Six Sentence Sunday: Chickens

My latest publication is another crime story: yes, that seems to be my groove now. I'm even going to the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in July the better to network and immerse myself in the crime writing world. Should be fun, eh?

My story "Chickens" takes place in 1968, when a couple of Bakersfield irregulars decide to leave the farm behind and go mess with some hippies, the phenomenon they've learned about from watching the nightly news with the elder statesman of television, Walter Cronkite. Bonus appearance by Cal Worthington and his dog Spot!

I killed all the chickens the day I left. I'd have preferred to kill Maw but I wasn't ready at the time for a crime of such proportions and besides, I was looking forward to saying to Bud with a laugh, "I spent the morning chokin' chickens!" because I knew he'd laugh like he always does in that hee-haw kind of way. Maw always said he was half ass anyway (the only funny thing she ever said in her miserable life that I can recall) but I forgot to tell him because he was so excited about buggin' out to the smoggy wonderland.

"We're gonna get some girls," Bud said, hee-hawing a mile a minute as we pulled away from their farm. Dawn in Bakersfield, the most uninspiring sight a body can see anywhere in this great nation I am sure. The golden light just cast a beautiful glow on the stunted fields and ugly houses of mile after mile of failing farms and subsidized indolence...

Matt Hilton edited this monster-sized anthology -- nearly 300 pages of non-stop mayhem, including folks like my pal Mr B and Richard Godwin, Absolutely Kate, Col Bury, David Barber, Graham Smith and many many more. Chock full of action, just like it says on the tin -- er, cover. Vol 2 already in the planning stages. This is going to be big!

As usual, drop by to see all the Six Sunday offerings.

Alt-Fiction & Cake

Because what would Alt-Fiction be without a fantastic assortment of baked goods?

The fabulous Adele was hostess with the mostess *and* organiser supreme. Alasdair served faithfully as Brekkie czar and all-purpose mood elevator. Great to see Vick and Vince and Kat again as well as to meet new folks.

The Phoenix proved a great venue, mostly because of the winning combination of WiFi, food and drink that kept people from roaming far. The staff were unfailingly pleasant and helpful, which makes a huge difference. And unlike the Quad last year, they did not run out of beer.

They were warned about writers!

I had a panel on adaptations to different media with Dave Moody and Niki Valentine, then read in the flash fiction panel a story I had written that morning (The Rook). Played Trivial Pursuit in the cafe and chatted with folks. We had a terrific Italian dinner!

Sunday was my chat with Graham Joyce about the very dangerous fairy folk. Not sure I was entirely awake, but people said nice things after.

Theme of the weekend: Buffy's Once More with Feeling :-) thanks to everyone, especially Adele. Bursts of ideas as well as plans for next year!

Humo(u)r

A hasty post as I'm still entertaining my delightful guests, who seem to be having a good time. I know I am, though I'm also aware of my shortcomings as a hostess. I'm used to living on my own, never paying attention to clocks (except once a week :-) and not planning ahead. But there's plenty to enjoy in  Galway -- and no, not just the pubs!

I'm one of the writers featured in this month's BroadPod on the topic of humor (or humour -- I have to keep shifting back and forth between American and British/Irish spellings that every word begins to look slightly suspect and editors in various countries sigh at me). I read from The Mangrove Legacy, so you can get a taste of that if you haven't already (why haven't you?!).

Whoosh, Whomp & Whoogah

Photo by Eileen Smith

Okay, sue me -- I love alliteration. It's the Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse poetry what are to blame. Besides, these are words that are fun to say out loud. Go on, do it. I'll wait.

Okay? So the "whoosh" is because January is nearly done. Eeek! How has the first month of 2012 passed by so quickly? I suppose starting off the year with a fun visit from Miss Wendy and then beginning to teach a course has something to do with that. And I have been writing madly, too. Another whoosh must be the wings of the now-captured Clepington Owl, so alas, I will not get a chance to see her when I get back to Dundee shortly. I'm sure the cats are glad. Yes, more PR from the zeitgeist in advance of Owl Stretching. Hope to hear the release date soon!

I have a short story up at Short-Story.Me -- a little gruesome tale called "Yuletide Feast" that probably would have been a little more timely last month, but you know how it is. I actually wrote this years ago and recently discovered that it had not been published (how does that go, you may ask: well, scrolling through my Stories folder looking for something that I can't remember what title I gave >_< and seeing a title that I also don't remember... see why I need minions?!) and sent it off. Bingo. 

