Cliff-
are you also the author of "From the beginning: social cricket in Darlington : a sketch of past years"
by Cliff Burns; Darlington Social Cricket Club. and World cat has you responsible for
"Cooking for life : recipes with cannabis butter : research-in search of wellness"
by Marie C R Krieger; Grant W Krieger..maybe you edited it..does have a CA press imprint..

Violins in the Void; Righteous Void are surely right, tho...now i'll check your real bibliography!

wtf..i have nothing to do w/ "Walrus foraging marks on the seafloor in Bristol Bay, Alaska: a reconnaissance survey".
I'd forgotten how much fun worldcat is..several years ago some of us at work looked to see how far our dissertations had wandered...i won, w/ mine reaching some poor grad student in gottingen. But they keep adding to worldcat..i'd always known of my dad's phud topic - but not his masters thesis: "Strollers of the Old Frontier" - maybe he know about "the steamman of the plains" and never told us! (both my sister and i have been SF fans since childhood). I defn. have to tell Janet about "Strollers...."

posted by bobmcconnaughey at 11:10 am (EST) on Jul 19, 2008

In reply to Post #424 - Good SF Movies

I will post this here, because I don't want to derail the new SF movie thread.

I find your attitude to having a movie made of your book remarkably refreshing. Since so many books are optioned to make movies, that yours was selected speaks quite highly of your writing ability. Because the movie studio came to you to buy your book and to make it into a movie, you are really doing them the favour - they believe they will be able to make money from the adaptation of your novel. You already know this, though, but I say this because I want to be clear that I don't disagree with your opinion. I merely asked the question because I was interested in hearing your reasoning. Since the movie studio will most likely be spending millions of dollars on this movie, I think it is not unreasonable to expect a reasonable contract regarding the movie.

Now, away from that, and onto a more important subject. Although I had picked up that you had written some SF short stories which were in multi-author anthologies from your other posts, having a look on your author page shows me that you have written a lot more, including writing several full-length novels. I will now have to endeavour to find at least one of your books, although if your writing is of low a status commercially as you make it out to be, I might have some difficulty, since I pick up that you live in a different country to myself. Is there anything that you think a reader new to your books should know before they start looking to buy one of your books?

posted by rojse at 6:17 am (EST) on Jul 15, 2008

Cliff,

In #181 of the bad films strand, you said in response to me: "A model maker's society? Count me in! Lately I've been buying those Glencoe "retro" type spaceship plastic kits, recreations of 1950's style rockets. Of course, now I have to BUILD the bloody things."

Yes, I built one of these a while back when I was building up to do a presentation to the Sutton Modellers on "Spaceships in theory and practice" - how SF got it right and wrong, that sort of thing. The Glencoe kits were originally put out by a firm called Strombecker in the 1950s/60s and were based directly on von Braun's Mars mission profile and conceptual designs. Sorry, but I can't point you to any pictures 'coz I've not posted any of the SF ones to my main site (yet).

BTW, thanks for your complement about my (mainly) railway pictures a while back. I've made "Capturing the soul of the machine" the strapline for when I start selling high-quality prints in the Autumn...

posted by RobertDay at 4:24 pm (EST) on Jul 7, 2008

it's OTopic enough that i'll just mention it here that we used to love to visit Saskatoon every summer while my uncle and aunt were still alive. My uncle, at one point, was the chair of the history dept @ the UofSask, and they'd lived there oh..since the mid 60s i think. It was always a relief to be up there in August and escape the NC summer for a little while.
bob

posted by bobmcconnaughey at 8:51 pm (EST) on Jun 15, 2008

Fantastic--thanks! Looks like a great list--it'll keep me busy, I'm sure. There's a copy of Gospel available at my university library (short on cash this summer, so I'm borrowing and reading from my massive TBR stack), so I'll probably start with that one. Best wishes.

posted by Medellia12 at 3:08 pm (EST) on Jun 8, 2008

After seeing you recommend Towing Jehovah a couple of times in the SF group, I ordered a copy and read it the past couple of days. Wow, what a fantastic book! Given that we both enjoy Russo and Cloud Atlas, I'll be all ears for any and all recommendations you have to offer in the future.

posted by Medellia12 at 6:02 pm (EST) on May 25, 2008

Cliff, we're doing a Middlemarch group read over in Group Reads. Join us if you will.

posted by geneg at 3:16 pm (EST) on May 7, 2008

I spoke too soon:

The World Service schedule/frequency pages

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/help/2...

point out that

BBC World Service shortwave transmissions to the Caribbean closed on March 23rd 2008.

posted by AsYouKnow_Bob at 12:03 am (EST) on May 6, 2008

I've been playing around with my shortwave and the one damn channel I can't get is BBC.

