Escape Clause is here!   
02:59pm 14/10/2009
 
mood: amused
I got my contributor copy of Escape Clause today and so of course the first thing I did was use it to annoy the cat:



If you are so inclined you can order it direct from Ink Oink Art Inc.		  
     
5 comments|wax poetical
 
One for sorrow, two for joy . . .   
11:46am 10/10/2009
 
mood: content
music: Camera Obscura- Aeronautical
The Urban Pantheist, ([info]urbpan) has a really great entry today about crows (with some nice pictures from some of his previous lj projects). He also points to a Canadian documentary premiering on the CBC tomorrow night entitled A Murder of Crows. It looks really fascinating and am jealous of the Canadians who get to see it. Corvids have intriguied me for a long time. "A Parliament of Rooks" is one of my favorite of the one off Sandman Stories and now I have the definite urge to pick up this book.		  
     
wax poetical
 
This is just to say . . .   
06:13pm 06/10/2009
 
mood: good
music: Peter Murphy- I'll Fall With Your Knife


Today is Erika and I's 2nd anniversary. I am still continually amazed by the woman I married. She remains the match for me in every way, and I feel incredibly lucky. Last year we spent our anniversary in Colorado for Dave and Susie's wedding. This year we had a nice weekend in St. Augustine and will have a nice dinner at home tonight.		  
     
2 comments|wax poetical
 
Happy October   
02:30pm 01/10/2009
 
mood: busy
music: The Rolling Stones- Sympathy for the Devil


Its the most wonderful time of the year. So here is a weird camera phone picture of the Eldritch Glow from one of the lamps outside of the library this morning. (I actually just really like the moss growning on it).

And in further celebration of the this season "The October Game" by Ray Bradbury.

And now off to class am I.		  
     
2 comments|wax poetical
 
No one remembers Arthur Machen . . . except for Victorianists!   
10:51am 30/09/2009
 
mood: awake
music: The Church- Under the Milky Way
While its not October yet, there's a really nice piece on the Guardian's book blog about Arthur Machen "the forgotten father of weird fiction."

Its a brief post, but it points out some very true stuff. You can find Machen's infleunce all of over the horror genre, explicitly and implicitely. And he's certainly still read by academics studying fin-de-siecle literature.

Here's the link to the Project Gutenberg text of The Great God Pan.		  
     
wax poetical
 
Academic geekery   
06:30pm 22/09/2009
 
mood: excited
music: Iggy Pop- I Got a Right
I'm currently putting together a syllabus for an Intro to Lit class as part of my Practice in Teaching Literature class. Instead of putting together a simple straightforward "three genres" kind of Intro to literature class, I'm focuing on retellings and adaptation. Its a topic I find really fascinating and I think used properly it can function well as the orgainizing priciple of such a class.

When i started formulating this, one of the first things I thought about was using various versions of Little Red Riding Hood and Blue Beard, especially Angela Carter's "The Company of Wolves," and "The Bloody Chamber." I got one of the readers I requested yesterday, a book called Retellings geared at using adaptation as a theme for just such a course. And of course I sart purusing its contents and what do I find, but a whole section on Little Red Riding Hood, including the Perrault and Grimme versions, a piece by Tanith Lee (which I must read) and low and behold "The Company of Wolves."

I'm digging these editors is what I'm saying.		  
     
10 comments|wax poetical
 
I demand an IRB audit!   
04:17pm 09/09/2009
 
mood: tired
music: Hungry Lucy- Rainfall
I'm doing a brief oral presentation at the Graduate Student Research Symposium next month and in order to participate I had to turn a form in to the Graduate School, which is housed in the Behavioral Science building. I headed over there this afternoon, not entirely sure of where I was going, this being my first time in this particular building.

I have strong suspicions that all university buildings that house Behavioral Science departments are either designed or adapted by their inhabitants to function as impromptu studies in human psychology. Case in point: Our Behavioral Science building does not, at first glance, seem to have any way in. While there are doors (which look rather like something you'd see in a loading dock), all of the doors on one side of the building apparently open up directly into classrooms, while another side of the building is completely impenetrable. I finally found a path of ingress, opening a door labeled simply "North Stairwell" to be confronted with another door directly ahead bearing a sign which read "Danger High-Voltage." To my left were stairs fitting appropriate of a Russian nuclear power-plant circa 1985. In the background was the whirring noise of machinery.

