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This fall I’ll be teaching a creative writing workshop on short stories for the first time in about 20 years. I’d like to ask you, my friends who write, to give me the benefit of your advice–for free–by asking a few questions. If you are kind enough to answer them, why not do so as soon as you find time? Short, fast answers are much better for me than long deliberation.
Help me!

What short stories (and writers) do you think of as models, or ideal? Why?

What are some great online magazines or resources for people interested in short fiction?

Any great collections or anthologies of short fiction?

What have you had to learn as you wrote?

What’s the worst thing to do in short fiction?

Would you like to give this class an assignment?

If you’ve taught or taken a fiction-writing workshop or class:

What can a fiction workshop can do?

What makes a fiction workshop work?

Any exercises that really make a difference?

Any exercises or other activities that seem a complete waste of time?

What’s an exercise or experiment in writing fiction you’d like to try?
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*

p.s. Hey. So, today d.l. Bernard, the blog, and I ask for a little more access to your brain and a little extra something from the time you spend here. Please respond to any or all of Bernard’s queries, if you can and don’t mind. It would be of great help to him, and any thoughts and answers you can spare will be very greatly appreciated by Bernard, and by me too. Thanks a lot, everybody! ** Misanthrope, Hey. Oh, there’s probably some destructive force in my c.v., but it’s never intentional, I promise that. Well, if you believe the news, especially lately, the US is positively rampant with seductress teachers, so I’ll expect to see Davey sitting in some witness stand with a pixelated face any time now. I had lots of sex in middle school, but, hey, I’m Dennis fucking Cooper. Nothing too porn worthy, though. I predict he has pubes like a stray dog. ** Allesfliesst, Well, in that case I’ll send my henchmen off to you on the next plane east. Hardly any dialogue in any of Tati’s films, at least in my memory, and almost zip in ‘Playtime.’ I think I’m in love with your Buddha. I think my atheist days might have just drawn to a conclusion. ** David Ehrenstein, From what I’ve read — and thank you very kindly for the links to those reviews — the degree to which the ‘leftover footage’ is being judged primarily as such is a glass half-empty or half-full thing. I’m dying for it. And it just nailed down a French distributor, so, yes! ** Statictick, Hey, N! Yay, you’re fully reconnected! I know almost shit about this stuff, but aren’t there other ways to test you than an MRI? Or is an MRI the Zeus of medical tests? Dude, seriously, keep those spirits up. That’s very, very important. Lots of love, man. ** Jebus, Hi. English and Philosophy, very nice. Long term and deep input, that’s great. Well, yeah, I think that generalization about kids today being more self-absorbed, etc. than kids of the past is absolute and total bullshit. I think that’s just fear of aging, of the future, of death manifesting itself re: the easiest and least deserving of targets. When people say shit like that, I think it’s just embarrassingly self-incriminating. Same with the stuff about popular music not being as great as it used to be and the stuff about a life full of texting and the internet being a lesser kind of life and all of that stuff. I think that’s just cynicism at work, and cynicism is just a fancy name for conservatism. Or something. Oh, awesome, thanks for the link to your music. I’ll have a listen when I get done with the p.s. Yeah, thanks much, I really appreciate the share. ** Math tinder, Math! Well, it must have been to have dragged your amazing ass back in here. Any chance for a ‘how’re you doing” and ‘what’s going on”? ** Cobaltfram, Hey, John. I think if you can use an opportunity like an article to try to advance your practice and art, always take it. You know, always aim highest and then pull back if you have to and, worst comes to worst, you’ll end up both progressing aesthetically and getting a new sense of your own limitations, the form’s, and the form’s conventional audience’s. Fingers crossed. Let me know Ross’s reaction. Poem fest! Terrific! I’ll join in starting today. Everyone, a cool alert and gift kind of thing from Cobaltfram. Here he is: ‘The other night at work, it was super slow, and I scribbled out some poems. Some of them are super short and sort of ephemeral, but I figured I’d type them all up. They’re scheduled to post on my Tumblr over the next couple of days. If you’re interested, you can keep track of them here.’ Join me in keeping my eyes all over that, everyone, won’t you? Thanks for the ‘SIMP’ progress report, too. Sounds most promising. Oh, right, Labor Day. That’s why there weren’t any new reviews on Pitchfork yesterday. Tiny mystery solved. ** 5STRINGS, Hey. Can’t agree with you on Rick Astley, yuck, but what do I know? He wasn’t a mega-star because of the quality of his constructions, god knows. Heap on the road, yes, now you’re talking. Yeah, Labor Day, I totally spaced on that, like I told the cobalt one. That’s why half the American news stories yesterday were about unions. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. Good move on the fundraiser page. I actually popped in here last night, saw your link, and watched the video. What a totally awesome bunch of folks you Y&Y; people are. Such an interesting group of distinct, cool people. Being able to put faces and voices, etc. to the project is only total boon. Anyway, I’m going to go contribute to the cause right now. Hold on. This’ll take a minute. Done. And now … Everybody, While the blog is in this helping out mode today, how about spreading some love and generosity towards d.l. _Black_Acrylic and the great zine project that he co-edits? I just did my part. How about you? Here’s _B_A to explain: ‘The Yuck ‘n Yum AGK now has a page at Sponsume which is here. There’s a video where you can see the Yuck ‘n Yum team in the flesh! Also, anyone who chips in £ for the 2012 AGK will get their names added to our sponsors song. So we’ll sing your name at the AGK, just imagine that!’ Go, go, go! ** Chris Dankland, Hi, Chris. I did see that thing on Alt Lit Gossip, and also Frank Hinton’s great, longish thoughts on the matter. Yeah, you understood what I meant. I foresee or at least worry about the polluting of Alt Lit that will come when the establishment begins to define it, and when that definition is standing between the scene and writers and their intentions vis-a-vis the readers/writers at large, and what will happen when the establishment begins to pick and choose writers and people in the scene as its stars or as its most talented members based, undoubtedly, on traditionalist notions of what constitutes good versus bad literature. It’s inevitable that the scene won’t be able to completely control their identity and message in a pure way. And what will happen will be interesting and a real test and all of that. It’s like, I wonder what being a ‘Beat’ writer was like before the media got a handle on ‘the Beats’ and declared it to be a phenomenon at large, and the public image of ‘the Beats’ became gentrified and then cemented in that gentrified form, and that reductive image began to affect not just readers’ perception of the writers’ work and their scene but the writers and their efforts too. Worst case scenario? Maybe either that Alt Lit will become recognized, branded from the outside, and hyped as the official literary alternative, i.e. ‘alternative rock’ back in the ’90s, leading to a select group of writers and magazines and sites that will become stars based not on their importance to the scene and influence within it, but based on the flashiness of their acceptability, or that Alt Lit will be dismissed in a general way as lightweight and a fad and not literary enough, etc., whereupon the scene might develop from that point on in reaction to that dismissal, which could cause either a defiant solidification of whatever its aesthetic is at that point, thereby stunting its growth, or perhaps an impetus to meet the challenge to prove itself as ‘serious’, leading to a distortion within the work and the scene caused by an external imposition rather than a natural evolutionary process. I guess those seem like the worst case scenarios to me off the top of my head. Obviously, great idea for you to get your work seen in a variety of places. I think it’s important to be as ambitious as you can. And, yeah, being patient and letting the work itself determine the pace at which you finish books and gain recognition, etc. is really paramount. I think you know my trajectory as a writer. It was gradual and had highs and lows and lots of surprises, and I worked hard all the time and believed as completely as I could in my work and that I would get better and that what I did would be recognized, and I wasn’t ready to publish a novel until I was in my late 30s, which seems late to a lot of young writers, but it didn’t feel late, and the lateness didn’t matter at all. I think your optimism about Alt Lit is beyond justified. Like I’ve said before so many times, this is the most exciting and promising and quality-rich time in American lit that I’ve ever seen, and I’ve paid close attention to that kind of stuff since I was a teenager. Dude, the comment was so not long. Total pleasure and stimulation, and thanks, man. ** Aaron Kaye (formerly Hayden Derk), Hi, Aaron! Okay sounds good enough. A cold storage freezer … like moving things around and in and out and stuff? Or, I don’t know. I sort of have this cold freezer interest, I guess from horror movies, although the house where I grew up had a huge cold storage freezer in the basement that didn’t work, so maybe that. Yeah, I’m excited to read your new work whenever you’re ready to air it. Just let me know. It’s great to have you back, man. ** Kyler, Thank you, Kyler. It’s a pleasure and a big help. ** Sypha, ‘The Expendables 2’ is really charming, like I said. Total, deliberate, mostly sincere throwback to ’80s action movies, kinda meta, kinda ironic at times, ultra-violent in the way contemporary action movies aren’t anymore, super sentimental, … yeah, I don’t know why it works so well, but it did. Enjoy Madonna tonight. No doubt it’ll be a big, fun show. Tell me how it was. ** Ken Baumann, Ken! Oh, that tweet, ha ha. Dude, the word honor is barely the twinkle in the eye of how honored I would be to have my work exist in your voice. That said, I don’t think Grove Press has the slightest interest in lifting even the tip of a finger re: my books, at least for now. Can’t hurt to get my agent to query them, though. Thank you, man, whatever the case. ‘Neuromancer’, nice! So excellent, no? I kind of love that whole trilogy, although I guess ‘Neuromancer’ is probably the best of the three. I kind of decided to save ‘Cosmopolis’ for a future plane ride or DVD + bored night, and that sounds about right, no? You should see ‘Holy Motors’ when it opens there. That was the biggest eye opener I’ve seen in the last months. ‘The Master’ for sure. Very curious to see that one. Be with Tuesday in a big way, pal. ** Postitbreakup, Hi, Josh, It was nice, yeah. That’s okay, just concentrate on getting past the breakdown, man, promise me. I know that you know, man, I think you just need to find the way to remember that you know, and you will. ** Right. Please help Mr. Bernard Welt out today. Any little help you can give him would be a big help. Thanks, you guys. See you tomorrow.