With their move to the internet (maybe 10? years ago?), the Beeb stopped its SW broadcasts that were targeted to North America.

With a little effort, here on the East Coast I can still get the stuff the BBC aims at the Caribbean, West Africa, etc.; but those are all much less reliable than the Sackville relay used to be. I mostly don't bother anymore with SW; the Beeb is available on the internet.

Deutsche Welle is about gone, Suisse Radio is gone... the glory days of SW are over.

posted by AsYouKnow_Bob at 11:55 pm (EST) on May 5, 2008

Hey Cliff. Yeah I kind of dropped off the map here and elsewhere for a few reasons. One is I'm off steady SF reading for a while -I'm reading whatever-celebrity bios and various oddments. Two is I've too much on my plate right now, and I found myself going on these sites instead of getting work done, so I took a somewhat drastic action and dropped these sites off my bookmarks list so they're not so easy for me to go to all the time. I suspect I might have time to kibitz in the summer but right now it's best for me to not be preoccupied. But I still lurk at least once a week. I'm a right lurker I am.

posted by arthurfrayn at 9:49 pm (EST) on Apr 16, 2008

Cliff, maybe you can join us, give us the Canadian perspective on our discussion ot France as the 51st state over in Pro & Con. It pretty quickely shifted to Quebec as the 51st state, and from there into a gentle riff on US/Canadian relations. It's all meant in fun. Join us if you like.

I was talking the other day with kjellica from Bodo, Norway, about 100km above the Arctic Circle and he says they have quite moderate winters, unlike the bone-chillers you guys have.

posted by geneg at 5:14 pm (EST) on Apr 14, 2008

"I suggest we all gang up on Ian"

Working on that...

posted by kiparsky at 1:46 am (EST) on Apr 14, 2008

Thank you. I profoundly respect your contribution. I myself work a full-time job and a three-quarter time job. I'll go into this more when I finally get to the bottom of the suffering/joy thread and tell everyone. But as for you--I think it's remarkable when one lives off his/her art. I sometimes wonder if I'm cowardly, choosing to work more jobs while I complain for lack of time for creative exploits. But I'm not going to whine about me. I do celebrate you. Thanks for your reply. Now, I'm going to go back to this thread you started--what a remarkable response is coming in!

posted by DMTripp at 10:47 am (EST) on Apr 4, 2008

Hello,

I've just read your post, opening the new topic of suffering or delighting in creating art. Thank you for the Charles Schulz link. I plan to enter my comments after I've waded through all the responses (and so far, they are stellar). I'm glad to have this chance to read you. As for me, I suffer when I'm not creating. And though I acknowledge Angst during the creative process (I'm a watercolorist and muralist, and know what it means to be exhausted in the endeavor, I nevertheless suffer most dreadfully when I am prevented from creating (whether it be artist's block or a work schedule that prohibits space for my personal creative bliss--I teach on two campuses).

Thank you again.

posted by DMTripp at 9:59 am (EST) on Apr 4, 2008

Hi,

I read a post of yours, where you talked about willing yourself into a creative mode. On that note, I have read book called Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. It delves into getting your brain in the zone for drawing. I found it very interesting, and thought it might address what you had discussed in your post. Ciao!

-Maureen

posted by mpramanik at 4:42 pm (EST) on Apr 1, 2008

I do like Ian McDonald's writing, although I've read mostly his short fiction for the last few years. Brasyl hasn't been published in paperback yet in the UK, which is why I haven't read it yet.

posted by iansales at 5:08 am (EST) on Mar 28, 2008

Congratulations on getting your novel on your sight. I checked it out today at lunch and ripped through the first 25 pages. It's great so far and I can't wait to finish it. Glad to you put the paypal option there too. You should be compensated for a job well done. (Your wife also!)

