K.A. Laity's Blog, page 135

Six Sentence Sunday: Mandrake and Magpies

A simple concept: writers offer six sentences to pique your interest. Here's mine:









The rain
began: that horizontal rain that filled all your pockets and wormed its way
down your neck. Riley argued that it wasn't a sign either. It wasn't Galway
unless the rain was whipping down—even when the sun came out. As he crossed
over the little rivulet that passed under the road, a single magpie laughed at
him from its perch on a reed and he remembered it was one for sorrow, two for
joy, and looked in vain for a second. "Shoo," he muttered, waving an
ineffectual hand. The pie flicked its tail feathers, hopped to the other bank
and continued to make remarks about the weather—or his fate. 



You can buy "Mandrake and Magpies" in the anthology Dark Pages: International Noir along with a bunch of my fine colleagues at Trestle Press. Drop by the 6 Sentence Sunday blog to sample other writers.







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Friday's Forgotten Books: If You Want to Write

As I get ready to teach another Creative Writing course, I think about books to recommend at the end and here's a perennial recommendation. I'd also recommend Lynda Barry's What It Is as well, especially if you yearn to write but haven't quite figured out how to get the inchoate thoughts in your head out onto paper( and yes, Barry wants you to use paper). Like Barry's book Ueland's classic will give you confidence in your words. I chose this image because that's the edition I first had: it's been through many since then.



Ueland gets to the heart of the matter with her concise assertion: "everybody is talented, original and has something important to say." Everybody: that's an important underpinning of all that she writes here. You don't have to go out and live adventures or make yourself 'interesting' (a most films about writers suggest) in order to write. She's about the process -- the work of writing -- as the way to discover what you have to say. "I learned...that inspiration does not come like a bolt, nor is it kinetic, energetic striving, but it comes into us slowly and quietly and all the time, though we must regularly and every day give it a little chance to start flowing, prime it with a little solitude and idleness."





One of her "ah ha!" moments comes from reading one of Van Gogh's letters in which he begins by talking about how beautiful the scene outside his window is, then decides to try to sketch it. "And then on his cheap ruled note paper, he made the most beautiful, tender, little drawing of it," Ueland writes, and "the moment I read Van Gogh's letter I knew what art was, and the
creative impulse. It is a feeling of love and enthusiasm for something,
and in a direct, simple, passionate and true way, you try to show this
beauty in things to others, by drawing it." That's the key: recognising something that matters to you and conveying it as accurately as possible.



Never ask yourself if your ideas are important. Don't worry about being profound: "I learned that you should feel when writing, not like Lord Byron on a
mountain top, but like a child stringing beads in kindergarten - happy,
absorbed and quietly putting one bead on after another." Remember, "...writing is not a performance but a generosity."



Obviously she and I agree about Blake, but there's a key there, too. "Don't always be appraising yourself, wondering if you are better or
worse than other writers. 'I will not Reason and Compare,' said Blake; 'my business is to Create.' Besides, since you are like no other being
ever created since the beginning of Time, you are incomparable."



I like to have her reminders. Ueland nourishes the soul and reinvigorates the heart



As always, check Patti's blog for a roundup of overlooked tomes.






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BitchBuzz: Why the Blackout Mattered

An unusual day: me away from the net. Be honest -- you didn't really notice I was gone, did you? It's all right. I know occasionally I should take a break from yammering across all media. Besides, I took some more lovely photographs over in Salthill. Nothing jazzes up a photo like a happy, bouncing Lab.



I also managed to finish a story and send it off to my editor: it was meant to be 5K but ended up closer to 8K. Also not like me: if you get paid the same, why go over the target? Well, sometimes the story demands it. Characters can be so pushy. Thinking about tonight's Over the Edge reading, I also thought I should have something on hand to read in case I can get on the list, so I finally started writing the new novel. Yes, about time after thinking about it for so long. It reminded me that the best way to edit your writing is to read it out loud. I know that, but I seem to always forget it. You may ask, how's that academic essay coming along? [cough] Today for sure! Here: go read Peter Cook's Jekyll and Hyde script and stop hassling me.



