James Dorr's Blog, page 67

First Wednesday Spoken Word Includes Thanksgiving Casket Girl Premiere

So maybe a trifle late for Thanksgiving, the Bloomington Writers Guild First Wednesday Spoken Word Series (see November 7, et al.) featured two poets, a longish short story, and musical interludes by Mike Notaro and a Moog synthesizer.  First up was 2015-16 Kentucky Poet Laureate and once local resident George Ella Lyon with several selections including one from her VOICES FOR JUSTICE, a book of poems for young readers; followed by J.T. Whitehead, one-time editor of SO IT GOES, the literary journal of Indianapolis’s Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library, among other things, and whose poetry included pieces from his 2015 National Book Award nominated THE TABLE OF THE ELEMENTS; and finally a farewell reading by Guild member Shayne Laughter (cf. December 1) of a “longish” short story “We Lie, We Die.”  Then “Open Mic” time came with me fourth out of seven with a just-written-last-Friday Casket Girls tale, “A Time for Gratitude,” in which a put-upon Aimée brings a new acquaintance home to her fellow filles for their Thanksgiving dinner.

October (“Ten Days”) First IU Cinema Film for December

One way to tell a story is through its characters.  But suppose the characters are seen more as character types, as abstracts for the most part, more than as particular individual people.  Such is the case with Monday night’s IU Cinema fare, OCTOBER or (as originally released in the US) TEN DAYS THAT SHOOK THE WORLD, by Russian master Sergei Eisenstein to celebrate the tenth anniversary of 1917’s Russian Revolution.  And add one more touch, that of point of view (cf., for example, the Chinese film YING XIONG, October 27 below), so that the characters may be presented objectively, almost dispassionately, from the outside — in this case literally “camera eye” — the effect on the viewer is deliberately subjective:  that is you’re not going to learn objective history from it (in fact it’s helpful to [image error] read up a little in advance on events leading up to the Russian Revolution).  Rather as one Amazon reviewer, “PolarisDiB,” put it, [t]his movie is so good, in fact, that it makes me proud to be a Bolshevik… and I’m not, not in any way or form!
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As the Indiana University Cinema catalog has it:  Commissioned as a propaganda film to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, October is another of Sergei Eisenstein’s brilliant experiments in film structure and cinematic language.  The film introduced the concept of ‘intellectual montage,’ juxtaposing disconnected images to draw comparisons.  His use of montage also delivers the explosive spirit of revolt and resistance in St. Petersburg, leading up to the Bolshevik revolution.  Using non-professional actors throughout, the film is considered an ambitious historical epic and powerful tribute to Eisenstein’s creativity and artistry.  Silent film with English intertitles.  And as last night’s docent put it in introducing the movie, some people may shy away from silent films in general, thinking of them as “boring and slow.”  But this one isn’t.

Shayne Laughter Send-Off Follows December First Sunday Prose

‘Twas the month of December and time for the Bloomington Writers Guild “First Sunday Prose Reading and Open Mic” (see November 3, et al.) at Bear’s Place.  The featured readers were Carolyn Geduld with two selections from her about to be published novel-in-stories TAKE ME OUT THE BACK, about a mass shooting and its effects on the surrounding community; followed by Abegunde (who we’ve met a number of times before) with readings from a draft work in progress “for Ruth George and all the women killed by angry men.”  This was followed by seven walk-ons with generally lighter fare of which I was fourth with a “rerun” of my seasonal horror/black comedy “The Worst Christmas Ever” (cf. December 4 2017). Then afterward a number of us reconvened at Writer’s Guild President Joan Hawkins’s house for a farewell gathering for member Shayne Laughter (also the afternoon’s second “Open Mic” reader) who will be leaving Bloomington later this month for an extended stay in India.

 

A Snowy Acceptance for Thanksgiving Weekend

The guidelines said it.  We’re looking for nursery rhymes, poetry, and stories that can be read and enjoyed by children of all ages. There is no lower word limit on poems or nursery rhymes.  Mine, however, would be a story, “Snow,” a 2000-word riff (more or less) on “Snow White and the [image error]Seven Dwarves.”  An evil queen, a stepdaughter in training, height-challenged jewel miners.  The book in question, to be published by B Cubed Press:  ALTERNATIVE BEDTIME READING FOR PROGRESSIVE PARENTS.

So today, Saturday, I received the word from Editor Bob Brown, short and sweet:  We would like to buy Snow.  Please advise if you accept.  Then a second email gave instructions for things to come, among other details.  A need for a bio, pre-publicity, edits to be reviewed, etc.(some, like the bio, to be handled now), more on which will be reported here as it happens.  And, all in all, a nice continuation of the Thanksgiving weekend to wrap up November.

Triana’s Special Not Quite Thanksgiving Portrait

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Actually it was taken a bit over a week before when she had been doing something unbearably cute but, when I tried to take a picture, there wasn’t enough light.  So I took this one instead, as she anticipates a possibly turkey-flavored treat — and a HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all!

Vampire Hunting Kits: Actual Horror or Hoax?

