Archive for June, 2021
Yep, a full Sunday late again (plus two more days to post it here) and my fourth Sunday “3rd Sunday Write” essay again isn’t a favorite. Maybe it’s late spring fever, maybe a tiredness of “meeting” at a distance, but my entry was the first to be posted even at that.
So, no more delays, let’s have it here now. The prompt was the second of the four offered: What happens on the longest day of the year, in the shortest. And here’s what I wrote (if unfamiliar with the dropped names, cf. the original version of the movie NOSFERATU):
On the shortest day
the vampires play!
(Attrib. Count Orlock, the only vampire known to have actually perished due to an inconvenient sunrise)
Even Max Schreck knew better than that — the sunlight destroying vampires bit, believed now to have been brought about due to a careless script girl. Murnau, above all, knew that Dracula didn’t have that limitation, and Greta Schroeder was a dish any hour of the clock.
But it was inconvenient, the sunlight that is. Remember, sunglasses weren’t even invented back then, at least not ones ground to their wearers’ prescriptions. And vampires do have sensitive eyes, in that they’re used, by preference, to working the night shift.
It’s quieter, for one thing. Less interruption when listening to the howling of wolves! “What beautiful music. . .” — Dracula said that. And vampires have a high aesthetic sense, having lived — or unlived — through many eras, to compare and hone one’s artistic inclinations.
So yes, in one sense, night is vampire heaven. And the shorter the day, the shorter the time-out forced by sunlight. Even the Addams family, Gomez and Morticia and the kids, preferred moonbaths in their own back yard to day trips to the beach. And they, themselves, aren’t even vampires.
Thus it stands to reason, yes, the shortest day — and hence longest night — is preferred by vampires. Think, for instance, of pale complexions and avoiding sunburn. But if they’re surprised by an untimely dawn, they don’t explode into dust.
They just put on their hat.
May 3, June 7, then the day before yesterday, June 24 . . . what is it with this spring/early summer? Gargantuan royalties falling like raindrops (“gargantuan” in this case meaning any positive number, no matter how small). Publishers and actual amounts, as always, omitted for sake of this report. In this case it wouldn’t even make a down payment on lunch, but it’s for a story that opened a small anthology just short of ten years ago.
So the things keep selling, in dribs and drabs — in this case two copies bought over a three month reporting period, the consequent take divided of course by the number of authors for books that weren’t that expensive at full price. But maybe it’s COVID-19 with holed-up people confined to their homes, desperate for things to read to pass the time? Usually, maybe, I’ll get one report in a given quarter, but for this one, three!
Again, not much money (well, scarcely any), but isn’t it nice just to know these older stories are still being read!
It’s that time again, this time for The Great Void Books’s crime/horror anthology WATER TURNS RED. What time you ask? Time to peruse a proof, at least of one’s own story, and flag any errors, at least the big ones.
Why, you may ask? Let’s let Editor/Publisher Aditya Deshmukh answer:
Formatting can sometimes inadvertently introduce errors. I have checked multiple times, but things happen. I request you to read “Madness” very carefully. This is the last chance to correct any errors. For scene breaks, I have added a crime ribbon image. If I missed any scene breaks, let me know. Also, the first sentence is in all caps and the first letter of the first sentence is twice as large. Please also check things like page numbers, text alignment (should be justified), uneven indent, etc. Basically, if anything looks odd, don’t hesitate to shoot me a message.
My story in this, as noted, is “Madness” (cf. June 9, et al.), originally published in 2001 in Silver Lake Publishing’s THE WITCHING HOUR, and I did find two honkers. But not to worry, corrections went back lateish Tuesday afternoon, with more to be reported here as it becomes known.
The following is from the movie review “To ‘Mars,’ With Love” by Belinda Acosta, in THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE for March 12 2010 (so it’s what the Google search brought up): “I wanted this to be my take on romance, and because it was animated, there’s no reason it has to be set here [on Earth],” Marslett said. The film stars Mark Duplass, Zoe Simpson, and Austinite Paul Gordon (who also directed The Happy Poet, also premiering at South by Southwest) as three astronauts sent to the red planet under the vague auspices of NASA (a fuller explanation would reveal spoilers). Their mission is to verify if there are other life-forms on Mars and, more importantly, pick up where the failed Beagle 2 mission left off in 2003 (the British spacecraft was presumed lost when it landed on Mars and its transmissions ceased almost immediately). As the trio is launched into space, another computer robot from the European Space Agency is also en route to Mars. Tempers and egos are flying high as each camp — including the President of the United States (played with aplomb by Kinky Friedman) — stakes its reputation on a successful Mars mission, up to and including making contact with whatever might be living there.
