Failure is art, and art is failure. We fall short, inevitably, even if awarded. It’s nice to have community accolades, and it does have an affect on how one’s art is perceived and thus its community worth, or value, but every artist knows success is how closely our unspoken goals and gains are expressed in the art we actually make. Since ideals are by definition not attainable, failure is what we artists experience more than anything else. It does not stop us. — Samael Gyre, Considering Razors
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In his Blue Ant trilogy, William Gibson was the first so-called sf writer to express the adult fact of existential reality. He states clearly: Escapism is not feasible art. He probes history even as he writes on the cutting edge. Everything in his current work is real and contemporary, although he has an eye for the surreal in daily life. He was always a mainstream writer, and is one of the few to have escaped the sf genre’s so-called ghetto. In Pattern Recognition he demonstrated that it is no longer possible to write science fiction because we live in it, and things change too quickly. To persist in writing it is to write escapist fantasy, a masturbatory time-sink. He’s become what he always was, literary, and one of our finest and most perceptive writers. — from an unwritten essay in conversational text exchange form.
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There are those of us who refuse to bow to the oppression. Happy Birthday, Lenny Bruce.
“Take away the right to say ‘Fuck’ and you take away the right to say ‘Fuck the government.’” ~ HAPPY BIRTHDAY LENNY BRUCE
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Existential isolation is momentarily eased by this illusion called “social networking”. You may now return to whimpering in a fetal ball.
If you are lonely when you’re alone, you are in bad company.” – Jean-Paul Sartre
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I do not want a world in which no one disagrees with me but I do want a world in which fear, hate, and refusal of fact and reality are not accepted as norms. I want a world in which disagreement leads to open discussion, rational argument, and reasonable conclusions. Yes, I know such wishes are impossible and unreal.
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Just made the worst eggs I’ve ever choked down. Overheated my cast iron skillet, used too many eggs, scorched the garlic and onions, undercooked the Bell pepper, couldn’t get them to dry sufficiently, and ended up with a scorched fucking mess. Ate it anyhow. Waste not, want not. How I loathe myself right about now.
I once obliterated spaghetti marinara, somehow. Ordinarily I’m a good cook but wow, sometimes things just go into Clive Barker Stephen King mode…
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There once was an Eric named Cantor,
An inveterate hater and ranter,
He twisted the rules
For the party that drools,
Now gibberish passes for banter.
— Evgeni the Minor
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Did you ever sink down into a bath and go under the water and become so fascinated listening to the interesting way sound propagates in water that you forgot to surface again?
If so, you’re drowned.
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Not surprising. Politics and religion are not reality-based. Their sense of identity is tied to their fear and hate, and their delusions. To dump their fear, hate, and insanity would be a kind of suicide for them. Now let’s help them find the common sense, courage, and methods to commit actual suicide, shall we?
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Read about East Germany’s Stasi, for instance. Or the Gestapo in Nazi Germany. Or the KGB in the Soviet Union of Russia. How about the Tonton Macoute in Haiti? Aren’t we proud to have joined the ranks of police states?
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You know how, in fall or spring, when your face is cold and you turn into a sunbeam and it warms and feels good? Follow the things that give you that feeling. / Brother Butch
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Okay, here’s the thing: Swearing? That’s when you vow, take an oath, or make a promise. Cursing? That’s when you call upon supernatural forces or beings to bring down punishment on some transgressor. Saying fuck, shit, piss, cock, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, tits, or other Carlin words is neither of those things. It is simply language use without prudish, false demonizing of certain “forbidden” words. Remember, taboo is a method of control. Use what ever words you wish, how ever you wish. Otherwise, you’re just another slave.
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Out Getting More Books
My drawings are often compared to those of James Thurber, Edward Gorey, Chas. Addams, and Gahan Wilson. Yet they are mine alone.
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Picasso’s Minotaur In Days of Twilight Werewolves
Nudity and sex is natural. Violence is the pornography. War is celebrated but we are not allowed to see a penis? Religion has made us mentally ill.
Brigid’s Chatelaine
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After being diagnosed with diabetes, a sobering event, I tried artificial sweeteners for a while. I could not control my diabetes. Finally, I realized that artificial sweeteners fool the body into thinking that sugar has been ingested, causing it to dump insulin, causing immediate metabolic syndrome. In other words, it changes to cortisol. I stopped using artificial sweeteners, began using minimal amounts of real sugar, and I’ve been fine since, to the point of dropping most of my meds and no longer being considered diabetic.
