Blogetary (Weblog + Commentary = Blogetary)

This time at least they said it was a fun read, it just wasn’t for them.

I was on the verge of starting a file of rejected stories to be put together in a book to publish on Lulu, but I put it off for another day and sent this one out again instead. We’ll wait just a little while longer. But how long is too long? How long before I just shrug and say, “Okay, I admit it. I’m not so hot as a writer. Maybe this should just be a hobby.”  I don’t know. Maybe if I took classes or workshops I could better see where  and what needs work. But I couldn’t afford it when I was gainfully employed and I sure as sh*t can’t afford it now that my income is basically cut in half. So, I gotta just keep working on my own and hoping I get it eventually I guess, or not.

That’s how much money I’ve spent on trade subscriptions, sample issues, and pertinent trade books this past year while trying to research what was out there and where I should send my stories. Those subscriptions include (but are not limited to): All Possible Worlds (now defunct – may it rest in peace), Glimmer Train, Aoife’s Kiss, Fantasy Magazine, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, Flytrap, Electric Velocipede, Science Fiction Poetry Association, Shimmer, and On Spec. That doesn’t count the subscriptions I began in 2006 that I let lapse in 2007 so I could catch up with the ones I was trying out this year. Those included: Locus, Realms of Fantasy, Blackgate, Aeon, Poets & Writers, and The Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy. And of course this doesn’t include researching all the free online zines out there such as Aberrant Dreams, Strange Horizons, Heliotrope, Illuminata from Tyrannosaurus Press, or Planet Magazine or any of the countless others that are out there, both free and subscription only.

Have I EARNED anything as a result of subscribing to those magazines? Only if you count the $25 that I may be getting sometime this year from the poetry that will be published. Have I LEARNED anything as a result of subscribing to those magazines? Absolutely. But it was an investment I had to make knowing I would probably be getting “nothing” (or nothing revenue enhancing) in return.

I’m not pointing that out to say I did anything special or anything that any other writer wouldn’t do. Just pointing out that there many, Many, MANY resources out there for the writer to use, if they choose to use them. Of course, many of these resources cost money, and that’s an asset the average writer is constantly short on. I, myself, will probably NOT be renewing my subscriptions to most of those magazines due to my own economic circumstances. Like the rest of the country, my own resources are running thin and I need to cut back somewhere. That’s a shame because one of the best things we can do as writers is to support one another. What better way to support fellow writers than to subscribe to the markets that are willing to try out new writers and put their work out there and pay them for it, or at least let them get their name out there.

This weekend, as I sit at the kitchen table and go through my tax paperwork, I need to decide what, if any, magazines I will subscribe to in the coming year. How can I both support my fellow writers and further my own research into places that might like my style of writing? What magazines further spur me on to become a better writer or encourage me with their voices, fresh and seasoned? My own writing has stalled lately and I need something to jar it loose. It will be difficult to decide. It will probably end up being a mix of small press and big, and all depend on what I can afford and when. But for the writer, getting something coming in to keep the creative fires burning is especially important. This year take time to get to know your zines.

For anyone seriously interested in researching places to have your short stories, poetry, and novels published, then I suggest checking out Duotrope’s Digest. It’s a free online resource that lists hundreds of markets and tracks whether they’re open, closed, defunct, what they pay, and what their guidelines are, and how soon they respond. If you have any extra dough throw it their way. They run on a donation only system.

Woke up this morning thinking about my last post. It was a meandering path and I wasn’t quite sure where I was going with it, other than trying to express this frustration I have been feeling lately. This morning, however, I woke up with that feeling crystallized into a single thought.

The writer is the original revolutionary.

That is what bothers me. The oral storyteller is the original revolutionary. What attracted me to writing, besides the wordsmithing, was that it has always been the writer’s job to see the truth and tell the truth the way they see it. Yes, that truth will always be filtered through the writer’s particular foibles and idiosyncrasies, but that is what creates a unique vision and voice. The writer’s job is still to tell the truth. In fact I would go even further and say that it is his/her job to fight for that truth. One of the frustrations I feel so keenly lately as I pay attention to the journeys of the writers around me in real life and online (and in my own journey as well) is that in some cases the desire to be published and approved of and acknowledged by our peer group is so strong that we are willing to put that truth aside in order to “play the game” so that we can be published and gain that approval and acknowledgement.

No wonder I’m frustrated.

I dropped the “Education” part of my English Lit degree because I did not want to deal with the politics of pleasing peers and administrators and parents when I was going to be busting my butt teaching their children how to write complete sentences or how to analyze The Scarlet Letter. I didn’t want to play the game and I STILL don’t believe teachers are paid enough to play that game.

I left an on campus student organization in college because I didn’t believe in playing the game when I saw a more straightforward way of doing things and wanted to be able to say so openly. I saw my job as telling the truth.

One of the reasons I dropped out of going to church was when I realized I wasn’t going to be able to be truthful to the children I was teaching Sunday School to. I could see these kids needed counseling about sexuality – or at the very least an adult who could tell them truth and tell them that what they were going through was okay and normal. Some might need rides to Planned Parenthood and others to the Sexual Minority Center. I had more freedom to do that as a disinterested adult friend than I did as their Sunday School teacher.

I also have never been able to play the game in the regular business world. Why should I try to sell something to someone when they don’t need or want it? Why should I be nice to someone who is so obviously rude to me? Customer service is what I do for the customer, now how I behave. Why should I have to spend my hard-earned money on clothes I can’t afford just to look good for a company who doesn’t pay me enough to look good in the first place? They pay me to do a job and I do the job. If they want me to look a certain way, they should pay me for that, too. Why should I play office politics or worry about what the boss “thinks about me” when the reason I’m there is to do my job?

What is my job as a writer? To tell the truth. My job is not to please an editor or a publisher or even the reader. Now, if I do my job well, I will possibly please at least one, if not all, of those people. But the end result should be that I have written the truth as closely as I possibly could without worrying about marketability or saleability or publishability. I should find my truth, my vision, and stick to it. That’s it. End of story.

I bet if you looked at a list of your favorite writers you would find that what you had in hand, was in fact, a list of revolutionaries.

