tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65395532024-03-13T00:40:00.128-04:00the house that [jack] builtWorkblog of Jack Feerick: writer, critic, raconteur.<br>Purveyor of fabulism for omnivores.<br>Roll up, roll up, come one, come all.Jack Feerickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957899718721006732noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539553.post-83028720948125217642015-10-20T06:55:00.000-04:002017-02-18T06:57:26.119-05:00In the DarkThere are (as has often been observed) two kinds of people in this
world. What those two kinds are — well, that’s a matter of personal
interpretation. Myself, I tend to divide the population into larks and
owls.<br />
To wit: Some of us, maybe most of us, live in the daylight — the
early risers, the good people, who live in the daylight and greet the
morning with a song. But there are some of us who burn the midnight
lamp; the night hawks, who have prowled the infomercial wasteland of the
TV graveyard shift, who know the eerie hush of 3:00 AM, who crawl the
streets sleepless in the small hours, in the liminal zone between
yesterday and tomorrow, moving through pools of lamplight when the
pavements are strange and lonely in the dark. The Night People.<br />
<br />
For the tribes of the night, Halloween is our Mardi Gras, our
Christmas, and our Thanksgiving, all rolled into one. It’s our tourist
season, when we natives of the interzone play host to the bright-eyed
Day People giddily clutching their 12-hour passes. It’s party time, in
other words — an opportunity to share our freaky glamour with our
brothers and sisters from the sunny side. And it is an all-night affair,
for the walls between this world and the next grow thin only with the
coming of dusk.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://popdose.com/jack-fears-all-night-all-fright-halloween-mixtape-party-pack/" target="_blank">Read the rest (and hear <i>twelve hours</i> of Halloween mixtapes!) at Popdose</a>. This one was a labor of love.Jack Feerickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957899718721006732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539553.post-41581537832678948292015-10-03T09:59:00.000-04:002015-10-03T09:59:02.198-04:00Flash ForwardIn lieu of a new story here this week, I'll direct you to a <a href="http://www.kysoflash.com/FeerickJungle.aspx" target="_blank">brand-new piece of mine in the new issue of <i>KYSO Flash</i></a>. It's called "In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle." Nine hundred words.<br />
<br />
Over the last couple of months I've been conspiring with <i>K-Flash</i>'s editor Clare MacQueen on some other stuff, including <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KYSOFlashLiteraryJournal/posts/489810614535247" target="_blank">this review post</a>. Clare is the real deal, friends, and she's been a joy to work with. There may be a couple of other things on the boil, so, as always, watch this space.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Jack Feerickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957899718721006732noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539553.post-45967003860393111852015-09-10T19:41:00.000-04:002018-09-06T13:31:19.617-04:00The Bradbury Project, Week 6: 争上游<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
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The story that resulted from the writing exercise below was eventually published online at <i>Panoply</i> under the title "<a href="https://panoplyzine.com/zeng-shangyou-jack-freerick/" target="_blank">Zheng Shangyou</a>."Jack Feerickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957899718721006732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539553.post-58086652025051629312015-09-08T11:33:00.000-04:002018-09-06T13:28:31.267-04:00A Fool’s Wager<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: red;">Hey, kid. Why the long face?</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Oh, the usual. I want to write a<span style="font-family: inherit;"> new</span> story. Something quick, and
fearless, and maybe a little ridiculous.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: red;">So what’s stopping you?</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I<span style="font-family: inherit;">'</span>ve got too much else to do!</span> Revising and finishing something from my drafts folder means getting myself back into that specific mindset, and <span style="font-family: inherit;">I just can't mus<span style="font-family: inherit;">ter the concentration for it.</span></span> <span style="font-family: inherit;">If I could write something new,</span>
something fast and short... but I can't even find the time for that now.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: red;">Are you yanking my chain right now? Look, you’re headed into
the can right now for five, ten minutes of uninterrupted privacy. </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">And how does <i>that</i> help me, exactly?</span> </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: red;">Tell you what, genius: Instead of
taking a magazine in with you, just grab your little digital recorder from the
pile of junk on top of the dresser there, and freestyle a dramatic monologue.<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Problem solved.</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: red;">
</span></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Yeah, but what's it about?</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Oh, <span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>please</i></span><i></i><span style="font-family: inherit;">. Aren't you a little too old for this "Where do you get your ideas" stuff?</span></span> Look around you. Improvise.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">Wha<span style="font-family: inherit;">t —</span> in the can? Come on. I need <i>something</i> to work with.</span> </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">You're overthinking this. </span>Just pick up the recorder and then, I dunno, grab
something else at random out of the pile, look it over, and start riffing.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiUMfD3B6fY_R86uGvUd6jaNIMwOAgHnVKQOlSltutyGH5F763h_vD3-qbSxdET0-1CTq0i9XIg2QFbpXixbYG4c9_PBjuHxewi4srRu2E8ZKXM6Z9983QGxa-sdYjePUTpf7C/s1600/JOKER_ZHENG_SHANGYOU.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiUMfD3B6fY_R86uGvUd6jaNIMwOAgHnVKQOlSltutyGH5F763h_vD3-qbSxdET0-1CTq0i9XIg2QFbpXixbYG4c9_PBjuHxewi4srRu2E8ZKXM6Z9983QGxa-sdYjePUTpf7C/s400/JOKER_ZHENG_SHANGYOU.jpg" width="387" /></a></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">…huh<span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Yeah, okay. Thanks. You have some good ideas, sometimes.</span></span><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Yeah <span style="font-family: inherit;">— w</span></span>hen you're not busy being your own worst enemy.<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span></span></span></div>
Jack Feerickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957899718721006732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539553.post-54890051438721165832015-08-19T10:09:00.000-04:002015-08-19T10:10:39.158-04:00Skip<span style="font-family: inherit;">No story this week. No big sexy reason, either, except that I've pretty well cycled through all the good stuff in this last batch<span style="font-family: inherit;">,</span> with the exception of one really good story, which I just sold! for actual money! and to which I will link when it's published. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I imagine I'll be posting new fiction again before too long — I'm still committed to the principles of the project, and I've got several that are in various stages of "nearly finished" — but I'm going to need a couple of weeks, at least, to clear the decks from a crush of other commitments.<br /><br />See you soon. Thanks for reading.</span>Jack Feerickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957899718721006732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539553.post-27698106810226375822015-08-11T12:00:00.000-04:002015-08-11T12:00:10.176-04:00Playing the Blues in Twelve Bars<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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I don’t have much to say about this week’s story, “Baby
Grand,” except that it is probably the dumbest thing I’ve ever written, and
that I am exceedingly fond of it; that I felt the spirit of Ray Bradbury very
much at my elbow as I wrote it; that three markets have rejected it, all taking
their time to do so, as if they <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kind of</i>
wanted to run it but were ultimately put off by how unabashedly dopey it is;
and that for a while it was called “Tuesday Night at the 88 Lounge,” as if a
more respectable title could save it, but that eventually I just decided to
drop the pretense and double down on the stupid. It’s about 4,000 words, and it
will go live tomorrow at noon EDT.</div>
Jack Feerickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957899718721006732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539553.post-2373680721313768782015-08-04T12:00:00.000-04:002015-08-04T12:00:01.087-04:00He Puts His Scary Trousers On One Leg at A Time Like Anybody Else<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This week’s story is a Neil Gaiman story, essentially, and
self-consciously so. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Part of the point of this project is to expand my range a
little, and one way to break out of my own formulas is to borrow someone else’s.