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Has it occurred to anybody that zombies are the current symbol for the mindless fear, hate, and anti-intellectualism being promoted by the religious right wingers?
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Clutter
Just discovered that headphones sound lots better when plugged in.
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Teleportation’s Dirty Little Secret* / *some assembly required
I will now go pretend to sleep with “Bird, bird, bird — bird is the word,” in my head. Hey, it might work.
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Battered, Undefeated
Men are afraid women will laugh at them. Women are afraid men will kill them. That is gender inequality.
–Margaret Atwood
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In conversation with the inestimable Pamela Thum I mentioned having been married 33 years.
She said, “I think that’s wonderful Gene to live and love each other that long. I’m sure you’ve reached the point of just looking into her eyes and knowing what is coming next.”
And I said, “That’s why I’m under my desk so often.”
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Life passes quickly. It is not what one does but what one failed to do that one regrets most. Do not waste your youth. Get out and do things. Experience things. Absorb, create, and be. Seriously. Your body is like a new car and if it sits it rots. Better to get a million miles on it and let weathering, dents, and the sheer fun of use wear it out so your spirit, which remains young always, will be able to look back and smile instead of wishing it had driven your body to do things now forever beyond reach.
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I write because I hate making money or feeling successful, and we must not forget the strong appeal of obscurity.
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I’m a mechanic, a carpenter, a plumber, etc. So someone asked me, “What are you?”
“I’m a novelist.”
“Oh,” he said. “What kind of novels do you write?”
I had no idea what to say.
Seeing me puzzled, he added, “Mystery? Science Fiction? Horror?”
“I just write stories about people.”
“People doing what? Solving a murder? Making first contact with an alien life form? Surviving a zombie apocalypse?”
“I write stories about people confronting the unseen, or encountering bigger worlds they never knew existed, and coping with those revelations.”
That’s why I call it Ficta Mystica, or mystical realism, if you must characterize what I generally write. Otherwise, I’m a writer, not a kind of writer. I don’t write kinds of stories, I write stories. My work is not written to fit into a given market category, although often it overlaps one or more.
The guy walked away dissatisfied, and I knew again that I wrote veggie burgers in a world that wants Whoppers.
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Just had to block a neophyte writer who attacked me personally because I failed to fall down and worship her unutterable genius and inevitable triumph as the greatest writer since J. K. Rowling. ROFL.
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This morning it struck me that the best set of lyrics in any pop song may well be, “You’re So Vain” by Carley Simon. They contain lovely, poetic metaphor, devastating irony, and an unsentimental, stingingly accurate and concise assessment of a young woman’s first harsh love affair with an older man. It’s like a novel in a brief song, all done with no bitterness. Amazing stuff.
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Always wanted to have kinky sex but nothing ever seemed weird to me.
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Would-be horror writers should focus on character, on real people with real problems in real situations, and stop trying so hard to think up gore and mayhem, none of which is ever shocking, creative, or good. What’s good is caring about a person and what’s horrifying is then witnessing that person you care about being torn up by things that can also affect you. This is the basis of good writing. The rest is cartoonish nonsense and wind-up toys.
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Next time you’re laughing at someone for endlessly discussing an old TV show or an old movie, keep in mind that there are still those of us who are discussing Beowulf, Jane Austen, and Charles Dickens, among other such things.
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As Barry Devenney cited:
“The rich are way more likely to prioritize their own self-interests above the interests of other people…more likely to exhibit characteristics that we would stereotypically associate with, say, assholes.”
The word is pyschopaths.
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This is exemplary, and should answer your question, “What should I write about and why?” if that’s a question that ever arises in you, particularly if you’re a woman writer. All through this I kept thinking how James Tiptree, Jr. / Alice Sheldon pegged it long ago in her story, “The Women Men Don’t See”.
Weeks later, I took an inventory of themes and interests quiz to see which writer’s work mine most resembled and got an answer of James Tiptree, Jr. Hm.
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A writer’s block is where an enclave of writers live in a city. Come visit.
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Having a gun makes you a patriot even less than having a penis makes you a man.
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Life is like pants. If shitty, change.