Yes, there are all sorts of things that need to be said about craft; about becoming better at writing the words on the page, plotting out where the story is going, and what is going on with the characters. But you should never lose sight of the fact that what you trying to do in the end is expose the truth. Not please other people, but tell the truth.

For one year I’ve had my webpage and my blog up. I’ve been typing to you from this desk, mostly:

It’s been a rollercoaster of a year, personally, professionally, artistically. Or maybe I should consider it a merry-go-round considering the beautifully rustic gigantic carousel horse I saw in the middle of the wilds of downtown LA this last autumn:

I mean look how huge it is compared to the big trucks parked next to it:
Kiko had to leave us:

Pye took over Kiko’s duties:

I visited the Magic Kingdom more times this year than have in the last ten years put together:

Flowers in Toontown

The Magic Kingdom

I got to see two parts of the country I’ve never visited before:

Evergreen, CO – October 2007

Evergreen, CO – October 2007

Outside of Albuquerque on the way to Jermez Springs, New Mexico – December 2007

Near Soda Springs, New Mexico – December 2007

I was forced to leave a job I probably should have left years ago. It will be a long time before I again see the beautiful shadows that grace this building in the midst of the ugliness at the West Los Angeles transit center:

Then again, since I’m no longer around the ugliness, I no longer have to search for the beauty.

I’ve spent a lot of time the past few days paging through magazines whilst waiting in doctor’s offices. I’ve had a lot of time to think over the last few months as well. I’ve spent a lot of my life jumping through hoops for one reason or another and then trying to turn around and recreate those hoops so I would better fit through them. Or recreate me so I would fit the hoops better the next time. I realized that not only have I outgrown, say, Cosmopolitan and Elle (I mean, come on, there are only so many make up tips, hair tips, and sex tips in the world and they seem to be the same ones featured every year), but I’ve also outgrown my desire to jump through some of the other hoops as well. I put off dreams of being a writer for years because it wasn’t “practical” or when I was younger it wasn’t considered “godly” enough. Finally, after 20 years of putting off my own dreams because of what others think, I can safely say I’ve outgrown trying to jump through those hoops.

Okay, well, realistically speaking, to paraphrase a saying, the hoops will always be with us. There will always be certain demands made in the world that we have to meet. Taxes and rent must be paid, for example. In order to live we have to make sure we eat food and drink water. So, to feed, clothe, and house ourselves we need to earn a living wage somehow. Those are hoops that will always be there.

There are other hoops that I believe we take on that we can choose to ignore if we so choose. For example, do we really care about whether or not people wear white shoes after Labor Day? You can choose to care about that or not.

Yesterday I was reading an article in Poets & Writers called Reading How You’re Read: The Art of Evaluating Criticism (May/June 2007, p. 69) by Ann Pancake. I began to read the article because I was intrigued by the tagline: Everyone’s a Critic: How to Know Who’s Right. Basically it’s an article about how to accept criticism from critique partners and fellow writers from classes and workshops, etc. Specifically, you need to know when to take some criticism to heart and when to take it with a small (or large) grain of salt. In the end, Pancake points out, you have to go by your gut. That means knowing and understanding your own, personal vision well enough to not get lost and pulled away from it by other (well-meaning) people who might not see it the same way you do. Whether speaking about writing or other aspects of your life, if you spend too much time trying to suit other people, then you end up chipping away at your own unique vision in such a way that what remains is nothing like you had in mind, originally. As Pancake points out near the end of her article, “art is not created by consensus” (p. 72). In fact, she points out that she, herself, doesn’t show drafts of her work until she’s gotten to her 7th or 8th draft to make sure that she knows her own vision before exposing it to someone else. She also points out how there is a school of thought that speaks out against workshops and writing groups because there is the danger that a writer with a unique vision could eventually, because of the critique received, take “a diamond in the rough and reduce it to a trinket” instead of creating the jewel it was meant to be (p. 72).

If you think about it, this is part of the reason why artists in the movie and music industry developed independent labels and production companies. Artists did not want to see producers turning their unique visions into cookie cutter albums and films. The publishing industry – whether speaking of magazines or books – is going through the growth pains of a similar movement, I believe. Editors, publishers, and agents rail around for new and exciting work, yet may not be willing to work with writers with a different vision because it’s too risky. They want the unique vision in an acceptably neat and tidy package that’s still easy to read. However, in making the unique vision acceptably neat and tidy, the uniqueness gets lost and turned into yet another cookie cutter story.

On the other hand, readers, desiring the comfort of reading more of the same (more romance, more horror, more vampires, more werewolves, etc) might be disgruntled because all they see on the shelves is steampunk when what they want is a good old fashioned fantasy. Or they want to be comforted by an old-fashioned slow moving mystery and instead it’s all blood and gore. What to do? It’s like The Academy Awards vs. The People’s Choice Awards. The winners are usually vastly different from one another, with just a little overlap.

In the last year I’ve been spouting off from my own cyber soap box on this blog probably to the same four readers time and again. If you’re one of those four people then you know how sometimes I’m all about submitting your stories “correctly” (following the directions, paying attention to the markets and what they want, etc) to The Powers That Be and then sometimes I spout off about how I’m going to go off into POD/Lulu Publishing Land and leaving the ALL POWERFUL magazines and publishing houses far behind. I’ve been particularly discouraged lately when at least four different stories were rejected between Boxing Day and Epiphany.

This last week while going over those stories yet again to see about how and where I might submit them, I was rereading over the submission guidelines of some of the places I submit to. I’m not talking about how they want the manuscript formatted, I’m talking about the types of stories they are seeking. The lists of what they DON’T want is endless (Strange Horizons and On Spec are two examples, though there are many other even longer lists through other larger magazines out there). When you read through the types of stories they don’t want in trying to provide the “unique” story they are looking for for their readers, you realize that the stories they are looking for are not so unique really – just a cookie cutter of a different shape. In fact, there was even a magazine, Dark Recesses that asked for werewolf stories in its contest submission guidelines, but when I decided to submit a werewolf story to them outside of the contest (I missed the deadline), just as a regular submission, I was told that while it was a good story, they really didn’t want werewolf stories. Is it just me or does that seem like doublespeak? They asked, did I happen to have something ghostly and eerie instead? Well – all the ghostly and eerie stories are currently waiting to be rejected by other people as a matter of fact. It was oddly frustrating.