Kami

posted by klarsenmd at 4:15 pm (EST) on Mar 27, 2008

Hi. Glad you liked the reviews. I've not got anything lined up - those two were for the BSFA Award shortlist, and Brasyl, which I haven't read, won it. I'm not sure I can tackle the Arthur C Clarke Award shortlist in a month...

posted by iansales at 3:13 am (EST) on Mar 26, 2008

Hi Cliff,

Thanks for friending me. Not looking for "benefits" so much as just friendliness. I'm new to LT and like just traipsing around, looking and friending.

Your writing looks interesting. I'll be bopping over to your blog.

TK Kenyon

posted by TKKenyon at 11:44 am (EST) on Mar 25, 2008

Hi,

Saw your comment on the Sci Fi movies thread about checking out "Atomic Submarine" on Amazon and thought I'd mention that the VHS is available for $14.83 on www.half.com--a site not as well-known as Amazon but a great resource for used books, CDs, and films (it's affiliated with eBay).

Happy viewing!

Elizabeth

posted by ejj1955 at 10:59 pm (EST) on Mar 13, 2008

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that Karloff was hurt* while Isle of the Dead was being filmed, which meant that the filming was split in two, with Bedlam filmed between. That could explain why it is less successful than the others. Mark Robson who directed both films had quite a successful, and varied, career - he ended up doing films like Valley of the Dolls, The Harder they Fall, Peyton Place, & Earthquake.

Have you seen this website? http://www.eeweems.com/val_lewton/ - it has a chapter from one of his novels. It's appalling....

* he had recurrent back pain due to the brace he wore as part of the Frankenstein. In the old good days of Hollywood the studios has a much more cavalier to health and safety issues - my favourite is The Wizard of Oz: Buddy Ebsen was the original choice for the Tin Man but the paint they used on him had so much aluminium that he ended up hospitalised for weeks.

posted by jargoneer at 12:50 pm (EST) on Mar 6, 2008

And yes, you're right, Invasion by "Aaron Wolfe" was by Dean Koontz.

(What's depressing is that it was about his 30th book....)

posted by AsYouKnow_Bob at 7:10 pm (EST) on Mar 4, 2008

How much of Hemingway the man is tied up in the act of reading his novels, though? There was an interesting (i.e. amusing) rant on some on-lin magazine's forum following on from a review of Rivhard Morgan's Black Man. The ranter considered himself some sort of alpha-male, and was convinced that his reading of the book was not only right but that all other readings were wrong. I've just started reading it myself, so we'll have to see... although I suspect I shall interepret it completely differently, if only because I'm the same nationality as Morgan...

posted by iansales at 4:34 am (EST) on Feb 27, 2008

Even though I couldn't finish For Whom The Bells Tolls...?

posted by iansales at 2:23 am (EST) on Feb 26, 2008

We all die ultimately. ;)
I don't know if the notion of what could be considered a hack bothers me as much as it does you.
If he can get it going on with what he has I say more power to him.

posted by arthurfrayn at 2:18 am (EST) on Feb 20, 2008

Same here. He's an interesting person -there are a number of interviews that you can find online that you might find of interest. Also, he directed films in his own right. "Belle Captive" I just picked up and haven't watched yet, but now that he's dead there might be retrospectives -if they ever show "The Man Who Lies" , you should try and catch that -that's a pretty interesting film.

posted by arthurfrayn at 12:48 am (EST) on Feb 20, 2008

Yes, I saw it last night, thanks. Just finished "Jealousy" and "In The Labyrinth" as you know. Bought a whole bunch of stuff I didn't have as well.
Too weird a coincidence.

