Kip Manley's Blog, page 27

No. 37: and thirsty wilds (Act IV)

the Shoe in Her hand – Kaffeeklatsch – Far be it – delicate Matters

No. 37: and thirsty wilds (Act III)

“Oh, it’s you” – there’d be a Lawn – the Coordination of Intimacy – Bright Lines

No. 37: and thirsty wilds (Act II)

Jumble & Clink – a Lug’s business – a Bootlegger’s reverse – the Gall they have

No. 37: and thirsty wilds (Act I)

Trinkets & Fallalery – the Work resumed – Looping the Pin – where It’s going

No. 37: and thirsty wilds (Opening)

“It all depends” – the import of Breakfast

Things to keep in mind (The secret of modernity)

Modernity becomes a nonteleological category when used to describe multiple, overlapping lifeworlds, sexual norms, and self-understandings produced by an unevenly developing world system. Those lifeworlds and sexual norms that characterized an increasingly residual world of feudal peasantry, small proprietors, urban artisans, and noble classes combined and came into conflict with the emergent norms and lifeworlds of cities, proletarian populations, and ascendant national bourgeoisies. Thematizing this unevenness and conflict establishes the disjunctive temporality and shifting borders of change without representing the historical process as some unilinear succession or archæology settled into impassable, sedimented layers.

—Christopher Chitty

No. 37: “ – and ‘thirsty wilds’ – ”

This waste of material is bewailed. Christian maybe sees a ghost, and Ysabel’s unsettled. 36 pages with color cover. $3.00 plus shipping and handling.

“It all depends” – the import of Breakfast – Trinkets & Fallalery – the Work resumed – Looping the Pin – where It’s going – Jumble & Clink – a Lug’s business – a Bootlegger’s reverse – the Gall they have – “Oh, it’s you” – there’d be a Lawn – the Coordination of Intimacy – Bright Lines – the Shoe in Her hand – Kaffeeklatsch – Far be it – delicate Matters – “Force & Victory!” – You will be Warned

Things to keep in mind (The secret of a good breakfast)

It must surely be more stimulating to the reader’s senses if, instead of writing “He made a hurried meal off the Plat du Jour—excellent cottage pie and vegetables, followed by home-made trifle” (I think this is a fair English menu without burlesque), you write “Being instinctively mistrustful of all Plats du Jour, he ordered four fried eggs cooked on both sides, hot buttered toast and a large cup of black coffee.” No difference in price here, but the following points should be noted: firstly, we all prefer breakfast foods to the sort of food one usually gets at luncheon and dinner; secondly, this is an independent character who knows what he wants and gets it; thirdly, four fried eggs has the sound of a real man’s meal and, in our imagination, a large cup of black coffee sits well on our taste buds after the rich, buttery sound of the fried eggs and the hot buttered toast.

—Ian Fleming

Aughtfold

So about two weeks ago I was about to start in on the last scene, and here I am, two weeks later, just about to finish it. —This is not so much a bad thing; in those two weeks I essentially rewrote the entire first draft, soup to nuts, and it’s tighter, each scene with its purpose at least in mind if not revealed, much closer to what I usually consider to be my level and standard of first draft: tight, clean, purposeful.

But it’s not so much a good thing, either: I’m falling behind what passes for a schedule around here, a passing fancy I’d been managing to keep to for the first time in a while.

I’m still ambivalent, aren’t I. —Among the 22 novelettes that (will come to) make up Spring; Summer, this one, no. 37, lines up with the Temperance card: the angel, sat upon the bank of a river or a crick, engrossed in pouring water or liquor from the one cup to the other, waiting, perhaps, for the corpse of an enemy to float on by, I don’t know. Balance. Moderation. Patience—but also neither fish nor fowl. An April 25th type of deal, which isn’t nearly as amusing on a May 14th without much rain.

The lesson to’ve been learned from writing this thirty-seventh novelette would seem to’ve been that it’s one thing to know what needs to be said, and to whittle and shape and reframe until you figure out how it’s going to be said; it’s another entirely to have a flavor in mind, a taste in the head, a how that some as-yet unknown thing ought to be said, and to flail about in the finding of what it is that ought to be said in this way. (At least, you flail enough, there’s something there to be whittled and shaped and etc. —Appearances, and there being enough thereof.) —I believe, rather late in the day, I’ve finally settled on the order of the scenes; now, I just need to do that final editing pass, and then get the copies finaled and polished for the patreons, and then, and then—

But! I (still) don’t mean to alarm anymore than I do to exult. It’s doable, yet, or it yet looks doable from here: to have no. 37 done and dusted before Memorial Day. You’ll be kept posted. —In the meanwhile, here’s the photo that’s going on the cover. Enjoy!

Things to keep in mind (The secret of the Photographer)

Ruslan Lobanov is one of the most popular artists in the post–Soviet Union space. He isn’t a classical author of art photography. It’s something more than that. Нe defines his genre as a cinematic photography. Uniqueness of Ruslan’s photos based on analog technologies that he used for their realization. Mystery and elaborate elements of female nakedness, which blend harmoniously with collectible accessories, handmade costumes and attentively selected locations, are embodiment of the Photographer’s perception of the World. Ruslan Lobanov compares photo with a puzzle. The main satisfaction for creator is a final result, which is admirable by fans.

—Alexandra Serafimovych