And then it hit me: Ecclesiastes 1:9 – “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” In other words, in the immortal words of Tripper Harrison (Bill Murray) of “Meatballs” fame, “It just doesn’t matter.” And it’s freeing to realize that.

In the past year I’ve written at least 10 short stories and several poems. That’s enough for my own book of work. I have at least 10 other stories waiting to be finished but I’ve been too discouraged and in ill health to work on them lately. Too many other things clamor for my attention. But they’re my stories. MINE. They are my own unique vision told with my own characters in my own voice, not some jaded editor’s idea of what is acceptable. But mine. Whether I choose to subject them to further rejection or bundle them into my own small book to publish on my own, they are mine. They are like the found treasures in the ugly city, the carousel horse parked in the middle of nowhere, the shadows on the wall, the flowers blooming in the middle of a resort park. Kicked around, disparagingly handled, tossed from place to place and never appreciated but I see them and find beauty in them.

I guess what I’m saying is don’t let go of your own unique vision. Do what you think is the right thing to do and don’t let other people sway you when you KNOW what you want. If you want that big contract from one of the big six publishers, fine, go for it. Play the game. Shake hands. Smile. Make nice. But if you don’t want that, don’t feel obligated to go for it just because everyone else says it’s the right thing to do. If you’re frustrated and feel like you’re a square peg trying to get forced into a round or octagonal hole, then express that frustration loudly and do something about it. The shape of that hole ain’t gonna change, but if you want you can create a new hole that’s just the right shape for you. And there’s nothing wrong with that. There is nothing wrong with telling editors and publishers that you think that they are wrong. That is your right, both as a reader and as a writer. The indie movement in the music and movie industry happened precisely because both customers and artists told producers that they were wrong and then those customers and artists did something about it.

Thoreau did not have a high standard of living. Men of vision rarely do. But he left the world a better place because of his own unique vision of the world. He once said, in his book Walden Pond, that “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” These masses choose to live according to other people’s standards, trying to force themselves to fit their unique shapes into holes that were made with two dimensional cookie cutters. Thoreau understood that doing this was the equivalent of the ugly stepsister who lopped off the front of her foot so she get her foot to fit in Cinderella’s shoe. If that ugly stepsister had paid attention, she would have been able to see that while she didn’t get the pretty glass slipper, she did have something else that was hers and hers alone. Only she would ever be able to discover what that was, but only if she chose to.

Another quote Thoreau is known for is: “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” Let yourself hear that music. If you like broccoli and don’t like peas, then why force yourself to eat the peas?!?! They’re both good for you! If you like green tea and don’t like red tea, again, why force yourself to drink the red tea just because everyone says it’s good for you!?!? You’re already drinking the green tea.

Live your life. Do what you know to be the right thing for you. If that means ignoring the phone, then ignore the phone. If that means closing the door, then close the door. If that means, alternatively, shaking hands and networking, then do that. In the end the only thing that matters is whether you have followed your own voice. As Shakespeare said, “To thine ownself be true.” The rest doesn’t matter.

This Christmas a friend of mine gave me a chapbook written by someone she has taken writing classes from called The Order of Things (2005), by Sanora Bartels. I quite enjoyed some of the poetry and thought I would share a little review of it here on my blog. Most of the time when I do a review, I try to offer a picture and a link, but this is a chapbook so there’s no ISBN that I can find. I think you may need to contact the author directly to get a copy of her book so the links I have are to her blog and her writer’s group.

Instead of discussing all the poems, I will only touch upon the ones that struck me the most. Outside of the classroom dynamic of “critiquing a poem,” poetry is very personal and subjective. Past a certain level of craft (and yes, Bartels is professional), how one feels about a poem has to do more with one’s preferences and tastes.

The Order of Things is a (very) slim volume of poetry, about 5×8, a staple bound type. The cover painting and design are by Mark Neukom. The painting is a striking picture of a lone woman walking away whilst balancing in a tight rope. The rendering of the woman is very tightly drawn, but as the eye moves away from the central character, the picture gets fuzzy. While the subject of the picture is up in the air, so to speak, the background color of the cover is an earthy mustard, with the inner pages also being an earthy type.

The poetry and composition of the book are also as tightly focused on the central character, ostensibly the poet herself, as the picture is. If you’re a fellow writer, however, you understand that the self-character one draws upon when writing (especially in poetry) may or may not accurately reflect the author’s life. Emily Dickinson is a prime example. That being said, I do believe much of what is written is from Bartels’ personal experiences. That she is willing to bare bones to the glaring light of the writer’s pen is commendable.

The book is separated into four separate sections marked by Major Arcana in the Tarot: The Fool, The Lovers, The Hanged Man, The World. I thought these were interesting choices. The Fool is the very beginning of a journey. Starting out on the road, being full of energy, naivety, and hope. The Lovers can be anything from describing a relationship to describing grace and the choice between the divine and the mundane in one’s life. The Hanged Man – boy – the Hanged Man. Personally, I hate it when he shows up in my readings – waiting for the right time, waiting to learn the right lessons – painfully if you refuse to learn or less painfully if accept them. Then there’s The World. When everything comes together and wraps up and it’s the ending of one thing and the beginning of the rest of your journey – that is when you truly see The World. After thinking about the cards Bartels used to describe her poetry, I wondered what her poems could tell me.

The Fool

Two of the poems, “Elegy” and “Untouchable,” have appeared previously in Wordwrights! I found it intriguing that the first poem she begins this poetic journey with, “Elegy,” is an elegy to the end of someone’s life. But it is an elegy to someone who was there at the beginning of Bartels’ life. Here Bartels introduces the reader to the person who taught her to dream and to play and to love. I cried, remembering a similar person in my own life. In being willing to dig deep into a personal memory, Bartels was able to make this poem universal and it shows.

