shows up and an assortment of hustling would be entrepreneurs all around.

Tuesday's Overlooked A/V: Pop Hive & Galway Races

Happy Valentine's Day to my sweetie xxx Glad I could spend at least part of the day with you :-)





Good news from Mr B, who shared the link from Dark Valentine Press who now lists the Drunk on the Moon collection as forthcoming this spring (so just around the corner). Also my Fall-inspired noir story "Bill is Dead" will also be appearing soon. Linkage when it's available...





POP HIVE





My BitchBuzz editor Cate Sevilla has started up a new pop culture-themed web tv series. Drop by and experience the bright bubble of fun. Episodes on Vimeo.

Pop Hive: Episode 2 from Pop Hive on Vimeo.

GALWAY RACES/RAISA NA GAILLIMHE





When we visited TG4 the station director told us about the second series of the Irish language soap "Galway Races" so I figured it would be fun. It's a hoot - distinctly odd and I can already see the very local touches. You can watch it and all the Irish-language programming for free anywhere in the world. Next episode is tomorrow night. I'll be watching! Let's make it an international phenomenon. Besides, you get to visit all the familiar sights around Galway. Imagine "Dynasty" in a fairly small town. There's a crashed and burned politician, a tough police chief trying to reform a laughable force when her ne'er-do-well hippie brother shows up and an assortment of hustling would be entrepreneurs all around.

Dundee Exploits

Six Sentence Sunday: Palakainen

A simple concept: six sentences to win you over. Here's mine, from "Palakainen," one of the stories from Unikirja. As a special treat, you can read the entire story at Mythic Journeys. See the rest of the titbits at Six Sentence Sunday. And think about buying the ebook version of Unikirja. Kiitos.





 Swanlike she was born, swanlike did she grow, with white hands and a
graceful neck and eyes that looked unblinking at you. The servants, who
all grumbled day and night about their work, would give her the best of
the cream, the finest weaving, the sweetest olut brewed for her. Her
brothers and sisters too, who should be jealous of the attention our
little star received, instead protected her, coddled her. Her sisters
did the mending rather than let her prick her fingers. Her brothers
gathered kindling, which should be her job, carried hay to the cows in
winter, rather than let her chap her hands. Swanlike they stayed,
white.







Palakainen she was named, our little tidbit, our little treat...

BitchBuzz: The Digital Revolution Will be Gendered

I should start this post with a shout out to the fabulous Maura McHugh, a new friend who shared a fabulous, nigh on four hour lunch with me on Tuesday. Obviously we found a lot to talk about. Those of you who tend to think of me as taciturn would have been surprised. Of course we are now plotting world domination -- that's just how we roll.



I'm off to Scotland today: big smiles all around.



My column today brings together a number of things that have happened lately. If it's less light-hearted than most of my columns, it's because I'm fed up. Again. As I say at the end, I have been fighting the same fights since childhood. World, you're on notice.




The [Digital] Revolution Will Be Gendered

By K.A. Laity








Someone on Facebook shared a link to a film that looked like
it hit directly at the conundrum of the digital age: suddenly the world
has opened up to a lot more people who can share their creations with a
much wider audience than ever before. A film no longer requires a
torturous studio system of development hell and artistic interference;
just kickstart and go.



On the other hand, the burgeoning cacophony
of the digital explosion gets harder and harder to wade through. As the
traditional gatekeepers disappear, how do audiences find the good
stuff—and how do artists find their audiences?



The film is PressPausePlay.
Created by a Swedish "creative agency" (which seems to be the new name
for "advertising agency") it has a description that seems full of
potential and a screen capture of Moby:

The digital
revolution of the last decade has unleashed creativity and talent in an
unprecedented way, with unlimited opportunities. But does democratized
culture mean better art or is true talent instead drowned out? This is
the question addressed by PressPausePlay, a documentary film containing
interviews with some of the world's most influential creators of the
digital era.

I should say I did enjoy a lot of the
film and there are many interesting points made in it (as well as a lot
of blather that could have been cut) but as I watched I began to
experience a familiar sinking feeling: about twenty minutes or so went
by before they spoke to someone who was not male. Another fifteen
minutes before they spoke with someone who wasn't obviously Caucasian.



Is it really that difficult?...

Read the rest over at BBHQ. And think about your privilege before you ask for that cookie.