Something that Neil does brilliantly is to reinterpret traditional stories and
fairy tales—things like “<a href="http://thedreaming.joefulgham.com/1999/10/10/snow-glass-apples/">Snow,
Glass, Apples</a>,” or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Sleeper and
the Spindle</i>. That’s something that I haven’t done much at all (not in
fiction, anyway; I have written a bunch of songs that riff on folk themes), and
I thought it might be a worthwhile exercise to break down the formula and reverse-engineer
it. I’d been browsing through <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gabriel’s
Palace</i>, an anthology of Jewish mystical tales collected and retold by <a href="http://www.umsl.edu/~mfa/Faculty/Faculty%20Pages/howardschwartz.html">Howard
Schwartz</a>, and I came across “<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=jglADPMFr8IC&lpg=PP1&dq=howard%20schwartz%20gabriel%27s%20palace%20angel%27s%20daughter&pg=PA160#v=onepage&q&f=false">The
Angel’s Daughter</a>,” a folk story originally told in the Central Asian <span style="font-family: inherit;">region</span>
of Bukhara (now part of Uzbekistan), which lent itself to the treatment. That
it was deep-cut Judaica only made it more Gaimanesque, which amused me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I’ve also been consciously trying for more gender parity in
my writing, trying to write more women characters, and to do so with more
empathy and imagination. Along with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gabriel’s
Palace</i>, I’d been reading a lot of feminist commentary about negotiating the
impossible standards and demands that patriarchy imposes on women, and <a href="http://www.salon.com/writer/shulem_deen/">Shulem Deen</a>’s funny, rueful
essays about living—and leaving—his Hasidic faith. As all of these things filtered
into the story, it became (I think) something more than a goof or a pastiche.
It made me angry as I wrote it, and it made me sad.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I still haven’t found a title that I’m entirely happy with,
but in this draft it’s called “Bride of Quiet.” It will be another long one, about 5,000 words, and it will run in this space at
noon EDT tomorrow.</span></div>
Jack Feerickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957899718721006732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539553.post-79613094489469536802015-07-28T16:26:00.000-04:002018-09-06T13:26:53.737-04:00Electricity<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Being an introduction of sorts to this week’s story, which
will run in this space tomorrow. With introductions, as with most things, I am
of two minds: On the one hand, I firmly believe in letting the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">meaning</i> of the work speak for itself; on
the other, I am a huge fiending nerd for the procedural, and I love to know and
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probably not all — of these stories, I imagine I’ll be writing one of these
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that will never be published. I promise, in any case, to never pull a Harlan
Ellison and write an introduction that’s longer than the story itself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Two huge events happened in the summer of 1969, within weeks
of each other — both game-changers, both with seismic impact on culture and
industry: the moon shot and Woodstock. Both were first and foremost triumphs of
logistics and technology, and as such were natural subjects of speculation for
science fiction. For some reason, though, there’s been a lot of SF written
about, and for, and in some cases <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">by </i>rocket
scientists — but hardly any for audio engineers. The sound systems that (say) Meyer
Labs crafted for the Grateful Dead in the 1970s represented a technological
leap on a par with anything devised by NASA, but they haven’t been fodder for
imaginative extrapolation the way that spacecraft have. And that’s both a shame
and an unforgivable oversight. <span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Innovation
fuels imagination. And there’s always innovation happening somewhere, often in unfamiliar
fields; and there are fresh stories there.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">That’s the
respectable origin story for tomorrow’s piece. The truth is considerably more
stupid: I made this goofy audio mash-up on a whim and wanted to create an
in-universe rationale for its existence. So I came up with the idea of a
slipstream alt-history story about a big electric rock festival happening in
1937 or so, with a bunch of the American labor movement’s biggest figures on
the bill — all of it, an elaborate justification so I could write about Aunt
Molly Jackson singing over a Led Zeppelin riff.</span></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">And then I
realized that maybe I had something here besides a bizarre conceptual gag, so I
kept writing; it took a long time, because somewhere along the line the voice
became an essential element of the story. When I realized I could write the
riff out of the story altogether, I knew I was on the right track.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I am, as I’ve surely noted elsewhere, horrible with titles.
The story started as “Red Dog Black Dog” and stayed that for a long time; it went
through a couple of fleeting working titles before I started calling it “There
Is Power In A Union.” That’s the title under which it will run in this space,
tomorrow, at noon Eastern time. See you then.</span></div>
Jack Feerickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957899718721006732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539553.post-69155889899349841982015-07-22T12:00:00.001-04:002021-06-06T09:39:39.801-04:00The Bradbury Project, Week 2: Van Helsing’s Hound<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In January, as noted below, I took a lovely phone
interview with Khrista Rypl of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Studio
360</i>. The idea was that as I wrote my 52 short stories this year I might
share my progress with a national radio audience in a five-minute chat every
six weeks or so.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Radio, of course, is a narrative medium, and as I talked to
Khrista I could sense her trying to find a narrative frame for my Bradbury
Project. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">What made you want to do this?