Better yet, go read the column, featuring a rudely hilarious animated GIF from The Oatmeal:



Why the Blackout Mattered


K. A. Laity



After some speculation about whether they would take part, it was
telling that Google applied the now familiar black censorship bar over
their corporate logo (in the U.S. anyway—Google.ie continued in normal
mode). More obvious homes of net freedom like Boing-Boing, Reddit,
Wikipedia and Wordpress likewise blacked out for the day, but the
participation of Google confirmed the broadening opinion that even for a
mega-global outfit like Google SOPA and PIPA continue to be very bad
ideas.



The so-called "Stop Online Piracy Act" and the "Protect IP
Act" would radically affect everyone who uses the net, by making a
criminal of anyone who links to anything deemed to be copyrighted
material as explained by the always insightful Stephen Colbert. Why catch criminals when you can make everyone
a criminal? Anyone who thinks that of course the laws won't be abused
this way by corporations should follow the horrifying saga of how the Recording
Industry Association of American (RIAA) and the Motion Picture
Association of America (MPAA) have already invoked draconian measures against anyone they can catch—apparently because they're frustrated with not being able to catch real criminals.



People who do not understand the internet
should not be legislating for its control; the sad fact is they allow
corporations like the RIAA and MPAA to do it for them. While many
people will support measures to stop internet piracy, those who do not
comprehend how these poorly written measures will forever change the net
need to know that Facebook, Twitter and all the rest will be as dead
as Napster should SOPA or PIPA pass...




Read the rest at BBHQ. And hey, call your representatives and remind them they represent you and not multimillionaire corporations: fight the real enemy.


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STOP S.O.P.A.

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Tuesday's Overlooked Films: The Devil and Miss Jones

A few things to mention before I get to this lovely little film: the BOGO sale at Trestle continues! I have a new short horror story coming out, "Yuletide Feast," which will be up soon: it's actually a rather old story that I stumbled across, realised had never been published, so shined up and sent off. Waste not, want not. I put the 1k story "A Charming Situation" I wrote for the Sherlocking site back in 2010 up on Scribd: just to help you with those withdrawal symptoms while waiting for series three. I somehow missed that Drink Tank's issue 300 has appeared already, featuring my piece "Viking Wrestling" on page 58 (it's a jam-packed gigantor issue with 300 entries and almost as many pages). I particularly like the illo by Mell Hoppe that accompanies it.



All, now for Miss Jones -- not to be confused with the similarly titled The Devil in Miss Jones which is very different to be sure. The Devil and Miss Jones stars the always luminous Jean Arthur (I seem to love that word luminous) who's also very funny. I want to see You Can't Take it With You right now! She's just glorious in that. It also stars the very funny Charles Coburn (you might know him best from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes where he was diamond mine owner Sir Charles Beekman AKA Piggy). Spring Byington charms as Arthur's friend Elizabeth and Robert Cummings plays the passionate labour organiser Joe.













It's almost impossible to imagine this film getting the green light. In a world where Hollywood has made a hero of millionaire industrialists like Tony Stark (the theme seems to be 'he's an asshole, but he's our asshole') and sold the idea that your personal fortune is just around the corner, it's amazing to see this picture that's completely on the side of the working people. In the current American climate, where "patriotism" has been writ as straight-laced morality and obedience to corporate overlords, it's astounding to see a film in praise of what is now the Occupy Wall Street folk. How has it become a radical notion to suggest that working people have rights and should be treated with dignity? It only takes Coburn's millionaire Merrick a few days with the plucky poor to realise how horrible his policies (and his empty life) have been. Cumming's impassioned delivery of the Declaration of Independence in the police station shows the vast gap between the patriotism of the former ideals of freedom and dignity that have been replaced by 'personhood' for corporations and draconian civil engineering masquerading as 'morality'.



