An Update (A Long Time Comin’)

These past few months have resulted in a plethora of changes in the Evan Thomas Dixon writing camp. All of them good, I assure you. It would take too much time to write down everything that has changed, but I’ll attempt to condense the most momentous news into a few digestible bullet points [since we know that no one - and I do mean NO ONE - has time to read anything of length these days].

1) I have made the decision to seek traditional publication for Descent Into Madness. I have made the self-published unavailable for the time being - if you happen’d to purchase a copy, hold onto it. It might never exist again. I’ll keep you [whoever you are] apprised of the process of continuous rejection from agents until, Lord willing, one day — I find someone insane enough to publish this insane little novel of mine.

2) The Sparrow in the Wind Cage is no more. Why? Because Wes Anderson can’t direct Christopher Nolan movies. Because it would be strange if Radiohead started playing reggae. In other words, I am wired to write certain kinds of stories, and long epic fantasies are not among those kinds. Do I admire them? Sure. Would I love to be J.R.R. Tolkien when I grow up? Yes. But that ain’t me. So, if I am to work with what I do best, I should stick to what I know. Instead of forcing certain visions into my head, I should chase after the ones that are already there.

3) That brings me to what I am currently working on. The way I see it, I am equipped to write three specific types of fiction: 1) Allegorical, mainly interlaced with Christian theology [but not didactic or sentimental like that garbage called The Shack]; 2) fantasy, but not just any ole fantasy - satirical, absurd, whimsical fantasy particularly. In other words, imagine if the Coen Brothers decided to start indulging in magical realism; 3) Southern Gothic, which is a mixture of allegory and satire and sometimes the fantastic colliding with the grittiness of reality.

To that end, I recently wrote an allegory called Tongues of Fire and decided to combine it with those I have already written, namely, Regine and Siloam. I have combined all three of these in a volume I’ve decided to call Parables. I plan to self-publish this little volume come the summer and make it available on the website and, hopefully, in person - if I can afford to do a short run of them myself. These are, mind you, very different than Descent - they are gritty, dark, melancholic little pieces, experimental in some ways, all of them exploring some notable facet of my life.

With those finished, I am planning to write another fantasy: The Cosmic Fable of Christopher Forsyth, or The Accidental Bishop of the Sun. I am very excited about it and have already put away some work on it. I hope to have it finished by the summer so that I can spend the fall editing it.

After that? Who knows. I’ll keep trying to get Descent published, as well as The Cosmic Fable; but I’ll prolly try my hand at some Southern Gothic work after that, maybe some short stories, maybe a novella. I’ll see which way the wind blows. I’m trying to let go of my schedule and all my preconceived notions and instead write what naturally forms in my mind [albeit with a healthy dose of rigor and intellectual self-flagellation]. As always, we shall see.

And as always, thanks for reading.

P.S. This ended up a good deal longer than planned/anticipated. Ah well. I am a writer, after all.