Not-Really-A-Review: Short Fiction from the Not-so-Distant Past

Instead of reading a novel last week, I decided to read speculative short fiction from several of the collections I have in my possession. The last two novels I read were Embassytown by China Mieville and The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester, both of which are thought-provoking, dense works that, frankly, left my brain a little addled. I thought I'd read something shorter for a week and pick off some of that crispy fried goodness left on my brain. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), these stories proved to be quite contrary to my needs. These were as dense and thought-provoking and downright entertaining as the aforementioned novels - some of them perhaps more so.

J.G. Ballard, from The Best Short Stories of J.G. Ballard - "The Concentration City," "Deep End," "The Garden of Time," "The Atrocity Exhibition," "Plan for the Assassination of Jaqueline Kennedy," "The Drowned Giant," "Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan," and "The Assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy Considered as a Downhill Motor Race." The earlier stories in this group - particularly "The Drowned Giant," "Deep End," and "The Garden of Time," - concern themselves with the greenhouse effect and/or global warming, though I don't know if such terms existed - or, if they did, if they were as much a part of the public consciousness as they are now, but perhaps it is so - when these stories first appeared in the magazines. Ballard's eye for detail in "The Drowned Giant" is magnificent; and "The Garden of Time," about a man keeping a rampaging army from his gates by picking time flowers, is simply one of the best stories I've ever read. Ballard's later work is more experimental, both in subject matter and style. These pieces illuminate the sometimes tenuous and strange connections between sexual arousal, politics, and psychopaths. They are difficult to read and to understand in one sitting, but can be "rewarding" (which is hardly the right word here, but "disconcerting" or "terrifying" might not entice you to read them even a first time) if read more than once.

Theodore Sturgeon, from Dangerous Visions - "If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister?" I've heard many great things about Theodore Sturgeon and fortunately found what most in the field consider his masterpiece, More Than Human, a few weeks ago at a used bookstore in Chicago; however, I wasn't impressed with this particular story. It had nothing to do with the story's subject matter - which makes a case for the benefits of incest and, though offensive to our notion of sexuality, Sturgeon does his best to give an opposing argument to such notions - but because I thought the narrator of the story was inconsistent from beginning to end. It wasn't that he was unreliable, which is fine by me in a narrator, but that the narrator wasn't as fully realized as a character at the beginning as much as he had at the end. Again, that might've worked, but the story began near the end with the narrator relating the story to someone else; thus, he should've been who he was at the end at the beginning. How's that for convoluted?

Sonya Dorman, from Dangerous Visions - "Go, Go, Go, Said the Bird" The story begins with a woman running from something. She knows she is about die and does not want to. In her final moments, she sees "snapshots" of her life in the frightening post-apocalyptic world Dorman has created, a world of starvation and cannibalism and strange rites and stranger peoples. Dorman rules the word, and each sentence builds on the tension of the last, but she is also able to pack a wollop of emotional depth in the story's harrowing swiftness. This was hands-down a favorite in the Dangerous Visions anthology for me.

David R. Bunch, from Dangerous Visions - "Incident in Modern" and "The Escaping" In the first story, a momentary truce has been declared by warring machine-like peoples. During this interim, a person of the flesh thanks one of the machine people's officers for letting him bury his dead without the sounds of war, thinking the cease-fire was meant for respect. Of course, it was nothing of the sort and when the machine person explains this, the flesh person is angry and embarrased. In the second story, a prisoner escapes into a fantasy of flying, of going up and up and up. As Bunch says in his afterword, both stories say "something...about truth and untruth." They're very good and very ambiguous.

Roger Zelazny, from Dangerous Visions - "Auto-da-fe" Zelazny, like Sturgeon, has a near-mythical status as a writer (see: Lord of Light, one of the greatest works of fiction in the last 100 years, seriously) but, like Sturgeon's, I wasn't impressed by this story. Though Sturgeon's had an emotional heft to it, Zelazny's was a trite affair. The concept is this: in the future matadors perform with near-sentient automobiles. Zelazny, like Gene Wolfe (see below), writes well at the sentence leve and handles a turn-of-phrase nicely, but I really thought, while reading this story, if he hadn't written this as a kind of burn-you-at-the-stake joke.

Harlan Ellison, from Deathbird and Other Stories - "Neon," "Delusion for a Dragon Slayer," "Bleeding Stones," and "The Deathbird." At the beginning of the book, Ellison advises the reader not to read all of these stories in one sitting as it would likely prove too much to handle. He's probably right. Each of these stories considers gods, goddesses, God, blasphemy, fervor, and pretty much everything inbetween. The four listed above are the only four I've read in this collection. "The Deathbird" is an experimental work, asking the question, what if Satan wasn't the bad guy, and God was a madman? "Delusion for a Dragon Slayer" is one of the most upsetting - in a good way - pieces I've read in a while because it deals with a hero who just isn't good enough and, well, a lot selfish (something I think about constantly) and the consequences. "Bleeding Stones" is a fairly ridiculous and graphic affair of a gargoyles coming to life from the tops of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan. "Neon," about a man implanted with lungs that glow after a bad accident, was anticlimactic in my opinion, though this story, out of each of those I've read, had some of the most striking images.

