Somehow starting this post my computer went weird and somehow only the title got published. Oh boy, I wonder if that has to do with the story I want to tell. This story is directed to M@. Most dovetalers have read it, although I know for sure not Matthew nor Larry.
Matthew, in conversation about the Walper you reaction to the elevator was, malfunctioning. Malfunctioning? How prozaic, how scientifically correct, how down to Earth practical. But Matthew are you sure you know everything? Listen to this story wrote about the event.
The Invasion of the Tan Neutrino.
tan neutrino are invisable,
ghost-like sub-atomic particles.
Each second trillions of them
are blown from the sun. They
pass through humans, barely
leaving traces...
( the above is scientific fact )
There had been a contest for writers. I attended the award ceremony. It was at the Walper Hotel in Kitchener.
There were speakers, readings from award winning works, giving out of prizes, shaking of hands, proud faces, festive mood...
All present were somehow involved with the Arts. Poets, fiction, non-fiction writers, reporters, dramatists, artists, those that get often stung by the creative bug. You know them by posture, by expression, by the way they dress. Outward signs of inner funkiness.
It was silent. The eyes of the audience riveted on the speaker, who divined why the Arts are so under-appreciated in Western society.
I sat somewhat back and off to the side, facing a wall. I studied that wall, listening. Suddenly, could it be, suddenly that wall I was staring at, opened. I saw the ghostly interior of an elevator. As mysteriously as it had opened, the wall closed again. I shivered. Tried to focus my attention on the speaker. But then the wall opened again. No visable presence in that cavity that resembled an open elevator.
Spontanious applaus. The speaker invited questions. The was just a wall again, patterns of rectangular panelling. What had happened? Had the Tan Neutrino invaded us?
I looked at my hand. Underneath the skin something moved. Tan Neutrino?
A man with a pony tail suddenly scratched his head. Tan Neutrino?
A woman, bare feet in sandals, irratibly veered away from where she stood. Tan Neutrino?
Seriously, a girl was formulating a question. She stopped in mid-sentence. A fractured moment. Tan Neutrino?
Adressing questions, the speaker spoke words in contradiction to what he had uttered before. Tan Neutrino?
Who knows?
My advise is, never trust an empty elevator. Do not believe you are safe from what you cannot see. This particular elevator being where you didn't know there was one, may well have landed the Tan Neutrino among us. How do we know if anyone of us, are still the same today?
***
Does this even allow you the slightest doubt, Matthew? You still believe that this was just an ordinary, malfunctioning elevator?
Wild thing
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Pattern Recognition
Larry’s been reading (for the second time) William Gibson’s 2003 novel Pattern Recognition. He read it when it was first published in paperback, not having read anything by Gibson for quite a few years (in fact, not since The Difference Engine). But Gibson is one of Larry’s favourite writers, or at least one that intrigues him.
Back when he was writing books like Mona Lisa Overdrive and Neuromancer, it could be said that Gibson was ahead of the technological curve. With Pattern Recognition he’s right on the curve. Slipping, perhaps, off the curve? Larry doesn’t know, but Gibson still manages to offer an interesting take on the (early) 21st century. DT probably likes Gibson, or would if she read him. He uses sentence fragments frequently and effectively.
Larry can’t tell you the plot, exactly. That’s why he’s reading it again. He’s already forgotten how it went. But he can tell you this: Pattern Recognition is a catalogue of cultural references. Part of the reason for this is the plot itself, and its main character, Cayce Pollard. Cayce is in “advertising”. She’s a “cool-hunter”, a term which Larry thinks is still in use. She also does design consulting…a product of a peculiarity in her psyche. She is allergic to certain well-known logos and trademarks, such that she can become physically ill if exposed to them. The most prominent one (and the one that alerted her to this at the age of nine or something) is the Michelin Man, Bibendum. So, somehow, Cayce has learned to distinguish between logos that work as marketing symbols and those that don’t. In fact, Cayce has a general aversion to any kind of trademarking, and it’s an interesting twist that the very thing which makes her ill is how she makes her living.
The actual story is about what appears to be some sort of marketing on the Internet…disconnected pieces of haunting film footage that appear periodically. No one knows who’s producing them or why or where…or even what the footage is supposed to represent…a movie? a product? a philosophy? Basically the story is about how Cayce goes about discovering the source of this footage.
Larry is not going to tell you how it ends. (He doesn’t know yet.)
Back when he was writing books like Mona Lisa Overdrive and Neuromancer, it could be said that Gibson was ahead of the technological curve. With Pattern Recognition he’s right on the curve. Slipping, perhaps, off the curve? Larry doesn’t know, but Gibson still manages to offer an interesting take on the (early) 21st century. DT probably likes Gibson, or would if she read him. He uses sentence fragments frequently and effectively.
