Alexander M. Zoltai's Blog, page 224
July 12, 2011
Microfiction ~ Revisited
A few days ago, we had the post, Breaking Boundaries ~ Microfiction, which you may want to look at before reading the rest of this post; mostly for the links and references it provides for this very new genre of literature…
So, without further ado, I'll present six more of Relish Resident's microfiction stories.
Oh! One tiny ado: These are all a sub-genre that can be called Facebook Fiction; or, as Relish likes to call them, Status Fiction–they each have less than 460 characters–not words, but characters!!
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All stories copyright, Relish Resident, 2011
House Hunter
"I love you, but I hate our house," he said.
They stared at it. It was green and too tiny.
The newspaper even looked too big for the front porch.
"Your problem is you notice houses and not new curtains. You notice windows and doors but not the antique table from Grandma inside."
He spit on the ground, grabbed the grocery bag, and walked towards the house he hated.
Vacation
They drove for hours to the ocean city boardwalk, split a delicious pizza, bought salt-water taffy, fed a one legged seagull and commented on how it didn't stop her spunk, and they drove home satisfied they had vacationed.
Best Friends
My dad's best friend Mich is ill. Two kind men, one illiterate, but handy, the other literate, but all thumbs.
My dad found his friend free places to live, a farm once, a drive-in theater, apartments, finally a small house.
Mitch fixed our broken house, tubs, stairs, garage doors.
My dad wrote out Mitch's bills and read his mail aloud to him. And now they just sit in a hospital room and watch tv together.
Close Encounter
"Take me to your leader," the Alien pointed at him.
"We don't really have access to our leaders. If I email the President, and I say an alien wants to see you they will put me on a watch list like my middle-eastern friends that fly."
"Take me to your leader," it said.
"I can take you to meet my friend Lucinda. She is easy on the eyes and owns a Dominoes pizza."
"Okay. Take me to Lucinda."
Cows
The cow was livid and he marched right into the tiny butcher shop in the inner city. He rang the bell for assitance at the butcher counter.
"Umm can I help you…si—-cow?"
The cow grabbed the counter man, hacked off his head, arms, and used his machines to create 2 butt roasts, a shoulder roast, ground human, and some delightful stew meat. He then carefully wrapped up the items in white butcher paper and walked out of the store. Stopping twice to moo.
Cycles
"It is all cycles," the bike shop owner said. "God's cool then God isn't. Having babies is cool, then it isn't, then it is. Tattoos are bad, now they are good. Cycles."
The customer seemed confused realizing he had fallen into a deep semantic trap spawned by generations of talk radio, and excessive newspaper reading.
"I mean, I'd like to know more about BIcycles."
The owner pointed to his sales representative.
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Tagged: facebook fiction, fiction, Flash Fiction, micro fiction, microfiction, postcard fiction, Relish Resident, sudden fiction
More Book Promotion Tips . . .
Our last post looked, again, at some aspects of using social networking for book promotion…
And, if you want to explore book promotion or what's called the author platform, <<< look at those links :-)
Our purpose today is to help simplify the whole process of thinking about and activating a method for promotion of one's writing.
It will be very simple for me because I'm going to point you toward another author's post :-)
Shaina Richmond, whose blog I follow, has said: "I'm…fiercely passionate about the success of self-publishing. I love to write and I have no desire to 'get published'."
"Getting published" as opposed to simply "Self-publishing" :-)
In the post I very soon will link to, Shaina says this about book promotion: "A lot of people are doing it right. I'm writing this for a specific group of people who are hurting themselves by not doing anything at all."
If you're an author (or, know an author) who totally bemoans the efforts involved in self-promotion, do, please, read this post (or, share it) because it strips the whole process down to its bare-bones and simplified beginnings:
If your readers can't find you…
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Tagged: author platform, author promotion, book promotion, promotion, self-publish, self-publishing, Shaina Richmond, social networking
July 10, 2011
Book Promotion & Social Networking Frenzy ~ Pondering Google+
We've had a number of posts on this blog that consider book promotion.
I explored my attempts to incorporate Facebook and Twitter into my promotion mix and indicated why I barely use them now in the post: Do Pre-Publication Promotion And Sanity Go Together ? I also stressed in that post the importance of building relationships in all book promotion efforts.
