Thursday, March 21, 2002
Ah, what am I going to say tonight?
With some difficulty, I managed to get back into the new Dancy story this afternoon. Indeed, I got out about 1,100 good words in a few hours, which was a nice change from the last couple of days. I really do feel that this will be the last story about Dancy Flammarion, at least for a good while, and I think that's left me reluctant to finish it. I will miss her. I felt like this in the summer of '99 when I was writing ". . . Between the Gargoyle Tree," the "last" story for the Tales of Pain and Wonder narrative cycle (it's not simply a collection, but an almost-novel). That last piece, knowing it would almost certainly be my last time with Jimmy DeSade, I felt peculiarly sad. Pushing him towards his terrible, inevitable end, the end he had coming all along, even though I might not have always been aware of that conclusion. And knowing that when I let Jimmy go I was also letting go of Salmagundi and Salammbô Desvernine, of Lark and Crispin, Jenny Haniver and the Children of the Yard, Rabbit and all the rest. Letting go of that part of my fictive universe. I miss them sometimes, the familiarity of them, as I wander into new stories and have to come to understand new characters.
By the way, the Meisha Merlin Press edition of Tales of Pain and Wonder is supposedly available now, so if you've been shying away from the pricey Gauntlet hardback edition, shy no longer.
The new issue of The Spook is up and includes one of my newer stories, "Apokatastasis." I'm very impressed by this webzine, and it's gone a long way towards convincing me that the web may yet be a viable medium for the presentation of prose. Anyway, it's available in PDF, for Acrobat, and it's free. Check it out at:
The Spook
Despite what my website says, I'm obviously not going to be at ICFA this year, which is a shame as I really wanted to attend. But the work has piled up to high and I decided to sit it out. I will be at the World Horror Convention in Chicago this April though, I promise. If nothing else, I wouldn't dare miss the Gothic.net party.
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