What are you hoping to get out of it?</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Now, I’ve written at some length in this space about my
goals and motivations for this folly, and they’re admittedly a little…
abstract. My main aim is to shake up my process, to jump-start my ideation; to
work in different modes; to use deadlines to inspire velocity; to do the thing
for its own sake. My goal, when deciding to write 52 short stories, was mostly just to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">write 52 short stories</i>. Nothing more,
nothing less. My end product would be 52 stories in my trunk and some
incremental improvement in my writing. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Explaining all this to Khrista, I began to realize how
unsuited for radio this project really was. As I described it, it all seemed so
<i>nonlinear</i>, so entirely process-oriented. There was no arc, no milestones along
the way. It didn’t <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">build</i> to anything.
It was just ticking off weeks on the calendar and piling up stories, one after
another. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">When <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Studio 360</i> ultimately declined
to include me in their ongoing coverage, I was disappointed but ultimately
unsurprised. There was no proper language, no frame that could make the
Bradbury Project compelling for radio, and that’s Khrista’s job: to make
compelling radio. No harm, no foul.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I kept writing stories anyway. Not one a week, by any means —
I should have 30+ in the can by now, and I’ve got nowhere near that — but
stories. And any stories I wrote would be more than I wrote last year, so I was satisfied with my numbers. I just kept my head down and worked on thinking up ideas; I focused on the process and had not a worry in the world.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Then a funny thing happened; some of the stories, I thought, turned out
pretty good.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This surprised me. When I decided on this exercise, quality never
even entered into the equation. If I wrote anything good, it would be strictly
by accident.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">But I made my way through a batch of stories, and I caught
myself thinking, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I should pitch this
somewhere.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">And I’ve been doing just that. Over the last few months, I’ve
pitched a number of new stories. They’ve all been dinged, so far. So barring a
couple that are still outstanding, I’ve decided to retire this batch — most of
which have been rejected by multiple markets — and present them here over the
next few weeks, so that at least <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">somebody</i>
gets a kick out of them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">First one runs tomorrow. See you then.</span></div>
Jack Feerickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957899718721006732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539553.post-84822797375155089552015-02-10T20:08:00.000-05:002015-02-10T21:09:36.513-05:00In So Many Words<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--><span style="color: #666666;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">“<i>Science fiction</i> … means what we point to
when we say it.”<br />
—Damon Knight, <i>In Search of Wonder: Essays on Modern
Science Fiction</i> (1956)</span></span></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: #666666;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span></span></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">“Many
years ago, the science-fiction critic Damon Knight, asked for a definition of
SF, responded (I paraphrase): ‘You know what it is when you see it.’ This may
be the best definition of film noir, too: You know what it is when you see it.”<br />
—John Grant, <i>A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Film Noir:
The Essential Reference</i> (2013)</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: 150%; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“In
his famous soliloquy, Hamlet ponders the existential question (I paraphrase):
‘So should I kill myself, or what?’ That, indeed, is the question.”<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>—L.M. Parsifal, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hold the Line: Memoirs of a Suicide Hotline
Volunteer</i> (2001)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“The
cornerstone of the vast edifice of imagination which constitutes Tolkien’s
signal achievement is but a single simple sentence, the unassuming declaration
upon which all the rest<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is founded (I
paraphrase): ‘Hobbits live in holes underground.’”<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>—Bardine Skop, ed. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Readings in Bucolic Fantasy</i> (2012)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“Dickens
famously described the atmosphere of the 1780s in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Tale of Two Cities</i> (I paraphrase): ‘It was a time of
contradictions.’ Not unlike the Clinton years, in fact: A time of
contradictions.”<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>—Gregory Fiddlewood, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">What the Meaning of ‘Is’ Is: Semantics in an
Age of Irony</i> (2005)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“Novelist
Thomas Pynchon evoked the terrors of the Blitz in the famous opening line of
his modernist classic <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gravity’s Rainbow</i>
(I paraphrase): ‘Ugh, the sound of rockets is just the WORST.’”<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>W. Owens-Jingo, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">World War II in Literature: An Overview</i>
(1997)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“George
Orwell’s iconic opening to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nineteen
Eighty Four</i> sets the action on (I paraphrase) ‘a cold April day, at 1:00 PM
sharp.’ A day and a time not unlike the day in 1953 when CIA director Allen
Dulles signed the order authorizing the MKUltra program.”<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>—Ben Sharples, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">American Svengali: A History of Government
Mind Control</i> (2001)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“Amidst
the tide of cynicism that followed the Kennedy assassination, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star Trek</i> retained the idealism of the
decade’s first half, as summed up in in the promise of its opening narration (I
paraphrase): ‘We will travel to places otherwise never visited, with no fear.’”<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>—Abby Grieves, ed. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">After the Fall of Camelot: Studies in
Popular Culture, 1964-1972 </i>(1993)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“Every
sport entails its own traditions, deeply ingrained in our cultural character. A
trip to the ballyard, for instance, carries with it all the sights, sounds and
smells of our national pastime; the ritual count of balls and strikes, the
aroma of grilled hot dogs, and the rising of the assembly for the
seventh-inning stretch, accompanied by the famous melodic exhortation (I
paraphrase): ‘Are you ready for some <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">baseball?!?</i>’
Much the same could be said for football.”<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>—Headley Leathers, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pigskin Nation</i> (2011)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“The
Borscht Belt comedian Henny Youngman was noted for his one-liners, such as (I
paraphrase): ‘Let me make an example of my wife, if you know what I mean.’ Let
me plead of the reader the same indulgence.”<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>—Richard Tarbuckle, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mrs. Richard Tarbuckle: A Life </i>(2005)</span></div>
Jack Feerickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957899718721006732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539553.post-76549769160047452232015-01-14T21:12:00.001-05:002015-01-14T21:32:18.188-05:00Face Made for RadioI rashly decided on this cockamamie Bradbury Project a couple of months ago, and regretted it almost immediately as freelance deadlines planted their boots on my neck. That might have been the end of it, had I not been so foolish as to mention it in public — not just here on this blog, where it might have gone unnoticed, but in the comments on the website for <a href="http://www.studio360.org/story/whats-your-creative-new-years-resolution-2015/" target="_blank">the public radio arts program <i>Studio 360</i></a>. <br />
<br />
<i>Studio 360</i> (which I listen to in podcast form, these days) does an annual series wherein they track the creative New Year's resolutions of four individuals, providing updates throughout the year. I figured I'd add my name and my ambition to the hundreds on their site, and have pangs of fellow-feeling every time I heard an update from one of the chosen four.<br />
<br />
Today I got an e-mail:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Hi Jack,</i><br />
<i>I’m writing you from Studio 360 because we saw your
comment on the website and thought your resolution sounded interesting!