Gene Wolfe, from The Best of Gene Wolfe and The Fifth Head of Cerberus - "The Island of Dr. Death," "The Fifth Head of Cerberus," "'A Story' by John V. Marsch," and "V.R.T." Around these parts, Gene Wolfe is known as "Commander Ambiguous" - in that, a lot of what happens in his fiction resides in that land of "was-it-or-wasn't-it-ness." Part of the reason for this is simple: Wolfe concerns himself with themes of ambiguity: self-identity, the role of the individual in society, social norms, post-colonial thought, etc. There is no definitive right or wrong answer in questions like what is the self? or how much do you really know who we are? or where do I fit in, and how, and when? etc. Any answers are left to the individual to sort out in his or her head and will most likely differ from person to person. Just as important, Wolfe is a master at the sentence level. Each of these stories were phenomenal.

Your Monday Morning Mock Playlist #8

Oh, that weekend. Am I right, Fauxyalists? Here; have some faux musical goodness to start off your work week right. Meanwhile, your humble Fauxst begins a new journey today in the sales industry. This should be interesting, eh?

1. Al Green - "Love & Happiness" - I'm Still in Love With You

2. M. Ward - "Flaming Heart" - End of Amnesia

3. Girl Talk - "Too Deep" - Night Ripper

4. Bob Dylan - "Little Maggie" - Good As I Been To You

5. Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins - "Happy" - Rabbit Fur Coat

6. Wolf Parade - "Bang Your Drum" - At Mount Zoomer

7. DJ Shadow - "Napalm Brain/Scatter Brain" - Endtroducing

8. The Libertines - "Begging" - Up the Bracket
9. Margot & The Nuclear So & So's - "My Baby (Shoots Her Mouth Off) - Animal!
10. The National - "Fake Empire" - Boxer
11. Okkervil River - "The Rise" - I Am Very Far
12. The Beatles - "When I Get Home" - A Hard Day's Night
13. Radiohead - "Go Slowly" - In Rainbows
14. Beck - "Cold Brains" - Mutations
15. Neutral Milk Hotel - "Two-headed Boy" - In The Aeroplane Over the Sea
16. The Zombies - "Time of the Season" - Odessey & Oracle
17. Joanna Newsom - "Three Little Babes" - The Milk-Eyed Mender
18. Spoon - "The Beast and Dragon, Adored" - Gimme Fiction
19. Modest Mouse - "Here It Comes" - Everywhere and His Nasty Parlour Tricks
20. Adam Faucett - "Red Casket" - The Great Basking Shark

This Mock Playlist brought to you by clean jeans. Because nothing gives that crisp feeling like clean jeans.

Clarion +1: A Year of Writing

This time last year I was on an airplane, nervous with anticipation, for a 6-week writing "boot camp" in San Diego. I was on my way to the Clarion Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers' Workshop. It is an intensive workshop taught by some of the best writers in the field. The instructors during my six weeks were Delia Sherman and Ellen Kushner, Dale Bailey, George RR Martin, Samuel R. Delany, Jeff and Ann Vandermeer. Their insights, as well as the insights of the seventeen other classmates (all of which I'm proud to call friends and who are some of the smartest writers you'll ever read), have inspired me to not only understand what it is I do better but, simply, to do it better. With that in mind (instead of waxing nostalgic in this post because, let's face it, I miss those Clarionites every day), I'd like to post a few of my accomplishments over the past year.

Since Clarion, I've had two short stories published in Aphelion Magazine, Prime Mincer Literary Journal, and one forthcoming from Digital Science Fiction in July. The story published in DSF is a revised Clarion submission story; and the story published in Prime Mincer was the story I submitted during the final week of Clarion.

Not including these three stories, I've completed 13 short stories - most of which are in the 4,500-5,500 word range, though some are longer, nearing novelette and novella status and some are flash fiction pieces, less than a thousand words. A few of these pieces have been submitted to various markets and are awating rejections/acceptances from editors and, though some have been trunked indefinitely, most are still in the revision process. Altogether, my total word count for short stories is approximately 47,500 words.