The movie is simply titled MARS, and it’s animated, much of it a quasi-realistic rotoscoping of a sort but with other techniques too. Directed by Geoff Marslett, it was part of the fare from the see-it-on-your-own-computer service this weekend from the Monroe County Library and, while not as much fun as the CAT IN PARIS (see April 10), it was interesting, and a pretty good story. It seems there’s a space race now between the EU (with sometime Russian collaboration) and the US, and a lost European Mars lander which, unbeknownst by ESA or NASA may have been accidentally contaminated by a sneezy Comrade. But now it’s time for the first manned mission, “womaned” as well by a loan from Europe, and. . .
Citing the AUSTIN CHRONICLE once more: “The places you go change you,” Marslett said, talking about the impetus behind the film. But he’s not just talking about traveling to galaxies far, far away. His droll film is also looking at romance as a kind of exploration — the missteps, the unrecognized cues, the stolen moments, the second chances, and the stunning realizations — that all, somehow, and often against all odds, lead to a lasting and meaningful connection.
It’s an interesting and I thought different take, though a bit optimistic (the date for the mission is 2015, with a theme in part that, unlike the moon race, we may still do big things but no longer necessarily do them well), perhaps a curiosity mostly but, as implied above, still a pretty amusing story. To sum it up, a final review on Amazon by “Malcain” (who gave it four stars) in its entirety: The story is entertaining and leans heavily on satire. It is an enjoyable movie if you like a more low budget movie that is higher on character/plot (snicker) development and not on special effects. *Definitely* worth the time to watch, but totally expected it to be panned by the academy. . .
It may not quite be finalized in all details, but boy, is it handsome! And production schedules are not firmed up either, but we know by now that that’s pretty much par for the publication game in general. As announced today by Editor Carol Hightshoe: I’m attaching the preliminary cover for the anthology — you are free to promote — as forthcoming since I don’t have a solid release timeline yet. It’s worth a full-width spread though, is it not?
My part in this is “The Bala Worm” (cf. June 6), a longish tale of modern-day Wales and ancient monsters via legends going back to the Middle Ages. Dragons do, of course, guard treasures — but still, would you really want to find one?
Or, well, maybe not really ending, whatever it is that pandemics do. That is, even with vaccinations the viruses are still out there somewhere, aren’t they? Skulking, sneaking. Planning their next move. But the thing is, with vaccinations, masking when needed, trying to keep one’s distance from others when conditions dictated, by putting up with it all for a year and more . . . well, some things are starting to ease back to normal. And one of the things I’ve missed a lot are Bloomington Writers Guild activities.
That is, there have been virtual meetings — but the cave computer doesn’t do well with Zoom. There are the Third Sunday Write sharings of ultra-short stories and essays. What I’ve missed, though, are the live get-togethers, the readings of poetry and fiction before an on-the-spot audience, granted some larger, some smaller. But there’s a thrill there, still, a sharing of reactions reciprocally. Laughter, silence. . . .
Not to mention for those not featured, the “open mic” sessions after the break with time enough for a couple of poems or a piece of flash fiction.
And thus, today’s email from coordinator Joan Hawkins, that “First Sunday Prose Reading” should be resuming on August 1. It will return! The venue most likely will be a new bookstore, Morgenstern’s (actually an old locally owned one that had closed many years before, but now in the process of staging a comeback), or, should that fall through, the also re-opening Monroe County Library. And not only that, would I be available to be one of the featured readers?
I emailed back not many minutes ago: You bet!
Inept, brainless, daft, harebrained, loony, witless, lunkheaded, just plain stupid.
Not exactly attributes you seek when employing a hired gun, right?
Thus opens the kickstarter, live as of today, for Smart Rhino Publications’s upcoming anthology ASININE ASSASSINS. This isn’t their first foray into such topics, preceded as it is by two others, UNCOMMON ASSASSINS and INSIDIOUS ASSASSINS. Both of which, I might add, with stories by me, “The Wellmaster’s Daughter” and “Labyrinth” respectively. But this new volume is a little different, as the kickstarter blurb explains. Smart Rhino Publications is proud and excited to announce the impending publication of ASININE ASSASSINS, to be published later this year! We asked our authors to write stories with an “asinine” element critical to the plot — we preferred dark humor, but we also considered anything comedic, zany, or surreal. The stories could be any genre, but they had to fit the anthology’s theme. We were intentionally broad here and asked the writers to stretch their imaginations. They paid off in spades!