The next poem that struck home with me was “The Truth About Wolves.” I read it, and reread it and each time it made me snort – that being the only pithy response that instinctively came out at the revealing end of this poem based on Red Riding Hood. This was a clever look at that age-old tale.

The Lovers

Each of the poems in this section addresses a different aspect of love and sexuality. It was hard for me to read Lost and Found. It had that awkward adolescent feel of a first real sexual encounter. I wanted to look away and offer a robe to the character in the poem and at the same time read on, hoping she would find her comfort and fit in her own skin. But the poem that struck me the most was “Pete the Firefighter.” Raw, this poem addressed the near destructive nature of sexual attraction between some people. Shakespeare said that “brevity is the soul of wit” and this brief poem packs a power, raw punch.

The Hanged Man

It was difficult to wrap my brain around these poems. Then again, I have problems with The Hanged Man. So that’s not so unusual. The one I THINK I got the most was “Snow White’s Dream in Escrow.” Like many writers before her (and many after her) Bartels has tried to take the mythologies and legends that embed her psyche and reinterpret them for herself, as she did with “The Truth About Wolves.” In this poem, Bartels addresses Snow White’s desire and need for home, hearth, stability, in a 21st century need and desire for independence. It’s a dream we all have and sometimes it just stays a dream that we never quite reach.

The World

The volume of poetry begins in death and ends in more death. The poem I like best from this section is “She Wolf,” where it appears the author is able to find peace of a sort from the fierceness of city life by retreating further into the forest of herself. The words feel familiar and resonate as I repeat them to myself: “I ignore the urban pack; /I lie in a forest of felled words;/pulp condensed to page./My tongue perspires ink./Hungry,/I lick the marrow from the bones of words” (Bartels, “She Wolf,” The Order of Things (2005), p. 29).

As mentioned before, if you would like to read more by Sanora Bartels you can read her on her blog or contact her through the LA Writer’s Group.

I have been wanting to read On Spec: The Canadian Magazine of the Fantastic for a while, but kept putting it off. I wasn’t sure about spending money on a magazine I wouldn’t necessarily be able to submit to. I’m short of funds and they only accept hard copy submissions and I don’t have a printer (or again – funds to you know like pay for printing somewhere as well as postage to a foreign country), and you have to send International Reply Coupons with your SAE because, again, they can’t figure out their email and (and again – that takes more funds), BUT when a friend of mine had a story of hers appear in the Fall 2007 issue, I pretty much had to get myself a copy.

Reading through On Spec was, for the most part, a very pleasurable experience. But again – HELLO 21st CENTURY CALLING! Come on, On Spec! Start taking online submissions already! There are ways of safely accepting .rtf and .doc files and keeping track of what is spam and what is real without things falling into the cyber wasteland. Really. Even literary magazines like The Kenyon Review are doing it. If they can, you can, too.

On Spec is a perfect bound, 5×8 inch book with a good 1/2 inch margin around the text and easy to read serif type, 112 pages. I didn’t see any illustrations inside, but the cover is very nice, by Adrian Kleinbergen, and they did have photographs in back from their Pure Speculation Science Fiction and Fantasy Festival in October. They publish both poetry and fiction, and while they are a speculative fiction magazine, it tends to be of a more literary bent. If there are ever “sword and sorcery” stories in it (and there are) they are not your typical tales of knights and sorcerers. The first tale in this particular issue being a fine example of that.

FICTION

The Sorcerer’s Assistant by Leah Bobet

I would say this is a tale about choices. A man, Gerald, with little memory of who he is, comes to a sorceress’ tower out in the frozen wastes to the north. She is busy, but compassionate, so when he collapses on her doorstep she has her servants put him to bed, nurse him, feed him, and make him well. Meanwhile she goes back to reading and studying her spells. As she tells him later on, “they get fractious when ignored” (p.8 ). Though she doesn’t need a servant, Gerald makes himself useful in the tower. In the process of making himself useful in the Sorceress’ tower he learns much – about himself and about other things. There are several choices he has before him after obtaining this information. Some of those choices good and some bad. Some tread the middle gray road.

This was a good story to lead off with for the fall issue since it’s set in the cold wastes of the north (something people not Canadian probably associate with Canada). The ambivalence of the character Gerald is a subtle way of pulling the reader through the story. I appreciated this story, but I didn’t think it was the best in this issue. The editors, however, decided the author should be showcased and had an extended biography afterwards. Bobet is young, pretty, and has had an interesting life for such a young woman. Since On Spec began as a way of encouraging young writers, I suppose it makes sense to showcase her. Me, I like it better when middle-aged or older, crankier authors are showcased. Shows me there may be hope for me yet. I read about the young’uns and I just get bitter. But, it’s a well-crafted tale for all that.

The Night Visitor by Rose Hunter

In this tale, Hunter reminds us that the little tragedies and dramas of life coexist with the big disasters going on all around us. A young woman gets one of those annoying calls from a drunk acquaintance at 3 AM and has to deal with a younger man’s crush on her while also coping with a natural disaster. Hunter was clever in presenting the jaded protagonist and annoying boy, Rich, against the backdrop of a cheap walk up apartment and the televised disastrous events that repeat as they play out the small drama of the slightly older young woman and the younger man. In the end, compassion and the wisdom of foresight win out.

The characterization of the woman (who is never presented with a name, I think) and Rich is particularly well done. Her annoyance at his neediness is so very real. But one the elements I really liked in this story was how Hunter gradually revealed the setting throughout drama so that at the very end you truly understand the choice that is made.

The Pursuer by Scott Mackay

This story was well written, but not my cup of tea. Told from the first person view point of a sentient machine (or maybe it’s a close third person – it’s difficult to tell since it’s in machine-speak), it is about the machine’s fight for survival against a human. It’s very well done. I think it would have been difficult to constantly be in a coded mindset, which is what Mackay would have had to do to write from this viewpoint. The machine, Unit 724, makes choices as any “person” would do, though its choices are based on a different set of standards than a human might have.