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Buddhism is a philosophy, not a religion, and those who make religion out of it are imposing their own interpretations for power and control. Same with Wicca and Druidism and other neopagan pursuits.
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That is how to handle bigotry: Refuse it.
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When someone snaps, they reach for what ever weapon is at hand. Make guns a lot harder to get and they won’t find a gun when they snap and reach.
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Hey NRA, how come we so rarely hear about mass stabbings? Or ever, for that matter?
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Yes, they really are watching and listening everywhere. To control you. PERSON OF INTEREST is already quaint, not cutting-edge.
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This is simply true. It is treacherous looting and unconscionable rapacious psychopathic capitalism. Bring it down now.
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How sociopathic to think:
A man always has two reasons for doing anything: a good reason and the real reason.”
— John Pierpont Morgan
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Where is your life? Are you a-Mazed, or on a Labyrinthine journey to enlightenment? What’s your view of life generally, Maze or Labyrinth? Perhaps neither?
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Wrote ten pages long hand with an antique fountain pen and antique ink last night, transcribed it today on keyboard and rewrote it, ending up with a 3900 word story transgressive and devastating. Whew. This one digs deep and flicks the marrow on surprised faces.
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Writers and artists are expected to give their work away free because they enjoy what they do. It is envy punishing us by not valuing our work.
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Just hit me: It’s quite possible the huge surge in digital music sales stems directly from how frustrating it is to open a god damned fucking shrink wrapped bastard CD, for shit’s sake. Ahem.
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Boils down to: It benefits the crime cartels who run this country to keep us stupid and keep drugs illegal so black market prices can continue. It’s that simple.
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Oh look, scientists have labeled self-defeating stupidity with yet another term useful to the quacks and big drug pushers.
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Pussy Riot? Now all they need do is avoid the polonium Putin is notorious for using against his escaped dissenters.
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They are themselves eager slaves. Which is why Ops hates and wants to destroy the Intel/Analysis side of the spook house. And is succeeding by pandering to corporate money interests in exchange for covert power.
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All hail the legacy of Howard Zinn.
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“One of the greatest tragedies of mankind is that morality has been hijacked by religion.”
— Sir Arthur C. Clarke
He also said, “Religion is the one thing mankind will not survive.”
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How you say it is at least as important as what you say. Learning to communicate effectively can take a lifetime. One we no longer have.
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Learning what not to read is part of learning how to read well.
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Here come the 1% scum. Unless we stop them, they will destroy everything and everyone, soon.
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Naked power grab, arrogant and illegitimate. Typical of America these right-wing idiot days.
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The water wars are planned, if not quite yet scheduled.
Another reason we have been murdered already.
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Michael Phelps being Lovecraftian and actually looking like H. P. Lovecraft: “He’s even got the Innsmouth webbed feet and hands… ”
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Too little, too late. Long past the tipping point. We are on the down side. It’s steep. Rocks and lava await us. Feel the heat yet?
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“Guns don’t kill, people do.” Uh, yeah. People kill WITH GUNS. Guns are an extension of rock throwing. They hurl a chunk of metal at high speed at a target in order to MAKE KILLING EASIER. That’s what guns are invented for. When’s the last time you heard about a rock-throwing massacre? To say people kill, not guns, is to ignore the fact that guns make killing EASIER. It’s like saying there is no essential difference between a knife and a nuke. Hey, they’re both just “defensive weapons” right? Uh huh. This specious NRA fake logic does not work, never did, and we’re not going to put up with it any more. Yes, you dipshits, GUNS KILL MORE EFFICIENTLY. Remove them from the equation and guess what? Death toll goes steeply down. Period.
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At night we leave the TV on TCM to keep the dogs company and ever since LASSIE aired, my Westie keeps barking at me and wanting to show me stuff, and we don’t even know anyone named Timmy, nor do we own a well. sigh
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Some dweeb posted a photograph purporting to show an ET standing in woods. The picture was supposedly taken accidentally by a cell phone. It shows a grey that looks, to judge by the slope and distance, about 12 feet tall idly leaning between trees. Probably just took a piss or smoke break, huh? Anyway, my view that it was most likely a hoax, or just possibly pareidolia, (a grey man instead of a green man, lol), got me blocked from commenting, so I take this as confirmation and move on. What is wrong with people?