I have also received an award from the lovely Jeanne Andrew: The Versatile Blogger Award. The rules of this harmless bit of fun are: to thank those that nominated you; to copy-and-paste the award logo in your own blog; to tell your readers seven random facts about you; and to nominate further blogs that you follow, and let them know.

Right, here goes: Thank you, Funny Girl Jeanne. You are a delight of my Twitter timeline :-)



Seven random things about me:

1) My favourite thing on the new iPad: bongos! Seriously.
2) I watched Jaws for the umpteenth time last night and it never gets old.
3) I like to sing along with Dusty Springfield and make all her dramatic arm gestures.
4) I wish I could have met Peter Cook just once, to see those eyes and hear that laugh.
5) I want to write sparkling prose that will live forever; I get around the anxiety and paralysis this causes by telling myself, "Well, not today obviously."
6) There is an indestructible happiness inside me.
7) I don't know where the stories I write come from; I just try to be friends with my head, as the great Russell Hoban put it, and simply write down what it tells me. So far, that's been working out.

Right: so here are some blogs you ought to be checking out, i.e the award winners! Some of these will be to give a kick in the muse for the folks I point to, as they have been neglectful of their blogs [gives severe look]. I see Mr B has already received one recently, so I won't add him to the list, but you should always drop by his gaff for some laffs (yes, spelled that way).

Lochee has has not updated his blog since posting some fetching pictures of Karen Gillan. Tsk!

The fabulous QoE always has some wonderful new art up. Stop by and show her the love.

Miss Wendy will surely have some stories to share about her visit here soon.

The poet of Rome, Alessandra, always has lovely things to share. Her sweetie, John, always has some darkness to offer, too.

The lovely jubbly Chloë also has a blog! She will delight and amuse you.

Have you checked out the Apocalypse Girls? If not, why not! And while you're at it, be sure to drop by UnBound to catch up on all the latest. They will be covering Alt.Fiction, where I will be doing a one-on-one with Graham Joyce (gulp!) about the darkness of fairy tales, as well as another explaining why pretty much all Alan Moore adaptations suck -- and probably reading some flash fiction in the open mic.

The usual suspects: if you're reading my blog, chances are you already read Todd, Patti and Elena as well: if you don't I simply have to ask, Are you mad?! Hee. You have all been given the versatile blogger award: no speeches required, just take a moment to reflect on the work that you've done and pat yourself on the back.

Well, that should give the rest of you plenty to get started reading. Are you blogging? Do I know that? Should you be sending me a link? That's the thing: we're all busy people. I won't know you've written something unless you tell me (see how I trumpet every little thing here). Share your words -- that's why you write, isn't it? Whoogah!

Scotland Bound

Doubtless my column will post some time today at BitchBuzz. I am dashing off shortly, though: planes, trains and automobiles on my way to Dundee. Doubtless tweeting and FBing along the way. Wish me luck. Oh hey, a short story up at A Twist of Noir, too! Sorry -- in haste!

Obsession: Guest Post at Trestle

I'm up on my publisher's blog today with a piece on obsession. Yeah, you wouldn't imagine it, eh? Me? Obsessed? Nah. Here's the first part of it. Read the rest over at Trestle and feel free to share.

K.A. Laity- "Obsession"- Guest Post, author of "Drunk on The Moon-It's A Curse"

Obsession

I seem to have two speeds: obsessed and don't care. The greater part of the world falls into "don't care": politics, fashion, television, sports -- I just don't care. For that matter, add cooking and cleaning and talking to people who don't amuse me. Obsessions: writing, Peter Cook, The Fall, writing, myth, magic, folklore, writing, travel, theatre, film, writing and classic British comedy. And writing. I completely understand P. G. Wodehouse's comment, "I never want to see anyone, and I never want to go anywhere or do anything. I just want to write."

My ex once accused me of having hypergraphia. It's a clinical disease where people obsessively write anywhere, anytime, on anything they've got in front of them. Most people who suffer from the little-studied disease write nonsense: it's the action of writing that comforts their manic sprees, not content. I have a head bursting with stories that want to be written and I spend a lot of time in front of my black Mac going tappity-tappity. I also go out to the pub with friends and go see plays and walk along Galway Bay and think nothing at all but what a wonderful world this is. But writing is what I do. Writing is how I see the world. When something terrible happens to me, I struggle through it by finding the right words to describe it in my head. ..