posted by arthurfrayn at 1:23 pm (EST) on Feb 19, 2008

You were asking on the film thread if anyone had seen City Under the Sea. I can now answer yes to that, having watched it this afternoon. (I don't understand the alternative title War-Gods of the Deep at all). Obviously, Vincent Price was hired because of the Poe link (the poem that the film takes it's title from) but the film feels more like one of Hammer's adventure films of the same period (some of the sets looked very familiar but I couldn't place them). The sets, and effects, are mostly ok but the problems lie with the story. Within 10 minutes we are introduced to the gill-men and then they disappear from most of the film, leaving us with Price and his smugglers: who are immortal thanks to the air in the underwater city, except they don't seem to be the city, they seem to be in a gothic castle next to the city, all of which is threatened by an underwater volcano. (At this point you have to forget you are in Cornwall). Tab Hunter, David Tomlinson and a chicken (that's sounds funnier than it was) find a secret passage to the underwater city after some non-descript actress is kidnapped by a gill-man. It turns out she looks like a picture from 150 years ago for no reason - the films raises ideas like this and then just ignores them, eventually descending in a chase for the last 25 minutes or so. Most of this takes place underwater, and is obviously heavily influenced by 20000 Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Thunderball, but it is strangely boring (non to mention embarrassing - at points you can see the surface a couple of feet above them, and the chicken sharing Tomlinson's helmet moves from side-to-side). The heroes escape; Price gets to the surface using a staircase (God knows it came from) and ages instantly in daylight with very pretty poor makeup; the film ends.
It's mediocre but not bad, insomuch as it moves relatively quickly for it's 90 minute duration, and it is professionally made. The flourishes Tourneur showed earlier in his career are more-or-less gone - it's a pity his previous film, The Comedy of Terrors, with Price, Karloff, Lorre and Basil Rathbone; written by Richard Matheson; wasn't his encore - that is a decent little horror comedy.

posted by jargoneer at 12:20 pm (EST) on Feb 19, 2008

I enjoyed the Something Wicked... film when I saw it years ago. I have just acquired a copy and will try to watch in the next week - sometimes it can be hard motivating yourself as you are worried that time has played tricks on you.

I meant to ask which Val Lewton films you have just ordered. Those 40s RKO flicks have aged surprisingly well - I love the fact that I Walked With A Zombie is based on Jane Eyre. Have you seen The Seventh Victim? - it's a genuinely creepy film with an amazingly downbeat ending.

posted by jargoneer at 8:50 pm (EST) on Feb 14, 2008

Strange you should have mentioned Something Wicked This Way Comes as an aside in the sf films thread: I had just finally gotten round to reading it. I was a little disappointed in it: Bradbury is trying way too hard to poetic with the result that much of his prose is overwrought. Also, he just doesn't seem to capable of any genuine insight into his characters. Overall it was a disappointment: perhaps a book I read too late or had too much expectation of. On the other hand, I've never been convinced that Bradbury is a very effective novelist: I think much of his reputation is based on that he was head and shoulders above his major sf contemporaries but is possibly not as good as everyone remembers him to be.

posted by jargoneer at 10:56 am (EST) on Feb 13, 2008

Hello Cliff,

I hope all is well with you.

I thought the following article from an Australian weekend newspaper might be of interest to you More evidence, for me at least, that most university creative writing programmes are simply cash cows for those organisations.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/sto...

Regards,
Ron

posted by Murmurs at 5:34 pm (EST) on Feb 9, 2008

Ah well. It'll not be the first time I've ended up butting heads with the resident "authority" (self-proclaimed)...

posted by iansales at 8:04 am (EST) on Feb 7, 2008

To your last comment. ROFL. oxx

posted by belleyang at 9:04 pm (EST) on Feb 6, 2008

Gawd, can you believe it, I've been flagged a 3rd time! I guess people are little uptight?!

posted by belleyang at 5:55 pm (EST) on Feb 6, 2008

Cliff, enjoy your final edits. It's an excellent time for an author. And thank you for your open heart and ears to my enthusiasm. I know I need to cool it but I am wired to share good things. When you do have time to join, you'll find that redroom.com is a perfect compliment to Librarything.com. At redroom,com, people welcome the news about good things happening with an author's book instead of flagging and accusing an author of spamming. It's supportive instead of anal ;)

posted by belleyang at 12:51 am (EST) on Feb 5, 2008

Finally checked out your blog and really enjoyed the short stories, particularly The Hibakusha. Good stuff!
-Kami

posted by klarsenmd at 6:42 pm (EST) on Feb 4, 2008

Thanks for the links, Cliff.

posted by geoffreyg1978 at 2:21 pm (EST) on Feb 1, 2008

Just saw your books-on-writing topic and wanted to say that i got a.d.'s 'writing life' translated into jpse in the 90's. The translator was not doing well on the abstract and extended metaphors and japanese prefer to start with the concrete, so w/ a.d.'s gracious permission (i did send a long letter of explanation), we switched the order of the first two chapters.

