Erin Morgenstern's Blog, page 15

flax-golden tales: zombie lawn pirates

zombie lawn pirates

We tried vinegar and baking soda and chili pepper and citrus, a whole grocery list of alternative pesticides and they didn’t even blink, not that they have eyelids. Some of them have parts of eyelids.

They seemed to like the limes.

There was some debate over trying something stronger but wine keeps them from causing too much trouble, even cheap wine. And they only show up in October, though once one shambled across the lawn in the winter, dragging a tattered flag and looking confused until it disappeared under a snowbank.

They’re annoying, but it’s a manageable sort of annoyance.

They flop out of the shrubbery and yell “Arrggghhh” and one of them sometimes says “Avast!” but other times his jaw falls off before he can get the whole word out and he slinks embarrassedly back under the leaves.

They sing songs we assume are supposed to be shanties but it’s difficult to discern any words so we can’t be certain.

They’re only really problematic on Hallowe’en, because of the trick-or-treaters.

We warn them that the pirates bite, but they don’t always listen.

 

About flax-golden tales . Photo by Carey Farrell. Text by Erin Morgenstern.

 

comic con & texas & things

Spent last weekend at New York Comic Con, which was only my second Comic Con experience after San Diego in 2011, and it somehow managed to be calmer and yet just as overwhelming.

Friday we wandered up and down the floor and sort of stared at everything. One thing that seems to be a staple of Comic Cons, there’s so much to look at. We saw some fantastic costumes and caught up with my friend Eric at the Quirk booth and while we pawed through a great many boxes we were unsuccessful in our quest for volume 4 of the deluxe Ex Machina, so the hunt continues. (We have 1-3 & 5! Why is 4 the elusive one?!)

Saturday was my signing and I was amazed how many people came by for it, I believe they cut off the line after 100 people because that’s how many books we had to give away. Thank you to everyone who waited and put up with my circus tent stamping shenanigans. My apologies for anyone who wasn’t able to make it or missed the line cut-off!

Afterwards we did one more little baby loop of the floor and got a Portal 2 t-shirt (combustible lemons!) and I made a friend and had to take him home with me.

He’s a puppet, his head moves up & down or side-to-side with a hidden cord. He’s from Imaginarium Galleries, they had a fantastic booth covered with all sorts of marvelous creatures and of course I couldn’t resist even though we were attempting to have a rule about no more creatures in the apartment. Ah well.

I was recovering from a head cold already, so of course I caught the con plague. It’s almost entirely gone now, though I was asleep for a few days there.

Luckily I had enough time to recover because I am off to Texas tomorrow for One Book Odessa which sounds like it should be absolutely splendid. They’ve been up to circusy things all month and now there’s a gala tomorrow evening (music! magicians! tarot reading! costumes! I still don’t know what to wear!) and then I’m doing an onstage interview & signing on Friday. If you are in the area do please come, more information at all of the links.

Also, after this I will not be doing events for a very, very long time, because I have to write. Right now I have nothing public scheduled for the rest of this year and I’m trying not to schedule anything for next year, either. I need the hibernation time. I’m sorry, I love to go see people and I’m getting really good at signing my name but I still haven’t been able to focus the way I need to on new writing things. Still figuring this whole thing out as I go along.

flax-golden tales: the leaf painters

the leaf painters 

Sometimes the leaf painters are overly enthusiastic.

(They only get to paint once a year, after all.)

Sometimes fragile leaves are covered with so much color that it overexcites and overwhelms their already temporary leaf natures.

Some freshly painted leaves let go too soon, seduced by the promise of a dance with even the gentlest breeze.

For other leaves the new colors are so bright and hot and strange that they burn out like flames.

They fall to the ground, crisp and brown, faded and exhausted and confused.

(Leaves are sensitive things.)

But once in awhile the painters get everything right.

Reds and russets and oranges and golds gently applied and perfectly balanced, dancing with the lingering greens, not too much or too bright or too fast.