Read the rest over at Trestle Press and if you haven't checked out It's a Curse, well criminy! It's only 99¢ -- it's not going to break the bank! Hee hee, and this is the beginning of my birthday week, so don't forget about my birthday wish. I appreciate your help.

Converting Galway

Thanks to Michael, there's a photo of me giving my talk at the Moore Institute yesterday. There was quite a good turnout! I suspect it was the sandwiches. The audience seemed to be receptive and laughed in the right places, always a good sign.I will put the talk on line when I get a moment. I went out to the pub with Leslie and Michael after the talk and then ended up tagging along to dinner with some of Michael's colleagues later. They're sad as their time in Galway is nearly over. I'll miss them.

They're asking me to teach a creative writing course in the spring, so now I will begin brainstorming about what tack to take for that. I suspect I will use it as an excuse to get some of my colleagues to Skype with my class :-)

Krampus and Digital Monks

Did the Krampus visit you last night or did Saint Nicholas fill your shoes with gifts? Happy Independence Day, Finland (let's have a little Värttinä for that).

My talk is today at the Moore Institute. It's an update of my keynote address from April; I wanted to hit a lot of the same issues, but I've also cut it a bit as well. Mostly the jokes: different audience. Not all of the jokes, of course. But I figure some of the offhand popular culture references won't travel well.

Writers: have you taken my survey about writing in the digital age yet?

No idea what kind of audience there'll be. Some friends have promised to show and there will be sandwiches. We'll see. And no, I didn't go through with my plan to graft a Guy Fawkes mask onto the Moore Institute logo for one slide. Coward.

News, a Wish and BitchBuzz

Criminy: it's December! How the time has flown by this semester, even though I haven't been in class. My sympathies to my colleagues knee-deep in exams and grading. I know how it feels -- and couldn't be happier that I am not.

Sorry! But it's true.

NEWS: 

It's a Curse: Drunk on the Moon, Book 7 by moi should be about tomorrow from Trestle Press. Thanks again to Mr B for inviting me to have fun playing with his werewolf PI, Roman Dalton. I hope I did him justice -- it sure was fun :-) I will have a book trailer up soon: just waiting on the cover art.

I'll be on the G-ZONE blog radio show, AKA Gelati's Scoop tomorrow night to talk about It's a Curse. You can listen live and call in, or listen to it later online. I'll be on about 4.30 pm Eastern time, which is about 9.30 pm here.

I'm interviewed in the latest Broadly Speaking from Broad Universe which is about mentors and teachers in literature, so I talk about Owl Stretching and Pelzmantel a bit and my own teaching experiences a little bit.

Next Tuesday is my talk at the Moore Institute at NUIG. I keep thinking about trying to add a Guy Fawkes mask to their logo just for a lark, but I lack the requisite skills.

My column for BitchBuzz this week is on gifts that won't steal your soul. Give something genuine if you're gift-giving this holiday season.

WISH:

It's my birthday month, so I want to ask you for a gift. Nothing expensive -- all it costs is a little of your time. I don't need stuff: I spent some harried weeks this summer trying to get rid of a lot of my stuff. What I would really like is some attention: not for me, for my books. My wish is for any who have the time to "like" my books on Amazon, Goodreads, Shelfari, LibraryThing etc. and offer them reviews. They need not be elaborate; they need not be glowing. But books without reviews seem chancier to potential readers. No one wants to be the first to do something; they want to see that others have trod the path before them and it's safe. So if you have a few spare moments, can you help out a fellow American who's (okay, not really) down on her luck?

Weekend Wrap Up

It was a good weekend in Philadelphia -- it was just annoying getting there and even more so, getting back. If you follow me on Twitter you got my irritated suggestions for new New Jersey state mottos ("New Jersey, it leaves a lot to be desired") as I sat in the seemingly endless traffic jams on the turnpike.

So I got there late and had to sneak into roomie Sue Hanniford Crowley's panel to get the room key and jettison my things before rushing off to meet with an agent (more on that depending on whether anything comes of it) before rushing off to my first panel on blogging. We caught up with our other roomie Mason and had a late lunch. I managed to catch pal Nancy Holzner -- she of the kick ass heroine and creator of Deadtown -- to grab a brew at the Perch, a fairly good brew pub across the street from the hotel. It was on the second visit that we finally noticed these fab octopus door handles on the restaurant downstairs from the pub's winding wooden staircase. Fantastic to be able to spend some time with Nancy: as a former medievalist, she knows a lot of things I don't have to explain (hey, she studied with Rick Russom!).