Would you have time to chat about your idea on the phone tomorrow
(Thursday) morning? Let me know if there’s a time
that works for you, and a good number to reach you.</i></div>
<i>Looking forward to hearing from you,</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="color: grey;">Khrista Rypl </span></i><br />
<i>
<span style="color: grey;">Web Producer</span></i>
</blockquote>
...Huh.<br />
<br />
So that is a thing that is definitely maybe happening and there may soon be thousands of public radio fans on my ass, keeping me accountable to do this unbelievably stupid thing I promised to do, and basically I want to set myself on fire right now. Jack Feerickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957899718721006732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539553.post-17309937515443388622015-01-01T12:51:00.000-05:002015-01-15T08:43:56.190-05:00The Bradbury Project: An Introduction<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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So this was going around the Web a couple of weeks ago: <a href="http://www.openculture.com/2012/04/ray_bradbury_gives_12_pieces_of_writing_advice_to_young_authors_2001.html" target="_blank">Ray Bradbury Gives 12 Pieces of Advice to Young Writers</a>.
Now, I long ago aged out of the “young writer” demographic — though I still
feel that I’m a beginner, and if God is good to me I suppose I always shall —
but there’s a lot of good stuff here for anyone, at any stage of their
career.<br />
<br />
I’ve been on a bit of a Bradbury kick since late last year anyway. My annual Halloween
reread of <i>Something Wicked This Way Comes</i> (inspiration for <a href="http://popdose.com/popdose-conceptual-theater-something-wicked-this-way-comes/" target="_blank">this mixtape from the Popdose Conceptual Theater of the
Airwaves</a>) was a forcible reminder of his considerable strengths and
equally considerable weaknesses. His long slide into right-wing crankdom was
sad, but hardly unprecedented; even leaving aside the long screed of <i>Fahrenheit
451</i>, you can discern traces of bitter judgmentalism in those early shockers,
where he was apt to insinuate that it was perfectly okay to murder someone if
they didn’t love the same books that you loved. The fact remains that as an
imaginist, Bradbury is nearly unparalleled; as a stylist, though, he’s a
distinctly mixed bag. At its best, his prose has a kind of lucent poetry to it
— but when he stumbles, boy howdy! Vague and prolix.<br />
<br />
The failings in others that bother us most are the ones that we fear we
might share, and the remedy they find (if any) might be the one that we seek.
Bradbury is at his best — the power of his ideas is best matched with, but not
overwhelmed by, the vividness of his prose — in his short stories. So this
piece of advice at the top of the list really jumped out at me:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Begin your writing life ... by cranking out “a hell of a lot of short
stories,” as many as one per week. Take a year to do it; [Bradbury] claims that
it simply isn’t possible to write 52 bad short stories in a row. </i></blockquote>
<i>narrows eyes</i><br />
<i>hitches up belt</i><br />
<i>spits</i><br />
<br />
Mister, I’ll take that challenge.<br />
<br />
Look. <i>The Honeythief </i>is out in the world now, a feral thing learning
to tolerate the company of human beings before I bring it out to society in the
months to come; I’m pondering my next long fiction project while keeping busy
with contract work and freelance proofreading, and nursing a general
unhappiness with the slack tone of my fiction muscle. It’s grown accustomed to
the slow lope of a novel; I want to tighten it for the sprint.<br />
<br />
So here’s the idea for the exercise: One new short story per week — most
likely <i>very</i> short — in this space, for one year or as long as I can
manage it. (I’m painfully aware that I barely made it to 100 days on a long-ago
attempt at <a href="http://t.co/thYDgPS3Me" target="_blank">40x365</a>.) Stakes
so low as to be non-existent. I’m not going to write anything that’s <i>purposely</i>
terrible, but I’m not gonna lose any sleep sweating the content, either. The
important thing is just to do it. It’s about the process, not the product. And
if nothing else comes from it, I will have written a bunch of short stories.<br />
<br />
I don’t know that Uncle Ray was entirely right. I have a suspicion that it
is all too possible to write 52 shitty stories, one after another; but I <i>do</i>
believe that you can’t write 52 stories in a row, however awful, without
learning a thing or two.<br />
<br />
And learning — that’s what being a beginner is all about.<br />
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<![endif]-->Jack Feerickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957899718721006732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539553.post-19329524910683057232014-12-10T15:48:00.003-05:002014-12-10T15:48:54.019-05:00Stop, Hey! What's That Sound?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Last year, as you may recall, I participated in <a href="http://jackfeerick.blogspot.com/2013/06/face-front-true-believers.html" target="_blank">writing jam</a> facilitated by my esteemed Internet chum Andrew
Weiss. And reader, I had a <i>blast</i>. Not only was it the sort of writing
prompt or challenge that stimulates my brain (like the Bradbury Project, which
is now... well, it’s complicated), it was a chance to work with the elder
child. It was all of my favorite things in one: writing, games, the company of
friends and family. The fact that the end result provided the seed for a future
project — that was just gravy.<br />
<br />
After a lengthy hiatus, the Ultimate Powers Jam recently returned, and of
course I wanted in once more — only this time, I provided the art myself, in a
crude combination of technical pen, colored pencil, crayon, a Photoshop
tweaking. I stayed far more in the Marvel superhero tradition for the writing
of this — it’s basically me doing a riff on <a href="http://www.steveenglehart.com/Comics/Dr%20Strange%20MP9-5.html" target="_blank">1970s Steve Englehart</a> — and if the end result isn’t a
classic for the ages, I reckon it’s still a fun little one-off.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Every vibration awakens all other vibrations of its particular
frequency. And all frequencies are harmonics of a single tone — an eternal
drone underpinning and sustaining all creation. Before all things were, it was.
