Ross E. Lockhart's Blog, page 55

Мои твиты

Пт, 15:22 : Where I'm staying this BizarroCon weekend: McMenamins Edgefield in Troutdale, OR. A brewpub resort on an old poor farm. http://t.co/Hz2iPrRl Пт, 18:59 : Holy cats! My #BizarroCon2011 high concept pitch just got passed through to John Skipp's development workshop! Пт, 21:27 : Live from John Skipp's plotting workshop at #BizarroCon2011 http://t.co/az3Q4Xzn Пт, 22:17 : Alan M Clark reads from his novel Of Thimble and Threat at #BizarroCon2011 http://t.co/pvuRT0Oc Сб, 00:22 : Having an adult beverage during the Bizarro Writer's Association meeting: A Hogshead whiskey on the rocks. http://t.co/Khs1eDln Сб, 01:32 : Kevin L. Donihe and Mykle Hansen at #BizarroCon2011 http://t.co/n3GfZR5z Сб, 03:11 : RT @AdviceToWriters: Being a writer is like having homework every night for the rest of your life. LAWRENCE KASDAN #amwriting #writing # ... Сб, 03:13 : Got to love a bar full of books. #BizarroCon2011 http://t.co/sxybp2B1 Сб, 04:18 : Rose introduces this year's Bizarro beers. #BizarroCon2011 http://t.co/fwmMp8dl Сб, 04:48 : Occupy #BizarroCon2011 ? http://t.co/E5t8K5IK Сб, 04:51 : Occupy #BizarroCon2011 (with a shout out to Jeff Burk) http://t.co/mSPvoXbM Сб, 05:14 : Beat thing about a reading at #BizarroCon2011 ? Props. (Shout out to Kevin Shamel) http://t.co/SRQlr6Ee Сб, 05:27 : Waiting for Cameron Pierce's Meat Magic performance at #BizarroCon2011 http://t.co/ApzVIWpo Сб, 05:31 : Cameron Pierce's Meat Magic performance (w/banana). If I wasn't already a vegetarian, I'd likely become one after this. http://t.co/BAdkMoD4 Сб, 06:00 : Andrew Goldfarb takes the stage at #BizarroCon2011 http://t.co/JSfESSWb Сб, 07:00 : Rock and/or Roll... http://t.co/bfBeIpIr Сб, 08:00 : Midnight at the oasis... send your camel to bed...

Мои твиты

Чт, 16:24 : Sleep to the motion of wheels against the rails, temperature drops as we venture north. Trees greet the morning light. http://t.co/2ZZBkVdp Чт, 16:52 : The world seen from a moving train. A barn, a truck, a satellite dish. A pair of deer breakfasting in the shadows. http://t.co/uxGCapUO Чт, 16:58 : The world seen from a moving train. Ominous clouds, choppy waves, a distant rainbow. Sea birds float, unaware. http://t.co/wXkFTPHU Чт, 18:14 : The world seen from a moving train: A rainbow stretches skyward to pluck telephone wire harp strings. http://t.co/DFEx0cAG Чт, 18:16 : A passing train, loaded with lumber, speeds through the trees as I have a long phone conversation with a new author. http://t.co/9Nhc8vXW Чт, 18:33 : The world seen from a moving train: Needle-thin pines, some diagonal, others mossy; patches of dirty snow, streams. http://t.co/II7tqKpn Чт, 20:05 : Emerging from a tunnel's blackness to fresh falling snow; passengers, awe-struck and inspired, sing Christmas carols. http://t.co/UgYpAiBQ Чт, 21:35 : RT @nightshadebooks: NSB is proud to be sending a box of books to the #OWS library today! @OWSLibrary Чт, 21:54 : Just about to pass through Albany, OR. In a little less than 2 hours, my train arrives in Portland. BizarroCon, here I come! #BizarroCon2011 Чт, 22:02 : The world seen from a moving train: Old tracks, the Ghostbusters logo graffitied on a freight car. Who you gonna call? http://t.co/xbMu7wZR Чт, 23:08 : Passed a hillside covered with pygmy goats, snacking on grass. Wasn't quick enough on the draw to get a picture, so use your imagination. Чт, 23:16 : The world seen from a moving train: Southbound trucks, Spanish moss, billboards hawking vodka, and fall's full regalia. http://t.co/Lofu9kMA Чт, 23:39 : Hello Portland! Hello #BizarroCon2011 Пт, 01:32 : First beer of Bizarro Con: Hammerhead. Like hearty malt candy. http://t.co/bzqdZCZ7 Пт, 02:31 : Tinnitus is really bad tonight. Suspect it's a combination of dehydration & the ambient noise of the train. If I seem a little distracted... Пт, 02:31 : ...blame the noises in my head. Пт, 02:35 : Then again, I'm staying in the Bell Tower room. That might explain the ringing in my ears. #BizarroCon2011