Panels, mayhem, madness -- I got to blather on about this and that. Sometimes there was even an audience >_< but the best part was yakking with friends. In fact I had lunch with Alex on Saturday (Korean BBQ!) and convinced her to come back for dinner with Nancy and Todd. We had planned for Belgian, but Monk's was overbooked and had an hour wait, so noooooo! we went off to the Nodding Head pub but we walked in the wrong door and went to the Oyster House instead which was just as well as it was quiet. I ate octopus: I think it was some kind of subliminal advertising. We went to the pub after, just because, but it was full of college students shouting their heads off singing along with A-ha's "Take On Me" (O_o) and some other 80s crap music. Phil Collins made them run off, however, so we finished our drinks in quiet and headed back to the hotel, where we hung around and ran into more people and what not (which is the brief way of saying it's all too much fun to write up).

But I'm back and there's a million and one things to do yet and so very little time in which to do them. Ay yi yi. Somehow it will all get done -- or at the very least, somehow I will be in Eyre Square on September 5th and all this will be behind me.

Tip o' the captain's hat for the Pirate Pub Propper of the Bar and Pirate Therapist @MrTumshie's playlist and for my introduction to the band I clearly have been needing to meet for years, Half Man Half Biscuit.

BitchBuzz: Butterfly World Project

I'm heading off to Philadelphia for Authors After Dark with Kit Marlowe this morning; doubtless I'll have stories to share from there. Hope to see Todd and Alex while I'm in town. My column today features a lovely place that I can't wait to see first hand. I learned about it from the fabulous photographer of the Pirate Pub.

The Butterfly World Project

By K.A. Laity

Chances are you've spent the last few days desperately defending your small shop from local thugs, wearing your fingers out texting your thug pals for the next riot hotspot, or sobbing quietly as the world seemed to be melting into a fiery ball before your stunned eyes.

When the latest round of cynical politicians trying to capitalise on tragedy for gains in the polls or just to sabotage their rivals gets you down, you need something to restore the will to live.

Just outside London in the rolling green of Hertfordshire you will find the Butterfly World Project, an oasis of beauty and peace that will provide the antidote to fire, police sirens and screams of horror. This £27 million project was conceived by Clive Farrell, a butterfly fanatic and lepidopterist whose dream was to create a tribute to the butterfly and a dedicated centre of learning for the preservation of this fragile and beautiful species. The project is now in Phase III and by the winter of 2012, should be the biggest butterfly experience in the world...

Read the rest at BBHQ!

Readercon Day One

I suppose this counts as day two now, since we arrived last night, but Thursday night serves as a bit of a warm-up. Nonetheless, I had a panel straight away at 8pm, so we needed to be there relatively early. Normally it's a fairly easy drive but there was a lot of construction along the pike (and one bad shredded tire from a semi that couldn't quite be avoided—eek) and up 91 as we swung north to get Bilokur in Northampton. Mr B joins us fresh from the halls of the Cartoon Art Institute Center for Cartoon Studies. Long time no see, so it was good catching up.

We had Greek in Cambridge after picking up CD from the T and then headed back to the hotel so I could get ready for "We All Create, We All Consume" which focused on the blurring of the lines between readers and writers and all the issues that have developed from that in the digital age. It seemed to go well enough and we had a good crowd for a first night.

Later in the bar we suffered the entertainment; poor guy, we were not an appreciative audience because we were all there to talk—that's what writers do when they leave their solitude for a con. It was great to have a chance to catch up with Inanna and Morven whom I hadn't seen since last year's Readercon.

Today there are panels and I will probably be checking in at the Broad Universe table; later tonight is the Meet the Pros(e) event where everyone will be. At present chatting with Faye in the lobby. Oh, and here's Bilokur reprising his role as Rasputin in Hellboy.

BitchBuzz: Rebekah Brooks: The Charm Offensive

I'm off to Readercon today, picking up folks along the way, including a certain mad Ukrainian in Northampton if all goes according to plan. I will doubtless post more this weekend as there are sure to be entertaining things to write about, like torturing Todd and dishing with Liz. I can't believe I'm scheduled at the same time as her twice, so I'll be missing the Norwegian metal music talk. Sigh.

My column today takes up an aspect of the Murdoch meltdown; I can't believe Americans aren't getting upset about this. Too complacent? I am mystified -- and outraged. You might want to look into that. But I suppose Fox News triumphed long ago: that's why we find ourselves in the state we're in.