Dillard is good but not quite enough to give me that feeling you mentioned (tossing in the towel/breaking your pen or whatever). Chesterton's 'Heretics' does that for me. If you have not read it, do.

interesting! -- i see the letter above me is in arial while mine is in times nr! i have not seen that here before -- or did i fail to observe it?

posted by keigu at 1:04 am (EST) on Feb 1, 2008

And did you know there's a "101 Reasons .... " group on LT?

http://www.librarything.com/groups/101re...

posted by Murmurs at 5:34 pm (EST) on Jan 24, 2008

Cliff,

I just discovered that the guy who writes the '101 Reasons to Stop Writing' blog is a fellow Blue Mountains person. What a small world!

http://www.librarything.com/profile.php?...

posted by Murmurs at 5:32 pm (EST) on Jan 24, 2008

I suspect we have more than one book in common...but neither of us lists our whole libraries. God forbid.

Have no fear, I have plenty of self-importance and pretension. I just hide it in a dark corner until I can pull it out for effect. Displaying it on the writer-reader forum all the time would diminish the possible impact!

posted by adeptmagic at 2:01 pm (EST) on Jan 23, 2008

Love the "North Irish" joke. Classic. The truth is, I do shy away from arguments, and largely because of my practice, especially on chat groups and things as impersonal as these. They don't go anywhere, they get ugly, and people aren't going to change their minds anyway. The anonymity provides a perfect excuse to turn the forum into a bully pulpit. There was a time when I used to tell everybody I knew "what for" and what ass holes they were, but the truth is, the only ass hole in that kind of an argument was me.

Hey listen, do you have a Myspace account? If so, I'd invite you to join my own group, which I have just started and moderate, called "Writers Against the Stream." (myspace.com/groups/salmonwriters). See you around.

posted by geoffreyg1978 at 9:02 pm (EST) on Jan 22, 2008

Cliff,

You might find this blog interesting if you are not already aware of it:

http://101reasonstostopwriting.com/

Regards,
Ron

posted by Murmurs at 12:03 am (EST) on Jan 22, 2008

Cliff,

Thanks for your support and effort, but I'm not going back to that post anymore. If I knew how, I'd delete the thing altogether. I was shocked at some of the responses; I've been a member of a number of on-line groups where posting the actual work is not only the preferred method to spamming but is in fact the way to go and part of the function of the group, especially given a clear thread title. I wasn't surprised that some people didn't like it, but I was surprised that some people felt it shouldn't have even been posted in the first place.

Anyway, this isn't the whole story; don't think I got hurt by this one group and decided to quit. What happened here on LT was just a small piece of a big pie over a number of groups in which I participate, and I've ultimately decided that I've gotten all the feedback I need for the time being, both positive and negative. So no worries.

Geoff

posted by geoffreyg1978 at 4:18 pm (EST) on Jan 21, 2008

No offense taken. I think it's great when people stand up for what they believe in. You definitely seem like a passsionate person who enjoys writing, and likely reading, very much. As I said before, for me this is just a past time event. I can take or leave whatever I'm reading or writing at any time. For you, that may or may not be the case. I wasn't put off by your debate in the least, quite the opposite in fact. I'd feel much the same way if someone took my profession lightly. I look forward to many more interesting discussions with you.

kami

posted by klarsenmd at 1:03 pm (EST) on Jan 15, 2008

You can't really convert MP3 to CD - it's do with the way MP3 compresses the data and so forth - but must CD/DVD players come with the facility to play MP3's now so you just burn the files on as is. If you want to listen to it on your PC (at least) let me know and I'll send it on to you.

"Rite" is trippy, but not in an electronic manner. The first three tracks are actually played by a real band, and contain quite a quite of low-key psychedelic guitar - very Krautrock (bands like Can or Neu!). The 3rd track is has lots of wah-wah guitar and I always half expect Isaac Hayes to start talking/singing "Hello, baby.....".
There are now 3 sequels to the album as well - I have MP3 copies of "Rite2" and "Rite Now". The former is quite a techno chill out album, the latter is more like the original album. I refuse to get the fourth album after hearing "Odin", a 73 minute ambient musical piece, to which I can only conclude Cope is taking the piss.
I went to see him not that long ago and it was a strange night - inbetween doing acoustic versions of various songs he would rabbit on about leylines and spiritual places of Druids, etc. He's actually considered quite an expert on this kind of thing now.