This was an interesting read that made me feel as if my brain was being stretched. Not a bad thing. It’s good to exercise the brain every once in a while in directions we wouldn’t normally go, but this wasn’t a story that made me want to cozy up on the couch with a hot drink. Though well done, reading through it felt more like I was doing homework, like I needed to read it just to say I’d read it.

The Rainy Season by Chandra Rooney

Sometimes bad things just happen. And then again, sometimes good things just happen. There may or may not be any justification for either. They are just there and we, as sentient beings, have to deal with them and live through them and choose to grow or not grow with them. In this tale, Rooney writes about a young woman who is having a particularly miserable day, compounded by the fact that her cheap umbrella has sprung a leak right in the middle of a monsoon. We’ve all had those days. Sometimes, in the midst of them we are presented with something good. It could be very, very small – no more than the brush of a butterfly’s wing that we could choose not to see – but if we pay attention it could change our lives forever.

I’m going to say right out that I will be biased when reviewing this story because I know Chandra and I remember reading through the first drafts of this story when she was writing it. I absolutely love this story. I know the world she is writing in and I would like the rest of the “real” world to know about her world. This story, though brief, is packed full of raw emotion. Rooney is very good at painting in the small details such as the squeaky sneakers, or cheap white plastic umbrella handles, in such a way as to bring a punch to the larger big picture of the tale itself. Every time I read this story I cry. Diane Walton of On Spec appears to like it as well as she has nominated it for the Journey Prize, a Canadian literary award for emerging authors. Well done! Congratulations on the nomination, Chandra and good luck! I believe you deserve to win it.

Nine Sketches in Charcoal and Blood by Marie Brennan

A man of some notoriety passes on, leaving behind a life of mystery and several mysterious objects besides. At the auction of his property several people come together, connected by their relationship to this man, who have not seen each other in years. Their conversations take place in tense undertones and are punctuated by the genteel machinations of the auction. Why are they there? What are the objects that they deem so important?

This was a well written tale to curl up on a couch and read by the light of a single lamp and accompanied by a hot drink and classical music on the stereo. I would love to read more from this world that Brennan has created. The detail and the language were perfect. What happened before this story? What happened after? The characters she has created are solid, hard. You know that if you saw them in the hallway you would make room for them. They would be real and not figments of your imagination. And knowing they were real and what you have just read in her story, you would be scared silly, yet want to know more about who they are and what they are doing. I really enjoyed this story. If any of these stories should have been showcased, I would have chosen this one. I loved it. Made me want to read more of Brennan’s work.

…But With A Whimper by Greg Wilson

Someone of note is spending his final days puttering about his cottage and thinking back on past conquests. Though the reader is never told who this character is, they soon guess (though I had always assumed he’d been killed long before this). It’s no surprise then when an old enemy shows up for a final show down.

This was a clever tale. Wilson did a fine job of slowly revealing who the characters were and what was going to happen. It wasn’t my favorite, but it made me smile and chuckle to read it. Note: Never underestimate librarians.

A Coil of Thread by Trevor Morrison

Greek tragedy happens in the midst of every day life, and we can never tell where it’s going to come from or what form it will take. A nurse and her husband have a daughter with cancer who needs a bone marrow transplant and they have not been able to find any matches from donors. As the daughter’s life span appears to be nearing its end, the nurse’s work life appears to be taking on a weird life of its own.

This was an interesting story, well told. But what kept me reading was wondering what the author would do with it. There are several ways he could have chosen to go with this tale, but he only chose one. In discussing this story with a friend, we thought that this might be considered a truly Canadian tale because of the particular choice that was made. It was a poignant story.

The Blood of a Virgin is Hard to Come by Legitimately by Wesley Herbert

I really enjoyed this tale. Set in an alternate world that both does and does not mirror our own, a young woman who is NOT at the top of her class at school (at the beginning she is in fact cutting class), must take on a quest to save her father. I liked the detail of Herbert’s world, though it took a little getting into at first. And I really enjoyed the clever “homages” that the author paid to several science fiction, fantasy, and mythology traditions and stories. It was wittily and well done, I thought, and I was laughing by the end. Apparently Wesley Herbert used to be a regular contributor to On Spec before he was abducted by aliens. I hope he writes some more now that he’s back. I’d love to read more that came out of that brain.

POETRY

Falling by David Clink

Free verse that sort of behaves like stream of consciousness, this poem begins on the moon and ends up in your backyard. On the first read through, I didn’t like it. But after a couple more, I began to appreciate it more.

The Lullaby Stream by A.M. Arruin

I loved the use of words in this poem. I could see the trees and feel the cold stream slap itself against me. It was my favorite of the three in this issue.

It Being by Gary Pierluigi

In reading and rereading this poem, I am never sure I like it until the second to last line, which seems to make the parts before it that annoy me more worth while. The parts at the beginning still annoy me, but that second to last line is good.

And that, my good friends, is that. Another magazine review come to an end. I think if you choose to take a chance on this magazine (particularly this issue) that you’ll be glad you did.

For Christmas a friend of mine sent me a copy of Murder by Magic: Twenty Tales of Crime and the Supernatural (2004), an anthology edited by Rosemary Edghill. This friend of mine knows how much I love fantasy AND murder mysteries AND anthologies and this was a treat! I could tell it was a book when it arrived on my doorstep so I opened it a few days before I left for Christmas in case I wanted to take it along with me to read over Christmas. You know how when you were kid sometimes the most special books were the ones read over Christmas vacation? This was one of those.

A lot of discussion about cross-genre writing and story telling has littered the literary landscape lately. Some people grumble about it – old diehards not wanting to mix traditional scifi/fantasy with more literary story telling and newcomers frustrated with the lack of acceptance in a genre that grew out of a need to write something new that would encompass another way of expressing the human story. Personally, I love cross-genre stuff. Like the mutt at the pound, it seems to be a lot stronger and more hardy. The only reason we assign genre designations in the first place is so librarians and book sellers can figure out where to shelve books so people can find them. But the last thing readers and writers should do is fall into the trap of thinking they have to stick to one genre. That’s no fun at all! Much more fun to mix things up a little — like sprinkling a little pepper in your chocolate or a little cinnamon in your savory stew. It’s amazing what experimenting can do.