To see for yourself press here (or use what’s now the same link in the post just below), and scroll down to peruse various opportunities, having one’s name inscribed in the book, reserve a paperback copy and receive with it one — or both — of the preceding ASSASSINS books, have editor Weldon Burge edit and comment on an unpublished story of yours. . . . Or scroll down farther for more on the book itself, including bios of all the authors. Our major goals (quoting the text again ) for this Kickstarter campaign are (1) to support the fruitful collaboration of amazing writers and (2) to bring the best crime fiction possible to you, the readers. Smart Rhino takes great pride in publishing quality books for our supporters, and our writers take great pride in providing you with the best stories they have to offer.
My story in this one is called “Shooting Fish,” a science fiction tale with a dab of dark humor (of which more appears also for June 12, below). And, of the writers in general, there are “stretch goals” for the kickstarter too, which if met will mean more pay for the authors!
In today’s email, from Smart Rhino Publications Editor/Publisher Weldon Burge: If you haven’t seen the announcement on Facebook yet, Kickstarter has given me the go-ahead for the campaign and it’s scheduled to launch this Tuesday. They’ve posted an “upcoming” page, which allows folks to sign up for a reminder. Please share where you can to get the word out.
The kickstartee, as it were, is ASININE ASSASSINS (see May 24, March 4, 3), with my silliness in the salmagundi a mini-epic yclept “Shooting Fish” about a would-be alien invasion of Earth gone wrong. Or that is, it will go wrong unless the crack advance scout team of Brrolz and Glomo are able to fulfill a perfectly reasonable request by Supreme Invasion Commander Fakhboom.
But back to the kickstarter, the email continues: The campaign includes “stretch goals” in the hope to pay the writers more for their work. As you probably know, the project is funded out-of-pocket until the crowdfunding campaign accrues the needed funding. Once we can cover the book production costs, I’d like to increase your pay if possible. . . .
Well, you get the idea, or, we the writers have our own dog in this fight as well. Please do give it a try. More will come, including a link, when the site goes live, but for a sort of “sneak peek” one can press here now. Then, should the spirit so move, as noted above there’s a place there to click if you wish to get your own personal reminder sent to you Tuesday as well.
In another case of COVID-or-otherwise induced delays, today’s email included a new contract from The Great Void Books for their upcoming crime anthology, WATER TURNS RED (cf. June 18 2020). The story, “Madness” — see how the headline comment reflects its post’s contents? A tale of yuppie progression up the corporate chain, and competing necessities dwelling in subways.
In other words, madness. Well . . . maybe? The guidelines did specify just “crime related.” A dollop of lore from protagonist Kerri Stava’s family memories from the “old country.” Dreams of werewolves, and a rather odd mother. Punk rock and upper-class party planning. And, yes, subway tunnels and gatherings in secret.
And witchcraft — maybe. It’s a long story at more than 10,000 words, room for lots of different ingredients, originally published in THE WITCHING HOUR (Silver Lake Publishing, 2001). But as Editor/Publisher Aditya Deshmukh asked me, . . . I just wanted to make sure. Who was the old woman and why did she call her her daughter? Was it just her dream? The witch cult she thought she needed to find? (But actually there’s no one there, just her mental illness.) My answer: It’s not entirely straightforward.
So is it supernatural, or “true crime?” — the book is, of course, about crimes like murder. But then what about a perp’s motivations?
Maybe the only real way to find out is to read it yourself and make up your own mind.
Two shortish surprises. The first . . . “Surprise!” No, that actually is the name of the story, “Surprise! (A Fable for Our Time),” some 400 words of punkish dark humor and now it’s been published and, quite by, um, surprise, landed Monday afternoon in the computer cave mailbox.
The book it’s in, IT CAME FROM HER PURSE! (see September 13 2020), or, as the blurb has it, [w]e have enjoyed peering into all of these literal and figurative purses, not to mention a variety of containment systems! Viewing the contents of a woman’s purse can be a frightening experience, or so I’ve been told . . . We would extend this fright to include men’s satchels, go-bags, and such. Please join us in thanking all the artists, poets, and storywriters for reaching into their collective psyches to bring forth these oft quirky, occasionally demented, and definitely fantastical tales! Lots of exclamation points, this one. For those who are curious, or to order, more can be found via Amazon by pressing here.
And then one more shortie, it being the season, another monster-mash royalty has been announced for June. Retaining anonymity to avoid embarrassment all around, let us simply say the amount was conducive to being saved for a gala multiple-royalty release from the publisher sometime in the future. But let us say also, remembering that single story amounts from anthologies are almost always small, the take being shared by many contributing writers, this is one that has been around, yet still sees sales in continuing if modest amounts (reporting quarterly, including another bit just last March), which is not bad.
jamesdorrwriter 