My tweets

Wed, 16:35 : Looks like I'm headed up to a rainy Portland weekend. Awesome, I have an excuse to bring my coat. #BizarroCon2011 Wed, 19:02 : Bones on my sidewalk. Bird? Reptile? http://t.co/mrxcMfqL Thu, 03:40 : I just bought: 'Some Unknown Gulf of Night' by W. H. Pugmire via @amazon http://t.co/9L5iif18 Thu, 05:00 : Seems redundant to drive south & east to catch a northbound train. But here I am. Portland and Bizarro Con, here I come. #BizarroCon2011 Thu, 05:04 : RT @mrfaulty: duh, just fund #ows movement by charging overdue fees to NYPD for all the books they checked out from @OWSLibrary & didn't ... Thu, 05:19 : At the Amtrak station. Emeryville, CA. http://t.co/GjiST4x5 Thu, 06:19 : I'm on a train! Things to remember: the sleeping car attendant's name is Louie. Thu, 06:40 : Rolling past my window: ghostly Bart cars, concrete pylons, trailers, empty southbound trains. Above it all, a bright lemon wedge of moon. Thu, 06:53 : A refinery, a grand illuminated necropolis, the moon trapped between rival smokestack sentinels, a Cheshire grin. http://t.co/Z89WYdaO Thu, 07:56 : Reading Laird Barron on a moving train. Trees move past my window, loom in to read over my shoulder just as the story gets good. Thu, 08:28 : Stopped in Sacramento. This may be my cue to sleep. See you on the flipside. http://t.co/ZxrVU6sC

My tweets

Wed, 01:56 : I'm entirely too amused by my new toy. Now scanning? Page proofs for Jane Carver of Waar by @Nathan_R_Long http://t.co/1GeyR0Do Wed, 02:06 : RT @nightshadebooks: Library Journal reviews Alien Contact, Book of Cthulhu and Z: Zombie Stories! http://t.co/iXKzvTR2 @martyhalpern @l ...

My tweets

Mon, 20:19 : RT @JMMcDermott: #InsteadofInheritanceReadThis: Of Blood and Honey (A Book of the Fey and the Fallen) by Stina Leicht http://t.co/OiRpIG ... Mon, 22:51 : RT @martyhalpern: !RT @nightshadebooks: Like us on Facebook to read a free story from Alien Contact! http://t.co/soecJHgm @martyhalpern ... Tue, 01:33 : You guys talk about the Snow White and Hunger Games trailers all you want. THIS is the must-see trailer of the year: http://t.co/o1s5OBwO

Мои твиты

Вс, 04:08 : Putting on the dog: BJ (Benjamin James) at EFTA (Evening for the Animals). With a shout-out to @obfpetaluma http://t.co/Kb8PK8y5

My tweets

Fri, 16:45 : I was planning to go out and take pictures of the Veterans' Day festivities, but it looks like the world's planning to rain on their parade. Fri, 20:19 : Braving the rain to get a few pictures of the Veterans' Day parade. Having trouble telling the cosplayers from the real military. Fri, 21:35 : The sky opened up mid-parade, but I'd already managed to snap a number of shots, so I tucked my camera away and jogged home in the rain. Fri, 23:43 : RT @DanielRMarvello: Looking for a new fantasy read? Try Miserere by @TeresaFrohock. Free 4-chapter preview: http://t.co/7PIQKlLa - Good ... Sat, 00:41 : Eleven Eleven Eleven and the Petaluma Veterans Day Parade (with a ton of pictures) http://t.co/16ufqDcU Sat, 04:52 : RT @NSBposse: Ross E. Lockhart: Adult Beverage for 11/11/11: Allies Win the War!: Veterans Day, Remembrance Day, Armistice Day... http:/ ... Sat, 07:08 : Tomorrow at noon. The Book of Cthulhu at Comic Book Box. Be there or be square. http://t.co/56wxoNnH

Poetry for 11/11/11: DULCE ET DECORUM EST

DULCE ET DECORUM EST
Wilfred Owen

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! - An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime...
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.