Larry can’t tell you the plot, exactly. That’s why he’s reading it again. He’s already forgotten how it went. But he can tell you this: Pattern Recognition is a catalogue of cultural references. Part of the reason for this is the plot itself, and its main character, Cayce Pollard. Cayce is in “advertising”. She’s a “cool-hunter”, a term which Larry thinks is still in use. She also does design consulting…a product of a peculiarity in her psyche. She is allergic to certain well-known logos and trademarks, such that she can become physically ill if exposed to them. The most prominent one (and the one that alerted her to this at the age of nine or something) is the Michelin Man, Bibendum. So, somehow, Cayce has learned to distinguish between logos that work as marketing symbols and those that don’t. In fact, Cayce has a general aversion to any kind of trademarking, and it’s an interesting twist that the very thing which makes her ill is how she makes her living.
The actual story is about what appears to be some sort of marketing on the Internet…disconnected pieces of haunting film footage that appear periodically. No one knows who’s producing them or why or where…or even what the footage is supposed to represent…a movie? a product? a philosophy? Basically the story is about how Cayce goes about discovering the source of this footage.
Larry is not going to tell you how it ends. (He doesn’t know yet.)
Monday, February 27, 2006
Speaking of Nothing to Say?
For shame, for shame...Mr. Bacon has not posted on his own blog, World's Worst Buddhist since last September!
It's Like Magic!
Thanx M@. Larry is now a single-click blogger.
Unfortunately, he has nothing to say...
He did, however add m@'s blog to the links section. Hope that's OK.
Unfortunately, he has nothing to say...
He did, however add m@'s blog to the links section. Hope that's OK.
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Helpful Info
At a recent Dove Tale meeting, we were astounded and, I suspect, discomfited to learn that, for the very first time ever, the male participants outnumbered the female! Of course, we resorted to arm-wrestling to determine whose manuscript was best, drank a keg of cough syrup, force-fed ourselves nachos until we were dizzy, and slept out in the back yard. The police were called but placated. A good time was had by all.
But possibly more shocking was that I actually had some interesting resources to share with the group! To allow the shock to wear off I've waited a while to post it. You're welcome.
First, here are two blogs that, if you're considering querying agents at all, you must read. Often. They are:
So that's the fun stuff. I also had a request to explain how I inserted a hyperlink in the comments on this blog. I'll give a short lesson in HTML here -- not wanting to insult anyone, of course; if you already know this stuff, ignore me!
The comments recognize a lot of standard HTML. That means that if you put tags around text, it'll look different. A tag is stuff surrounded by angle brackets (that is, the <> sign). On this blog, I'm going to use "[" and "]" instead of "<" and ">" because otherwise they won't show up!
For example, if you put [b] and [/b] around text, it looks bold. Put [i] and [/i] around it, it's in italics.
Links are created with the [a] tag. (Trivia: "a" is for anchor!) To create a link, do this:
[a href="http://www.theURLyouwanttolinkto.com"]The text of the link[/a]
Don't forget!
Cheers
M@
P.S. Would anyone mind if I added myself to this blog so that I can post from my own blogger account? It would save me a lot of headaches every time I want to post something...
But possibly more shocking was that I actually had some interesting resources to share with the group! To allow the shock to wear off I've waited a while to post it. You're welcome.
First, here are two blogs that, if you're considering querying agents at all, you must read. Often. They are:
- Miss Snark, Literary Agent (there's an indexed list of her topics here) - She's an honest-to-god New York literary agent who answers readers' e-mails and talks about her views of the business and her clients. Twice a year she directly critiques queries online. This gal tells it like it is.
- Publishing Rants - Not all literary agents are in New York. This one is in Colorado and has extremely interesting opinions on the business. She's really nice, too.
- J.A. Konrath - A successful novelist who sheds a lot of light on many aspects of the writing life.
- Simon Haynes - An Australian SF author who is in the middle of publishing his series of books. He also develops software for writers: his free novel planning and query tracking software are also available somewhere from his blog.
So that's the fun stuff. I also had a request to explain how I inserted a hyperlink in the comments on this blog. I'll give a short lesson in HTML here -- not wanting to insult anyone, of course; if you already know this stuff, ignore me!
The comments recognize a lot of standard HTML. That means that if you put tags around text, it'll look different. A tag is stuff surrounded by angle brackets (that is, the <> sign). On this blog, I'm going to use "[" and "]" instead of "<" and ">" because otherwise they won't show up!
