James Dorr's Blog, page 70

At the Movies: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

I had mentioned the film myself in a post on June 26 2014, five years ago, about ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE:  In some ways I’m reminded of ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, though that may just be my own eccentricity, but like that movie ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE is sweet and beautiful yet, at the same time, ruthless and sad.  So last night, Tuesday, courtesy of the Indiana University Cinema, I had the chance to see ETERNAL SUNSHINE again.
.
IU Cinema blurb:  Joel is heartbroken when he discovers that ex-girlfriend Clementine has erased all memories of their time together.  As Joel undertakes the same treatment in revenge, his subconscious fights back in a surreal, dream-like journey through good times and bad, one that has Joel questioning whether he wants to lose his happy memories in order to forget the painful ones.  Michel Gondry’s direction and Charlie Kaufman’s acclaimed screenplay produced a film that is both intellectually complicated and deeply romantic. 
.
And so both quotations, I think, are true.  But there’s also more to ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND at least at the IU end, the film being part of a fall “themester” — a themed grouping of courses and ancillary programs and events — on the concepts of “Remembering and Forgetting,” giving this mini-blurb:  In this unusually serious roman [image error] tic comedy, heartbreak leads a couple to erase all memories of each other.  But, of course, can they really?  And how would that complicate life and possible pairings with others?  And, in the talk before the screening, how can this even be depicted at all in a movie?
.
That is, films are great for showing things from the outside, but what of showing things that are internal — to get inside a character’s head as one might in a book?  In this case through a series of “fantasy dreamscapes” where techniques like colors or camera angles may gain extra importance.  Thus Joel can experience memories as dreams, and these sometimes then be manipulated, but not in a sense of reality changing but more perhaps as an exploration of what could be.  Or perhaps might have been.
.
Confused?  I know I am, but that’s not the point.  My point is I think the film is worth seeing — very worth seeing — but also probably has to be watched more than once or even twice.  Or, if failing that, at least enjoyed once as a bittersweet romance with a rather neat, with the memory erasing technique as a subtheme, science fiction flavor.

Star*Line 42.4 Contents Shuffle, PDF Published

The PDF copy of STAR*LINE has been published according to today’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association e-announcement.  All is not the same, however, as in the proof copy as noted below for October 15, not the least that the actual issue is numbered 42.4, the 41.4 of the proof being a cover image typo I didn’t spot myself at the time.  But the contents, too, have been shuffled a bit, my poems now appearing on pages 13, 15, and 28 — [image error]and not 13, 28, and 29 as before.  So the reshuffled shuffle has “Parents” on 13, as in the proof; “Gourmet Warning” plucked from page 29 and deposited at the bottom left of page 15, slipped as it were into the deep beneath the “President’s Message” (that is, the actual SFPA President’s message, not a different poem with that name); and “Waste Not, Want Not” (a.k.a. “The Frugal Vampiress”), finally, still guarding her place at the middle right of page 28.  The PDF version is available to SFPA members as part of their membership, as well as to contributors and advertisers, and will be followed by one in print in “a couple of weeks” when they’re back from the printer, at which time issues will be available for all to buy.

For those interested, more on STAR*LINE can be found on the SFPA website by pressing here.

Black Infinity, Ghost Ship Sails Into the Land of the Published

It isn’t the first time for “Ghost Ship,” first published in TECHNO GOTH CTHULHU in 2013, but its latest incarnation can now be found in BLACK INFINITY (see October 13, August 11; also re. story April 28 2013, et al.) as of last Friday, according to Amazon’s dating.  Or, quoting the blurb, [the] Fifth issue of the magabook of creepy science fiction adventure, featuring fantastic tales of mysterious abandoned ships in space and on the high seas, with Gregory L. Norris, Douglas Smith, James Dorr, David VonAllmen and others; with classics by Philip K. Dick, Alan E. Nourse, Jack Williamson, Andre Norton and others.  Plus:  a tribute to Irwin Allen’s Lost in Space (1965), retro movie reviews, weird science fact, a comics story, and more.  Well, actually Amazon misspelled my name [blush] but it’s there correctly up at the top on the magazine’s cover!  (And, yes, I’ve corrected it in the quote above.)

More to the point, there’s a lot of other good stuff to be found including classics by Philip K. Dick, et al., as said above, with “Ghost Ship” second from the bottom in the story contents.  The magazine’s theme is “derelicts” with “Ghost Ship” being the tale of a Flying Dutchman sort of appearance on a far future sea in the universe of my mosaic novel, TOMBS:  A CHRONICLE OF LATTER-DAY TIMES OF EARTH.  In fact, for those who may have read TOMBS, one might recall the fishermen at the end of the story-chapter “Miasma,” who make a second appearance here.

Be that as it may, for more on BLACK INFINITY one can press here.

For SF Writers: Life-Bearing Planets in Off-the-Track Places?