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Some dimwad on FB is using the name Jesus Christ His Holly Self and the first thing I thought was “Have a Holly, Jolly Jebus”. Why do sub-literates try so fucking hard?
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Zombie Apocalypse is coming. No, wait, it’s here.
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In other news, in Indianapolis, many cars went around in a circle many times until they stopped and the rest stopped, too. For pictures, grab a crayon.
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BEWARE OF ARTISTS. THEY MIX WITH ALL CLASSES OF PEOPLE AND ARE THEREFORE THE MOST DANGEROUS. – Actual McCarthy Era poster.
The paranoid drunk got one thing right. And we’re coming for you, psychopathic corporate fascist Republicants.
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From the NEW YORKER, this lovely conceit of references. Note the dog, note the man’s name, and note the venue, in the pages of the NYer. It can only be a nod to James Thurber and his editor/nemesis Harold Ross.
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Outlines?
I once did the Donald Maas method, where you do three or four drafts of your outline, getting ever more detailed, until you have literally most of the book done. Then you’re supposed to write the book. Ken Follett famously used this. Well, I did two outlines that way and never bothered writing the novels because I just didn’t care anymore afterwards. So I’m back to organic writing, and doing it my way, what ever way seems best for each book.
If we write to others’ standards, we produce only extruded fiction product. Write any way you need or want to, what ever works for YOU is the right way, because there is no right way.
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Hey GOP. Only criminals and sick bullies hate equal rights.
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Finished, checked, and sent my new War World novella today.
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Shit does not fall far from the asshole, as Donald Trump’s sons prove here by slaughtering African wildlife for kicks. John Schnatter of Papa John’s Pizza and several other rich spoiled idiots have done the same recently. Apparently going to kill endangered species while they’re still around is a new pastime for the rich and empty 1% scum.
When Saddam Hussein’s sons acted this way we called them, correctly, sociopathic and psychotic monsters. I see no difference and this is another bit of evidence, if you need it, why we must bring down these arrogant 1% fascist scum.
Rise Up Now. RUN.
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Atheism is as silly as theism. The only honest response is agnosticism. No one knows, nor can know. Say you are confronted with a god-like being. As a human you haven’t the capacity to assess whether you’re hallucinating, interacting with unknown forces, meeting an ET, or dealing with a deity. Among many other possibilities. We’re not equipped. Epistemology solves this whole problem by placing it safely on a shelf too high for our toddler selves. Move on to what we CAN grasp.
NOTE: I have since revised my stance on this slightly in favor of atheism, which means, simply, without god, or free from the god illusion, god being a concept, not a being.
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We can support the Israelies without supporting the Zionists/AIPAC, and being anti-Zionist is not anti-semitism in the least. Quite the opposite. Treating Palestinians as human beings is simple humanity, too, and a policy of genocide is not to be tolerated by civilized world society.
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“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.”
—Marcus Aurelius
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I’m thinking of replacing Twitter and Facebook with a new social media venue where you’re allowed only a single syllable per post. It’s called Grunter. This will smooth communication among online types and reduce political debates, religious arguments, and all flame wars and trollery to its basic level. The goal is to replace all other forms of communication, written or verbal, by the next Republican administration, or by the end of either civilization or Earth, what ever comes first.
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I’m kinda thinking tolerance must be earned, lately. It is tolerance that allows the crazies to have a voice in things they are demonstrably not qualified to get anywhere near. It is tolerance that keeps Obama conceding this, that, and all else to hate-filled, bigoted, and completely disingenuous GOP demands. It is tolerance that has polarized society into intolerance, oddly. We must begin insisting upon standards of mature, adult behavior from any who would participate in governance, in society, and in culture. Otherwise we open the gates to the destroyers and call it tolerance, which is surely suicidal self-delusion.
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Give a man a gun and he can rob a bank.
Give a man a bank and he can rob the world.
How bluntly true is that?
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I find anyone espousing god talk is apt to burn people at the stake, burn books, and vote GOP, which is the equivalent of burning the world.
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I found the keys to success but damned if I can find any doors or locks to use them on.
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It’s all China. Which means it’s all America. Business as usual means we get screwed. Zero sum thinking demands it in Capitalism.
Capitalism is the Borg. Resistance is futile. Defiance, opposition, and refusal are thus mandatory.
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Writing is like breathing. If I stop doing it, I turn purple and fall over.
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