For example, if you put [b] and [/b] around text, it looks bold. Put [i] and [/i] around it, it's in italics.
Links are created with the [a] tag. (Trivia: "a" is for anchor!) To create a link, do this:
[a href="http://www.theURLyouwanttolinkto.com"]The text of the link[/a]
Don't forget!
- The URL you want to link to is in quotation marks.
- You have to close the link with the [/a] tag.
- There's a space between "a" and "href" in the first tag.
Cheers
M@
P.S. Would anyone mind if I added myself to this blog so that I can post from my own blogger account? It would save me a lot of headaches every time I want to post something...
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Sacagawey the bird woman
Sacagawey is the only woman and native among the white american explores to new land. She talks to he baby:
It is wise to fear Grizzly Bear, little pomp,
But you must also give him thanks.
For when time comes for you to leave this world,
Grizzly Bear will show you the way.
See up there? Those seven stars?
The white men call them the Dipper.
But really those stars are Grizzly waiting patiently.
I will tell you the story as it was told to me
when I was very small.
The story of how the Great Bear came to be in the sky.
One day Black Bear with her cubs,
was eating berries from a bush.
Grizzly Bear walked up to Black Bear
and he said to her, "I want those berries for myself."
And selfishly , he pushed away Black Bear.
And he pushed away Black Bear's children.
Black Bear was much smaller than Grizzly
but she had courage and fought him.
She avoided Grizzly's powerful blows
and each time Grizzly missed, Black Bear would strike him
with her own sharp claws
until Grizzly Bear fell to the ground-defeated.
Black Bear then banished the greedy Grizzly Bear.
She told him, "Leave this place and never return.
Grizzly Bear left in disgrace.
He felt ashamed becaus all his life
he had placed his own needs before the needs of his brothers.
He wished now to make up for his selfisch ways.
He wished to do something good for his brothers.
Alone, he walked into the Shining Mountains.
For miles and miles he walked up the steep slopes.
Day turned to night, but he kept climbing higher.
He reached the deep snow on the mountaintops,
and the snow turned his brown fur white.
Yet he kept on walking higher and higher.
And when he reached the highest mountain peak,
Grizzly Bear stepped into the air
and he continuerd walking upward into the sky,
And as he climbed, a dust of snow fell of his fur,
leaving a milky white trail as he went.
Finally Grizzly Bear found his place
and he became a cluster of stars.
To this day, the Great Bear lives in the night sky,
guiding the souls of the people
to their proper place in heaven.
Wild thing like this a lot. So share it. Wild thing cry with stuffy cold, eyes watering. Wild thing sleeps, reads, drinks, walks dogs, blogs, and sleeps , and sleeps.
It is wise to fear Grizzly Bear, little pomp,
But you must also give him thanks.
For when time comes for you to leave this world,
Grizzly Bear will show you the way.
See up there? Those seven stars?
The white men call them the Dipper.
But really those stars are Grizzly waiting patiently.
I will tell you the story as it was told to me
when I was very small.
The story of how the Great Bear came to be in the sky.
One day Black Bear with her cubs,
was eating berries from a bush.
Grizzly Bear walked up to Black Bear
and he said to her, "I want those berries for myself."
And selfishly , he pushed away Black Bear.
And he pushed away Black Bear's children.
Black Bear was much smaller than Grizzly
but she had courage and fought him.
She avoided Grizzly's powerful blows
and each time Grizzly missed, Black Bear would strike him
with her own sharp claws
until Grizzly Bear fell to the ground-defeated.
Black Bear then banished the greedy Grizzly Bear.
She told him, "Leave this place and never return.
Grizzly Bear left in disgrace.
He felt ashamed becaus all his life
he had placed his own needs before the needs of his brothers.
He wished now to make up for his selfisch ways.
He wished to do something good for his brothers.
Alone, he walked into the Shining Mountains.
For miles and miles he walked up the steep slopes.
Day turned to night, but he kept climbing higher.
He reached the deep snow on the mountaintops,
and the snow turned his brown fur white.
Yet he kept on walking higher and higher.
And when he reached the highest mountain peak,
Grizzly Bear stepped into the air
and he continuerd walking upward into the sky,
And as he climbed, a dust of snow fell of his fur,
leaving a milky white trail as he went.
Finally Grizzly Bear found his place
and he became a cluster of stars.
To this day, the Great Bear lives in the night sky,
guiding the souls of the people
to their proper place in heaven.
Wild thing like this a lot. So share it. Wild thing cry with stuffy cold, eyes watering. Wild thing sleeps, reads, drinks, walks dogs, blogs, and sleeps , and sleeps.
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