That being said, even Edghill decided to take this mix of tales and split them into categories for the reader. There are five categories: Murder Most Modern, Murder Unclassifiable, Murder Most Genteel, Murder Fantastical, and Murder Most Historical. In her Introduction, Edghill said that when she sent out her call for submissions she requested only that 1) a crime (preferably murder) be committed and 2) magic and/or the supernatural be somehow involved “either in the commission or the solution of the crime” (p. 1). Her mix of authors go from heavy hitters like Mercedes Lackey, Laura Resnick, Esther Friesner, and Jennifer Roberson to relative newcomers like Will Graham. The tales range from absolutely fantastic to pretty darn good. I have to say I was rarely disappointed in this anthology. I was a LITTLE disappointed that Rosemary Edghill herself did not enter a tale. But, oh well, there ya go.

Because there are twenty (count’em – 20) tales and people’s eyes get tired when reading long missives on the computer my comments on each will be relatively brief.

Piece of Mind – Jennifer Roberson

Whether because of the setting (Los Angeles) or the attitude (crotchety middle-aged dude) I found it easy to slip into the point of view of Roberson’s protagonist. She was able to intertwine the hard-edge of an ex-cop who is constantly worrying at an old cold case with a New Age animal psychic and that is so totally LA. The ex-cop is a bit stereotypical (divorced, cranky, estranged from his own emotions). But I found the psychic to be a refreshing mix. Roberson gives her the typical LA actress/model/trainer exterior, but for entirely different reasons. While I wasn’t charmed by the story of how the psychic is able to make the ex-cop face his demons, it did grab me emotionally.

Special Surprise Guest Appearance by… – Carole Nelson Douglas

This was a very clever story, I thought. Anyone who has seen the movie The Prestige or has studied magicians at all knows about how magic tricks have three stages: The set up, the performance, and then the “prestige” or the effect. Douglas has taken this form of the magic trick and incorporated it into her tale of an egotistical Vegas magician who meets his match as he agrees to become a rival’s mark for the evening. Again, I wasn’t charmed by this tale, but I did appreciate the clever Twilight Zone effect of it.

Doppelgangster – Laura Resnick

This story made me laugh. The protagonist, Vito, is your stereotypical wiseguy existing in the world from hit to hit, living by his own mafia code. And while he was telling side stories about various hits while also relating the arc of the story to the reader (i.e. tracking down who was taking down wiseguys in two rival gangs) I found myself laughing out loud at his comments and observations. The story was clever, but what kept me reading was Vito’s voice.

Mixed Marriages Can Be Murder – Will Graham

I LOVED this story. Can’t tell you why because that would be giving away some of the twist, which I figured out fairly early in the story. That I figured some of it out in the beginning didn’t spoil anything for me though. Just made me want to read more to see how Graham was going to use it. Suffice it to say that Mr. and Mrs. Steele are kind of a mix between John Steed and Emma Peel of The Avengers and Nick and Nora Charles of the Thin Man series. They solve crimes together while exhibiting impeccable, sophisticated, cosmopolitan taste. I really enjoyed this one.

The Case of the Headless Corpse – Josepha Sherman

I have a weakness for cop shows, especially the partnered kind like Rosemary & Thyme, The Inspector Lynley Mystery Series or Law & Order or anything like that. And I think that is one of the reasons I enjoyed this story. I really did want to find out who committed the murder and was intrigued in following the threads of the investigation. This was a good old-fashioned mystery that just happens to take place in a world where magic is taken for granted. I really appreciated that.

A Death In The Working – Debra Doyle

I enjoyed this story because of the way it was framed and the style in which it was told. It was framed as part of a historical anthropological text with all sorts of academic footnotes that anyone who has done any kind of academic research can appreciate. Similar in style to HRF Keating’s Inspector Ghote mysteries, this particular story investigates the death of a mage during a magical circle working and whether or not there was criminal intent in that death. It wasn’t one of the stories that stood out for me, but I did appreciate the style.

Cold Case – Diane Duane

Cold Case tells the tale of an inspector who is kind of an investigator into crimes in a Ghost Whisperer kind of way. He gets the ghosts at a crime scene to open up and tell about their murders so he can help them cross over and also track down the killers. This inspector has been visiting this particular home for a while trying to get the ghost to open up and let him know about the day she died. When he finally is able to initiate contact and establish what happened, he is met with very surprising results. It’s a little sad, but also a little happy at the end.

Snake in the Grass – Susan R. Matthews

Normally I’m not a fan of any stories that use Voodoo or Voodoo-like elements as the magical basis. Not judging it in any way; it’s just not my magic of choice. But it can be a very useful magic to use (as with Doppelgangster above) because of the elements involved in the workings. They can be spooky and cruel and vicious and oddly just all at the same time. In Matthews’ tale, a young woman’s mentor has been killed and that mentor’s pet or familiar set up to take the blame. It is up to the woman to overcome her distaste for her mentor’s rituals and to investigate what exactly happened. Not my favorite and I got a little confused reading it, but over all it was well done.

Double Jeopardy – M.J. Hamilton

Double Jeopardy is another one that confused me slightly. I got the feeling that this is a world the author has already established and knows very well. Could be she has readers who know that world very well also. But it was my first time stumbling through it so I tripped up a few times while reading it. In this story a young woman has to figure out not only who killed her twin, but also who ordered the hit, and then mete out cosmic justice. One of the things I appreciated about this story was Hamilton establishing that while the protagonist was comfortable with hunting down criminals and investigating crimes, she was not comfortable with being the one to administer justice. The main character understood full well that in order to do this correctly she had to be able to be impartial and not just be doing it for vengeance’ sake. I really liked that about this story.

Witch Sight – Roberta Gellis

This story kind of reminded me of Anne McCaffrey’s tales about Pern. Not that it had anything to do with dragons, but it did have to do with self-serving adults who take advantage of the naivety of children and adolescents. There was also a little bit of the Salem Witch Hunt feel in this story, but as if it were a far off historical notation. It was a nice story. It didn’t stand out for me, but I enjoyed it.

