The Diamond Island

Pulled out a Rudraksha seed given to me by a dang dear old friend.  Time for me to do some Shiva work, this time for real.  My friend Xtine has been in the cage with the lions.  Feel like I’ve been in a leaky basement teeming with supersize crocs.  The only light from the mice with charcoal eyes.  Hostile devil child in the dark tunnel with glowing eyes and teeth, all fangs and nails chattering at me with a whisper.  Is the rotting comic book and baseball card collection a clue?  Digging a hole so the scary little guy can escape, get into the sunlight and breathe the air.  Maybe go eat cheap hot dogs with me at the Vienna Inn.

Today, March 17th, is my 40th birthday.  It is also the anniversary of my folks.  Check out these two.  Thanks for hooking them up, BK!

I’m a bit out of sorts right now.  The last few posts were written before Xtine’s friend Josh passed away.  What with that, the slaying of My Mirage, and the departure of UFO Girl, I’m feeling a little extra depressed this holiday season.  So it’s Slow Down Time for a few days while I sit and smoulder over the last calendar year, and the start of the Celtic year so far.  In the meantime, here’s a little bit of text from John Masefield’s The Box of Delights, which encapsulates a little of my wishes.

O Greatness, hear, O Brightness, hark,
Leave us not Little, nor yet Dark.

Ring, blessed Bells, for Christmas Morn,
Joy in Full Measure, Hope New-born.

Posts in the hopper, trying to make sense of them. For now, enjoy your meal!

11-11-08 ETA:  My laptop just croaked, probably for good.  Just as I was finished transferring files for backup.  Guess it’s back to the watercolors for a while.  Let’s see what I can get at Dell-dude with some defecit spending!

I’ve finished the third set of revisions, and am going down the line of my list of weaknesses to double-check if I’ve missed anything.  Maybe another two weeks, and I’ll have a finished draft.

I’m considering the possibility of doing a short comic book series and posting it here.  Got all the materials and the know-how, I’m only waiting for the right signs to take place and I’ll do some work on what it’ll be.  For now, I’m reading and researching.  Must make stuff for people or Hulk smash!

My folks have a bunch of tapes of a quirky truck-driving friend of theirs that might make for amusing listening.  I may turn them into a podcast at some point, or heck, make my own weird audio show for a limited time.  Must make stuff!

As Guy Caballero from SCTV said, “We need programming!”

The garden had gone weird on us.  The weeds won the battle, and we have mice living in the garden now.  Peppers are all a bust, and the tomatoes have gone whacko – either dying out if they are the big tomato variety, or growing all over the place and producing a handful of tomatoes if they are the small version.

The leeks are ready and good to go – they are huge!  The onions have made an unexpected comeback, while the horseradish is looking not so good.  One of the wildflowers went nuts and grew huge, with wonderful blossoms.  Crumbs, the marigolds are doing amazing, and we were surrounded by bumble and honey bees getting busy.  It was a shock.

We planted some autumn lettuce, but we’ll see how that turns out.  Oh yeah, the corn turned out nice, we got about five half ears with maybe three or four to come.  K and I cut up the corn and cooked it, then had it with the small cherry tomatoes.  The bounty was good as a side for our dinner, but it tasted so very good.

I don’t know what to make of the garden this year, it defies my puny knowledge to the +1.  I can’t explain how we got some of one thing, and nothing of most everything else.  Meanwhile, the folks have tons of lettuce growing like mad, along with garlic.  Pump up the jam for them!

My cool dude artistic friend Xtine has a new astrology website, so here’s the plug.  I don’t actually go there as a watering hole, or it’d be in the blogroll.  But I’ml placing her in the classic links section, as that may be of interest to my esoterically minded guests.  I can’t wait to see what she starts putting into her studio website when it goes to the max.

I stumbled upon some interesting explorations of the Minotaur phenomenon by arctangent at this link.  I especially like how she draws the distinction between a maze (a place to mess you up and keep you lost) and a labyrinth (you always meet the center and it’s occupant, because the route is inevitable).

I’ve been fascinated by the premise of the book House of Leaves, a rabbit hole beyond human comprehension, even though I haven’t been particularly interested in reading the book itself.  Puzzle mystery books don’t do it for me, mostly because I’m no good at puzzles and get hung up on them trying to figure out what’s happening.

However, the idea of getting drawn into an exploration of a supernatural house to try and experience its mystery intrigues me.  I’ve always been very fond of the Minotaur myth, and find the background behind it really cool.  Arctangent’s analysis got me thinking about it again, and I can sense more clues to come from out there.

Despite my duties and responsibilities taking a chunk out of my time, I’ve still managed to heat up the creative cauldron of my book’s progress.  A lot of information has been moving through my brain as I organize and put the final touches on the main components of the world.

