Jeff Suwak's Blog, page 2
June 7, 2014
Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar: Terrific Salute to H.P. Lovecraft, Written by a Modern Master of the Craft
This story is a terrific homage to the great H.P. Lovecraft. One may be tempted to call it a mockery of Lovecraft, but while the book is definitely funny, it includes too many insider-allusions to Lovecraft’s work for it to be anything less than the light-hearted take of a fan.
The illustrations definitely add to the story. They are just the right mix of weird, creepy, and cartoonish. Basically, they are exact graphic representations of the story’s tone. This book is absolutely worth the time and money.
P.S. I own a copy signed by Gaiman. That is irrelevant to my review, but just mentioning it here because I think it’s awesome.
May 23, 2014
Blessed be Moondog, Tom Waits, and all of the Beautiful Weirdoes
My latest article is up on the Prague Revue.
If you’re a weirdo, you might appreciate it. If you’re not a weirdo, you will soon want to be one.
April 14, 2014
Blog Hop with Alexis A. Hunter, Will Wight, and Ripley Nox
A couple of weeks ago, the eminent Alexis A. Hunter asked me to participate in a blog hop. I pointed out that it may be unwise for her to associate herself with a literary dreg such was myself, but she would not relent. So it is that I find myself in this hop, amid company far more auspicious than myself.
First, a bit about the talented, brilliant, beautiful Alexis A. Hunter, who kicked this off:
Alexis revels in the endless possibilities of speculative fiction. Short stories are her true passion, despite a few curious forays into the world of novels. Over forty of her short stories have been published, appearing recently in Kasma SF, Spark: A Creative Anthology, Read Short Fiction, and more. I’m fortunate enough to be Alexis’ friend, which means I get to read all her works in progress, and I can say without a shadow of the doubt that she’s just getting warmed up. She’s always something new cooking, and just keeps on improving with every new project. To learn more about Alexis, visit www.idreamagain.wordpress.com. She tweets at https://twitter.com/AlexisAHunter, and Facebooks at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alexis-A-Hunter/112141638892725.
Now, onto the blog hop questions!
1) What am I working on?
I always have several irons in the fire. That’s probably not a real efficient way to do things, but I love the management of projects, it keeps the creative energy alive.
My top priority at the moment is a fantasy series based on Native American mythology (no title as of yet). Other than that, I am always refining and adding to Rusted, Busted, Beautiful Things, a collection I don’t anticipate finishing up any time soon. It is intended to be my magnum opus, the truest work of my heart, and something I’ll be tinkering with for years of time, if I’m so lucky to have that much more time allotted to me.
2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I don’t know how to answer this question, really. There are so many books out there that I don’t think that any one can really be said to be totally unique. However, a few things do tend to find their way into everything I write. Thematically, my stories always tend to gravitate towards existential subjects, probably because I am hopelessly obsessed with questions of meaning. The characters that impose themselves into my stories tend to be outcasts in some way…either intellectually, morally, or socially. I also enjoy the creative use of language. For me, prose ought to be restrained poetry, not quite as wildly stylized as true poetry, but still energetic, excited, and surprising. For me, no subject or character can carry a story if the language is dull and unimaginative.
3) Why do I write what I do?
Here I threaten to cross into the area of cliche, which I don’t want to do. But, the fact is, I write because I don’t know how to not write. I tried to stop writing for years and they were the saddest times of my life. I’ve got this creative engine that needs an outlet. If I don’t engage my mind in the act of building stories, than I easily and quickly become lost to existential doldrums. Chasing the question of ‘what is the meaning of life’ is sure to crush the heartiest of spirits. I’d much rather employ that part of myself in the act of storytelling.
4) How does my writing process work?
I write first drafts really, really fast. Sometimes I’ve written over 10,000 words in a day. But, not one of those words is likely to remain when the story is complete. For me, the first part is just letting it rip, getting the rough shape of the story down on paper. After that, I think of writing/editing/revising as sculpting, shaping the final form from the larger structure produced by the initial dream production. The initial stage is entirely out of my hands. I’m just acting as a scribe to the creative impulse.