I proceeded up the stairs in fear for my life, and finally emerged on the third floor. In contrast to the steel and concrete catacomb I had just left, the hall I emerged on had glass-walled offices, and leather armchairs. The contrast with the post-apocalyptic clatter of the stairwell was itself disconcerting. More confusing was additional signage here. Directly in front of the entrance from the stairs was a large sign which instructed all visitors to check in at room 301 before proceeding anywhere else on the floor. The problem: room 301 was nowhere to be found; indeed, I had proceeded to walk pretty much the entire floor before finding room 301. Luckily room 301 was where I had to turn my form in. I pushed on the glass door clearly labeled "push" and discovered that it in-fact needed to be pulled. The woman behind the desk was polite, took my paperwork and I was free to go as long as I could find my way out.

I am sure that even as I type this, a work-study student in the Psych department is busy editing together the footage from half-a-dozen hidden cameras that caught my exploration of the ridiculous space. Soon an eminent faculty member with an extensive knowledge of B.F. Skinner will be pouring over the tape and adding me to his ever growing monograph. Soon I will find myself as example 47F in an extensive examination of stress-inducing physical space.		  
     
4 comments|wax poetical
 
Oscar Wilde on Niagara Falls   
04:41pm 04/09/2009
 
mood: amused
Something amusing I came across while doing school work. Wilde says the following of Niagara Falls:

Every American bride is taken there, and the sight of the stupendous waterfall must be one of the earliest, if not the keenest, disappointments in American married life.
-Quoted in H. Montgomery Hyde, Oscar Wilde.		  
     
4 comments|wax poetical
 
15 books, sort of   
12:22pm 13/08/2009
 
mood: hungry
music: Johnny Hollow- Halfway to God
[info]pgtremblay recently posted his tweaked version of the 15 books meme. Instead of just books he limited it to short story collections, I'm tweaking it a little more and including collections edited by other people (still single author) posthumous and all that. You may also note that I share at least a couple with [info]pgtremblay. So 15 short story collections that come to mind.

H.P. Lovecraft- Tales of H.P. Lovecraft selected by Joyce Carrol Oates
Elizabeth Hand- Bibliomancy
James Joyce- Dubliners
Neil Gaiman- Smoke and Mirrors
Poppy Z Brite- Wormwood
Clive Barker- The Books of Blood
Flannery O'Connor- Collected Stories
Salman Rushdie- East/West
J. Sheridan LeFanu- A Glass Darkly
M. Rickert- Map of Dreams
Joe Hill- 20th Century Ghosts
Jorge Luis Borges- Labyrinths
Peter Straub- Magic Terror
Ray Bradbury- The October Country
Oscar Wilde- Complete Short Stories		  
     
wax poetical
 
The myth of Sisyphis Synopsis   
02:08pm 12/08/2009
 
mood: blah
music: Peter Gabriel- My Head Sounds Like That
I finished the final polishing draft of Hallowed yesterday and have spent today doing random chores and attempting to write a synopsis of the novel. I'm not the only writer who complains about writing synopses, in fact I've never met anyone who finds them to be enjoyable, fufiling, or anything less than annoying. I've written a couple for longer works I've written and it always feels like I'm knee deep in some fifth grade book report, wherein I'm explining detail by detail how Bilbo heads out towards the Mysty Mountains, meets Gollum in a cave, finds a special ring, and ultimately helps (sort of) slay a dragon.

But synopses are important, especially for those of us trying to sell unagented manuscripts. Basically I've just got to hope that my plot outline sounds intriguing, my character arcs are clear, and that the sample chapters (or whole manuscript for those publishers who want the whole deal up front) are impressive enough to get me serious consideration.

In other news, school starts up again soon, and I'm sure I'll have more to say about books and classes shortly.		  
     
2 comments|wax poetical
 
Been a long time since I rock n' rolled   
02:19pm 02/08/2009
 
mood: awake
music: Tom Waits- Alice
A much overdue update. The summer has been spent, thus far, with summer school, now over, and moving to a new apartment, now complete. Erika and I left the East Diana Wildlife Preserve for digs that are less falling apart (and cheaper!)