Or as Charlie Wood notes on POPSCI.COM:  The universe is full of warm bodies.  Why should life limit itself to sun-like stars?  The article is titled “Here’s How Life Could thrive On a Planet Orbiting a Black Hole — And Other Alternative Suns” and can be found by pressing here.  For science fiction authors and fans, that is, for a little but of off-the-beaten-track world building.
.
White dwarves, for instance, are kind of easy — as long as you can figure out what to do with those pesky red giants that tend to precede them.  But what about planets that orbit [image error] neutron stars or, again, black holes (for the latter, though, keeping a healthy distance — or at least picking out the right kind of black hole)?  According to Jeremy Schnittman, an astrophysicist with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, [b]iology as we know it is complex, but it basically boils down to needing two simple prerequisites:  an energy source for maintaining liquid water and a stable environment.  “If you’re on a planet that’s constantly being wrecked by earthquakes and volcanoes,” Schnittman says, “even if it has nice beaches it wouldn’t be nice.” 
.
But some places that do meet these criteria still can be weird.

A Box of Translated Horror Books for International Halloween Pleasure

This is a from a site I’m not familiar with, BOOKSANDBAO.COM, but via a more familiar THISISHORROR.CO.UK it seemed of interest:  “9 Translated Horror Stories to Chill Your Blood” by Will Harris.  The titles themselves are Japanese, Korean, Chinese — a majority of them are Eastern — but also two Spanish and one from Sweden.  The last [image error] of these, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, being the only one I’m at all familiar with and that, I confess, is from the movie.
.
So why read them at all?  As Mr. Harris tells us:  So many of our greatest stories of terror and the supernatural come from faraway lands.  A nation’s laws, customs, traditions, politics, and religion will have a profound effect on what kinds of stories they want to tell.  Horror is a magnificent genre that takes heavy themes, chews them up, and spits them out as something mangled and wonderfully strange.  And so many of the greatest horror stories of today are translated from languages near and far — from Spanish to Japanese.  Here are nine of the very best translated horror stories to enjoy during October, as the nights creep in and the air gets colder.
.
But also, why not just for something different — I know I’m curious.  To open this world for yourself, press here.

Crystal Lake Shorts: Midnight Sun Places in Three-Way for Third; Star*Line 41.4 Proofs Received

The results are in:

1st: “Driving On” by Guy Medley

2nd: “Hook-Hand Man’s Last Night on Lovers’ Lane” by Patrick Barb

3rd: “Travel Bag” by Bryan Miller &

“Turkish Delight On the Blue Line” by Shoshana Edwards &

“Midnight Sun” by James Dorr

These are the results of the Crystal Lake Flash Fiction Challenge (see October 11, below) on the theme of Travel Horror, my entry being “Midnight Sun” on the wisdom (among other things) of heading north when threatened by a zombie apocalypse.  At least, that is, if it’s almost Christmas.  These were voted on by Crystal Lake Patreon subscribers (is that the right term?) of which I am not, so I can’t read the stories myself — but a win (even if in a tie [image error]for third place) is a win, yes?  And that’s not a bad thing.

And there’s more as well.  The e-announcement, received yesterday from Contest Coordinator Joe Mynhardt, went on:  After every challenge I check with the authors of stories I really like (or stories that were quite popular with the patrons, even though they didn’t win) about what they want to do with their story.  I’m looking for some stories to fill our SHALLOW WATERS anthologies, and would love to include your story.  These books roughly 20k words, eBook only, and selling at only 99c.  It’s basically just a cool way to promote great flash and our Patreon page, while bringing in a bit of funds for our bigger projects.

So “Midnight Sun” will have a home too, my having just sent back my “yes” this afternoon.   More details to come as soon as I get them.

Then one more item.  Today the proof copy came for STAR*LINE 41.4, for Fall 2019, with corrections going back later today.  I have three poems in this one (cf. October 4), “Parents,” “The Frugal Vampiress,” and “Gourmet Warning,” to appear on pages 13, 28, and 29 respectively.

Another Internet Mystery Unveiled: Monster Party “Late” Contract Received from Deadman’s Tome

This had been my original cover letter:  Attached is an 1800-word largish flash(?) submission for MONSTER PARTY, “The Stalker.”  While this is the original version, a “clothed” variation of “The Stalker” has been published in THE GREAT TOME OF CRYPTIDS AND LEGENDARY CREATURES (Bards and Sages Publishing, 2016) [cf. June 23 2016].  I hope you will be able to use it and, either way, will look forward to your report and any comments.  The tale was submitted to MONSTER PARTY, an anthology to be published by DEADMAN’S TOME, on September 6, not so long ago.  But today the email arrived from “Mr. Deadman”:

J Deadman

To:  james dorr [image error]

(sending the contract again in case you missed it).

Hot military chick fighting a yeti, how could I pass on that?

This contract is made between Deadman’s Tome, hereinafter referred to as the PUBLISHER, and James Dorr hereinafter referred to as the AUTHOR.  The parties agree . . . .