The only thing that's kept his film from being acknowledged as a classic is the stumble at the end. It feels as if the filmmakers decided it was going on too long and just wrapped things up a little too quickly. Nevertheless, it's a fun film with plenty of great comedy moments (Jean Arthur's expressions are priceless when she's trying to work up the nerve to knock Coburn out) and an inspiring message.



As always, see the roundup of recommendations over at Sweet Freedom.[image error]

Trestle Press BOGO & Brit Grit Too

 










ONE DAY THROW DOWN!





 SALE WITHIN A
SALE





PAUL D. BRAZILL'S BRIT GRIT TOO MONDAY -- AND MONDAY ONLY! -- $.99, PLUS THE
BUY ONE GET ONE FREE IS STILL IN FORCE!!


 

Amazon Kindle Best-Selling and trailblazing
author Paul D. Brazill has decided to drop the price of his legendary Brit
Grit Too to $.99 for one day, Monday, January 16, 2012. If you purchase Brit
Grit Too Trestle Press will match that with any title up to the full purchase
price of $4.99 as part of the BOGO sale (which includes It's a Curse and Dark Pages: International Noir of course!)

Just email Paul D. Brazill or find him at
his legendary blog -- or email Trestle Press directly with your
proof of purchase (e.g. your confirmation email from Amazon).

Here's the lowdown on Brit Grit Too :

Edited by Paul D Brazill, Brit Grit Too collects 32 of Britain's best up
and coming crime fiction writers to aid the charity Children 1st. The BRIT GRIT mob is coming to kick down
your door with hobnailed boots. Kitchen-sink noir; petty-thief-louts; lives of
quiet desperation; sharp, blood-stained slices of life; booze-sodden brawls
from the bottom of the barrel and comedy that's as black as it's bitter—this is
BRIT GRIT.


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Table of Contents.

1. Two Fingers Of Noir by Alan Griffiths

2. Looking For Jamie by Iain Rowan

3. Stones In Me Pocket by Nigel Bird

4. The Catch And The Fall by Luke Block

5. A Long Time Coming by Paul Grzegorzek

6. Loose Ends by Gary Dobb

7. Graduation Day by Malcolm Holt

8. Cry Baby by Victoria Watson

9. The Savage World Of Men by Richard
Godwin

10. Hard Boiled Poem (a mystery) by Alan
Savage

11. A Dirty Job by Sue Harding

12. Squaring The Circle by Nick Quantrill

13. The Best Days Of My Life by Steven
Porter

14. Hanging Stan by Jason Michel

15. The Wrong Place To Die by Nick Triplow

16. Coffin Boy by Nick Mott

17. Meat Is Murder by Colin Graham

18. Adult Education by Graham Smith

19. A Public Service by Col Bury

20. Hero by Pete Sortwell

21. Snapshots by Paul D Brazill

22. Smoked by Luca Veste

23. Geraldine by Andy Rivers

24. A Minimum Of Reason by Nick Boldock

25. Dope On A Rope by Darren Sant

26. A Speck Of Dust by David Barber

27. Hard Times by Ian Ayris

28. Never Ending by Fiona Johnson

29. Faces by Frank Duffy

30. The Plebitarian by Danny Hogan

31. King Edward by Gerard Brennan

32. Brit Grit by Charlie Wade




Spinetingler Award nominee Paul D Brazill
has had stories in loads of classy print and electronic magazines and
anthologies, such as A Twist Of Noir, Beat To A Pulp, Crime Factory, Dark
Valentine, Deadly Treats, Dirty Noir, Needle, Powder Burn Flash, Thrillers,
Killers n Chillers, Noir Nation, Pulp Ink, Pulp Pusher, Radgepacket Volumes
Four and Five, Shotgun Honey& The Mammoth Book Of Best British Crime Volume
8. He writes for Pulp Metal Magazine and Mean
Streets as well as his blog, You Would Say That, Wouldn't You? He is the creator of the  horror/noir series, Drunk on the Moon,
published by Trestle Press.