Writer Wednesday: Joshua J. Mark

Joshua J. Mark is a freelance writer with over twenty years experience who has lived in Greece and Germany, traveled through Egypt and Scotland, and, presently, lives in upstate New York, USA with his family. His published works include `To Memory' through Edge Piece Magazine, `Civil Serpents' through Open Heart Publishing, `After the Funeral' through Five Stop Stories, and `When There Were Trees' through Writes For All Magazine, as well as other stories through print and on-line. Mark is also a site moderator for and has been published in Ancient History Encyclopedia, where he writes primarily on Mesopotamia, Greece and Egypt. He is a part-time teacher of philosophy and writing at Marist College where he is a recipient of the Faculty of the Year Award. He is looking for a publisher for his Paranormal Young Adult novel, The Girl from Yesterday (it's in the hands of an agent right now).




Q: What do you write on? Computer, pad o' paper, battered Underwood? Give us a vivid picture.



I write on anything, as my too-patient wife will tell you, from napkins to scraps of paper and even, one time, on the wall of the back porch when a story came to me and I didn't have any paper at hand. Usually, though, I write on the computer, hunched over the keyboard in the foyer.




Q: Do you listen to music while you write? Does it influence what you write?



I never listen to music when I write a first draft because I know whatever I'm listening to will change the direction and tone of the story. When I write a first draft I don't need complete silence or solitude and I'm glad of it - most of the time my house is full of teenagers hanging out and making plenty of noise - but I can't have music playing. I do, however, sometimes play music intentionally when working the second draft re-write if I want a certain tone/flavor to the piece. I played the CD `The Black Parade' from the band My Chemical Romance to get a certain feeling in a story I just recently finished on the afterlife and, before that, played Breaking Benjamin's tune `Here We Are' to infuse the tone/imagery of another piece. I don't often do that but, when I do, I choose the music carefully and only on second draft re-writes. Berlioz's `Requiem', for example, can spin a piece completely around and off into the ether and should be used only if a piece seems to really call for it.



Q: Do you write in short bursts or carve out long periods of time to work? Is it a habit or a vice?



I write all the time. I write in short bursts and I also carve out large chunks of time. When I'm writing a long work nothing else in my life matters but finishing that piece and, then, I carve out pretty much the totality of my life until I reach the end. It's both a habit and a vice. I'm eternally grateful to my wife, Betsy, for not only understanding my insanity but actually encouraging it. If it were not for Betsy I wouldn't have written any of the work I've produced. I simply wouldn't have had the opportunity or encouragement to do so.




Q: What writer would you most want to read your work? What would you want to hear them say?



Well, as far as writers living today, I'd say it'd be Tom Robbins and I'd want to hear him say, simply, "Nice work. I really liked the piece." He wouldn't have to say another thing. I'd also appreciate hearing Kurt Vonnegut speaking from `the other side'saying something about the work like, "If this isn't nice, I don't know what is."



Q: On the days where the writing doesn't go so well, what other art or career do you fantasize about pursuing instead?



On those days I think I should have been a plumber. First of all, it's an ancient profession going back to Rome and, secondly, it's an essential occupation. Humans will always need plumbers. Even so, no one would want me as their plumber. I don't know the difference between a wrench and pliers and I've absolutely no skill with any kind of tool. It's just my great good fortune that colleges exist which pay people to stand in front of an audience and talk about books.




Q: What do you read? What do you re-read?



I can't read fiction when I'm writing fiction so I usually read history. I've read and re-read Will Durant's `The Story of Civilization' countless times. I also re-read Shakespeare and Plato when I'm writing because I find their style doesn't bleed itself into my own but their ideas strike sparks in my mind and sometimes lend themselves to the piece. I've read Hemingway many times (his work was my Master's thesis in English long ago) but I can't read him when I'm writing. I think Hemingway can be very dangerous for a writer because his style is so distinctive and so seductive. One can easily find oneself writing `bad Hemingway' instead of finding one's own voice.




Q: Where did the idea for The Girl from Yesterday come from? Do you have a surefire way of sparking inspiration?