Even though Facebook and Twitter are billed as social networking tools (and, even though many folks find them valuable for that), my path has reverted to concentrating on this blog and my time in the virtual world, Second Life.
However, in the past week or so, the Tech/Net news has been buzzing with speculations and some early tests of Google+, another social networking tool…
Amongst all the hype, I finally found an article that gives me hope for doing the social networking thing again: Google+ is Awesome. Facebook Maimed, Twitter Mortally Wounded?
Google+ is still in testing mode but appears to be worth a try once they open it up for everyone. You can be email-alerted to Google+'s official roll-out.
If people's opinion about Google's stock value is a fair indicator, there are plenty of Tech/Net folks ready to use it…
And, if you're already eagerly awaiting this new social networking platform, there's a collaborative document being created by the beta users of Google+ on getting the most out of the tool.
Do you use social networking for book promotion or any other important tasks?
What are your opinions of Facebook and Twitter?
Are you already using Google+?
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Tagged: book promotion, Facebook, Google, Online Communities, Second Life, Social network, social networking, Twitter
July 9, 2011
Author Interview ~ Sarah E. Glenn
This is the second author Mini-Interview taken from the weekly newsletter on Book Island in the virtual world, Second Life.
If you decide to join Second Life (it's free), you can visit Sarah Glenn's shop on Book Island.
On with the interview :-)
So, Sarah, when did you start writing?
Very young, not sure how old. I loved reading so much as a child, I couldn't imagine a more noble pursuit than writing. Still can't. My first stories were comic book stories. I wrote and drew.
What were your early writings about?
I began with horse stories, witch stories, and Betty and Veronica. I prefer Betty, BTW. Later, I matured to the X-Men. My non-artistic writing era started with Zelazny fanfiction. I love the original Amber series.
Would you tell us a bit about your "writing habits"?
My habits… I put off writing for as long as I can. When the guilt and internal pressure get high enough–or I have a deadline–I begin writing. I continue until the scene is done, or I am ready to Run Screaming Into the Night (TM). I do this again and again until I'm finished.
When were you published?
Non-fiction: I self-published newsletters for two Pagan groups. Later, I started political blogging for Bluegrass Roots, now defunct. Biggest thrill: live blogging from the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, CO.
Wow, I bet that was way interesting…
And, your fiction?
I started getting short stories published in the early 00′s. I write horror and mystery stories. Most are funny, but not all of them. My first novel, All This and Family, Too, has just been published by Pill Hill Press.
Congratulations and, please, tell us about your book.
All This and Family, Too is the story of a vampire who moves into a gated community and discovers that the true name of horror is "Neighborhood Association". She must face it with the help of her loving but equally unconventional family. It's a tale of extraordinary people in ordinary circumstances.
There are a lot of brooding vampires out there with both angst and income of unknown origin. My characters never brood for undefined reasons. Vampires were all human once, and mine have human problems… whether they want them or not.
I love it, "extraordinary people in ordinary circumstances" :-)
Sarah, thanks so much for taking the time to share a bit about your writing life and your book!!
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Folks, you can find out a lot more on Sarah's Web Site :-)
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Tagged: All This and Family Too, author interview, Book Island, fiction, horror, mystery, Sarah E. Glenn, Second Life
July 8, 2011
Breaking Boundaries ~ Microfiction
I just left the virtual world, Second Life. I'd been to a literary Happy Hour, hosted by Relish Resident and dedicated to microfiction.
Microfiction is so Niche that even Wikipedia doesn't have a separate entry for it–it's in with Flash Fiction…
I've written many times about my experiences in Second Life and tonight's event was superb.
I'm going to reproduce four of Relish's microfiction pieces below but first want to give you a reference to some considerations when approaching execution of this genre. As with all opinions about literature, and especially concerning something as new as this, take the article, The Essentials of Micro-Fiction, with a grain of salt…
Read by Relish Resident, at the Writer's Block Cafe on Book Island
Circumstances
The whole thing was blown out of proportion. A large woman had reached for the tic tacs and a slender man, with the waistline of a teenage girl, felt that she had interrupted his personal space.