  

Happy Friday the 13th Hearts & Werewolves

UPDATE: My short sharp interview over at Mr B's is up, too! Drop by for more lies and exaggerations.



Happy Friday the 13th! If you're not superstitious, then you won't mind that I put a spell on you. Don't worry -- it's just to get you to join in the Valentine's Day giveaway that my publisher Trestle Press has cooked up. I'll be giving away FIVE copies of It's a Curse: Drunk on the Moon 7 at Goodreads. Just RSVP to the event to be in the running for the freebies. Be sure to find me on Goodreads if you haven't done so already. Some people give hearts and chocolates: I give you a free book. What could be better than that?



But the fun doesn't stop there: lots of the Trestle Press folks are doing the same thing, so you have lots of opportunities to win. I know the books aren't really that expensive, but I also know how much more fun it is to get away with paying nothing at all. Oh, I know you people, yes I do.



Here's a wee excerpt of It's a Curse, where Roman first meets his client. Hazard a guess at who Jameson might be based on (g'wan g'wan g'wan):




"Coffee? Or are you ready to start oiling your neck again?" Duffy flipped the battered National Geographic over on the counter so that the unnaturally green frog smiled upside down from the cover as I sat on a stool.




"Coffee." I wished I had thrown a few more aspirins down my gullet but another cup ought to sort that out. Duffy's java had about five times the strength of a normal brew. He claimed the beans had come from his cousin the alchemist. On days like this, I almost believed him.




He slid a mug across the counter and grinned a little too widely in its wake. "So, we gonna hear some wedding bells soon?"




A growl rumbled in my throat. The full moon was still days off, but the wolf already ran under my skin. He never really left anymore.




"Come on, Roman. You were awfully friendly with her last night."




This time I did snarl. "I don't remember a thing."




Duffy grinned. "You missed a good show. Those metal jockeys never had a chance."




I let the hot black blast fill my throat and ignored him. The wasps in my head were beginning to drown at last and a little silence would have aided their demise. Unfortunately Duffy blathered on, a pointless tale of drunken boasts, a damsel in distress and damage to the furniture that he blamed on me.




"Mr. Dalton, I presume?"




I swiveled my neck to the right, a mistake as the wasps took flight once more. "Who wants to know?"




He was tall and trim, clad in a Saville Row suit worn with such utter carelessness that he had to have been born to it. Sandy brown hair topped a face with the bluest eyes I'd ever seen and an amused look that its wearer probably never lost. He took a drag on a Gauloise and favoured me with a broad smile that managed not to suggest any sort of friendliness. "Edward Jameson."




"You're a long way from home, Mr. Jameson. Why didn't you send your butler instead?"




One eyebrow raised just enough to deepen the picture of amusement. "It's a rather delicate matter. My butler and I have a little understanding; he pretends not to know all my intimate secrets and I pretend to believe him. May I sit down?"




****


Hope that whets your appetite. Don't forget I'm over at the Writer's Block Party and all the folks from The Girl's Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse are over at Pornokitsch talking about why we do what we do.

What the Dickens?!

Hey, join me at the party! The Writer's Party, that is, where I do my Auntie Mame impression. I talk about inspiration and writing and whatnot. Not quite as crazily as I did at Mr B's but it's not possible to maintain that high level of madness all the time.



A decent showing in the Preditors & Editors Poll. I think I made it to #15 last year with "High Plains Lazarus"; this year It's a Curse made it to #16 and four other Drunk on the Moon titles ended up in the top 20 (imagine if our votes were combined!). Dark Pages: International Noir with my story "Mandrake and Magpies" made it to #13. With some real stiff competition, the fabulous Queen of Everything's cover art rose to #12. All in all, an excellent showing!



And just under the wire: the Pornokitsch interview with all of us at The Girl's Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse is up: check it out!




Those of you in the States may not be getting the same inundation that we are on this side of the pond, but even if you aren't deluged by Dickens, I stand by these recommendations:



Sick of Dickens? Here are Some Alternatives...


