Laird Barron's Blog, page 41

Pinkerton Blues

Ellen Datlow is reprinting my Pinkerton agent story “Bulldozer” in an anthology called Lovecraft’s Monsters. John Coulthart illustrates each story. Check out the gallery here.

This is what he did for “Bulldozer” :

illo by John Coulthart

On Writing: Janet Reid

My agent, Janet Reid, has a series of posts at her journal that cover technical and business aspects of writing such as synopses, queries, and pitches. If you are a new author, Janet’s site is an invaluable resource. Her latest post covers what to pitch at a writing conference.

Have at it.

Watch This: Horror, Madness & Crime on the Radio

I’m sort of out of the loop when it comes to pop music videos as I haven’t watched cable or network television in several years. These days I Netflix it, or Jessica brings home DVDs and we marathon whole seasons of whatever we’ve missed.

But, man, what the kids are watching these days:

 

 

 

Art of the Outer Dark

Jordan Dyke recently flashed this on my Facebook page:

 

The Wolverine getting ready to throw down with Blackwood’s Baby. Who will prevail? My money is on Wolvie coming out of it with some scrapes and a satchel of smoked venison.

The 9th Blog says

Larry Vossler talks about The Imago Sequence, The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All and Tony Millionaire’s Maakies over at The 9th Blog.

courtesy wikipedia

Thankful

A word of thanks to a few people:

Jessica for enduring all the time we spend apart while I work on the novel

John, Fiona, and David Langan for many things

My agents Janet Reid, Heather Evans and Pouya Shabazian

Athena, my trusty second, who has saved me several times over

My brother Jason, his wife Harmony, and my wonderful nephews and nieces

Jody Rose, who knows the trouble I see

Paul Tremblay, even though he doesn’t appreciate the finer things, such as pickles

And thanks to my readers and fans.  Have a safe day everyone.

On Writing: Gird

Put on your armor. Gird yourself. Whet your blade. Don’t bother counting your teeth. Make no mistake–you’re writing, you’re in a fight.

“Let the writer take up surgery or bricklaying if he is interested in technique. There is no mechanical way to get the writing done, no shortcut. The young writer would be a fool to follow a theory. Teach yourself by your own mistakes; people learn only by error. The good artist believes that nobody is good enough to give him advice. He has supreme vanity. No matter how much he admires the old writer, he wants to beat him.” ― William Faulkner

courtesy wikipedia

Watch This: Only God Forgives

Only God Forgives is a psychosexual meditation upon self-annihilation and the mother who eats her young. Refn is moving across the same territory as Miike and McCarthy. Gosling is Refn’s young Max von Sydow with a Bangkok backdrop instead of a Swedish icefield. For those reviewers who became bored and agitated during the scenes of quiet, I humbly submit that Fincher MTV jump cut visuals have altered your brain chemistry in disadvantageous ways.

It is no surprise that this film has polarized audiences and critics. This is pure, unadulterated noir and that’s akin to drinking paint thinner, neat. We North Americans have simply forgotten the taste, though Ellroy tries and tries to remind us. Hollywood has simply handed us so much implausible redemption, our brains have turned to mush. We want our thrills and our frisson and then we want everything to be good again. Clean.

You probably aren’t going to like this, but watch it anyway. It will give you a new dark marvel to contemplate, or something to carp about, at least.

Listen to This: Carina Round

Hard to fathom why I haven’t been hip to Carina Round before now. Listened to three of her albums the past several days. Her game has shifted over the years, but it’s consistently excellent.

 

Call for Submissions

I am reading for the inaugural Year’s Best Weird Fiction. This call is for publishers only. Please refer to these guidelines.