In November, I joined the National Novel Writing Month competition, completing half of a novel at 51,180 words. To be honest, I didn't finish it because I had decided to go into the competition without a game plan. It was actually a conscious choice - I wanted to see what it was like to write without knowing anything about the story or, at the very least, having the vaguest, roughest of outlines. The outline wasn't plot-centric; the character description was for only one charater, named Moo, and it went something like this: "Moo is a thief but he doesn't know it." Beyond that and a couple of names for worlds (this was a multi-dimensional galaxy spanning story), I had nothing.

What I've done the past few weeks, however, is returned to this novel to see if there was anything worth scraping. There is, in fact, a lot worth scraping, but I don't think the novel (or half the novel) works together. About two-thirds of the way through I break from the main characters to focus on a character that, though he was secondary to begin with, kept creeping up in the text to the point where 9,000 words was dedicated to telling his story, though his story had nothing to do with the main action. Reviewing the novel has shown me that there was a lot of interesting things going on that didn't have much to do with one another and, rather than try to tie it all up in some forced bow at the end, it seems the best way to handle the situation is to create two or three novellas out of it. This is exhilarating to me for a number of reasons. Chiefly, because it has been a long time since I've written anything over 10,000 words, and I've always enjoyed longer works (yes, I am obsessive over word count). I'm also excited because I really love the voices of several of the characters - Moo, Tok Willow, Nyanna, and Balador - and am looking forward to getting back into writing about them.

One of the other lessons learned from NaNoWriMo is that I need to plan if I'm going to attempt a novel. Between short stories, I've been jotting down notes for just such a task in a faded green notebook with a bird on a limb that I markered in black permanent marker. By the end of July, I'd like to seriously start working on it. (I've always read more novel-length works than short stories anyway and, in much of the feedback from editors and beta readers, I've been told there is enough material within some of my short fiction to extend into a novella or novel. Let's hope that's true.)

My sister Mandy and I also worked on a moleskins project together. This consisted of me writing a very short story (sometimes more than one in a single volume) in a moleskin notebook, leaving blank pages at certain intervals in the tale. Mandy would draw pictures to coincide with the themes or scenes from the story. I think we made eight of these. Several sold at Spencer Bell Legacy shows my band, Tin Tin Can, performed at.

Currently, I am working on four stories. Two of them are science fiction, a third is horror, and the fourth has elements of heroic fantasy though it isn't quite that. The first of science fiction pieces, tentatively titled "The Contra-Tuba's Soul," is coming along nicely though it, like a lot of my fiction, wants to be longer than I initially thought it would be; the other science fiction piece, tentatively titled "Sleeping Bird," is in its beginning stages, even though I had the idea for it the fifth week of Clarion. The horror piece is a story I wrote at Clarion, titled "Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, Aye," but I never submitted it for critiques because it really wasn't a story yet - it was a piddly thing of no significance, full of gratuitous sex and violence (instead, I wrote and submitted a terribly sentimental piece about an elderly lady taken to a sock hop by an alien and which caused Jeff Vandermeer, co-instructor that week, to exclaim, in full lambasting glory, "It's as cheesy as Beaches!"). After some thought, however, I've decided to retool the story because, despite most of the action, I'm fond of the narrative voice. The sort-of-heroic-fantasy story concerns a small island village and the soldiers who return home from a war. It is a melancholic piece. It's the kind of story where all of the elements fall into place and the world is so vividly realized for me that all I really have to do is type.

Looking toward the future, I'll be working on the above-mentioned novel from my bird-on-a-limb notebook, as well as piecing together - or pulling apart, rather - the two or three novellas from the NaNoWriMo half-novel. I also have several ideas - some of which have been floating around in my head since December (and one since 2005, eesh) - for a few other novels, so I'll begin writing notes for these soon. I also hope to continue writing short fiction: thankfully, every time I fear I'll run out of ideas for short fiction, another one inevitably comes along.

So. The final word count - it always comes down to the final word count, doesn't it? - for the first year post-Clarion is 98,680 words. I've had 3 acceptances, 4 currently pending, and 43 rejections. Before Clarion I wasn't serious about writing - I had written one and half novels when I was 19, five short stories in college, and two since graduating that were rejected from one literary magazine each and trunked. In fact, I'd only decided to get serious about writing shortly before being accepted to the workshop, starting off by writing something - anything - every day, no matter what. I've done that, almost without fail, for over a year now. But, since Clarion and my wonderful classmates' and instructors' techniques and insights, I do so with a better understanding of the craft and labor of writing. Thank you all.

What's for Dinner: Steamed Tilapia on Rice & Tiramisu

Over the last few weeks, Moddang and I have been watching a lot of Iron Chef (the Japanese original) and Oliver's Twist, the cooking show starring Food Revolution's Jamie Oliver. Moddang cooks mostly traditional Thai dishes, never sparing the spice; my "expertise" lies in sandwiches - I have special concotions that include sesame salad dressing, chili sauce, and other various assortments atypical to sandwiches. After much discussion, however, we've decided to try our hand at recipes outside our safety zones. Last night was our first go at it.