Rebekah Brooks: The Charm Offensive

By K. A. Laity

If you've been living under a rock, you may have missed the complete shut down of The News of the World and Murdoch's New International's withdrawing their bid for control of BSkyB—and of course the schadenfreudegasm it generated (thanks,John Oliver, for that new term).
The gleeful noise has threatened to drown out everything, especially on Twitter, even pressing issues of a similarly nefarious nature. Even people in the States seem to have glanced up from their obsessive attention tobaseless conspiracy theories and barking madness to recognize that Murdoch and his Fox"News" have had a similarly devastating effect on their lives including the hacking of phones belonging to 9/11 victims...

Read the rest at BBHQ.

My editor removed my lovely Shakespeare quote: "Who is Sylvia? What is she / That all our swains commend her?" Too much?

My Readercon Schedule

Just to whet your appetite, here's my list of events at Readercon, July 14-17 in Burlington MA; looks like there will be some entertaining fun (as usual):

 Thursday July 14

8:00 PM    G    We All Produce, We All Consume. Paul Di Filippo, Gemma Files, Robert Killheffer, K.A. Laity (leader), Jamie Todd Rubin. In a 2008 blog post, Leah Bobet connected the dots of increasing media interactivity and increasing independent authorship. Both trends have only escalated in the years since. When every blogger is an author, every commenter is a reviewer, and every work is assumed to be the start of a conversation, how does that change the experience and culture of reading? Was it ever possible to be a passive reader, or are we simply bringing our marginalia and book-flinging out into the light? 

Friday July 15

9:00 PM    NH    BroadUniverse group reading. Suzy Charnas, Gwendolyn Clare, Helen Collins, M.C.A. Hogarth, Elaine Isaak, K.A. Laity, Jennifer Pelland. Members of BroadUniverse read selections from their work. 

Saturday July 16

11:00 AM    G    Are We Not Men?: Human Women and Beast-Men in Paranormal Romance. Stacy Hague-Hill, Victoria Janssen (leader), K.A. Laity, Delia Sherman, Ann Tonsor Zeddies. In a 2009 blog post, Victoria Janssen wrote: "Paranormal romance almost always features the hero as a paranormal being and the heroine as an ordinary human. How does this resonate with gender relations and power relationships in our society? And is it emblematic of women seeing men as Other?" In addition, many of these stories feature women who metaphorically or literally tame men who have non-human aspects, turning them from bestial creatures driven by base urges into civilized, socially acceptable mates. We examine the social context of this narrative and its appeal to paranormal romance readers of various genders.

2:00 PM    ME    Tin Foil Hat Open Mike. Rose Fox (moderator), K.A. Laity, Shira Lipkin, David Malki !, Charles Platt, Eric M. Van, Harold Torger Vedeler. Bring your wildest and wackiest ideas to this open mike session. Each speaker gets five minutes, ruthlessly enforced, to try to convince the audience of an unprovable (and ideally undisprovable) theory related to speculative fiction. The viewers are free to applaud or heckle as they see fit. No handouts, no visual aids, no multimedia, no Q&As, no spitballs, and please, no politics or religion.


I have no idea how that last one will go: some wag suggested it, I was amused enough to float my name for it. I figure it's my chance to channel EL Wisty or Arthur Grole. We shall see. Meanwhile I'm adjusting to being back, which mostly means moping, whinging and sighing at the huge piles of work I need to face. I was a bit perturbed to get to my office and find I had no computer. So much for good intentions, eh? But all it took was a phone call to get it delivered, so I had to try to work anyway. Sigh.

Alt-Fiction

Alt.Fiction Festival 2011
25th-26th June
QUAD, Market Place, Derby

Saturday 25th June, 10am - Midnight
Sunday 26th June, 10am - 5pm

Weekend pass £45
Saturday pass £30
Sunday pass £20

Alt.Fiction marks its fifth year with a fantastic weekend for readers and writers of science fiction, fantasy and horror. Bringing together some of the UK's leading talent in the genre, Alt.Fiction presents a two-day programme of readings, panels, workshops, film, podcasts and much more, giving you the chance to hear from your favourite authors, find out more about the world of publishing and learn more about the writing process.

This year’s Guests of Honour are bestselling science fiction author Alastair Reynolds and acclaimed comic book writer and novelist Dan Abnett. They will joined by speakers Tony Ballantyne, Keith Brooke, Mark Chadbourn, Paul Cornell, Peter Crowther, Stephen Deas, Paul Finch, John Jarrold, Graham Joyce, K. A. Laity, Juliet McKenna, Graham McNeill, Mark Morris, Adam Nevill, Mark Charan Newton, Sarah Pinborough, Robert Shearman, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Ian Whates, Conrad Williams, Chris Wooding and many more.