I read your last blog entry and I can answer 'how did Dumas manage to write so much?'. Basically, he had a team of assistants working with him - one of whom, Auguste Marquet, actually co-authored a number of the novels, such as "The Count of Monte Cristo" & "The Three Musketeers". Marquet would draw up the plot and create a first draft; Dumas would then write the dialogue and add the details. It was the publisher who insisted that Marquet's name was left off the credits. Marquet was well paid for his efforts though, and Dumas always acknowledged him. (He also wrote his own works but I've never seen any in English - it would be interesting to read one). Of the two, it was Dumas who died broke (although he did like the high life) and was denied his rightful place in the French canon of literature due to his mixed-race - it was only in 2002 that Dumas was re-buried alongside Voltaire and Hugo.

posted by jargoneer at 7:52 am (EST) on Jan 15, 2008

"Point Blank" with Lee Marvin is worth catching, if you've never seen it.

posted by arthurfrayn at 12:17 am (EST) on Jan 15, 2008

Actually Burt Reynolds was the original pick for Zed (after having been in Boorman's prior film "Deliverance"). In retrospect, I'm sure he would have been fine, but I think Connery was an inspired second choice.

posted by arthurfrayn at 10:35 pm (EST) on Jan 14, 2008

"I did once read that Mr. C. avoids any reference to "Zardoz"--is that true?"

Sure, I could see that. This is a film from the post Bond period when he couldn't get arrested. Not only does he romp around in his underwear, but there's a scene where he's in a wedding dress. And the film is often ridiculed. Knowing what you probably know about Connery, does that sound like one for him to put on the top of the resume? :)
But it's his great relaxed, confident presence in the film that gives a gravitas to the proceedings that might not have been there with just anyone else.

posted by arthurfrayn at 4:24 pm (EST) on Jan 14, 2008

Granted the subject has been dealt with in SF lit since forever, but this film is singular as a rumination on immortality as a less than desirable goal for the human race.
As far as what Sean Connery is wearing - I can only tell you that having to always defend this film against the ridicule concerning that outfit, is as tedious as trying to defend Star Trek when people want to laugh about the "gogo boots" and the paper mache rocks.

posted by arthurfrayn at 8:16 pm (EST) on Jan 13, 2008

I don't agree.

posted by arthurfrayn at 12:38 pm (EST) on Jan 13, 2008

People have seen it. The minority is people who have seen Zardoz and think it's good, despite it's obvious shortcomings. ;)

posted by arthurfrayn at 1:57 am (EST) on Jan 13, 2008

The Blue Mountains is home to quite a few expatriate Canadians and Americans, Cliff.

It's 36C now and I can hardly breathe ... must go on a diet ... spend less time reading and more time exercising (joking).

posted by Murmurs at 10:06 pm (EST) on Jan 12, 2008

Thanks, Cliff.

posted by Murmurs at 10:11 pm (EST) on Jan 11, 2008

Hi there,

You need a search box on your blog! :-)

I can't find your 'Writing 101' post mentioned in one of the LT groups.

Cheers.

posted by Murmurs at 9:58 pm (EST) on Jan 11, 2008

I finally started The Intuitionist last night. And man, am I hooked. Thanks for the recommend.

posted by Xiguli at 1:24 pm (EST) on Jan 9, 2008

Hi Cliff, soory it's been so long since you commented on my LT profile, but life's been busy and I haven't been as good about checking back here as I ought to have been. In fact it's been forever since I added anymore of my books which is somethng that I have got to do as thus far only about 10% of the Library is posted.