By K.A. Laity





It's the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens. If somehow the news has escaped you, surely you could tell from the deluge of BBC productions assaulting us from every side (even if they don't always seem to be enjoying it).



It's only the second week in January and already we've had a new version of Great Expectations and fleshed out finish to The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and Arena has offered a neat recap of this most-filmed author whose works have filled cinemas since its first stuttering steps.



Meanwhile on the radio you can find adaptations of The Old Curiosity Shop, Hard Times, Little Dorrit and David Copperfield running
at present. There are over 200 hits when you search programmes for
Dickens (you get almost double that when you search sports, but that's seldom due to Charles).



Suppose
you want costume drama but you're sick of Dickens? Where to turn? Let's
assume for the sake of argument you've likewise had your fill lately of
both Austen and Downton Abbey—after all you can't swing a dead
urchin without hitting one or the other. Here are some suggestions that
may be less well known to those of you who hunger for  yet more bonnets
and waistcoats (I'd say hit the books, but we know that's not going to
happen, is it?)...




Read the rest, as always, over at BBHQ. Despite my grumbling, I think Gwyneth Hughes did an admirable job of wrapping up Dickens' unsolved enigma and the second half cracked along. If some of the outcomes were predictable, others definitely were not! Nicely done. Spoilers in this recap.




Budapest and Switzerland in May: a distinct possiblity...

How I Did It

I am guest blogging over at Mr B's on how I wrote It's a Curse: Drunk on the Moon, Vol 7 . A careful dissertation of the creative process or a wild pack of lies? You be the judge. I had fun writing this story, I had fun writing about writing about this story -- should I add a third level of self-reflection and admit to having a good time writing about writing about writing? Perhaps not.



Hard to believe I'll be teaching again soon (in so many ways). I have enjoyed my semester of freedom, perhaps a little too much. The liberty has gone to my head. I must remember how to do this, too.



At least I have been practising what I will be preaching -- commercial fiction, that is. Now to get better at it. Teaching remains the best way of learning. Be sure to check out the whole pack. Mr B says there will be a print collection later this year in February with his new prequel included (I've already had a sneak peak at it -- much fun!). Much fun -- and that's what it's really all about. Life is grand.

















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Tuesday's Overlooked A/V: Penda's Fen

Big birthday wishes to my li'l brother, Bertie. He wouldn't want me posting a picture that was not pre-approved or artfully touched up, so I will refrain from posting that pouty school photo from when he was about seven...



Much as I might be tempted.



Today's overlooked A/V owes a big thanks to Mr B, who pointed me to where Iain Rowan blogged about this film (and more owls -- awesome! [wait, not supposed to say that anymore; what did we come up with? Prodigious! I don't think it's going to work out though...]). Ahem.



Let's go back to a magical time: 1974. Okay, no so much magical as really really weird, especially when you consider British television. And not just scary PSAs, just really weird programs -- often aimed at kids! I give you Penda's Fen, which you can watch in its entirety online [so sorry the video freeze frames on an instance of animal cruelty! not intentional but I guess that will warn some of you away -- apologies!].












This is a film that would have trouble airing now in the States. Never mind that it deals with Elgar's Dream of Gerontius and Manichaeism (o_O) and homoeroticism, it also deals with the relationship between paganism and Christianity; not simply as atavistic past threatening its 'evolutionary' successor, but with a faith in the power of that pagan past and with a view of Christianity as a corrupt reflection of mechanised modernity.



Wow.



Among the things that would doubtless give many fundies apoplexy, there's the suggestion that Joan of Arc might have been a follower of the Old Religion. The titular pagan Anglo-Saxon king offers a positive model, too. One of the real knock-outs of the film are the dream sequences which are truly unsettling in a very simple way. Two words: uncanny angel! Really creepy! I suspect this film alone may have warped a generation. Wonderful!



As always, catch up on all the recommendations over at Sweet Freedom.



And yes, it's the last day to vote in the Preditors & Editors Poll...