Dragons With Cancer
Bradley Sands and I wanted to make an electronic anthology that took Bizarro authors and Blogzarro authors and featured two stories from each, one “real” and one “unreal.” We let everything else figure itself out. And now you can read Dragons With Cancer either online or as a PDF. Read and click. Keep up on things. They’re loading all emotions into a rocket and sending it to Mars, so if you have any left you should use them soon. List of authors after the jump.
“How to Build a Universe that Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later” by Philip K. Dick
It was always my hope, in writing novels and stories which asked the question “What is reality?”, to someday get an answer. This was the hope of most of my readers, too. Years passed. I wrote over thirty novels and over a hundred stories, and still I could not figure out what was real. One day a girl college student in Canada asked me to define reality for her, for a paper she was writing for her philosophy class. She wanted a one-sentence answer. I thought about it and finally said, “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.”That’s all I could come up with. That was back in 1972. Since then I haven’t been able to define reality any more lucidly.
[After the jump, I write Ken a note about what I thought about the essay]
“You” by Frank Stanford
Sometimes in our sleep we touch
The body of another woman
And we wake up
And we know the first nights
With summer visitors
In the three storied house of our childhood.
Whatever we remember,
The darkest hair being brushed
In front of the darkest mirror
In the darkest room.
Let’s make a list.
Kevin commented on my Letters to Wendy’s post earlier today that he thought the book is one of the most “stunning pieces of art to appear in the last ten years.” It occurs to me that I tend to agree with that assessment. Letters to Wendy’s really did change the way I thought about poetry and fiction. It changed the focus of my reading. It changed the way I approach writing, too.
The writers and readers of this blog seem to have a taste for innovative work. If asked to name one book that permanently and significantly rewired the way you read or write, what would it be?
In a few days, I’ll update this post with a list.
UPDATE:
Actually, what the heck. Let’s open this up. A piece of music, a film, a photograph, a painting. What piece of art significantly rewired the way you think of art or create art.
My name has never sounded sexier.
Dead ringer.
I’m not sure how many people know this already, but “Justin Taylor” is–among other things–also the name of a fictional character from the now-defunct TV show Queer as Folk. What’s NOT defunct is the stream of fan-fiction concerning Justin’s relationship with Brian Kinney. There’s tons of it being produced and published, almost entirely on Livejournal. Often times they move the characters into new environments/situations/worlds, such as a sci-fi-ish future or else, as in today’s offering, a high school that’s also somehow “like Muppet Babies.” In the grand tradition of slashfiction, all of this *ahem* literature is known by the collective title of Brian/Justin fiction, or, simply–and perfectly, am I right?–BJ fic. How do I know all this? Uh, own-name Google alert–anybody? Here’s an extract from chapter two of QAF Babies (click anywhere to get swept away to QAFland):
I smile. “Justin. Justin Taylor.”
He repeats slowly, “Justin Taylor.” My name has never sounded sexier.
In response, he asks playfully, “Why shouldn’t I take home ec? Where else will I learn how to cook my man a hearty meal, balance his checkbook, care for all our adopted babies, and darn his socks?”
I stare at him blankly. After a minute or two, he chuckles. “Maybe I just want to ogle your hot ass as you bend over to put cookies in the oven…”
Sylvia Plath’s Son Kills Himself
Big Ken Baumann News: ‘Unguentine’ the film
The most amibitious and awesome news update I’ve had the pleasure to divulge in a while, from none other than our own Ken Baumann. I’ll let his own words do the talkin’:
So I’m finally in the clear in a legal sense to divulge the promised information: I’ve optioned the film rights to Log of the S.S. The Mrs Unguentine by Stanley Crawford, and will be writing the screenplay.
A little back story: On recommendation of Blake Butler and others, I bought the book. As soon as it arrived in the mail I sat with it. I read it in two (unfortunately two — it would have been one if not for having to drive somewhere) sittings, and from really what was the fifth page in it began to percolate and pool within me. I was viscerally struck. Less than halfway inside I began to think ‘This would make a beautiful film.’ A few moments after I finished reading I felt I had to bring the story to a wide audience and a new medium. Patrick Welborn, my friend and agent, read the book and agreed. And now I, with the help of many many others, will do just that.
Ungeuntine on film? A story on a boat in a blur world where time is flesh and language is flesh and each page is fever sleep meshed with weird acid and a gloaming sense of death?
A huge undertaking, and an exciting one. In Ken’s hands, I feel ready to be eaten alive. Here’s to good luck in power and light, brother.
If you haven’t yet consumed this masterpiece, it is available in new edition from Dalkey Archive. Do yourself a favor.
Letters to Wendy’s Q &A
Recently uploaded to Joe Wenderoth’s Youtube channel is a fourteen part q & a with students about his book Letters to Wendy’s.
Question one: “What inspired you to write Letters to Wendy’s?”
After a long pause, Joe’s answer is: “Umm, a desire for power.”
Follow this link to see the first video. In it, Joe reads a few selections from the book after the teacher takes role. (Can anyone identify the teacher. A prize to anyone who does.)
Links
John D’Agata’s review of Letters to Wendy’s.
Letters to Wendy’s, the musical.
A review of Bruce McCulloch’s live version of Letters to Wendy’s. McCulloch was a member of Kids in the Hall. (Whose theme song was written by Shadowy Men from a Shadowy Planet. I used to listen to Dim the Lights, Chill the Ham in the car!)
Letters to Wendy’s Myspace page.
Unrelated article about letters sent to the families of victims of a 2000 massacre at a Wendy’s in New York.
Snopes article about a finger reportedly found in a bowl of Wendy’s chili.
Page where you can learn more about adoption, a cause beloved by Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas.
Easter Post
Richard Yates, The Easter Parade (with a link to Tolstoy’s The Resurrection)
A Better Resurrection by Syliva Plath
I have no wit, I have no words, no tears;
My heart within me like a stone
Is numbed too much for hopes or fears;
Look right, look left, I dwell alone;
A lift mine eyes, but dimmed with grief
No everlasting hills I see;
My life is like the falling leaf;
O Jesus, quicken me.
And from The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to St. John, chapter 20, verses 24-31, from the Douay-Rheims New Testament (thanks Barry, for suggesting this version of the New Testament): READ MORE >