I'm still working on getting Hallowed in shape for submission. I hope to do so before classes get underway again. I've got stories I want to finish, reading I want to do, articles I need to work on, and other sundry things but Hallowed needs to take top priority on the work front. I've been making my way through the polishing draft, and I'm actually really happy with it. Right now I think its good, maybe more than good.

According to the publisher, Escape Clause: A Speculative Fiction Anthology will be ready to ship August 10th. You can buy via their site if interested. They've got the cover copy out and I like it, kind of McSweenysesque, and there is a really amusing reference to my piece:

From the handsome imaginations of award-winning storytellers and rising stars in the field of speculative literature, we bring you Escape Clause: twenty-six short pieces of fantasy, sf, horror, and ghostliness.

We’ve got a deathbot, five dragons and a muscleman. We’ve got saints on the prowl, nuns on the lam, and a goddess on a stick. We’ve got a vampire, kids gone wrong, and kids who get it right. (Well, one. Sort of. Eventually. With help.)

We have cups of coffee.

We have gardens of grief, gardens of protection, New Venice piazzas (complete with statues and killer pigeons) Heliopolis, fat camp, a waxwork museum, World War One and outer space.

All this, in only twenty-six short pieces. With art.

If magic, mystery and... minotaurs appeal to you, you've found the right book.

Crack these pages.. When the last tale is told, you'll probably dream a while. You'll probably wait a while before your pick up another book. Because this one, friends, this one... is a feast.

A few people who read this have read "Still Life With Coffe Cup" and so will get the joke, those who haven't will just have to read the book.

-end transmission		  
     
wax poetical
 
Stokers!   
01:17am 14/06/2009
 
mood: ecstatic
Tonight was the Bram Stoker Awards, and the results have begun filtering across the interweb. I'm ecstatic to note that Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the Closet won the Stoker for the anthology category! Congratulations are due to Vince and Chad for putting together such a great anthology. I continue to be honored to have published my first story in its pages. My contribution was one of many, but I'm very proud to have been at least a small part of this great success.

And of course congratulations to all of the Stoker winners.		  
     
12 comments|wax poetical
 
Today   
09:27pm 11/06/2009
 
mood: confused
music: Voltaire- Snakes
I'm on a posting rampage it seems . . .

So today:

I had a meeting with the Graduate Director regarding the next year or so. I'm on track to finish coursework in the Spring and take my comps in the Fall of 2010. Then I went over to the local mall to finally see Drag Me To Hell. No extensive review here, just to say that it was fun, and had some great moments, and well probably doesn't please the Romani advocacy folk.

I got out of the film with the intention to catch the campus shuttle back to school and to sequester myself in my study carol until Erika got off of work and came to pick me up. However when I took a look at my phone I discovered a text message from the USF emergency message service which read:

Alert USF Tampa. Police respounding to a report of man with gun on NE side of campus near greek village. Avoid area.

Not an evacuation but a directive to "avoid" a certain area of campus. Weird. Being without interweb access I called Erika who checked out the university site for more info. It only repeated (word for word) the text message. Not much information regarding time period or current status. I threw caution to the wind and took the shuttle back to campus. I went to my cube and was received the following text an hour or so later:

USF Tampa: after reports of man w/gun, police conducted thorough search of area. Search complete, nothing found. All acitvities continue as normal.

So police didn't find whoever this guy spotted with a gun was and thus, everything is cool?		  
     
wax poetical
 
An open letter . . .   
09:07pm 11/06/2009
 
mood: cynical
music: Future Bible Heroes- Mr. Punch
Dear Freshmen Orientation Group Leaders,

I have several related things I would like bring to your attention:

1). Do you really need to bring your group of 15-20 pre-frosh actually in to the campus fitness center on your campus tour? Couldn't you just stop outside and say "and this is the gym"? It isn't like there is anything special about our fitness center: the pool is not filled with gold and dolphins, and the locker room showers do not actually spray bourbon. It is a bloody gym.

2). If you insist on bringing your group of 15-20 pre-frosh actually in to the campus fitness center do you really need to make them sit down on the floor in the middle of the main corridor while you, also sitting, tell them that they are, in fact, in the fitness center?

