Posts Tagged ‘Violence’
This was the message re. TRIGGER WARNINGS (cf. November 18, October 28) in Wednesday’s email. Readers: The Thursday and Friday events are showcasing the pieces in the book, so that’s what you should plan to read. The time listings for readers are approx. We’ve tried to alter long readings with shorter ones. And I’ve tried to put people with sensitive time schedules in set one. For the longer pieces (prefaced by “20″), do try to keep a 20 min max. since the evening will be long. Ortet will begin setting up at 4:30. I’m getting a ride and help with bringing books, so I’ll be there closer to 5:30. Kalynn and I began working on this the day after Trump was elected in 2015. So it’s been a long haul and I’m so grateful to all of you for hanging in there, to Tony Brewer for helping us find a publisher and for producing the book, to Ortet for always being there, and to Chris Rall, Pixie, and BackSpace for giving us a place to do a truly public reading (the reading at the Library will be behind closed doors).
And Trigger Warnings is the MeToo anthology, edited by Joan Hawkins and Kalynn Brower — containing work by Bloomington authors.
That was at the Backspace Gallery downtown. But that wasn’t all. Six people read then, interspersed by performances by the musical group ORTET. And then more were scheduled the following afternoon, today, in the Monroe County Library auditorium, of whom the closer was me with the story “La Fatale,” of events happening after those of the novel DRACULA concerning Mina Harker who now calls herself Guillemette, having fled to France,and who — unlike in the novel — has become a vampire. And when Parisian street toughs attacked her and her friends. . . .
Well, to see for yourself you’ll have to read the book which will also be introduced/signed by editor/authors Hawkins and Brower at Morgenstern Books tomorrow, Saturday, from noon to 2 p.m. (but due to forecasted sub-freezing weather I’ll most likely miss myself — sorry). And of which (the book) the Amazon blurb begins this way: We began this volume in 2017, shortly after Donald Trump was elected. We began working on it in response to the outrage we felt over the Access Hollywood Tape, in which Trump openly admitted that he randomly assaulted women. While previous presidential candidates’ campaigns had been derailed when sex scandals were reported by the press (Gary Hart, for example), Trump seemingly faced no consequences, even when multiple accusations of physical molestation and rape were made against him. His election and imperviousness to charges of assault seemed to signal a new step in the normalization of rape culture. . . . It was in this climate that we began soliciting stories, poems, essays and nonfiction pieces about the assault and attempted assault that is a striking aspect of so many women’s psychosexual histories. . . .
Or for more, press here.
Thus, from the book’s introduction: As we worked on the book, sexual harassment, rape, and the brutalization of women continued to serially dominate the news cycle. Even though Trump himself remained immune to prosecution, other powerful men-many in the media industry-were fired or resigned in the face of the newly emergent #MeToo Movement’s revelations. Every time we sponsored public readings of contributions to this volume, audience members would approach us to say that they, too, had a story, and ask if we were we still accepting submissions. And listed by Amazon with a publication date of August 31 2013 (but still cited as “Currently unavailable. We don’t know when or if this item will be back in stock”), the book is TRIGGER WARNINGS, Edited by Bloomington Writers Guild notables Joan Hawkins and Kalynn Huffman Brower (cf. October 28, below) who also have articles in the volume, it has finally appeared in physical form — at least here in Bloomington.
TRIGGER WARNINGS: WRITINGS ON NARROW ESCAPES FROM SEXUAL ASSAULT, to give its extended title, is a nearly entirely local production. Quoting again from the introduction: All but one of the pieces in this anthology were authored by writers who belong to The Writers Guild at Bloomington, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting written and spoken word in Bloomington, Indiana and its environs. The one exception, a sort of preface, is reprinted by request from a piece by London-based artist and filmmaker Ruth Novaczek. And so, at least at the Writers Guild’s business meeting today, several of us with work in the book received authors copies. Yes — it exists! A fairly slim volume at only about 110 pages, it should receive one or more official launches at local venues in the near future, so those who have not already received copies should keep eyes open for it.
While as for Amazon’s “supply chain” problems, these things sometimes happen, but in the meantime the book can be found on Goodreads by pressing here, where a quick check a moment ago indicated both Barnes & Noble and AbeBooks do have it.
We began this volume in 2017, shortly after Donald Trump was elected. We began working on it in response to the outrage we felt over the Access Hollywood Tape, in which Trump openly admitted that he randomly assaulted women. While previous presidential candidates’ campaigns had been derailed when sex scandals were reported by the press (Gary Hart, for example), Trump seemingly faced no consequences, even when multiple accusations of physical molestation and rape were made against him. His election and imperviousness to charges of assault seemed to signal a new step in the normalization of rape culture. . . . It was in this climate that we began soliciting stories, poems, essays and nonfiction pieces about the assault and attempted assault that is a striking aspect of so many women’s psychosexual histories. . . .