And the painted leaves just glow, warm and surprised and delighted.

 

About flax-golden tales . Photo by Carey Farrell. Text by Erin Morgenstern.

nycc

This is an announcement regarding New York Comic Con.

Saturday October 12th I will be signing copies of The Night Circus from 4pm-5pm at the Random House Booth. #2205, I think. Books will be free (as far as I know) until there are no more books and then I will still likely sign whatever until there are no more pens or until we have to go home.

On Friday October 11th I will be running around the floor doing fangirl type things and trying to find Volume 4 of the deluxe edition of Ex Machina. Feel free to say hello if you see me.

flax-golden tales: pumpkin picking

pumpkin picking

You must pick a pumpkin.

You are not allowed to leave without one.

(And trust us, you don’t want to stay here.)

The pumpkins are more or less identical, relatively similar in size and shape with subtle deviations in stems and shades of orange.

Their contents… vary.

Three contain fulfillments for wishes which must be wished immediately or the previously pumpkin-contained opportunities will vanish into the autumn air, forever lost.

A few are occupied by tiny creatures, each unique and some more tamable than others.

One holds instant death.

Take your time, but you have to pick one.

That’s the rule.

 

About flax-golden tales . Photo by Carey Farrell. Text by Erin Morgenstern.

the view from here.

flax-golden tales: broken horses

broken horses

broken horses are still wild

only worn and wounded by time

no amount of harm can diminish their passion

their spirit will remain even if hooves and hearts and memories are lost

being trapped in stone is not the same as being tamed

it simply makes them stronger

changing form cannot change nature

even broken horses run

so fast and swift that the pain

disappears in the wind

 

About flax-golden tales . Photo by Carey Farrell. Text by Erin Morgenstern.

going on hiatus

An announcement!

Erinland is going on temporary hiatus. Not that it will be terribly noticeable, since I have pre-scheduled flax-golden tales & will possibly be posting photos from hiatusland, but I thought I’d announce it anyway.

I am hugely busy this week and then I shall be away on proper vacation next week. I might be Instagraming or Tumblring occasionally and I shall try to keep up with Twitter but I won’t have much internet, so I will be mostly unplugged.

For your listening enjoyment while I’m away, something from my latest musical obsession: MS MR.

MS MR – Hurricane from MS MR on Vimeo.

(Dance party.)

Be back soon(ish).

flax-golden tales: hardest truths from softest wool

hardest truths from softest wool

You will not want to consult the lambs—no one truly does—but the opportunity cannot be resisted if given.

So if the sun is right and they are waiting for you, ears alert and listening, you will enter their field under many small watchful gazes.

You will lean close to a single lamb and tell it your troubles.

And in return it will give you the truths that you do not want to hear.

That you are better off without her.

That it is not yet over.

That what is holding you back is yourself.

That you can only wait.

Then you will pet the lamb who has given you this burden and you will notice the softness of its fleece beneath your fingers.

And things won’t seem so bad.

 

About flax-golden tales . Photo by Carey Farrell. Text by Erin Morgenstern.

autumnal & apples & birthday

Yesterday was Adam’s birthday and I wanted to do something appropriately autumnal so we drove a bit up the Hudson and went apple picking.

We picked apples and got an early pumpkin and also the farm had bunnies and chickens. We also took a lot of photos, including Adam levitating and me in the first denim jacket I’ve owned since I was approximately thirteen years old.

Afterwards we came back to the city and ate All The Sushi at Sushi Yasuda. (We sat at the bar and said we liked salmon when asked our preferences and our sushi chef said “I have nine kinds of salmon!” so it was splendid before we even started eating and then the eating part was divine.) By the end of the day we were sunshine-tired and sushi-full and very happy birthdayed.

The leaves are in that stage where they are thinking about changing but not properly flame-colored yet, only a little bit around the edges, but the crispness in the air and the quality of the light are showing their autumnal cards, just before the equinox.

Autumn is my favorite.