Poppy Z. Brite's Blog, page 37

Where's Abraham When You Need Him?

I was going to put up new eBay auctions today, but I guess I'd better wait until after the storm has passed to make sure the post offices will be open. Here in New Orleans we're not too worried about the storm itself (despite national media masturbation about "another K*tr*n* on The! Very! Anniversary!"), but we could conceivably be without power for several days afterward. As for the auctions that ended yesterday, I'll get those items mailed out as soon as the situation allows. It's a different matter for Grand Isle and other communities outside the levee system, and my thoughts are with them.

Chris' method of hurricane preparation was always to hoard a bunch of junk food and eat it all as soon as the wind started blowing. (In other storm-preparedness news, local Rouse's supermarkets report record alcohol sales today.) Grey's is to tie down everything within a half-mile radius and talk to me about preparations until I am forced to leave the house. It's quite a contrast.

I think I am tired of LJ moods.

Me & Grey on the Hell Bus

Photo by Tucker Mendoza

eBay (Books)

eBay auctions ending in a couple of hours. Still some good bargains there.

Party Bus

I didn't have the time or cash to have a TRANS GUY shirt made up before going out last night, so I wore a shirt from the Memphis Civil Rights Museum that says I AM A MAN ... and still got referred to as "she" and "her" throughout the evening. However, when you're stuck on a Southern Decadence party bus to Baton Rouge with a gaggle of ragingly drunk drama queens who hate each other and a driver who clearly wants to put you all out on the side of the I-10, the irritation of getting misgendered actually kind of fades into the background. Thank God there was weed and Krispy Kremes.

I find that I really like painting under-seascapes.

Lesbian Mermaids

I've been letting myself get all antisocial again because, as I ranted to Grey earlier, "why go out because it's just going to be a bunch of people misgendering me all over the place even if I wear the horrible uncomfortable binder and I don't even know what fucking restroom to use anymore." This is especially not-good because Southern Decadence is coming up next weekend and he is its official photographer. Come to think of it, in that particular environment, I could probably save myself a lot of headaches by just getting a "TRANS GUY" T-shirt made. Or I could be a "TRANS DUDE" for the cost of just one more letter!

All I really feel like doing is staying home and painting lesbian mermaids. I totally blame greygirlbeast .

Peepshow

"Peepshow," 11" x 14", $100 OBO

I don't even know where this one came from, but I feel certain it is at least partly marquisdd 's fault.

Invunche and Trelquehuecuve

"Invunche and Trelquehuecuve," 11" x 14", $100 OBO. These creatures are Chilean demons -- manmade, in the Invunche's case -- who guard the caves of sorcerers. You can read more about them here and (en Español) here.

Icon of St. Lucy

Icon of St. Lucy, 9" x 12", $100 OBO

St. Lucy is the patron saint of eyesight, and also an important figure on St. Joseph altars, where her disembodied eyes are represented by dried chickpeas. Grey's late mother, an artist, writer, and all-around fascinating character, was also named Lucy. I've been reading her journals, and I painted this with some of her old brushes and paints. (I made the little three-dimensional plate and eyeballs myself, too.)

Book Doctoring

I still have a couple of openings for full-length fiction manuscripts (15,000 words or over) that need editing. Rate is $4 per page. Please see my book doctoring page for details.

eBay & Random (?) Creepiness

New auctions just up on eBay:

- Plastic Jesus signed trade hardcover
- Guilty But Insane signed numbered hardcover (#316)
- Wrong Things hardcover by me and Caitlín R. Kiernan (signed by both of us)
- 5-CD audiobook of Clapton: The Autobiography by Eric Clapton, read by Bill Nighy
- 7-CD unabridged audiobook of Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, read by Neil Gaiman

The Slenderman painting is still available too. And speaking of spooky shit, here's a comment I posted on a ontdcreepy Personal Experiences post last week. Stuff like this never happens to me, and if it does, I don't much like to talk about it for worry of seeming a Special Snowflake who wants to experience Special Things. I don't know about the snowflake part, but I could happily go the rest of my life without another night like this. (There was one more after the experience related below, but no more since then.) However, since I feel like I haven't been posting much interesting reading here lately, I give you this unembellished:

I'm very interested in supernatural things but not at all sensitive to them. My mom sees ghosts sometimes, but I don't (and would be scared shitless if I did). However, a couple of times over the years I've woken up with the impression that something had been bending over my bed. I never exactly saw it, but even though I got the idea it was desiccated and corpse-like, I (oddly for me) didn't feel scared or threatened by it.

Last night, though, was BAD. I couldn't get to sleep until after the sun came up because every time I'd start to drift off, it felt like something tall in a hood or cowl kept leaning over my side of the bed. It wasn't exactly scary, but it was so disconcerting that I almost went around to the other side of the bed and slept on the floor, but I didn't want to leave my boyfriend ... exposed? He said he sensed it too, but only after I told him about it, so that could be the power of suggestion.

It wasn't sleep paralysis -- rather the opposite, as I kept tossing and turning and flailing about. I don't know. Creepy but interesting.