Alt.Fiction is truly a weekend not to be missed for book lovers and writers alike.

Contact the QUAD Box Office on 01332 290 606 or visit www.derbyquad.co.uk/altfiction

Visit altfiction.co.uk to find out about Alt.Fiction's year-long programme of events.

Converting Monks into Friars in Iowa

So, the trip to Iowa included an unscheduled night in Chicago. A bit irritating to spend all those hours in O'Hare, but the truth is the seasoned traveler needs to be prepared for this kind of inconvenience. I had books to read, things to write and social media at my fingertips where I could complain to my friends. I'd have rather been in Iowa having dinner with folks as planned, but there are worse things than the quiet solitude of an anonymous hotel room. I love hotels. I think it would be terrific to live in a hotel in London with room service and the whole city before me.

More later, but here's the Powerpoint slides from my talk.Consider them an attempt to intrigue you. Forthcoming: the paper with these images embedded and a video of the images with the narration recorded there (assuming it sounds okay). Time's tight: I'm off to PCA in San Antonio on Wednesday. Much to do, so I'm writing this while my students are watching a film. Multi-tasking is the word du jour.

Converting Monks into Friars

Powerpoint is Evil

I used Tufte's piece in my own PPT presentation, which as folks on Twitter know, has almost 80 slides. I've described it as being sort of like "The Word" on The Colbert Report. Will this work? Who knows. Still tweaking. But I printed my boarding passes. If you're on Facebook, I'm now having a contest to guess how many gratuitous pop culture references I make in the forty minute speech. Go on, have a guess.

Euro Punks Exhibit

Wednesday already?! Eek! Madness -- this entire week has been, will be, is. Yesterday after the Glass Ceiling talk organized by the Women's Initiative, I jumped in the car and headed down to Kingston for a reading of a new play at the Arts Society of Kingston. The play was on the life of Margaret Fuller and has a lot of potential: the audience offered a lot of good feedback. I hope I'll get a lot of the same on my play.

Two panic moments after the play: first, being horrified to find that my car was missing, afraid it had been towed. No, I had simply walked two blocks past where it was. Can we say distracted? Driving to Bertie's for dinner I had an owl fly right over my hood on the backroads, which initially made me gasp in alarm and then think, "wow, how cool was that?" Great dinner (of course) and then back home again (after midnight).

Finishing the slides for the talk; tomorrow is polishing both. Out with friends Thursday night, on my way to Iowa Friday. Phew! And then next week is PCA. I can relax for a day on the 25th. >_< At last, here's the photos from the Euro Punks Exhibit at the Villa Medici in Rome. A lot of them are awful, but I was snapping away hastily, having fun. At least you get a flavour of the exhibit. If you want to see better pictures, take a look at the catalogue. I know a certain punk rock DJ who might let you take a look at his copy...

Text as Art

Get a peek at the exhibit via the magic of video: choose your video outlet. We had a great time and it was fascinating to hear the genesis of the (all very different) projects. If you're in the neighborhood, drop by the Arts Center and check it out.



Text as Art from Kate Laity on Vimeo.




Phew -- so much to do today! Somehow it will all get done, somehow it will all get done, somehow...

Text as Art Tonight

The opening of the Text as Art gallery show with my piece "The Square Root of I is I" will be tonight at the Arts Center at 7pm. I will likely read from "Wixey," the story that initially inspired the project (unless I change my mind).

Add to the long list of things I will not be doing: spending next year in Galway, seeing Alan Moore's Dodgem Logic show at the London Word Festival, seeing Derek Jacobi in King Lear. Sob! On the other hand, I leave for Rome on Wednesday, so that will cheer me. But I am bitterly disappointed about Ireland. It was a terrific position and a really interesting group of scholars. Plus I badly need a break, but there's another year before I can even apply for a sabbatical. If you see any interesting fellowships that would spring me for a few weeks or a semester, be sure to pass them along.

Worse, the envelope was put in the wrong mailbox. I noticed the logo in the corner and took a peek: after all, it was entirely possible someone else was also applying for a Fulbright. But no, it was for me and as soon as I saw that it was, I knew the envelope meant bad news. Ah, well. A blow, but it could be worse, eh? At least I've still got my head. So, start humming along, "Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, start all over again."