These occasionally turn up on the internet and, as one might suppose, the answer is hoax.  Regardless of the actual age of some of the items included, they have a way of relying perhaps a bit too heavily on vampire lore gathered [image error]from post 1950s-ish movies.  Nevertheless. . . .

Well, I’ve used the notion once in a story, “La Valise,” starring Aimée, of les filles à les casettes, published in ZEN OF THE DEAD (Popcorn Press, 2015; cf. November 17, October 28 2015, et al.), suggesting that should a real vampire come across one in your luggage, it might not lead to a happy conclusion.  But for a bit more on the “hoax” part of the formula via Dan Evon, “Is This a Vampire Hunting Kit from the Early 19th Century?” on SNOPES.COM, one can check here.

Spooky Nature, Or, Be Glad These Are Not Part of Your Thanksgiving

So I was strolling the internet this afternoon and came upon this from CRAFTY.DIPLY.COM, “11+ Extreme Pix That Prove Nature Is Hardcore,” courtesy of Facebook’s MOMMY NEEDS VODKA (“Vodka Is Practically a Health Drink If You Just C[image error]all It ‘Potato Juice'”).  The attribution is to “Dan” and there’s lots more than just eleven pictures — the one here being a black widow spider that happened to make its nest in a skull — which is followed in turn (just keep scrolling and scrolling) by “15+ Terrifying Times Nature Was At Its Most NOPE” by Mason Zimmer, it also followed by “8+ Insane Photos. . . .”  Well, you’ll get the idea by just pressing here (or, it starts with the one of a hairy frog).

And enjoy, enjoy.

Breaking Bizarro, Catskinner Sweet in Saturday Mailbox

It’s really kind of self explanatory, the story’s whole title, that is. “Catskinner Sweet and the Twirling Teacups of Deadwood City,” which is next to last — or next to next to last depending on how you count things — in the Death’s Head Press anthology BREAKING BIZARRO (see September 2, June 15) that arrived Saturday afternoon.  Well, maybe some explanation, a “catskinner” for instance is someone who herds cats, or drives such a herd,[image error] much like a muleskinner.  Or twirling teacups or flying saucers, it’s how you look at it.

But the thing is it’s all absurd, twenty-six stories in all — or is that twenty-seven. That is twenty-six written stories, the last of which is “How to Build a WW2 Armored Express Train Set” by John Wayne Comonale (preceded by me with “Catskinner Sweet,” natch), which is followed by the title “Title:” by “Your Name:” and nine or ten pages of lined paper.  That is, the last story in BREAKING BIZARRO is yours in a do-it-yourself kit sort of way.  And that is bizarre.

But the thing is the book has been published in both print and electronic versions, and you can have yours too by pressing here.

HOZ Journal Now Scheduled for “01012020” Debut

That’s the way they put it, and part of the reason for choosing that date — New Year’s Day 2020 — is simply that it looks so cool.  Though starting a brand new publication at the start of a new year as well as decade seemed appropriate as well.  The publication’s full name is the HOUSE OF ZOLO JOURNAL OF SPECULATIVE LITERATURE, VOLUME 1 (cf. October 7, September 17), for which HOZ are looking for literature that explores possibilities for the future.  We want challenging short stories that are character driven, that reima[image error]gine the world and our place in it.  . . .  Themes that thrill us:  transhumanism, artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, new systems, resistance, activism, queer perspectives, feminist perspectives, nature.  Originally planned for a release this month, they decided to give it a bit more time, with January 1 2020 now the official release date.

My story in this is “Golden Age,” a tale of surgical life prolonging procedures that lead to a possible near-immortality, originally published in MINDSPARKS in Spring 1994 and also reprinted in Smart Rhino Publications’s 2017 ZIPPERED FLESH 3 anthology.  And for a sort of a preview about this first issue, or at least its authors, one can press here for a list of bios with further links to blogs and personal websites, Facebook pages, etc.

BOULD Awards Anthology Published, “Winners” Announced

And . . . it’s out, on schedule, the 2019 BOULD Awards Anthology for stories “Bizarre, Outrageous, Unfettered, Limitless, [and] Daring” (see November 15, 8)!  To see or to buy press here.  A list of contents also appears in my November 15 post below, while we also learned the winners today of the small money prizes (the “Awards” part of the title) for the four presumably BOULDest tales of all.  To wit:

1st Place ($50): The Mystery of the Missing Albino – Steve Shrott[image error]

2nd Place ($30): The Society – KM Rockwood

3rd Place ($20): Bitch and Chips – Maddi Davidson

4th Place ($10): Euthanasia – Karen Duxbury

Okay, so my entries are not on the list, not that they’re still not bizarre, etc., in their own right (one, in fact, having also appeared in a 2013 anthology titled BIZARRO BIZARRO*), “Mr. Happy Head” and “In the Octopus’s Garden.”  But hopefully all should be quite worth reading, to be found, again, by pressing here.

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*While the other, “In the Octopus’s Garden,” is also lead story in my Stoker(R) nominated collection THE TEARS OF ISIS.