I do not have any surefire way of sparking inspiration. When asked a similar question about inspiration, Faulkner once said something like, "I'm inspired every morning when I sit down at the typewriter." I feel pretty much that same way. I consider writing both a joy and work. When I sit down at the keyboard, if the energy of the day is in my favor, I'm always inspired. When I'm not `feeling it' I go out and roam in the woods with my dog Sophie and that usually sparks plenty of inspiration. The idea for The Girl from Yesterday came from this abandoned mansion near where I live. When my daughter Emily was younger I'd walk her out to the bus and, on the way, I'd ask her if there was any story she'd like me to write for her which I would then read to her as a bedtime story. One morning she said something like, 'A ghost story about the old house in the woods' and so I wrote it that day and read it to her that night. That story lay around in first draft form from 2005 until 2011 when I took it out and turned it into a novel. Emily is also responsible for the name of my protagonist. She had a little stuffed animal named `Pender' back then and suggested I use that name for Rebecca Pender. `Rebecca' is Emily's middle name so she gave me the totality of that character right down to Rebecca's habit of talking in long, twining, twists of words. Emily is, for the most part, Rebecca Pender. She's a very interesting person to have around.



An excerpt from The Girl from Yesterday:



All through the night my dreams fell in whispers, soft whispers, behind my eyes. I was with my mom in the silver Subaru wagon driving down from Maine in the darkness and the fog was thick and the trees ran toward us from the sides of the road. We were leaving something behind us. Long, slender reeds of rain twisted down from the night sky into the headlights and vanished and I felt so sad at whatever it was we had lost and left back behind us at the old house on the familiar road.




Inside the car, by the dim light of the dashboard, I looked over at mom and then the whole thing slowly dissolved, piece by piece, like watching a puzzle come apart, and I was below deck on a ship sitting up quickly in bed. There was water at my feet and I screamed and ran toward the door, yelling someone's name, someone who was behind me. The water was rising quickly, ice cold, up my legs, and then I had the door open and in the corridor there were many other figures in the darkness hurrying through the water and some crying and others screaming. I remembered where the stairs were from my room but I could not find them in the darkness and then, just as quickly, I was again sitting back in the car on the long, long ride down from my home, passing by tall houses which seemed to flinch and hunch under the down pouring rain...



Thanks, Josh! Follow him on Twitter or find him on Facebook and Goodreads.

Tuesday's Overlooked A/V: Red Cliff

O for a muse of fire that would ascend / the highest brightest heaven of invention / a kingdom for a stage, princes to act / and monarchs to behold the swelling scene...



There aren't many pieces I can quote from memory (I gave the habit of misremembering every quote to my main character Ro in Owl Stetching; trust nothing she says!), but this is one. Yes, I just double-checked it. Okay, one word off. That's rather good for me.



Anyway, surely this is the emotion swelling in John Woo's bosom that urged him to make this epic battle film. Or this half of it, anyway. The three hour film I saw, Cultural Gutter tells me, is only the condensed version of the complete five hour movei. Wow. Epic indeed.



The narrative follows an historical battle, no surprise. For the man made famous by a film with the tag line, "Two men. Ten Thousand Bullets." Woo has stepped up the munitions even more here: let's say a million billion arrows, lances and swords. And that's not even mentioning the fire bombs.



I had my doubts when the film began with an awful American voice over: fortunately it disappears too quickly. Once again Hollywood assumes people are too stupid to just pick things up from the narrative. Woo actually does the zoom-in and highlight with title card when we first meet the key players.



At the center, the always patient world-weariness of Tony Leung as Zhou Yu, who would rather there were no more wars, an opinion shared by his impossibly radiant and artistic wife, Xiao Ciao (Lin Chi-ling) but they're both mindful of the greater good. Zhang Fengyi gives the power-hungry Cao Cao a realism despite his embodiment of the arrogant man of power. Zhao Wei gives a plucky performance as the cross-dressing Sun Shangxiang -- they actually make her look androgynous enough in costume to be somewhat believable. You never for a minute believe anyone could mistake Brigitte Lin for a man ("But she's wearing a man's hat!"). The young but clever strategist Zhuge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro) comes up with some of the most bizarre and yet effective plans that often seem divinely inspired -- or at least inventively creative.



There's a great cast and all kinds of pyrotechnics, flying arrows and spurting blood. There's nothing you haven't seen before if you've watched a lot of wu xia , but it's an enjoyable epic that hits all the high points and feels satisfying if you've got nowhere to go for a few hours. Here's the trailer, so you can see it is chock full of stunning visuals (and yes, a patented Woo dove -- and yes (>_<) Don LaFontaine doing the voiceover).

Connemara

I met up with the Fulbrighters in Ireland, new and old, for a trip out to Connemara. Here are some lovely photos! We had music and Irish language (including a visit to TG4, the Irish language television station) for our visit to the Gaeltacht, the remaining areas where Irish remains a primary language.

































Working on a couple of things before I head off to Scotland later this week, so must dash!