The ground note in the endless song of the Universe. It is the source, the
sound, the secret of existence. It is the Om.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Jawali Ramavishnu is a cultural anthropologist conducting post-doctoral
research among the Tibetan diaspora on the Indian frontier. Oppression,
assimilation, and mortality conspire to erase the strange, rich folkways of
these once-isolated people. Indigenous Tibetan culture is an endangered
species; within two or three generations, it may cease to exist as a unique
entity. Jawali Ramavishnu is racing against time to preserve what he can.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Jawali’s area of specialization is folk religion, and he works among
the monks and lamas living in exile, trying to document the esoteric practices
of shamanic Tibetan Buddhism. Many of these rites have been shrouded in secrecy
over the centuries; but these holy men, fearing that their culture might
otherwise disappear forever, have taken the Indian scientist into their
confidence. For his part, Jawali — although agnostic by temperament — finds
himself strangely drawn to the ancient rituals, and to the wise, kindly old men
who have become his teachers. In particular, he is much taken with one elderly
lama, named Kelsang, who tells him tales of a fantastical place called the
Singing Cliffs.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Traditional Tibetan devotions, the old monk explains, have a curious
mechanistic aspect. The mere repetition through chanting of a holy word is
enough to birth holiness into the physical world. Even inanimate objects can be
vehicles for propagating the dharma. Prayer flags inscribed with mantras of
compassion spread beneficence into all pervading space with every flutter of
the breeze; a clockwork striker taps a tiny bronze gong etched with the
character for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">wisdom</i>, and wisdom is
thereby propagated. In ages past, Kelsang says, exalted sages — part mystic,
part tinkerer — devised great engines of salvation, massive automated
installations that would bring consciousness to the whole world.</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS0zAa-uIsS-SNvijQ0oOIdgnZbRTFafGZNrkcbo4QajIk529NMuSuGIljs8WQeJi3pl8ayR_JaDI6mubXJQF5YJ6lNUYkzDhSIpa1ghQC1wzIAgpmfHS35LyMFrw918MFZt94/s1600/FEERICK_POWERS_JAM_2_LARGE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS0zAa-uIsS-SNvijQ0oOIdgnZbRTFafGZNrkcbo4QajIk529NMuSuGIljs8WQeJi3pl8ayR_JaDI6mubXJQF5YJ6lNUYkzDhSIpa1ghQC1wzIAgpmfHS35LyMFrw918MFZt94/s1600/FEERICK_POWERS_JAM_2_LARGE.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The Singing Cliffs — a project, Kelsang says, that was begun in the 15th
Century but never completed — was to have been the mightiest of these; a
labyrinth carved into the living rock of a hillside, redirecting the flow of a
mountain stream into a mazelike aqueduct where its current would turn a full
ten thousand prayer wheels of ever-increasing size, flooding the mountains with
the energy of the mantras within even as the rotations of the wheels themselves
would set up vibrations evoking the base note of the eternal <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Om</i> and its overtones, a fully-automatic
prayer mill that would sound forth the universal drone in all its harmonic
complexity. But there were those who feared the unleashing of such power,
Kelsang says, and construction was abandoned. Now, he says, even the location
of the Singing Cliffs is lost to memory.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Jawali is intrigued by these stories. They are the stuff of fairy
tales, of course — parables, perhaps, with the Singing Cliffs as a Babel-like
metaphor of human folly. Or so he believes. Until the day that old Kelsang
dies, and Jawali discovers, folded in among his meager possessions, ancient
scraps of silk that bear hand-painted diagrams — the very blueprints of the
Singing Cliffs, and a map showing its location.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And deep within Jawali Ramavishnu, a vibration is awakened.</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.armagideon-time.com/?p=10131" target="_blank">Read the rest at Armagideon Time</a>!</div>
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<br /></div>
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<![endif]-->Jack Feerickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957899718721006732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539553.post-27293305564786130122014-02-10T09:55:00.000-05:002014-02-10T09:55:32.879-05:00My Head Looks Like This...when I'm editing. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEgYYsdsYTMHGi3VnzUKJ6hNb9criWKLh_VGxEXNdaTD98B5YoNMwEOWWItsNdY3UIudea9-Ks8afYaMJm79ySxY-ajZgtWf0kZMnv4Vz3R-fFTK-OfcOlrw9DGsoPgemIIAtz/s1600/wordcloud.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEgYYsdsYTMHGi3VnzUKJ6hNb9criWKLh_VGxEXNdaTD98B5YoNMwEOWWItsNdY3UIudea9-Ks8afYaMJm79ySxY-ajZgtWf0kZMnv4Vz3R-fFTK-OfcOlrw9DGsoPgemIIAtz/s1600/wordcloud.jpg" height="187" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Jack Feerickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957899718721006732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539553.post-59940112129455950952014-01-17T10:09:00.000-05:002014-02-10T10:12:01.542-05:00Glutton For PunishmentBack for the New Year, <a href="http://popdose.com/popsmarts-two-thumbs-up/" target="_blank">it's <i>PopSmarts</i> all over again</a>, this time taking a look at the history of gimmickry in film — and the underlying idea of cinema as an incomplete artform. Featuring William Castle, Professor Layton, Madeleine Kahn, and Smell-O-Vision!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZXjRuTFYn48nCBYUQjBupxObsum7Jg1XTzt0k4Fym1kDCEKTXy5dnqvkFD8VuPxK8z7OIorHJYa5WlrEtWVEGC3ECdX7FspKiEK2aCrwwBTkk4oy6q_3f9Zoe8seacRBHZjds/s1600/PS_17_thumb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZXjRuTFYn48nCBYUQjBupxObsum7Jg1XTzt0k4Fym1kDCEKTXy5dnqvkFD8VuPxK8z7OIorHJYa5WlrEtWVEGC3ECdX7FspKiEK2aCrwwBTkk4oy6q_3f9Zoe8seacRBHZjds/s1600/PS_17_thumb.jpg" height="175" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Jack Feerickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957899718721006732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539553.post-33828922710513333262013-12-23T09:22:00.000-05:002014-02-10T09:33:15.847-05:00Every Yuletide Carol Needs a TrollDropping a turd in your holiday punchbowl, <a href="http://popdose.com/popsmarts-the-politics-of-haunting/" target="_blank"><i>PopSmarts</i> is back to kick it old-school</a> — 1834-style in fact, as we take a look at the historical legislation that prompted the writing of <i>A Christmas Carol</i>, and how the assumptions behind those laws are still relevant in our own <strike>more-enlightened</strike> time. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeqPmePLkRkfVj5s3X8u0Qcz6AaHqwmWyCTKVMlZ0tFLnFWJxTk3ufOqDyQC1HHBplCwRMM4nAu74YObqxIqJXTcINU7v09DHNtFIJMrLy_9SOlOjTSfxGvl26RMJ7OIBY6ApW/s1600/PS_16_banner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeqPmePLkRkfVj5s3X8u0Qcz6AaHqwmWyCTKVMlZ0tFLnFWJxTk3ufOqDyQC1HHBplCwRMM4nAu74YObqxIqJXTcINU7v09DHNtFIJMrLy_9SOlOjTSfxGvl26RMJ7OIBY6ApW/s1600/PS_16_banner.jpg" height="175" width="400" /></a></div>