Love and hexes,

-Jude		  
     
2 comments|wax poetical
 
Oh ho, the wind and the rain   
12:19am 19/05/2009
 
mood: content
music: Tom Waits- Make it Rain
Its been raining for days and I couldn't be more pleased with it. We've needed the rain, and I personally have needed a good infusion of thunder. I haven't updated here for awhile. The end of the semester came on heavily, and when it was done I was too exhausted to care much about updating. I had a week off, and then classes began again. I've come to the realization that in a year's time I will be done with coursework and studying for my comprehensive exams (which I should be taking in fall of 2010). Its one of those strange things when you blink and then suddenly realize that you are making progress. The end isn't anywhere near being in sight, but I at least feel like I'm slowly making my way towards it.

My classes are interesting, and over in June and then I've got some time to work on research and writing. I'm currently taking a British Modernism class (I'll more than likely be taking one of my comps in Modernism, so I should probably get some more of it under my belt) and Jewish theology as part of my Tools of Research requirement.

But the big news at present in the Wright household is the sale of my story "Still Life with Coffee Cup" to the forthcoming Escape Clause anthology. "Still Life" is in many ways my favorite story. I wrote it a few years ago, and I've sent it out to a number of different publications, genre and mainstream. It got some really good responses from some fairly tough audiences. Still, most of the fantasy publications thought it wasn't fantastic enough, and the mainstream markets thought it was too fantastic. Anyway I'm really happy that it has found a home. Its a story that I'm truly proud of.		  
     
2 comments|wax poetical
 
And this, dear reader, is why we edit . . .   
10:26am 01/04/2009
 
music: Adam Ant- 1969
I just came across the following sentence I had written in my annotated bibliography for Bleak House

"The bride is knowingly complicit in the fiction of male superiority necessary for pedagogy to function."

Ummm yeah, pedagogy should read patriarchy.

It has been a rough semester . . .		  
     
wax poetical
 
good news   
04:38pm 23/03/2009
 
mood: pleased
music: The Duke Spirit- This Ship was Built to Last
Back from ICFA where I presented my paper, hosted a reading, witnessed much to be remarked upon, and ate overpriced hotel food. Good year, despite the absences of some old friends. More to report later.

However. of directly present interest:

Unspeakable Horror is officially a nominee for the Bram Stoker Award for best anthology. Congratulations to everyone else in the anthology, and of course to Vince and Chad who edited it.		  
     
6 comments|wax poetical
 
Random mid-semester desk shot   
06:34pm 14/03/2009
 
mood: okay


This isn't as bad as it has been in past.		  
     
wax poetical
 
Quickly, to the Panopticon!   
12:24pm 13/03/2009
 
mood: amused
music: The Duke Spirit- This Ship was Built to Last
While I find Sean Grass's article "The Moonstone, Narrative Failure, and the Pathology of the State" less than convincing, it did render up this awesome turn of phrase: "Betteridge may regard 'looking about' as a genteel affliction--a hereditary arisocratic disease, something like Panoptical gout-- but staring in the novel is a widespread and socially sanctioned practice, less a colonal infection than an inborn condition of English life" (105).

Panoptical gout!		  
     
4 comments|wax poetical
 
I only post about death nowadays . . .   
10:46am 11/03/2009
 
mood: sad
music: Johnny Cash- When the Roll is Called Up Yonder
Its been a rough couple of weeks all around. As I mentioned briefly, Erika's grandfather passed a little while ago. My grandmother died on Monday. It had been coming for awhile. She was in a lot of pain, and was losing her faculties to microstrokes. Still its sad. I honestly can't remember the last time I actually saw her. Certainly it was before I moved to Boston. The last really vivid memory I have is from visting her in the hospital back in 2004. I know I saw her since then, but for the lfe of me I can't remember when. Its a strange, or perhaps an appropriate time to be reading (and writing a paper on) John Donne for class. Death and decay everywhere there, and a strange vitality in the midst of it. He blurs the lines a lot, and I think I like that, even if I don't by into his religious system. There something facinating, and perhpa comforting, about the ways he subverts the binaries of life and death.		  
     
8 comments|wax poetical
 
 
sacredchao23
 
 
skip