Overrush – Laura Anne Gilman

I was confused and befuddled by this story. I couldn’t quite grasp the point or whether or not the mystery was actually solved. It was my least favorite in this anthology. That doesn’t mean I didn’t like it at all or enjoy parts of it, just that if I had to put them in order, this would be last on the list. However, one of the aspects of the story I did like was the side-effect that magic has on the user – as a kind of drug rush. This means that contrary to other worlds where magic seems to give the Adept or Mage longer life, magic actually may shorten the life of those who use it. I liked that twist because I can see the logic of it. In this particular story a young woman’s mentor dies ostensibly from an overdose of magic and she wants to track down where the overdose came from. One of the twists is that the more she tracks down his killer, the more she suffers as well and gets closer to death. Interesting view.

Captured in Silver – Teresa Edgerton

Edgerton’s tale mixed the feel of a Sherlock Holmes mystery with a world she created in The Queen’s Necklace. So, if you’re not sure whether or not to enter that world, this might give you a smattering of a taste for what it might be like. In this tale an inspector looks into the death of a man whom NO ONE mourns. In fact, most people in the city would probably reward whomever it was that killed this particular person. However, murder is murder and justice must be done so our intrepid investigators look into every possibility both magical and mundane until they finally track down the killer. I enjoyed the style of this story and it did pique my interest about the rest of Edgerton’s world.

A Night at the Opera – Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

While one of the tales above hinted at Nick and Nora Charles, this one uses them purposefully and mixes a smattering of Dashiel Hammett in as well. Imagine one of the Thin Man tales in a magical universe. The plot is a little thin in my opinion, but it’s meant to be. You’re meant to enjoy the world the story is in and appreciate the people in it. I liked this story.

A Tremble in the Air – James D. Macdonald

This story’s protagonist is a little like Hercule Poirot, from Agatha Christie. Macdonald uses that method where he portrays the viewpoint of the protagonist from a very tight third person, while never revealing what’s going on inside the protagonist’s head. That way the reader continues guessing as to whodunit until the very end at the final reveal. This was a little thin, a little predictable, and the magic element was small, but the protagonist was enjoyable as was Macdonald’s writing. He was very good at crafting his scenes. I could feel the settings.

Murder Entailed – Susan Krinard

This was one of my favorite tales as it’s one of those murders in a manse type of things that needs to be solved before the police get there. Imagine Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover, where the inheritance of “gifts” is assumed and even bred for in the aristocratic lines. Then imagine a murder mystery where someone is murdered because of and for and through those very gifts. I didn’t feel like the pay-off was good enough for me in the end (though it was very revealing), but I still really enjoyed the story.

Dropping Hints – Lawrence Watt-Evans

This was an interesting tale of logical deduction. A young duke visits a wizard to cement a strong relationship between his family and the wizard. In the process of the visit, however, a murder is committed and the duke uses logical deduction to figure out who the murderer was. I liked this one because while magic was inherent to the setting, the solving of the crime was pure mundane police work and logic.

Au Purr – Esther Friesner

Friesner is always good for me to read and she didn’t disappoint me this time either. She combined several of the elements I like most in stories: cats, interesting women, murder, unsuspected friendships, and at least one character who is uber-sarcastic. In this case, a witch’s sister is found dead. So the witch disguises herself as a cat to investigate the murder. There was one part where I thought – “oh no – but that makes it so sad” but then she brings it about to make it happy again. It’s all good. All Friesner. Really enjoyed it.

Getting the Chair – Keith R. A. De Candido

De Candido’s story is another where it’s a pair of detectives (one of whom is half elf) investigating a murder and playing off of each other in the course of the investigation. In this particular case they are investigating the murder of pretty inept and useless wizard with his own set of phobias, such as the phobia of fresh air. There was a great sense of humor to the whole thing, especially if, like me, you really have a weakness for crime shows. I hope De Candido writes more in this particular world because I found it pretty entertaining.

The Necromancer’s Apprentice – Lillian Stewart Carl

Set during the earlier part of the reign of Elizabeth I, this tale is about how an apprentice, despite a few mishaps, helps solve a particularly sticky murder mystery. Carl sets the scene well, so I wasn’t pulled out of the story by any niggling little things. In other words, she did her research. She also likes colorful language, which was fun to read. I think she’s making a little fun of her Shakespeare as well. It was a little thin in my opinion, but I enjoyed it.

Grey Eminence by Mercedes Lackey

I loved, Loved, LOVED this story! It made me cry and want to pick up more stories in this same world if Lackey would write them. If you’ve ever read The Little Princess, or watched the movie, then it has that type of turn of the century feel, only in this story the school really is a nice school run by a very kind matron. Nan and Sarah Jane are two special little girls with unique talents that the matron is helping them to learn about. Sarah Jane is from an upper middle class family while Nan is of the servant class, yet they have become best friends and work well together. Nan is more careful and cautious – more aware of the type of trouble they can get into. Sarah Jane might be a little more “bright” and book smart, but is not as street smart as Nan. Both of them have other special friends that help them with their talents. I really liked this story. I was sad when it ended because I wanted to read more.

Phew! Now that’s done!

So, on the whole, I highly recommend this book. It was a good read that offered a variety of tales that slipped from one thing to another and kept me entertained. I think you’ll enjoy it if you decide to pick it up and read it, too.

