Wednesday, November 29, 2006
I do not know why it happened, but last night's sleep was accompanied by the sort of delirium that usually requires a 104F fever or a dose of some unpleasant entheogen to produce. So, I'm a bit off my feed this morning, so to speak.
Yesterday, I wrote a perfectly respectable 928 words.
During our walk in Freedom Park, we were passing by one of the big oak trees and realised that it was filled with blue birds (Sialia sialis). I'd not seen even one blue bird since...I'm not even sure. Maybe the late 1980s, at my mother's old place. She put houses up for blue birds and lived at the edge of woods and pastures, so blue birds were not uncommon. But I never saw more than two at a time, even then. There were at least four or five in this oak. We watched them for a time.
That was likely the best thing about yesterday, the blue birds.
A number of people have volunteered to work on the hyperlinks for stories for the e-version of Tales of Pain and Wonder. Below is a list of all the stories. The ones that have been spoken for already have been struck through:
"Anamorphosis"
"To This Water (Johnstown, Pennsylvania 1889)"
"Bela's Plot""Tears Seven Times Salt"
"Superheroes"
"Glass Coffin"
"Breakfast in the House of the Rising Sun""Estate""The Last Child or Lir"
"A Story for Edward Gorey"
"Paedomorphosis"
"Salammbô"
"Postcards from the King of Tides"
"Rats Live on No Evil Star"
"Salmagundi""In the Water Works (Birmingham, Alabama 1888)""The Long Hall on the Top Floor""San Andreas"
"Angels You Can See Through"
"Lafayette"
"...Between the Gargoyle Trees"
Epilogue: "Zelda Fitzgerald in Ballet Attire"
A few people said they wanted to help out, but then didn't choose a story. Please, if you're interested, pick a story. I don't want to assign them. And if you volunteer to work on a story, be sure to leave an e-mail address. Also, the question of whether the e-version would be offered as something other than a PDF was raised, if it would be available in other formats. The answer is, "Not unless someone comes forward who wants to do all the work on those conversions." I understand PDFs, and I can see how this book can still look and feel something remotely like a book as a PDF. I can't say the same for a version that could be read on, say, a cell phone. I think that's just a little too 21st Century for a collection of short fiction concerned in part with the deleterious effects of industry and technology upon cilvilisation and art. I would like to at least pretend that people will download the PDF and print it out and read it as hard copy. However, I'll consider other formats, if there's someone to do all the work required. And if subpress is amenable to hosting more than a single format. I haven't yet asked. Thanks, by the way, to everyone who has volunteered so far.
The weather here is very warm. The high today is supposed to be near 70F. But I just checked weather.com and saw the headline "Strong cold front slams door on warmth." I knew that was coming, the rain and then the long cold, but I wish it were not so.
Speaking of cold, we watched Ice Age: The Meltdown last night, but I think the first one was much better.
I should wrap this up. The day is slipping past...
11:37 AM
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