That is, the contract was being re-sent — but I’d never received the original document, much less an acceptance!  Strange are the mysteries of the internet, and its dread hench-being, email!  But never mind (and never mind either that technically the monster is a wendigo, a North American possible equivalent of a yeti — that’s but a quibble), the connection has now been re-connected, or for the first time, or whatever.  Rescued from the Great Black Hole of Electronic Doomed Correspondence.  And this afternoon my own acceptance went back, to wit:  I would be happy for “The Stalker” to appear in MONSTER PARTY and I agree to the terms of the contract below.

I hope it arrived.

Black Infinity, Ghost Ship Proof Sent for October Release

Set in the “universe” of TOMBS:  A CHRONICLE OF LATTER-DAY TIMES OF EARTH, but an ancillary story not in that volume, “Ghost Ship” was first published in TECHNO-GOTH CTHULHU in 2013.  But again on the haunt, with Halloween coming, it has more recently been in the news with its [image error]acceptance, and then contract signing for a special “Derelicts” issue of science fiction journal BLACK ETERNITY (cf. September 15, August 11).  And so, again, it has materialized; from Editor Tom English:  Here’s “Ghost Ship” for review.  Please let me know if anything (text or formatting) needs adjusting.  If possible, please get back to me by Tuesday or sooner.  Thanks again!

So the writing life ticks on.  The issue will be BLACK INFINITY #5, set to be out later in October, in time for you-know-when.  And, the copy checked over and my reply sent, I’ll be looking forward to it in time for reading as ghosts and pirates and who knows what else flock to my door questing for Halloween candy.

Midnight Sun Up in Crystal Lake Challenge; Wendy Delmater Writing Book Includes Small Passage by Me (And Including a Lagniappe!)

This was the deal.  This month’s theme is Travel Horror, so any stories taking place on planes, trains, boats and goats.  Or any other medium of travel you can think of.  The prize includes a $20 token payment, publication in an upcoming SHALLOW WATERS anthology,[image error] and an Author Spotlight on the Crystal Lake Patreon page and newsletter.  Patreon supporters would vote on these stories, thirteen in all as it turns out (see September 25, below), with mine being last to be posted.  Lucky number thirteen!  And now its time has come.

The story in question is “Midnight Sun,” the tale of a Los Angelino night nurse with a secret, and a need to journey far, far to the north.  Those interested can find it by pressing here, along with, I assume, the twelve that preceded it.  Even better, they can vote for it and, even if it doesn’t come first, if it gets enough support it, too, may be chosen to be in SHALLOW WATERS, Crystal Lake Publishing’s periodic flash fiction anthology.  But there is a catch:  If folks ask, they need to be a $5 Fans of Fiction tier patron, or any of the higher tiers.  Authors who want to read and vote but also want to see our author related posts will have to join the $7 or higher tiers.  If they only join the $5 Author on the Go tier, they won’t be able to read these stories.  Again, information, including how to join should the spirit so move (and, remember, vote “Midnight Sun”), may be found by pressing here.

Also Facebook brought word that ABYSS & APEX Editor Wendy S. Delmater’s “how to” book WRITING THE ENTERTAINING STORY is currently out on Kindle.  So why mention if here?  Well, I get mentioned/supply an example in a discussion about how a writer can use a few broad details to induce readers to flesh out a scene by bringing their own memories and experiences to it.  The story in question — a science fiction [image error]flash piece of almost exactly 1000 words (I’d had to cut it down from 1200!) — is called “Nanoflakes,” about a young boy in a future that includes interactive breakfasts, and was published itself in ABYSS & APEX in its Second Quarter 2006 issue.*  Information on the Kindle edition can be found here.

.

*”Nanoflakes” was reprinted in UNTIED SHOELACES OF THE MIND ANTHOLOGY (cf. September 10, May 6 2011), but also — and here’s the lagniappe! — can still be found in its original outing in the ABYSS & APEX archives by pressing here.

Dead Alive on Day Eight of Horror Movie Marathon

So we read other blogs too.  In particular, for film fans, there’s Nathan Scovell’s ON THE SUBJECT OF HORROR (subtitle: “All things horror movie related!”) where for the month of October we find a day by day “Horror Movie Marathon.”  Right, a recommended film with review in some depth each day leading up to Halloween.  That’s nice, [image error]you might say, but today’s selection is a particular favorite of mine, Peter Jackson’s (yes, the guy in New Zealand who later did the LORD OF THE RING films) weird and wacky, zombie film to end all zombie films DEAD ALIVE (or, to add to confusion, also known sometimes as BRAINDEAD).  For those who know it one only need mention the “lawnmower scene,” a link to which is provided as well as a trailer in Scovell’s review, to elicit off-kilter smiles of admiration.  That is, if one isn’t put off by a bit of blood and gore.

After all, what would you do if you found your home crowded with flesh-hungry zombies — including your own mom?  And, need one add, your new girlfriend threatened?  To find out, or at least for more information, read Scovell’s DEAD ALIVE review yourself by pressing here!