After the first part is out, that’s when I start analyzing and shaping things into a coherent shape. I often outline and take notes, but only after I get that first mountain of text down on paper. I find that thinking during that process is a sure to kill it. Thinking comes later. First there is only the subconscious will to create. But, for me, the part that’s most fun is the revising and shaping, putting in the hours and effort to shape the story into something resembling the dream that inspired it.
Okay, so now that I’ve answered those questions, on to the next phase. Part of this ‘hop’ includes getting other writers to follow. Will Wight and Ripley Nox were kind enough to answer the call, something for which I am truly grateful. They are both talented people who also happen to be genuinely nice, a combination that I find is often difficult to find in the world.
Will Wight is the author of the Traveler’s Gate Trilogy, and he’s…oh, no. He’s behind you. No, don’t turn around. Remain very still; I’ve heard that he’ll lose interest and run off when he gets hungry.
Blog/Site: www.willwight.com
Twitter: @WilliamWight
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/willwightauthor?ref=hl
Ripley Nox, speculative fiction author and generally kickass person, is the pseudonym of my web developer, Emily Breder, who avidly studies and writes about technology, psychology, culture, and science. You will rarely meet a more impassioned, erudite, completionist nerd.
Blog/Site: http://ripleynox.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ripleynox
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/ripleynox/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ripleynox
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+Ripleynox/
No Punchline; Or, The Night Chale Thayer Blew his Head off at the Punchdrunk Comedy Club
No Punchline is closer to my heart than anything I’ve published thus far. For that reason, I elected to make it the first publication of the Ambitious Hobo Press, which will someday come to dominate the rail yards, boxcars, and flophouses of the publishing world.
No Punchline is about a man wrestling with the apparent meaninglessness of the universe. He’s blessed in many ways. Certainly more blessed than millions of other people in the world. But those blessings only make him acutely aware of the fact that he doesn’t seem deserving of them any more than those millions of other people are deserving of their suffering. He can’t turn away from it all, and this story is the story of the night he decides to confront the universe once and for all.
The story’s dialogue has more than a little profanity.
April 12, 2014
The Assassin’s Sacrifice published with Plasma Frequency Magazine
Happy to share that my story “The Assassin’s Sacrifice” was published with the most eminent folks at Plasma Frequency Magazine.
http://www.plasmafrequencymagazine.co...
April 2, 2014
My first story published in Ireland
My short story “A Vagabond’s Education” was published by John Campbell at Roadside Fiction. Roadside publishes the kind of stuff I don’t see put out there too often in this sedentary, stationary world.
I was bitten by wanderlust when I was just a kid and to this day hold an abiding love for the road and for ‘real’ travel, by which I mean travel without a safety net. Adventure. It’s a funny thing…book your hotel and take train, it’s a trip. Throw on a backpack and wander out with your thumb up in the air with nothing but a few hazy plans and it becomes an adventure.
Anyway, this story is a bit more gritty and hard edged than what I’ve had out there lately, but I hope it illuminates that certain, special type of American archetypal author that may no longer be in the limelight, but is most assuredly still out there, somewhere, tramping and slinging out stories.
March 19, 2014
My latest Prague Revue article, “Not by Bread, Sex, and Schwag Alone is a Person Made Whole: The Longshoreman Philosopher Speaks
My latest article with the Prague Revue is now live.
February 19, 2014
Three Good Things Published
Well, I’m super hesitant to broadcast this because I feel like I really exposed myself in this article, but my latest writing for The Prague Revue is up.
Sort of feels like I’m about to broadcast a nude selfie. Oh, well, as Hunter S. Thompson would say…but the ticket, take the ride.
January 31, 2014
January 2, 2014
Letter to an Asshole: My first article for the Prague Revue is up
My first article for the Prague Revue was posted a couple of days ago. It’s gotten a positive reaction, and I am excited to work more with PR heading into the future!
“An asshole once told me that Shakespeare wrote predominantly about royals and the like because common people lacked the insight and intellectual subtlety needed to illuminate the human condition. His assessment was not restrained solely to the unwashed masses of Elizabethan England, but was instead used to bolster his point that the works of people like Charles Bukowski were flawed by nature and devoid of any literary or social merit.”
Read the rest at…