I’ve been compiling and readying a list of what I believe will be my third and final set of revisions.  I feel I’m approaching that phase where I’ll be fiddling with words more for perfection’s than completion’s sake.  At least, as far as I can tell.  A lot will depend on what my editor tells me.  I could have hidden mistakes requiring more nights of doom!

In the meantime, I thought I’d share the five core characters of my book.  Those of you who’ve been listening to me run my yap for the last year and a half deserve a crumb of some kind.  Barring a horrible error of bias or ignorance, the roster is as follows:

Rordan:  The protagonist.  A bumbling rustic (jack-of-all trades entertainer).  Studying to be a sage at his brother’s insistence.

Ficna:  Rordan’s upper-class foster-brother and constant companion.  A thoughtless gallant (flashy, self-styled gentleman).  Trying to get his life started.

Kea:  The antagonist.  She’s a  sly wanderer with magical powers.  Looking for a job and living off a large group of loyal friends.

Borus:  Deranged beggar Rordan picks up off the street and cares for.  Incapable of speech and tremendously strong.  Most everyone thinks she is a boy.

Glenys:  An ethically-minded student Rordan meets during his studies.  A skilled, fearless fighter and a stargazer (fortune-teller and expert in the occult).  Hoping to go on an adventure.

And here’s the updated plug:

Young Rordan the artist wants to help his brother Ficna advance.
Kea the drifter is doing her best to get Rordan and Ficna killed.
At Regol Coros Academy, magic is leaking into ordinary life.
If Rordan fails to uncover Kea’s secret, he must serve evil or die!
But can either of them pay the price of magic’s discovery?

Looks like my laptop croaked.  Good thing I archived the latest book stuff the night before!  But alas, my latest post material may not be recoverable, so here I am with zip-nada for even a pathetic menagerie update.

I’ve been reading about psychic monsters these last few days, and so of course I’m now looking around nervously in case one of The Unbelievables tries to steal my lunch money.  Could have sworn I saw a black dog meandering around UFO girl’s hill as I was taking out the trash last night.  Several minutes later, whirrr-whirrr-whirrr (hard drive making unhealthy sound).  Thanks for the radiation exposure, ya mutt!

I think I’m going to have to go ghostbusting in retaliation tonight.  I’ll be packing photon milkbones with phrases set on stun.

August 1st was the one year anniversary of my setting up this website. I wasn’t able to post that day, owing to an overload of stress causing my body to weird out on me. Not like the fuel cells were full of anything exciting to say, anyway.

K nursed me back to auxiliary power with a combination of tea and chicken soup. The backyard garden is doing way better than our association plot, so she was able to toss in all sorts of yummy fresh herbs like parsley and rosemary to kick it up a notch. I’m going to have to post my chicken soup recipe at some point.

Here I am, still working on that dang first book a year and half later. Who would have guessed revisions and editing were such a chore? A dream suggested a title to me, which I’ve been rolling around in my head. I’ve decided on a cover, so pretty soon I’ll be doing the illustration for that. Also, I’ve strained my brain over POD versus mainstream publishing, and I’m committed to POD now. There’s too much freedom to turn it down. I’m doing this for the work, wherever it goes.

The website itself hasn’t progressed as much as I’d have liked, but I’m satisfied with the results so far. I’m thinking simple is good, and if the energy to make major changes hasn’t been there, then it’s not time to do anything complicated yet. My desire has been to be a word of mouth affair, centered on the people in my life who actually know me. I’ve cut out the search engines because I’m shy and withdrawn, even now.

I’ve heard tell that it takes two years for a website to be discovered. For now, I’m enjoying the creative anonymity of being known to only fifty-eight unique visitors, even if ten of them are bots.

Going over my posterboard supply, I notice that other than the piece I’ve set aside for my book cover project, I don’t have any small pieces left. That award I worked on used up the last of my free range board slices. Grumble, that stuff doesn’t come cheap, and I hate to have to do the cutting. I really need to get a good surface. Maybe when I win the lottery and get that multi-circuited workstation complete with trusty robot sidekick and icebox buddy complete with Polecat beer.

Hand in hand with the posterboard are my PH Martin Radiant watercolors, now down to “why bother?” levels. I keep telling myself I will revive my collection. I just haven’t been doing the poster board art scene for my personal advancement enough in that area. I’m going to have to if I’m going to get that book cover of mine ready for consideration.

Speaking of the book in the oven, I’m still in a heavy editing phase. I’ve been collecting a list of revisions, mostly consistency corrections that I’ll have to phase into my latest draft. The feedback I received gave me a few ideas that I’m going to want to develop further. I need to describe and develop certain points that may be unclear to readers. That’ll take some time. Finally, I’ve got some ideas that have percolated on their own that I’d like to adjust or change in certain scenes.