It's a long read, but if you retain only a single line of it, let it be this one:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>The stone truth is that people on government assistance earn every goddam penny.</i></blockquote>
Come for the history lesson; stay for the outrage! Jack Feerickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957899718721006732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539553.post-38891750297657225992013-12-12T12:29:00.000-05:002013-12-18T12:31:28.439-05:00Wake the Snake<span style="font-family: inherit;">The new
<a href="http://popdose.com/popdose-conceptual-theater-harry-potter-and-the-chamber-of-secrets/" target="_blank">Popdose Conceptual Theater of the Airwaves</a> has gone live — an
eighty-minute-plus seamless MP3 mix curated by yours truly, free for download, featuring
an imaginary soundtrack to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Harry Potter
and the Chamber of Secrets</i>. With PJ Harvey, the Smiths, Imogen Heap, Judas
Priest, and the Kronos Quartet, plus rare (-ish) tracks from Daniel Johnston,
Alan Moore, Television Personalities, and the colloquial many more. </span>Jack Feerickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957899718721006732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539553.post-62550991767788444372013-12-11T16:42:00.000-05:002013-12-15T16:42:40.047-05:00The Beaver Has Landed<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQhjuRhET0_2RqV-63Klu6AEFqr-2d6AWPkQXU6Ph-kx15TlNqv7cnCb64KVEfxaQNNUrO4QoWr6b8ZA35vsynOTH-D8Pydjzf0PwmhXuKlMcuLsDrdDQjYgqKaFL71pOdIXMr/s1600/Weird_Canada.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQhjuRhET0_2RqV-63Klu6AEFqr-2d6AWPkQXU6Ph-kx15TlNqv7cnCb64KVEfxaQNNUrO4QoWr6b8ZA35vsynOTH-D8Pydjzf0PwmhXuKlMcuLsDrdDQjYgqKaFL71pOdIXMr/s400/Weird_Canada.jpg" width="292" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">My comp copies of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Uncle-Johns-Bathroom-Reader-Canada/dp/1607108917/" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Weird Canada</i></a> have arrived! The book
itself is a monster — almost 400 pages of strange and unlikely facts and trivia
about America’s Hat — and it’s the perfect present for the expatriate or
Canuckophile on your Christmas list.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
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<br /></div>
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</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 4.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The books arrived less than 24 hours
ago and, as predicted, I cannot pry the Boy’s copy from his hands.</span></div>
Jack Feerickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957899718721006732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539553.post-37440841097838045992013-12-05T11:00:00.000-05:002013-12-15T16:30:56.709-05:00But I Know What I Am<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sometimes a song expresses your
political beliefs; sometimes it helps you to form them. <a href="http://popdose.com/popsmarts-it-only-begins-with-l-o-l/" target="_blank">This time around at <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PopSmarts</i></a>, a personal reflection on
identity, presentation, and the hunger for authenticity, and how even a jokey
song can exercise a profound effect.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgimm74kwcxUSYyOPEVAHSmx-Bc5N_sXZ0ZeDt6FIGAT7cIiykCCHBpi4RFPA-vzKgrh8O80UvdH96w35OndZrXwfGvxXcUvGhXOnkQ1_8TLQxu2gCEP26u1nR2Nt0H5bKdmHvh/s1600/PS_15_thumb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgimm74kwcxUSYyOPEVAHSmx-Bc5N_sXZ0ZeDt6FIGAT7cIiykCCHBpi4RFPA-vzKgrh8O80UvdH96w35OndZrXwfGvxXcUvGhXOnkQ1_8TLQxu2gCEP26u1nR2Nt0H5bKdmHvh/s320/PS_15_thumb.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBXj_OgiVQGOSeWummZ-Z7BXdcz_wR-99aVMeIMNgWno34d1fu8K5OzywvojR-ALwdECpeX64d416sfwIPWbse1oEzQum90TwFdI3nHuaCIuRvrKNLk6uiHXDUcWoxwsuoe__V/s1600/PS_14_thumb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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Jack Feerickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957899718721006732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539553.post-80348860840139698742013-11-22T16:36:00.000-05:002013-12-15T16:38:01.225-05:00Bonehead<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 4.5pt;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 4.5pt;">
This time, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PopSmarts</i> <a href="http://popdose.com/popsmarts-trouble-shooting/" target="_blank">thinks wa-a-a-ay too hard</a> about management theory and
decision-making bias as they apply to casual gaming, as I subject a prime slice
of mid-90s shareware to far more thorough consideration than its own creator
ever did.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimW-8UHRuzcUpe58mxCtxMIyBLAnRwcc6AEZHqCGU_Tp8ITh2-KRpW-T1QhFmoEmTtjPRu50LokJuILoRJImeUfgro2821D_KR4kcUe0FoR9hB9K-RYIZanwtulQDGip0a0z5w/s1600/PS_14_thumb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimW-8UHRuzcUpe58mxCtxMIyBLAnRwcc6AEZHqCGU_Tp8ITh2-KRpW-T1QhFmoEmTtjPRu50LokJuILoRJImeUfgro2821D_KR4kcUe0FoR9hB9K-RYIZanwtulQDGip0a0z5w/s320/PS_14_thumb.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Jack Feerickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957899718721006732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539553.post-70960219717354307992013-11-08T12:24:00.000-05:002014-02-10T10:14:02.826-05:00Dig the Streets of Life! Dig the Chinamen!<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-line-height-alt: 5.0pt; tab-stops: 4.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">To pay
dubious honor to the centenary of Fu Manchu,<a href="http://popdose.com/popsmarts-yellow-perils/" target="_blank"> PopSmarts considers one of the best-loved but seldom-seen comicbooks of the Marvel Age</a>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Master of Kung
Fu</i> — and the ways in which it both depended upon and interrogated racial
stereotypes.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFRVa0nivykysu2HG85VLQdYEXMwVYWLrFLILY_S1rBsC_knuKz5j47zhjO1J2Bl-2dD14nXwVOZXD-4_rekmbCyuboSkRhVq75HX0KOAxfn1ydtJzydYujXXJuv9ksaFW3fxu/s1600/PS_13_thumb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFRVa0nivykysu2HG85VLQdYEXMwVYWLrFLILY_S1rBsC_knuKz5j47zhjO1J2Bl-2dD14nXwVOZXD-4_rekmbCyuboSkRhVq75HX0KOAxfn1ydtJzydYujXXJuv9ksaFW3fxu/s320/PS_13_thumb.jpg" height="175" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-line-height-alt: 5.0pt; tab-stops: 4.5pt;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Set aside
some time for this one. At 3,500 words, and with a boatload of images, it’s
exactly the sort of in-depth pop-culture delve that my sainted editor Jeff
Giles was asking for when he greenlit this column, the poor dope. He asked for