Many words were exchanged, which led to pushing and shoving, and soon an all-out fist fight erupted. The slender man was tossed over the boxes of fruit loops (3 for 3.50) and the large woman took 4 gutshots and a knee to the face without so much as flinching. I was gambling, feeding crisp dollars into a poker machine, trying to receive an illegal payout, trying to pay my way through barber school, trying to make a difference in this world by cutting hair.
I was amazed to see the slender man suddenly working an effective jab and cashing in on the large woman's late-round fatigue. That is when it hit me. I'd never be a success.
Horror Part 1
Blood dripped from its eyes, its head tilted to the left, its chin and cheeks seemed to melt in layers, its skin was painted white, its lips black, it was toothless with a long hairy tongue. It walked from room to room and we all curled into little balls of fear. It yelled, "I am real; you can't comprehend me." Everything we ever believed died that night.
Work
They all ate chocolate deserts, average steak-ranch hoagies, pizza, and listened to a lengthy love poem that was read aloud. One person danced while a tall man sang, small electric fans were frequently being turned off and on. Their boss away, they all felt sleepy and useless. It was heaven.
Bird Watching
"What in the hell are we supposed to do now?"
The two men hung from the ledge suspended 36 stories in the air. Many curious spectators gathered below.
"We'll get a closer look at the nesting Falcons. We are going to die now you ass." Firetrucks sirened in the distance. The sun blushed.
"You know what's funny? I just wanted to spend time with you. I hate birds." They looked at each other and dangled their legs.
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One of the best parts of Relish's weekly microfiction event is that we get to discuss the works after they're read.
:-)
As the Micro Fiction mini site says: "Micro Fiction belongs to the innovators."
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Tagged: facebook fiction, fiction, Flash Fiction, micro fiction, microfiction, postcard fiction, Second Life, sudden fiction
July 7, 2011
"Big Words" & The Media
I've had a crush on Christiane Amanpour for years :-) She used to be on CNN but is with ABC now.
Well… She got into a media story about how she does media.
She used the word "perspicacious" during one of her shows and the network flashed its meaning up on the screen.
You can read a rather shabbily-written account of Ms. Amanpour's use of the word at Mediaite. But even better, there's a video of her actually saying the word :-)
Truth be told, I wish the network had left the pop-up definition off the screen. Christiane says the word with such savoir-faire that it deserves to be respected and looked-up by the curious as well as ignored or guessed at by the less literarily-inclined…
So, I can only assume you've gone over and watched that short video clip and I must ask:
Was it a great use of a perfectly good word?
Should she have used a more commonly-understood word?
Should the network have not shown the definition?
And, wasn't it great that the other woman didn't even miss a beat after hearing perspicacious?
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Tagged: ABC, Amanpour, Christiane Amanpour, CNN, media, Mediaite, perspicacious, This Week
July 6, 2011
An Obscene Howl ??
I watched the movie Howl today (by filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffery Friedman). It's about Allen Ginsberg, played by James Franco, and covers some extremely interesting points about the obscenity trial in 1957 (Ginsburg himself was not on trial; his publisher, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, had the honor of attending).
You can read the poem Howl and ask yourself if this legal definition of obscenity applies: "…an act, utterance, or item tending to corrupt the public morals by its indecency or lewdness."
You can also checkout some biographical references and allusions in Howl…
As one very decent review of the movie points out that the screenplay uses, "…the poetry of Howl and the prose of interviews and court trials surrounding it…", I'm compelled to comment on how well the movie shows the relativity of a critic's judgement.
Since we're talking history and not fiction here, I can reveal that the poem was judged to be Not Obscene. But, even knowing that, there's enough creativity in this film to make it a "must watch" :-)
Naturally, a high-profile court case could make any poem famous, whether it was of redeeming social value or not.
I do hope some of you have read Howl, or will read it, and give your opinions about its worthiness or lack thereof…
I mentioned earlier about how well the movie shows the relativity of a critic's judgement and, for me, that was the most captivating part of the movie, not the "obscene" parts.
If you'd like to read the trial transcripts of the literary witnesses try, Howl on Trial: The Battle for Free Expression.