posted by docjohnb at 2:48 pm (EST) on Jan 3, 2008

Cliff, thanks for stopping by. Your library intrigues me, your profile scares me - you might be a tad too smart for me to keep up with! Ahh, the 70's. I took an English class titled culture of the sixties, where my world was forever rocked by Joan Didion, Eldridge Cleaver, Tom Wolfe, Malcolm X, to name a few. And of course there are many stories I can't tell as well....Fast forward to the 2000's and I am again having my world rocked by Annie Dillard, Charles Baxter, Annie Lamott, to name just a few. Where would I be without my books??? How bleak and narrow was my literary life before LT? I shudder to imagine....
Happy reading and writing, Mel

posted by readaholic12 at 11:00 am (EST) on Nov 5, 2007

I hadn't heard of Colson Whitehead, let read him, but I finished The Intuitionist and I liked it and his writing. Maybe someday I get something else under my belt. I also finished BASS 2007, and I was as pleased with King's selections as I've been with any other editor.

posted by rufustfirefly66 at 7:10 pm (EST) on Nov 1, 2007

Yeah, keep me in the loop, man. I'd be happy to frequent any forum you belong to, because that's pretty much a guarantee of fascinating conversation.

Let me know as the process progresses...

posted by john_sunseri at 6:40 pm (EST) on Oct 18, 2007

Hello! Thank you for responding to my novella question. I just looked at your wordpress site and. . . it's about time someone said the things you said!!!

posted by artgirl74 at 5:28 pm (EST) on Oct 13, 2007

Hi - hope you don't mind that I have added you to my IL list. I am fascinated by your blog. I see that you are an author - are your books on your blog?

Cheers,
Karen

posted by kiwidoc at 9:53 pm (EST) on Oct 12, 2007

Thanks for the comment at my profile, Cliff. I really appreciate the quality of discussions here at LT. I enjoyed the discussion about King, Dillard, etc, too and was very happy that you made me think about why I appreciate King more than Dillard. I am more like Dillard in the way I write, but I trust King more because of what we share in our erratic and bizarre upbringing. I hope you saw that tribute to you and thanks to you over at the group.

posted by TheresaWilliams at 9:39 pm (EST) on Oct 6, 2007

Hey Cliff, thanks for the comment - I hadn't logged into LibraryThing for some time so apologies if I seemed to be ignoring you! The totaldickhead blog is indeed excellent - I'm not sure my comments on it have been of the appropriate academic level, however! My own contributions to the furtherance of Dickology are at the following sites;

http://fraser.typepad.com/frolix_8 ('Which PKD Story Are We In Today?', amongst other things)

http://palmereldritch.co.uk (PKD quotes, again, amongst other things!)

posted by palmer_eldritch at 6:41 am (EST) on Aug 30, 2007

Cliff, thank you for your continued participation at Art is Life. Your last entry about addiction gives me a lot to think about.

posted by TheresaWilliams at 7:34 pm (EST) on Aug 4, 2007

Cliff, now, see, I didn't think what you said about writing and survival was melodramatic. I think some people might think so, but I don't, and one of the reasons I created the group ART IS LIFE is for people like you--like us--to have a place to share this "obsession." Too bad, but I think we sometimes feel we have to go in defensive mode about how important writing is to us. So many, you know, give you that "look," as if to say, "You poor thing," or "You weird thing." But at ART IS LIFE, we're neither poor nor weird, but a source of energy for each other. Thanks for reaching out.

posted by TheresaWilliams at 11:31 am (EST) on Aug 2, 2007

Cliff, thanks much for coming over to Art is Life. I was taken with your comment on another group about why you write, that it is a way of survival for you. It was refreshing for me to see that. I would definitely like to know more about why you feel that way whenever you can catch a breath and come back over to the group. I liked what you said about experimental writing and the Modernists. Perhaps we could explore that more at some point, as I agree with you that experimental writing can be "cold" and a "chore" to read. I would like Art is Life to be about passion and fire and getting down to the real truth of why we write (and read). Thanks again for being so open.

posted by TheresaWilliams at 8:07 pm (EST) on Aug 1, 2007

Cliff -

Oh, you're right about the folks on the board, but that's normal. Tell you what - I'm not sure how well you're gonna fit in, but take a look at http://permutedpress.com/smf/index.php?a... sometime. I seem to be the big author there, but there are several others who've actually published novels and had stories published by magazines, and it's a pretty damned fun board to mess around on. Plus, Permuted is the publisher who's handling my anthology and the serial novel I'm doing with David Snell, so there's a bit of cred involved.