So begins a lengthy Amazon blurb for Bloomington Writers Guild Editors Joan Hawkins and Kalynn H. Browers’ long-awaited collection of accounts, revelations, essays, even in one case (mine) fiction, fully titled TRIGGER WARNINGS: WRITINGS ON NARROW ESCAPES FROM SEXUAL ASSAULT. A nearly entirely local production, all contributions, save for the introduction, are from Writers Guild members as well. Or to further quote from the Amazon blurb: All but one of the pieces in this anthology were authored by writers who belong to The Writers Guild at Bloomington, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting written and spoken word in Bloomington, Indiana and its environs. Most of us are published writers and all of us have other careers. Ruth Novaczek, the author of the Introductory piece in the book, is a London-based filmmaker and artist. We contacted her when she posted an earlier version of this story on her Facebook page. It was such a strong piece, we thought it would be perfect as a kind of thematic introduction. “Rape-escapes,” she wrote when she sent us permission to use her story, “are a good way to show that every young woman has probably had one, and we’re the lucky ones.”
And so, the announcement today from Co-Editor Hawkins has been a long time in arriving. It’s been a long haul, I know. After trying several publishers and having the ms tied up for lengthy reading times with each one, we finally decided to publish with Cephalod press. Anya Royce contributed photos for the wraparound cover and to use as section breaks throughout the volume, and Tony Brewer did the actual production/layout, so the volume looks lovely. Kalynn and I hold the copyright to the volume as a whole, but the rights to each individual story/poem/piece remains with the author. So you are free to use your work again in your own chapbooks and anthologies with the idiocy of paying rights to someone else etc.
I just sent off the payment today — so I should actually have books in a few weeks. When I have them in hand, we can arrange a book launch.
Thus it goes. My part in this, as a man, is a sort of outlier titled “La Fatale” — a pseudo-factual supposition that the novel DRACULA was originally based on true events, and that Mina Harker, against her will, had ultimately become a vampire herself. She flees to France, tries to minimize the effects of her new nature, but ultimately in warding off an attack on herself and several companions, discovers it’s possible for her to fight back.
With its bright color palette, creative use of the Ginza nightclub district, and catchy pop-ballad theme song, TOKYO DRIFTER starts by indulging the hedonistic youth culture of 1960s Tokyo and builds toward stylistic abstraction in its climactic gunfight, filmed in nearly empty studio space with striking shifts in color and lighting. Suzuki’s minimalist soundstage set blurs the distinction between fantasies, supernatural, and reality, creating a fever-dream-like cityscape. In English and Japanese with English subtitles. Contains mature content, including violence. (IU Cinema Program)
Thus Monday night’s Indiana University Cinema fare, another one of those that discourages an orderly plot-based description. Think spaghetti westerns, themselves with Japanese cinema roots, a man with a sense of personal honor, but otherwise existing mainly as a stimulus to violence. One side played against another, loyalties, betrayals, and, in the case of this 
city-based crime shoot-em-up, beat-em-up, lots of color. Color a-go-go. Gorgeous color, although the beginning is in black and white — but even then with one quick color flashback! A hero who’ll take being knocked down three times but then will go wild, or so we’re told, who’s taking it this time because he’s going straight. Because his almost father-like boss is going straight too — but of course you know it’s not going to work out. Gorgeous, if generally sleazy settings, and gangs being allied to other gangs, or else maybe not, until you’d be lost even with a scorecard.
But what a ride!
To end, two brief Amazon reviews:
Watching this as a straight-ahead movie is difficult. The plot starts and stops and veers into strange places. But watching it as a conflicted mash-up of cinematic genres — coming at a crucial time in Japan’s postwar development — turns it into a hyperkinetic meditation on art and art’s boundaries (or lack thereof). I ‘ll avoid doing a plot summary, but will say that, if you can handle a movie that steps back and makes sport of its own genre conventions (not necessarily caring for the characters or action, as such), then this is as good as it gets. (marko a pyzyk – 4.0 out of 5 stars – “A jazzy western/samurai/martial arts/gangster mash-up”)
James Bond and the Yakuza. Goddard and Fuller. Might and Majesty. And the best editing of a film that I’ve ever seen. It’s all here in a movie with negligible plot and characters who are intended purely as archetypes, stereotypes, and ciphers. But that makes it sound all academic and no fun, when really it is a fun movie. (Michael A. Duvernois VINE VOICE – 5.0 out of 5 stars – “The perfect sums of the 1960s”)
jamesdorrwriter 