And, if you'd rather hear than read the poem, use this link of Allen Ginsberg, himself, reading Howl…
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Tagged: Allen Ginsberg, Film, Howl, James Franco, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, obscenity, poetry, Rob Epstein
July 5, 2011
When Are We Best At Learning Language?
The following sentence may seem poorly written or hard to understand but I crafted it as exactly as I could to convey a particular meaning…
The video below is about how and when we learn the language(s) we use to communicate with the people in the environment the part of the world we inhabit has during our time on the earth.
If you want some background on Real Words–the ones which precede those we think and speak with–check out our series of posts called: What Are Words? That series also explores how we use our minds to get words on the screen or page and how we translate the symbols on the screen/page into meanings in our minds.
Naturally, people are creating new words and new uses for old words; but, what about learning a language?
When are we best at it?
One year old?
Earlier?
Later?
Take a fascinating journey into the brain with Patricia Kuhl and learn about our linguistic genius:
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Tagged: language, languages, learning, Linguistics, Patricia K. Kuhl, Patricia Kuhl, word, words
July 4, 2011
Author Interview ~ L. E. Crane (aka Eve Macbeth)
We have quite a few author interviews on this blog but today's is the first of a new kind called Author Mini-Interviews.
In the post, When A Manuscript Turns Into A Book ~ Very Strange . . . (plus, a number of other posts), I talk about my exploits in the virtual world, Second Life.
The place I work for, Book Island, has many published authors who rent shops to promote their work.
I was talking to Eve Macbeth the other day and it hit me that the weekly newsletter for the Island could use a new Feature–Author Mini-Interviews :-)
Many of the denizens of Second Life have already read this virtual interview in the virtual newsletter in the virtual world…
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So, Eve, when did you start writing?
I started writing when I was about eight years old but did not finish my first story until I was ten. It was science fiction.
What was the story about?
It was a graphic novel about two very large robots who bring their intergalactic war onto earth. One robot was a giant man and the other was a giant lion. A year later my best friend's older sister stole my book and I have not seen it since.
What an absolute Bummer :-( ……. Well, let's move on, o.k? Would you describe your "writing habits"?
I have developed a writing style that works great for me. I write like crazy for nine months straight then take three months off–repeating till finished. Taking those long breaks are great for seeing my work with fresh eyes. My novel took two years to write and another year to self-edit. I put my entire life on hold for those three years and, when I was not writing, I was thinking about writing.
When were you published?
I was published Dec 3rd 2009. It was one of the most exciting days of my life. I had spent much of my free time daydreaming about being published–and, that wonderful day, my dream finely came true.
:-) Tell us about the book.
The Story of Death Kard is action science fiction set in our galaxy's future. It's an exciting story told on thirteen different worlds and spans five hundred years. While the story follows a truly evil villain, you never get the sense he's the bad guy. He's a very effective general on the wrong side of history. The Galactic Rule–the evil empire he fights for–was founded upon death and hate. He, however, never buys into the hate but becomes death himself with the blood of billions upon his hands.
There are many great characters that battle by his side through the centuries–few of which are human.
Thanks so much, Eve, for giving us this brief peek into your life and your book!!
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So, folks, you can get Eve's book at Outskirts Press and you can visit her shop on Book Island in Second Life, too :-)
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Tagged: author interview, Eve Macbeth, fiction, L. E. Crane, Outskits Press, science fiction, Second Life, virtual world
July 2, 2011
Dictionary Evangelist
Ever used a dictionary?
Since most readers of this blog more than likely have some interest in reading, writing, or publishing, odds are you have looked into a dictionary :-)
So what are the people who make dictionaries called? Lexicographers << Whew! Quite a word…
I'm going to share a video of a talk by lexicographer, Erin McKean. She's a serious student of words and still manages to deliver a talk that's humorous while being highly informative.
She feels that most dictionaries, paper or Web, act like traffic cops–deciding which words are acting "legal" enough to be in a dictionary.
She created an online dictionary, Wordnik, that you can actually add words to!!
She also writes for the Boston Globe.
This video is so much fun I think it might be illegal :-)
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Tagged: Boston Globe, Dictionaries, Dictionary, Erin McKean, lexicographer, word, Wordnik, words