You can skip most of the threads, of course - I don't imagine you'd be interested in much of the stuff there - but take a look at the 'Projects' board, and the 'Writing and Publishing' threads, and maybe the 'Promote Your Stuff' section. I'd love it if you dipped your toes into the water - there ARE good contacts to be made, nice people to meet, and even though most of the folks there tend toward pure zombie horror, there are plenty of interesting personalities to interact with.

And Jacob is the fellow I want to feel out about your novel; he's a hell of a guy, working his ass off to make Permuted a going concern, and he's racked up a few moderately impressive credits so far, with no missteps. I want to hold on to this guy, not only because I consider him a friend, but because I can easily foresee his press taking the necessary steps up the ladder and joining the big boys someday.

Just a suggestion.

And believe me - I know how unlikely the movie prospect is. Movie people buy EVERYTHING that's even remotely salable, and the vast majority of the properties never get beyond the rights stage. The good thing is, even if the option isn't exercised, you get a bit of cash and retain the rights, unless you were incredibly stupid and signed some hell contract. But you never know - you might get 'Kept' made. And thus my excitement.

Later, man.

posted by john_sunseri at 11:14 pm (EST) on Jul 2, 2007

(Happy Canada Day!}

posted by AsYouKnow_Bob at 9:34 pm (EST) on Jul 1, 2007

Congratulations on "Kept" and the film option. You and your family must be doing cartwheels!!

posted by belleyang at 9:50 pm (EST) on Jun 29, 2007

Your link to "Beautiful Desolation" does not work! B

posted by belleyang at 6:36 pm (EST) on Jun 29, 2007

Portland is the hometown of Powell's, and Michael Powell has had a big part in making this city what it is today, literacy-wise. The original store takes up an entire city block downtown, four stories tall and filled with millions of tomes, and I've spent many dozens of hours wandering through those hallowed halls (and hundreds of dollars to take some of the magic home!). There's also Powell's Books for Cooks, Powell's Travel Books, Powell's Technical Books and seven or eight more scattered around the city, each with its own vibe, each hosting readings and signings on a weekly basis, and Chuck Pahlaniuk (another Portland product) seems to give his peculiar brand of chaotic reading there every month or so...

Gotta get back to work. I'm fifteen thousand words into a twenty five thousand word story that was supposed to be delivered last week, and I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel...

Take care.

posted by john_sunseri at 6:48 pm (EST) on Jun 5, 2007

oh, and it's "Arthur Crew Inman". the abridgement was edited by Daniel Aaron, and published 1985.

ISBN 0674454456

"The Inman Diary: A Public and Private Confession" 1661 pages(!)

Amazon has it new for $72, used from $2.60

I only know it from the reviews when it was new - he seemed interesting but unpleasant. (I actually knew a man named 'Art Inman', so I noticed the book when it came out.)

But there are 12 copies here on LT, you could ask the owners what they think.

posted by AsYouKnow_Bob at 11:56 pm (EST) on Jun 1, 2007

Click on the "Zeitgeist" tab at the top of the page.

The second block on the left column is "LT Authors".
Click on "More" (or does it say "Complete List"? I forget)

That opens the "LT Author" page.

On the right column, there's a sidebar with a full description,
and instructions on how to sign up.
(It tells you to email Abby (one of the staff) for more information.)

posted by AsYouKnow_Bob at 11:29 pm (EST) on Jun 1, 2007

Hi, welcome to LT. You should check out the "LT Author" feature.

- Bob

posted by AsYouKnow_Bob at 9:54 pm (EST) on Jun 1, 2007

Re: Martin Booth. I believe both Islands of Silence and A Very Private Gentleman were his last two adult fiction works. His children's fantasy series that your son has started, I believe, had two books out before his death (not sure if they were both out in the US, though). You might like Mary Doria Russell's A Thread of Grace - it's very character-driven and necessarily slow while she spends about 70 or so pages introducing those many characters to the reader but what a great story of Northern Italy in WWII. It's one of those books which have a list of characters in the front of the book so one can keep them all straight. She has just finished an historical fiction due out in 2008 on the 1921 Cairo peace conference. Best, Lois

posted by avaland at 9:23 am (EST) on Jun 1, 2007