it, and now he’s getting it, good and hard.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">And for no
particular reason but that I love you, here’s a bonus panel of Shang-Chi
straight-up <i>karate-chopping a goddamned alligator</i>:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhydi5yXMZTM0M1BDHGi6PVUHQFp6LUPNH8kEkZS0vtY3ValB27TOQNn2sO7RpziZMNF87QiDI6LU_P6oBICVYgRu70aDiVvbIUPcWVZ-w_Os6T43J53LFWD3GCShFediHZtP7x/s1600/MoKF_gator.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhydi5yXMZTM0M1BDHGi6PVUHQFp6LUPNH8kEkZS0vtY3ValB27TOQNn2sO7RpziZMNF87QiDI6LU_P6oBICVYgRu70aDiVvbIUPcWVZ-w_Os6T43J53LFWD3GCShFediHZtP7x/s400/MoKF_gator.jpg" height="315" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-line-height-alt: 5.0pt; tab-stops: 4.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">(from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Master of Kung Fu</i> #23, art by Al Milgrom
and Klaus Janson)</span></div>
Jack Feerickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957899718721006732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539553.post-59960718950764396272013-10-30T13:42:00.000-04:002013-12-15T16:31:25.147-05:00Seeing It, Seeing It Through<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 4.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">A writer is a person who must think
in words so as to be able to talk in pictures. And before I can bridge that gap
— the gap between the visual and the verbal — for the reader, I must bridge it
for myself. My strategies, my solutions for doing so, rely on elements from
both sides of the equation. So when I’m planning out a novel, I rely on what we
in the magazine trade call infographics — maps, charts, graphs, and tables.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">The specifics are different for
every project. (The book, as you may remember, is the boss.) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Honeythief</i> is essentially a
picaresque, not particularly tightly plotted, and I knew the temptation would
be to get myself into blind alleys, exploring the nooks and corners of this
world I’d created. So early on in the writing process, I came up with a table
to help me keep on track — to make sure that the color was always serving the
story, rather than the other way around. Here’s the top part of it:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 4.5pt;">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8zQ9tKqh_RWIxRE4fB7uLDumbS2YtfQggxLitsqUMaqxnJync9CB7FuDoa1ouMbPa4TevGbe0k42K5daV4raJvwo63lin05JSR27H3279jSRlKKZ4oy3KvEl6aNOEPQqtjR8-/s1600/HONEYTHIEF+table.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8zQ9tKqh_RWIxRE4fB7uLDumbS2YtfQggxLitsqUMaqxnJync9CB7FuDoa1ouMbPa4TevGbe0k42K5daV4raJvwo63lin05JSR27H3279jSRlKKZ4oy3KvEl6aNOEPQqtjR8-/s320/HONEYTHIEF+table.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 4.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Deciphering that scorpion-track, you
can see that the header reads:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">EVERY
ENCOUNTER MUST:</span></b><br />
<b></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 4.5pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Move the
Narrative Forward</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 4.5pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Advance
Character Development</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 4.5pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Build Up
a Picture of the World<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 4.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Listed down the left-hand edge are
the “encounters” — the vital events of the story, listed by location. These are
“the cool parts,” the big thrill moments, mostly in the form of action
set-pieces; I identified ten of them in the initial rough outline. As the story
grew longer and marginally more complex, I expanded the list downward to
encompass more encounters. It was the looseness of the plotting that allowed
for the expansion of the story. As long as each additional encounter satisfied
all three criteria — that it advanced the central conflict, while adding to our
understanding of both the characters and the setting — the road-trip structure
could be made to accommodate it. But if it failed in any of those three areas,
it was self-indulgence, and out it went.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">The new pulp project is written
according to a fairly strict formula, incorporating elements of the Lester Dent
Pulp Master Plot, and is therefore structured rather differently. Here’s the
Big Board I’m using to help me along:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7z8f_TBgNhIzQfvGpJdMadiqJm5zLQA7-8QSUAcP4JY7DHbS6oePm8xDpCiYp5P8dfc-OxqnubvL1JlpTskk_ito92wTpPkhG-TOZACk75SP0yVLfFXb5ARFe81UPiLML4iXw/s1600/big_board_thumb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7z8f_TBgNhIzQfvGpJdMadiqJm5zLQA7-8QSUAcP4JY7DHbS6oePm8xDpCiYp5P8dfc-OxqnubvL1JlpTskk_ito92wTpPkhG-TOZACk75SP0yVLfFXb5ARFe81UPiLML4iXw/s320/big_board_thumb.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 4.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The white posterboard on the right
has some notes on the Orphan Asylum series as a whole, and also some details
about the book I’m writing now — which will establish the formula — currently
titled “Full Fathom Five.” This was put together slapdash, working quickly,
primarily just to get something down on paper to make this project real for
myself. There’s a list of characters at bottom right; headings for MOTIVE,
SETTING, and SECRET OBJECTIVE, for MURDER METHOD, TICKING CLOCK, and
COMEUPPANCE, among others; and a few questions that I must ask myself as I
write.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">The neon-green sheet to the left is
where the framework is laid bare. The book will be 60,000 words — a trifle
longer than the longest Doc Savage story, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Man of Bronze</i> — and divided into four roughly equal parts, as per the Dent
Master Plot. Each part has its own agenda, its own formula. Here’s the brief
for Part I, the opening section:</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigwXB8YmaH644T4hEb_HmcGJKVdoYg6Ft0gRzJ0M7Y4PQF1dsNEJqoXfm6leqF-fFC-4C2EaqgKduWEf3VUVZltaPAxBq5yK0APeDyU5XeNPFj8hQdLi-mqXSFdRJ_xL1p0lcO/s1600/OA_breakdown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigwXB8YmaH644T4hEb_HmcGJKVdoYg6Ft0gRzJ0M7Y4PQF1dsNEJqoXfm6leqF-fFC-4C2EaqgKduWEf3VUVZltaPAxBq5yK0APeDyU5XeNPFj8hQdLi-mqXSFdRJ_xL1p0lcO/s320/OA_breakdown.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">15,000
WORDS<br />
ONE PHYSICAL CONFRONTATION<br />
ONE REVELATION/MAGUFFIN/RED HERRING</span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Going down the board, we continue to
Part II:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 4.5pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">+
15,000 WORDS<br />
+ 1 MAGUFFIN/RED HERRING <br />
+ 1 PHYSICAL CONFRONTATION<br />
