Saturday, January 15, 2005
The cold has returned, though not with the ferocity we were seeing a few weeks ago. Just enough to have me a little off balance. But soon spring will be in sight. Ena sn'ial.
This will be the first post I've made from Blogger in ages, but LiveJournal is still offline. It has been since early yesterday evening, following what was apparently a truly stupendous loss of power. So much for Internap. Anyway, I'll compose this here and then crosspost it to LJ later, as soon as I can. This crash has made me very grateful that virtually every bit of my journal is mirrored at Blogger (and most of it's backed up to disk, as well).
Huygens is showing us marvels, just as I knew it would.
I finished Private Demons last night about 3:30 a.m. I'm glad that I read it, and it has granted me great insight into Jackson's life and work. But, I will also say that Judy Oppenheimer is that annoying sort of biographer who cannot resist breaching the responsibility and role of the biographer. I would say that there's entirely too much of Oppenheimer in this book about Jackson.
Last night, we watched Nick Hamm's The Hole (also known as After the Hole), which is, I think, quite an underrated thriller. Thora Birch is extremely effective, and the film makes good use of its setting and the brooding threat of abandoned places (at times, it had me thinking of the excellent Session 9, though the two films share little common ground). The best haunted house stories are aware that "the hole" is not truly an artefact of warped architecture or ghostly visitations, but of the conscious minds inhabiting or passing through any given hole, any given parting of the solid with enclosed, empty space, and The Hole excels in this regard.
As for Daughter of Hounds, I spent a couple hours yesterday polishing what I'd written the day before. This scene is very dialogue heavy, and I've found that my dialogue almost always benefits from this sort of tightening. I have to hear the characters say it and be convinced that it's exactly what they would say in that instance, given who they are and everything that has happened to them. Our speech is never accidental, and the dialogue in books and films should reflect that. I was suprised to find that the profanity that had troubled me the day before worked completely. I think I cut one use of "shit," and that was all. A character should speak as a character would speak. If your gangters talk like choirboys, you'd better have a damned good reason for it.
We added a couple of things to the eBay auctions yesterday and will likely add more today. We're now offering ARCs of the Subterranean Press edition of Low Red Moon, but supplies are limited and they've been going fast (I think we've sold five since last night). Also, we've put up a PC of the leatherbound lettered edition of Wrong Things (out of print), with a "buy it now" price $50 dollars lower than the publication price. Bill Schafer was a kind enough to send us a large box of goodies for the auction, for which we are very grateful. He also presently has the high bid on the hand-corrected Dry Salvages ARC, a situation someone should rememdy. Take notice of In the Garden of Poisonous Flowers, which isn't selling as well as it usually does. The copies up now are the limited edition, not the trade, which we were offering earlier. They are signed by both me and Dame Darcy. Great art, a fine Dancy story, a handsome volume. Also, check out From Weird and Distant Shores, which includes a Richard Kirk illustration for each and every story and wonderful cover art by the amazing Bob Eggleton. Thanks to everyone taking part in the auctions; it's a huge help, really.
Okay, I hope LJ is back up soon, because I am definitely no longer accustomed to things here at Blogger...
11:33 AM
Comments:
Post a Comment