Our appetizer was very simple and, in fact, took no cooking. It was Sartori's Balsamic Bella Vitano cheese sliced atop rice crackers. The cheese is mildly crunchy with a very fruity taste. The cheese itself was wonderful. The rice crackers were actually quite flavorful and, in my opinion, nearly smothered the refined taste of the cheese.

For the main course, we steamed tilapia fillets wrapped in aluminum foil. Added to the fish were diced tomatoes, fresh cilantro, a dash of extra virgin olive oil, pinches of salt and pepper. Once the fish was sufficiently steamed, we cut the fillet into chunks and placed the chunks in bowls of rice, squeezing lime juice from fresh limes over it. The great thing about tilapia is that it has a very light scent so, if you don't like fishy-smelling fish, this is the fish for you.

We got a little lazy when making the tiramisu. Instead of doing two layers, which is most common, we did only one; neither did we let it set in the fridge for 2-3 hours, chiefly because we wanted desssert right away. For our tiramisu we used one egg, separating out the egg whites, and whisked the yolk in a bowl, adding sugar. Once the egg was whisked nicely, we added half a tub of Mascarpone cheese (saving the other half in case this all went wrong), and mixed it with the yolk and sugar. We then dribbled about a shot of rum to the mix. Next, we dipped ladyfingers into coffee (you might want to use espresso though) and placed them in a glass pan (we used a round pan, but it's more common to use square or rectangular pans), and dribbled two more shots of rum atop the ladyfingers. Moddang spread melted cookies'n'cream chocolate over the ladyfingers and then spread the cheese topping over that. We sprinkled cocoa powder and crushed coffee beans on top and put it in the fridge to settle...for about ten minutes before saying "to hell with that!" and flaked some dark chocolate on it, and ate.

Everything tasted quite good, regardless of our laziness in certain areas. I don't recommend being lazy, but it was getting late and we were really hungry. Anyway, I hope we keep doing this because I enjoy cooking, to the extent that I can cook, and will try to post whatever recipes we come up with. Until next time: Don't forget to masticate!

Tin Tin Can Recording: Father's Day Sessions, Day 2

Our second day of recording was a 14-hour session. It was initially plagued by some technical difficulties, but our engineer and studio owner, Mark Baykian, is pretty quick fellow and the difficulties were fixed in no time. The band set a grueling pace, doing take after take after take of each song. I think we got some really excellent stuff to tape, and I know the five of us are excited to share it with the world. We'll be working on vocals and overdubs over the next few sessions.

Here are some interesting things to note about the recording sessions:

1) We used two and a half reels of 2" analog tape to record the songs on.

2) A D19 mic was used to record scratch vocals with; this is the same mic used in a lot of Beatles recordings.

3) The cats' names are Lucky and Mikra. They did not allow their pictures to be taken.

4) Chris's guitar was recorded in an echo chamber beneath the studio, not unlike a dungeon.

5) Mike tuned a piano.

Here are some pictures of Day Two:

Your Mid-Week Mock Playlist

Fear not, Fauxyalists, Day Two of the Father's Day Session with Tin Tin Can will be posted soon (once blogger allows me to upload pictures again!). In the meantime, here is a list of the records we listened to on our way to Detroit, both weeks, in no particular order. Your Fauxst is working from memory here: apologies if a record is left out.

Away we go!

1. The Black Fortys - Jnana Veda

2. Arcade Fire - Funeral

3. LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening

4. The Pixies - Surfer Rosa

5. Sleeping in the Aviary - Great Vacation

6. Paul McCartney - Ram

7. Outkast - Stankonia

8. My Morning Jacket - Circuital

9. Man Man - Life Fantastic

10. Bob Dylan - Hard Rain

11. Ben Folds Five - Whatever and Ever Amen

Your Fauxst can remember no more. This Mock Playlist brought to you by yummyinmytummy.

Tin Tin Can Recording: Father's Day Sessions, Day 1

These next few posts will mostly be pictures because, umm, recording is hard and hasn't left me with lots of free time. We worked diligently for thirteen hours yesterday, getting some really good takes on songs; today will be no different. I will have a rundown of antics and other nefarious deeds done in Pontiac later this week. Until then, enjoy these. I'll post more as time allows.

Mike tuning up.

Mike's guitar pedals. I'll see if I can get a pic of the elusive Chris B.'s tomorrow.

 Mike and Pierce in the studio.

The head and cab. It sits high up and away from all the rest of the amps, in the cold mountainous regions of the studio.

The carefully placed paperback and money. This book is amazing! So is that money!

The elusive Chris B., blurred and shrouded by the flash of a camera, as always.