It really has been a while since I posted something real and as I’m coming up on my year anniversary for this blog I thought it would behoove me to post a little something. So here’s a progress report and some of the reason why I have been absent lately:

1. Whilst in New Mexico over Christmas rediscovered parts of myself I need to continue with my new life. Psychic room. Los Angeles doesn’t have any unless you’ve got a large enough personality to make room for yourself. Now I get it. I need to find a place where I have psychic room to be me. Don’t know where that is yet, though. All I know is that it’s NOT in Los Angeles.
2. I am still looking for writing, editing and proofreading work and since the turn of the year have not found any AT ALL.
3. Found an out of print book that I needed for research for one of my stories. I read it years ago when I found it in a children’s section of the public library in Bellingham, Washington. In working on my current story I was cruising the internet and realized the research I wanted was in that book. It was not in my library here in Los Angeles, but I found an old library copy online for sale and ordered it and spent time reading that for the current WIP. By the way, the current copy I found is from the Yakima (Washington) Public Library (heehee!). Would have been funnier if it had been from Wenatchee or Bellingham, but Yakima will do. *grin*
4. I have received no less than 4 rejections since New Year’s Eve. Yep. Four (4) rejections. Two from poetry submissions and two from story submissions. I haven’t had the heart to look at those pieces and either revise and send out again, or just store away for another day. So I’m just letting the emails stew in my inbox until I have the energy to deal with those pieces.
5. I finished the afghan I’ve been crocheting for years and years and years…(actually – began it years ago, gave up and put it away, and found it again in November when looking in my craft box for ideas of what to make for people for Christmas and decided to start working on it again). While not revenue enhancing, this particular accomplishment does make me feel much better. When I get the pics developed I’ll upload them.
6. I do have some book and magazine reviews I would like to post in the near future. Again – when I have energy to write them up.
7. I still am working on an article on my trip to Evergreen Colorado with a friend of mine. But again – it all depends on my energy levels. Plodding one step at a time.
8. I have been going through the lists of Opportunity NOCS emails and some of the Guru.com listings to see about jobs, as well as some of the Career Builder listings. Media Bistro only has classes to take, but no opportunities for work yet. May look into those classes soon to see if I can use some of those classes on copy editing, etc for retraining credit through the unemployment office. Monster.com hasn’t been helpful at all. And those tutoring companies and temp companies (yes – ManPower included) I signed up with have yet to get back to me about anything.
9. There’s a copy editing test I need to take that I keep putting off because I’m afraid of failure. I do have the Gregg Reference Manual finally (I was waiting for a library copy and waiting so long I finally just decided to cough up the $50 for my own copy) and have dipped into that. The Gregg Reference Manual is the go-to manual for formatting for writers in the rest of the (nonacademic but more like business and other) writing world. In the past I have had manuals on APA and MLA formatting, which may be similar, but is not the same.
10. I have been able to keep my apartment shoveled out and relatively clean – dishes and laundry done, floor vacuumed and spot mopped, bed made. But just barely. I was proud I was able to plan for the little tea I had. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to make it.
11. Leads me to my final bit of progress report. Soon I will be able to see a real doctor with my blood test in hand and s/he will hopefully prescribe the correct thyroid medication for me. The thing is the medication itself is fairly inexpensive. It’s the test and doctors visits I was unable to afford when I was gainfully employed yet without benefits. So, I am really looking forward to getting my medication and getting my energy back. So I can put more energy into actually getting on with the rest of my life.

Here’s the thing: As long as I am on unemployment I have to be able to say every week that I have looked for work every day and that nothing has kept me from being available for work in my profession every day. I also have to report any work (such as the freelance I have found) when I find it. Then it’s subtracted from what I receive in my unemployment. However, because my thyroid is basically being left untreated (except for the bovine extract I’m taking which doesn’t really help all that much), my energy level continues to sink. So, it’s getting more and more difficult to even get up out of bed every morning to look for work – even though it just means toddling over to the computer in my jammies and flip flops. I set the alarm for 7 AM and hopefully am up by 10 AM. Ethically and morally, if I’m going to be truthful to the Employment Development Department and keep faith with the friends and family that have helped me out so far, my energy needs to go into looking for a job first and everything else second. By the time I’ve looked for writing work and done what errands need to be done (take out garbage, check mail, deposit check, take more CDs or DVDs to Amoeba to sell, pick up mac and cheese, etc at the store) or washed the dishes or vacuumed the apartment, I don’t have much energy left. I hate sounding like a whiny invalid, but there it is. I’m a whiny invalid. Trying not to be, but there ya go.

Yesterday I walked to the library to turn in a book on grant writing (I think I need to actually either buy the book or take a class or do both to be an effective grant writer who is actually hire-able – another thing to look into regarding retraining) and dropped off a duffel bag at the donation bin at the grocery store. On the way I kept muttering to myself: “This is good for me. This is good for me. This is good for me…” (my version of “I Think I Can” from The Little Engine That Could). I was out of breath and sweaty by the time I got to the library.

It’s maybe – MAYBE – 1/3 of a mile. If that. Crap! That’s bad!

This is why I’ve been neglecting my blog, not writing up reviews, not getting any further on WIPs. I know. Other people have overcome much more and complained a lot less and all I can say is I’m working on it. Day by Day. Like my business name and slogan – Putt Putt Productions – Slow and Steady Wins the Race – I’m taking it one day at a time. I’ll try to do better. Hopefully you’ll see some reviews and blogging about my writing here in the next few days and not just more whining.

Online friend of mine and I were going to get together for tea, but as we both are short of funds and it’s been really cold and wet here lately I thought we’d both be better off if I just invited him over for tea, cuz we’d be assured that 1) it wouldn’t cost anything and 2) it would be warm and we’d actually have a seat. In the middle of that I realized I had other writerly friends who might want to come over on a Monday afternoon to drink warm tea, eat fun things and talk about writerly stuff so I asked them over as well. We had a really nice time. And Pye even behaved himself. I’m very proud of him. What’s funny, is the guy I originally was going to have tea with couldn’t make it. He had to come up with an article at the last minute, which is probably good as it probably meant he was going to get paid for it. Always a good thing.

I loved our conversation this afternoon. It ranged from discussions about time travel and quarks and theories about the universe to whether or not we’d want to meet our characters in real life. It was a cool conversation with a bunch of cool folks!  Inspires me to keep on going, I tells ya.

Now I need to go clean up the kitchen. *sigh* But my mother was getting worried that I wasn’t getting enough human interaction, so maybe this will make her feel better.

Hope everyone had a great New Year. As calm as it was, I’m still feeling a bit pooped and wrung out. So, I may be taking a bit of a sabbatical while I get my sea legs under me again. I have a bunch of stuff I want to blog about: review a book, updates on my writing, etc. Just don’t have the energy for it right now. I may lurk occasionally and check in, but for now I’m just going to spend some time playing energy catch-up and work on getting some revenue enhancing stuff coming in.

Now, I think I need a nap: