Sunday, March 02, 2003
Ugh. Sunday's as gray, or grayer, than Saturday was. But at least it's a spring sort of gray, which always beats the winter sorts of gray hands down. Spooky just distracted me from writing this entry, to look at photographs from the October 5th Atlanta "Save Farscape" rally. Now I've entirely lost my train of thought, such as it was. The rather moribund weather. The ground is turning green, at least. Dandelions, henbit, doc, clover, moss, bits of grass. I lived through another goddamned winter.
I always have, so far.
I'm listening to Rasputina's The Lost and Found, 2nd Ed. and thinking that I need to get to a music store to pick up the new Nick Cave disc.
Yesterday, Spooky and I made it through chapters Eleven and Twelve. Today we do Thirteen, Fourteen, the Epilogue, and the read-through will be finished. Jennifer made it through the first six chapters yesterday, I think. I liked Threshold well enough, but I might actually love Low Red Moon. I suppose I'm an awful sort of artistic parent, publically favouring one child over another (and let's not even get started on poor first-born Silk; at least she won two awards). Low Red Moon just keeps doing all the right things for me. It's weird to be happy with a book. Mostly happy. It's never happened before. Anyway, tomorrow I'll try to make most or all of the corrections/changes that need to be done, the mistakes and such that we've marked, but there's nothing big. Apparently, I'm a better novelist when I write novels more quickly.
I stopped to look at photographs again. Sorry.
Hmmmm. Let's look at some e-mail. This from emily (she did the e. e. cummings thing to herself):
Hello. Though I like The Queen of Shadows, I believe I agree with the person who liked Murder of Angels the best. It suggests so much, not of plot or of ideas, but something deeper, an emotional response that makes me want to buy the book (which I would anyway, but I try to be objective). Like you, I have a feeling that the band wouldn't care.
I tell everyone about your stories, tell them to buy your books. I never know if my word means anything, but hopefully someone will be inspired...
let the idiots babble. Murmurings of praise might be less strident and visible, but are no less real and constant.
Thank you, emily. I do like it when people say "I liked X" and then include some sort of argument for their preference, as you did. Perhaps I actually will contact the band. It would be sort of weird if the book goes back to being Murder of Angels at this point.
Now, this from Andrew Bishop:
Miss Kiernan,
I must appeal to your authority. I have a friend who I want to introduce to some great comic books like Moonshadow and Channel Zero and Cages, but I don't know what tack to take with her. She's a smart person - she likes your books, she studied English in college, she still remembers what poststructuralism is, she likes PJ Harvey - but I don't want to insult her and say, "Since you're a lesbian, you'd love Strangers In Paradise or The Sandman: A Game of You. But then again, I can't think of anything else to draw her in with. I don't want to make the case with Brian Bendis or Dave Sim and alienate her. But then again I don't want to say anything that would make her feel dumb. Being an intelligent woman and having written in the medium yourself, is there some insight you have for introducing intelligent women to the medium? Thank you for your help.
Never thank someone for helping you before she actually does (help you, I mean). Honestly, I'm not sure how to convince non-comics readers to read comics. And you haven't said whether or not your friend is actively hostile to the medium, or just doesn't read comics. Different strategies might be called for in each case. See, I'm not being helpful, and you've already thanked me! Hmmmm. My best advice, don't be shy about recommending to your friend what you think is good literature, whether that literature be illustrated or non-illustrated. Don't be obnoxious, or shrill, or condescending. Just tell her you think it rocks and you think she might think so, too. It helps to begin with stories that have beginnings, middles, and ends, and not to try to get someone hooked on an ongoing title right off the bat. Moonshadow's a very good place to begin. Maybe The Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns (it's odd that I always go back to the late '80s for things like this). And yes, The Sandman. Stress that comics have gotten a bad rap over the years and that this isn't adolescent superheo silliness, but complex adult fiction that just happens to come with pictures. I think that's all the advice I have. When I want someone to read something (or see a movie or a television show or hear an album) I'm usually much less tactful. I usually put it in his or her hands and say something blunt like, "Read this."
That's why I'm loved by millions, I suspect.
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