What this means is more redlines in my future. That is, more work. I’m pleased with my progress, and should I get this taken care of to my satisfaction, I can focus entirely on the grammar and spelling. That aspect might be a major stumbling block. At this point, I’m 90% confident in my content, but my style may need a lot of work. I’ll have to make some choices, as some of it might only improve with long practice.  And I need to get this stuff out!

Scenes from the next book are already crowding my brain. I’ve had dreams showing exactly how to compose certain scenes. It’s driving me crazy. I might have to just start writing the second book and get it out of my head. Actually, that’s not a bad idea.

Thanks to the deficit spending of our glorious leader, I ordered some new CDs for inspiration. Some Lustmord classics – Heresy, Where the Black Stars Hang, and Purifying Fire, which should round out my collection (yes, I’ve been saving the best for last), along with Erotikon by Deutsch Nepal for a little ambient differentiation. I’m looking forward to using the fresh life support to give me the energy I need to get through my editing challenges.

I also used the influx of funds to get some more role-playing games. I ambled over to Indy Press Revolution and got me a copy of Capes and Shock. Service was quick and easy, and prices not too shabby, considering that I won’t have to buy a dozen supplements to play. The future of gaming really is independent publishing, it’s great.

Shock is a science fiction game where you create a world based around a “shock”, or science fiction concept such as “Some people are androids” or “Mind transfer is commercially available”. The players create characters that struggle with one another in the context of the world’s “shock”, and explore the social issues that are revealed through play. My friend Lossefalme might find the concept interesting.

Capes is a superhero game where players compete with one another for control of a story involving their own characters and the minor non-player characters of the story. The premise is that superpowers (like flight, or weather control) are fun and you should use them, but do you deserve them? I think my current game group might like this one, because of the dynamic resource management and ability to come up with anything at all within the constraints of the rules. You can do anything, but can you achieve your goals?

K and I have used a 19-inch TV since we moved in together, and it’s done us well all this time. My dad’s neighbor was getting rid of his old television set for a new-fangled plasma, and my dad pestered us about it until we caved and took it. It’s a 26-inch, so it’s much larger, but it has some quirks that I’m not psyched about.

The remote is buggy, the sound has a low level buzz that you can hear in moments of silence during a show, and the section of the tube gun that handles the color blue seems to be lining the screen at times. This dinosaur might keel over soon. If it does, maybe this is a sign we need to upgrade to a larger screen. I refuse to go plasma or HD just yet, just because I’m against the concept of “better visual quality” when so much of TV is absolute junk.

I ambled over to the local bookstore chain and picked up some classic books – The Secret Garden by Frances Burnett, Emma by Jane Austen, and Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. I want to study some of the classics and see how they are written, so I can compare my own style and content against theirs. I’m also looking to see how complex social interactions and stories of personal relationships are built and played out by these authors. Finally, I’m hoping to have an enjoyable read.

I looked at the SciFi and Fantasy section of the bookstore and all I saw were names I’ve already read and can’t stand, franchises based on popular culture staples, and books based on roleplaying games done to death. It’s depressing and makes me want to state that this small niche is dead and rotting. Meanwhile, the teen and manga sections had tons of new material taking chances and having fun. It overwhelmed me.

I’ve also been hitting the local library. It seems like my reading this last year has increased many times over what I usually amount to. I’m hungry for good material, or in other words, Mars needs women! There are about a dozen books next to the couch where I read. It is as if I’ve stopped watching my movie/TV collection and find my nourishment in literature instead of visual participationism.

Yup, I’m gathering goodies to myself for molecular reconversion.

Sheesh, talk about landing on the “total beatdown” square.  The flu put me out for a while, then kept me coughing for a good three and a half weeks.  My old friend Dr. C told me it’d be about that long.  I have to say that without the tea and honey remedy (and I mean heavy on the honey, enough to make me an addict now), my cough would have been a lot more uncomfortable.  Next on the random encounters table, an “all-monsters-attack” project at the paycheck factory.  No sleep till Brooklin!  To top it off, major drama at K’s work which meant I had to put all emergency power still remaining into keeping her sane until the matter resolved itself.

I’ve managed to keep plugging away at my red lines, and working on my appointed psychological task (update soon to come).  I’ve been letting some friends take the first ten pages home to read, and give me feedback over lunch.  So far, the feedback has been positive, which has me both pleased and nervous.  The consensus has been that they wanted more, and that’s good, but really impatient for me to finish so they can read the whole thing.  I’m getting closer, and making great strides, but the thing isn’t baked yet.  Getting to that point where people can smell something good, I suppose.

The garden is requiring attention now, which has me worried because it’s going to need some serious long term work very soon.  Stuff is planted, and the layout is almost complete, but the weeds are getting ready to attack for the kill.  This year’s focus is going to be potatoes instead of tomatoes.  I have a line of tomato cages ready to receive this year’s candidates, and last year’s jalapeno seeds are growing in their moss pills sucking up the water and sun of spring’s dawning beauty.  Totally intense dude!