+ 1 REVERSAL OF FORTUNE<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Part III continues the pattern —
another 15k, another puzzle piece, another punch-up or shootout, another setback
or reveraal — escalating the stakes, twisting the screws, until Part IV wraps
it up:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 4.5pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">+
15,000 WORDS<br />
ONE <u>REVELATION</u> <br />
ONE <u>TRIUMPH</u><br />
ONE <u>SNAPPER</u><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Along the bottom, there are three
lists: CONFRONTATIONS (e.g., “speedboat chase”), MAGUFFINS (e.g., “Scientist
identifies toxin”), and REVERSALS (e.g., “Hero falsely accused”).<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 4.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Each part is subdivided into six
short chapters of 2500 words or so, each with the usual requirements of a
chapter — a vivid and unified scene, moving the narrative along.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is a sturdy framework, but it
is also pretty unforgiving. To make this machine work, I can’t just start
writing and see what happens, as is my wont — I’ve got to have the whole thing
mapped out, beginning to end. Which is what I’ve done in the right-hand column,
labeled BEATS:</span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Writing this document, just jotting
down the What Happens of the story, beat by beat, was simultaneously one of the
most frightening and most revelatory processes of my writing life. I usually
begin writing with at least an ending in mind — but just like the characters, I
must discover along the way just how I’m going to get there. Not with this
book, though. I had to go straight through from Point A to Point Z, touching
every point in between, and I had to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">know</i>
everything that happens. There would be no “Then they somehow get back to the
boat,” there would be no “I’ll figure this out later.” I had to know. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">And if I didn’t know, I had to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">make something up</i>. Which is, of course,
what writers do anyway. Even when we journey long with our characters, we’re
making it all up; it only <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">feels</i> like
we’re discovering it. It’s just a little weird and scary to have one’s own
imaginative process laid so bare like this.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 4.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">But it’s freeing, also — because
just as I must serve the structure, so too the structure serves me. I wrote my
beats at a white heat, plowing straight through ‘til the end. If I felt any
moment of hesitation, I would glance to the left, see approximately where I was
in the story, and see what I was missing: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hey,
it’s time for a gunfight! Let’s drop a clue in here! We’re about due for a
hostage crisis!</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Once the beats were down, I added
‘em up and looked ‘em over, and the patterns started emerging. Two or three
would seem to fit together into something that looked like a chapter; the
rhythm of the book started to emerge. In short order I had a full
chapter-by-chapter breakdown.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 4.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">And there it was. I felt like the
narrator of the Stan Ridgway song:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I’ve
been everywhere around this world<br />
I fly on the edge of the ball<br />
I got the numbers all up here<br />
I just read the map and steer, that’s all</span></i></blockquote>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/pMkYFo1XjNM?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></i></div>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></div>
Jack Feerickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957899718721006732noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539553.post-28746383333987074312013-10-24T13:41:00.000-04:002014-02-10T10:14:49.077-05:00S-M-R-T<span style="font-family: inherit;">Ever watch a movie that everyone
raves about as being super-clever and hard-to-follow, but you followed it quite
easily? Me neither — until this week. <a href="http://popdose.com/popsmarts-a-reputation-for-difficulty/" target="_blank">This time in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PopSmarts</i></a>, find out what makes me think I’m so goddam smart anyway.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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Jack Feerickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957899718721006732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6539553.post-31596127803504190762013-10-12T13:39:00.000-04:002013-12-11T13:39:47.003-05:00Routine<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">There’s a
catchphrase I picked up from Alfred Bester (by way of Gene Wolfe):<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The book is the boss.” Meaning that every
book, every story, teaches you how to write it as you go along. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-line-height-alt: 5.0pt; tab-stops: 4.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">That makes
sense to me; so when I write, I try to listen to the book. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Honeythief</i> wanted to be written outside, in the summertime,
scratched out longhand in volumes of matching notebooks — and it enhances the
effect. The method of composition both suits and informs the elevated, formal
tone of the prose. I can’t really say which came first, and in the end it
doesn’t matter. All I know is that cracking open another black-bound Moleskine,
ritualistically numbering each page, ruling out my charts and tables — these
things helped me to slip into the writer’s trance, so that when I sat down in
the handmade Adirondack chair on my front porch, I was ready to go to that
world and talk with those people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Judy Obscure</i> will be for a younger
audience, more vernacular, more conversational in tone. And to my surprise, it
wants to be said aloud — a whim told me to slip my little digital recorder into
my pocket, and the pitch came to me in a rush as I walked the dog one night; I
talked it as I walked it. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Orphan
Asylum books, I think, want to be banged out fast, straight to the keyboard,
single-spaced, with big band swing on the stereo. (I suspect that given their
druthers, they would <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">really</i> prefer to
be typed, on an Underwood manual, and that I should be wearing a tie and
smoking Luckies as I did it.)</span>Jack Feerickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957899718721006732noreply@blogger.com0