Poppy Z. Brite's Blog, page 42
June 6, 2012
Mr. Bolay
Napping over at Grey's just now, I dreamed of a monster named Mr. Bolay. He had very long, thin arms, and above all else he loved ham and cars. You were usually OK with just one or the other, but if you tried to eat a ham sandwich in a car, even a fast-moving one, Mr. Bolay would run alongside and snake his arm in through the tiniest window crack and steal your sandwich, and he just might steal you too.
This entire dream was drawn in the style of Lynda Barry.
This entire dream was drawn in the style of Lynda Barry.
Living by a code of silence when you've really got a lot to say ...
All kinds of troublesome trouble. Hope and fail, hope and fail, keep punching that wall, maybe one day a brick will fall out. Life is such a goddamn soap opera sometimes.
June 5, 2012
Angst In The Digital Age
Question 1: If you accidentally glance over at your friend's private chat and see the sentence "I'm sure [your pronoun] will whine loudly about it," do you immediately worry that they're discussing you?
Question 2: If you're trans, do you then think, "Well, even if they are, at least they used the right pronoun. ;-P "
(Yes, I do think with winky smilies now. It's sad how the mind deteriorates.)
Question 2: If you're trans, do you then think, "Well, even if they are, at least they used the right pronoun. ;-P "
(Yes, I do think with winky smilies now. It's sad how the mind deteriorates.)
June 4, 2012
More eBay
Three new eBay auctions posted: a tenth-anniversary deluxe edition of Lost Souls, a blank journal I think came out especially pretty, and, in a twist on the book covers I've been making, a traycased copy of The Value of X with my own artwork. There's still a little time left to bid on the book auctions, too, and some good deals there.
eBay
eBay auctions (books) ending this evening. I should be putting up some more arty stuff today or tomorrow.
June 2, 2012
Making Stuff
Scribbled on a purple Post-it above my desk: "Art is weird. Sometimes it's ugly. Sometimes you just have to sit and look at it for a while before you can continue."
I'm more excited about working on the faustfatale (apparently I need a dom to treat me like a trained monkey when it comes to collaboration, since otherwise I tend to act like an untrained monkey). It also feels good to shut myself up in my office, where even the cats don't go, and work alone; that's always been my favorite thing.
I hope to post some photos of the collages soon. The ones I've tried to take with my little Nikon Coolpix look crappy, but I might know a photographer.
Many more lovely birthday presents came in from my wish list! It turns out that five pounds is a LOT of gummi bears! Virtual thank-you notes (since Amazon no longer gives addresses to send real ones) to Jaime Weida, Karen Marie Hancock, Cynthia Ann Coons, Colleen M. Frankhart, and the kind soul whose name I didn't get who sent the Calvin Klein Eternity for Men cologne. My boyfriend likes it.
One of the gifts I got was Lynda Barry's wonderful book What It Is , which is all about how writing and making art can become work rather than the purely fun activities they used to be when we were kids, and how to (maybe) get back to that place of having fun. There's a lot of gorgeous collage work in it that has influenced the stuff I'm doing. It's one of those undeniable cases of a book magically turning up at just the right time in your life.
I'm more excited about working on the faustfatale (apparently I need a dom to treat me like a trained monkey when it comes to collaboration, since otherwise I tend to act like an untrained monkey). It also feels good to shut myself up in my office, where even the cats don't go, and work alone; that's always been my favorite thing.
I hope to post some photos of the collages soon. The ones I've tried to take with my little Nikon Coolpix look crappy, but I might know a photographer.
Many more lovely birthday presents came in from my wish list! It turns out that five pounds is a LOT of gummi bears! Virtual thank-you notes (since Amazon no longer gives addresses to send real ones) to Jaime Weida, Karen Marie Hancock, Cynthia Ann Coons, Colleen M. Frankhart, and the kind soul whose name I didn't get who sent the Calvin Klein Eternity for Men cologne. My boyfriend likes it.
One of the gifts I got was Lynda Barry's wonderful book What It Is , which is all about how writing and making art can become work rather than the purely fun activities they used to be when we were kids, and how to (maybe) get back to that place of having fun. There's a lot of gorgeous collage work in it that has influenced the stuff I'm doing. It's one of those undeniable cases of a book magically turning up at just the right time in your life.
May 31, 2012
We Are Not Nameless Faces
OK. This is hard, but I do it for love.
Grey has started a I've tried my best to avoid the obvious, but I no longer can: I really ought to write one of these pieces. I hereby pledge that if he reaches his goal, I will try my utmost to do so. I haven't written any fiction in six years and I don't know if it will be any good, but I'll try.