(Notes on this poem can be found here.)

Adult Beverage for 11/11/11: Allies Win the War!

Veterans Day, Remembrance Day, Armistice Day, call it what you will, the holiday not only commemorates the end of the War to End All Wars (ah, if only that name had been more accurate), but also pays tribute to those who serve this country (too often giving all). Plus, it's a whole lot of elevens--particularly this year. And who doesn't like the number eleven?

I was hoping to track down a bottle of this year's Stone Vertical Epic Ale to mark the date; alas, Petaluma Market didn't get their shipment in time. So instead, I went with something that seemed just as appropriate to the calendar, a collaboration between 21st Amendment and Ninkasi, two brewers with distinct, enjoyable lineups of their own, called Allies Win the War!

Allies Win the War! comes in a can featuring graphic design that draws from newspaper headlines and a photo collage inserting the brewers' heads onto the bodies of Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt (not the first time he's appeared on a 21st Amendment can--that would be their Fireside Chat winter warmer), and Josef Stalin at the Yalta Conference. It's a bit cheeky, sure, but is very much in the same spirit as other history-invoking 21st Amendment labels (the rampaging Abe Lincoln on Brew Free or Die comes to mind). Allies Win the War! is an "ale brewed with dates," promising 52 IBUs and 8.5% alc./vol. from "California dates, an aggressive arsenal of Northwest hops and an unmistakable aroma of victory." Sounds promising. But will it be a resounding and glorious victory, or a bitter one? Only one way to find out.

Allies Win the War! pours a rich, translucent ruby mahogany with a thick, full, off-white head that falls quickly from three fingers thick to about half a finger, leaving clumps of sticky lacing all over the glass. Citrus hops, pine, sweet malt, and dates on the nose, with a distinct suggestion of raisin bread fresh from the oven. Malt, dates, caramel, and orange zest on the tongue. Bitter citrus on the palate. Sweet, boozy, and warming. Heavy mouthfeel, creamed out by moderate carbonation. Clean finish, with a tinge of lasting burnt orange bitterness against the roof of the mouth. A big beer, dark, strong, and complex. A perfect winter warmer. Yeah, this one's a winner.

Eleven Eleven Eleven and the Petaluma Veterans Day Parade (with a ton of pictures)

Today is Veterans Day, formerly known as Armistice Day, which originally commemorated the anniversary of the end of World War I with a minute of silence during the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Kurt Vonnegut Jr., in his novel Breakfast of Champions, had this to say of the change from Armistice Day to Veterans Day:

I will come to a time in my backwards trip when November eleventh, accidentally my birthday, was a sacred day called Armistice Day. When I was a boy, and when Dwayne Hoover was a boy, all the people of all the nations which had fought in the First World War were silent during the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of Armistice Day, which was the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

It was during that minute in nineteen hundred and eighteen, that millions upon millions of human beings stopped butchering one another. I have talked to old men who were on battlefields during that minute. They have told me in one way or another that the sudden silence was the Voice of God. So we still have among us some men who can remember when God spoke clearly to mankind.

Armistice Day has become Veterans' Day. Armistice Day was sacred. Veterans' Day is not.

So I will throw Veterans' Day over my shoulder. Armistice Day I will keep. I don't want to throw away any sacred things.

What else is sacred? Oh, Romeo and Juliet, for instance. And all music is.

Here in Petaluma, Veterans Day heralds two things: The Petaluma Veterans Day Parade and the arrival of the rainy season. And as is often the case this time of year, I braved the rain to get a few pictures of the festivities.





































































































































On a literary tip, a handful of H. P. Lovecraft's protagonists were veterans of the Great War, including Herbert West ("Herbert West--Reanimator"), Karl Heinrich ("The Temple"), the unnamed narrator of "Dagon," and Randolph Carter ("The Statement of Randolph Carter," "The Silver Key," "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath," etc.). Cosmic Horror and The War to End All Wars--Recommended reading for 11/11/11. And you can read those stories, and more, for free at this link.

And speaking of HPL: Tomorrow, Saturday, November 12, between noon and 4 PM, I'll be signing copies of The Book of Cthulhu at The Comic Book Box in Rohnert Park (189 Southwest Blvd, Rohnert Park, CA 94928). Come on by and say hello!