Grey has started a I've tried my best to avoid the obvious, but I no longer can: I really ought to write one of these pieces. I hereby pledge that if he reaches his goal, I will try my utmost to do so. I haven't written any fiction in six years and I don't know if it will be any good, but I'll try.
May 30, 2012
Glitter & Glue
Stayed up all night making collages. Gotta get with Grey and figure out how to photograph these things so people can see them. Crafty eBay auctions ending this evening: the homoerotic botanic treasure box, the copy of Exquisite Corpse with my handmade cover, and two blank books. This turns out to be the Make the Mortgage Payment Sale, so please bid if you can!
May 28, 2012
Have You Had THE SURGERY Yet???
This video has been cheering me up at difficult moments. I linked to it in comments the other day, but want to embed it for interested parties who didn't see it there.
Just listed several new eBay auctions: the chapbooks Would You?, Used Stories, Stay Awake, Crown of Thorns, and The Feast of St. Rosalie (a hardcover); also a hardcover copy of Antediluvian Tales. My blank journals and other handmade objects are also still available until Wednesday evening.
Also, Grey has listed a one-of-a-kind photograph for sale, and a very beautiful one, too. Angel that he is, he has earmarked his profit from the sale of this piece as my testosterone fund.
Just listed several new eBay auctions: the chapbooks Would You?, Used Stories, Stay Awake, Crown of Thorns, and The Feast of St. Rosalie (a hardcover); also a hardcover copy of Antediluvian Tales. My blank journals and other handmade objects are also still available until Wednesday evening.
Also, Grey has listed a one-of-a-kind photograph for sale, and a very beautiful one, too. Angel that he is, he has earmarked his profit from the sale of this piece as my testosterone fund.
May 27, 2012
I Am Poppy Z. Brite's Ex-Boyfriend
For my birthday, I got ... misgendered. Constantly. Everywhere I went. And it was almost all in queer spaces, and it was all done unintentionally and as kindly as could be, by well-meaning folks, so I couldn't even work up a righteous head of indignation; I just got depressed.
I am not making progress. Part of it is that I haven't been able to afford my full doses of testosterone -- the treatment runs a little over $300 a month, which I pay completely out of pocket -- and so I've been stretching it out to half-doses, figuring some T going into my system was better than none. (Medically speaking, this isn't wholly unsound, as many trans guys start off on low doses.)
Thanks to Grey, I had a wonderful birthday weekend anyway. When we're alone together, the rest of the world recedes to the point where even gender seems relatively unimportant. And he can always boost my confidence, and he's so romantic, and he even seems to think I'm interesting. I know, the man must be deranged, but I sure do love him.
Re: misgendering, there was a good moment of comic relief at the drag show we attended last night. Local drag diva Bootsy DeVille was talking to us at the bar at Michael's on the Park before her show, and she turned to me and said, "I have a question for you. Now it's hard for me to phrase this right ... " Grey and I were both bracing for The Question, which I wouldn't have really minded answering for Bootsy, but instead she said rather hesitantly, "Did you use to be the boyfriend of a famous writer? Because we were googling Billy Martin, and there seemed to be some connection ... "
After collapsing with laughter, we explained as best we could, and only later did I realize I should have said, "Why yes, I used to date Stephen King, but I dumped him for Grey!"
I am not making progress. Part of it is that I haven't been able to afford my full doses of testosterone -- the treatment runs a little over $300 a month, which I pay completely out of pocket -- and so I've been stretching it out to half-doses, figuring some T going into my system was better than none. (Medically speaking, this isn't wholly unsound, as many trans guys start off on low doses.)
Thanks to Grey, I had a wonderful birthday weekend anyway. When we're alone together, the rest of the world recedes to the point where even gender seems relatively unimportant. And he can always boost my confidence, and he's so romantic, and he even seems to think I'm interesting. I know, the man must be deranged, but I sure do love him.
Re: misgendering, there was a good moment of comic relief at the drag show we attended last night. Local drag diva Bootsy DeVille was talking to us at the bar at Michael's on the Park before her show, and she turned to me and said, "I have a question for you. Now it's hard for me to phrase this right ... " Grey and I were both bracing for The Question, which I wouldn't have really minded answering for Bootsy, but instead she said rather hesitantly, "Did you use to be the boyfriend of a famous writer? Because we were googling Billy Martin, and there seemed to be some connection ... "
After collapsing with laughter, we explained as best we could, and only later did I realize I should have said, "Why yes, I used to date Stephen King, but I dumped him for Grey!"