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‘A good part of any day in Los Angeles is spent driving, alone, through streets devoid of meaning to the driver, which is one reason the place exhilarates some people, and floods others with an amorphous unease. There is about hours spent in transit a seductive unconnectedness. Conventional information is missing. Context clues are missing.

‘Such tranced hours are, for many people who live in Los Angeles, the dead center of being there, but there is nothing in them to encourage the normal impulse toward “recognition”, or narrative connection.

‘There are, in the pages of the Los Angeles newspapers, no Crack Queens, no Coma Moms or Terror Tots. Events may be lurid, but are rarely personalized.

‘A Redondo Beach woman apologized to her 7-year-old daughter, then apparently tried to take both their lives by driving over a cliff in the Malibu area Tuesday morning, authourities said. The mother, identified by the county coroner’s office as Susan Sinclaie, 29, was killed, but the child survived without serious injury. “I’m sorry I have to do this,” the woman is quoted as telling the child just before she suddenly swerved off Malibu Canyon Road, about 2 1/2 miles north of Pacific Coast Highway.

‘Many people I know in Los Angeles believe that the Sixties ended abruptly on August 9, 1969, ended at the exact moment when word of the murders on Cielo Drive traveled like brushfire through the community, and in a sense this is true. The tension broke that day. The paranoia was fulfilled.

‘When I first moved to Los Angeles from New York, in 1964, I found the absence of narrative a deprivation. At the end of ten years I realized (quite suddenly alone one morning in a car) that I had come to find narrative sentimental.’ — Joan Didion

__________
Secret Circuit
‘The axis field of Secret Circuit mixes Psychedelic and tropical, and started up by inviting one basic member, Eddie Ruscha, and various guest in the place where free Music was expressed and permanent Cosmic, Jam-Disco, Soul, Funk, and Jazz. Secret Circuit is a DJ and production unit of Eddie Ruscha in context of cosmic leanings and meanings featuring sometime members of Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Tim Koh and Cole M.G.N. (the latter of which is also in like-minded outfit the Samps). Eddie Ruscha: “Dented drum machine overlords and also Technics power plays with adult oriented moat rock and synth VCO boats. I have drum machines and synths. Market value unridden to the test of earth salts and flats. I appreciate desert views and sunsets, but mainly I try to make new tribal surf music.”‘ — collaged

‘Nebula Sphynx’

______
HEALTH
‘HEALTH is an American noise rock band from Los Angeles. They have been described as having “artfully crafted noise and raw synth, haunting monotone vocals, and drum skills that are borderline insane”. The band’s unusual sound can be partially accredited to the use of the Zoothorn, which is a permutation of microphone and guitar pedal and an occasional atonal sound without a symmetrical structure. Health plans to debut an internet television show entitled HealthVision, which will star members of the band. They also debuted a clothing line in early 2010, which featured high-quality, hand-sewn, one-of-a-kind designer items. On March 5 2012, it was announced that Health would be composing the score for Max Payne 3, a video game by Rockstar Games.’ — collaged

‘Tears’

____________________
Steve Roden w/ Steve Peters
‘Steve Roden is a visual and sound artist from Los Angeles. His work includes painting, drawing, sculpture, films, and sound installation. The works are a combination of conceptual strategies and intuitive movements. Found structures and systems are lifted from their original intentions and used as the basis for improvisation and abstraction. In the visual works, printed language, graphic design, maps, and other forms of specific visual notation are lifted from their original intentions and abstracted to create open readings. In the sound works; objects, architectural spaces, and field recordings, are abstracted through electronics to create audio new spaces, or ‘possible landscapes’. the sound works present themselves with an aesthetic Roden describes as “lower case” – sound concerned with subtlety and the quiet activity of listening.’ — singuhr

‘Water Veins’

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Los Angeles
‘It could be said of [Los Angeles’ Michael] Cameron that he is not of this Earth and more so an ambrosial being. One could say that affixing a label to Michael Cameron, and trying to give his style and unique sound a name would be impossible. For he is indescribable and far too multifaceted to keep boxed in. If it simply had to be done, it would be said that Michael Cameron’s genesis as an artist has manifested itself in the form of an incomparable darkwave, dance, synth-pop sound, that feels strikingly familiar and yet distinctly fresh. Ever evolving and always challenging (to the man and to his dedicated following), Michael Cameron and his engaging [music is] the stuff longevity is made of.’ — The Secret Girls

‘R. Kelly

___
OFF!
‘If there’s a punk rock Valhalla, then surely there is a spot at the head of the table reserved for Keith Morris. Morris shaped the very essence of hardcore punk when he cut the vocals for Black Flag’s seminal debut release, Nervous Breakdown, an EP that sent shock waves across the country and beyond. After a short love/hate relationship with the band, Morris split and founded the Circle Jerks with Greg Hetson, and released the frantic 15 minute Group Sex LP. Just a few months ago, Morris started a new band called OFF! which he is touting as a return to the short, snappy, vicious sound of early Black Flag. Since OFF! recently debuted live at SxSW (and tore the place up).’ — Punknews.org

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIJfFwsvUm8]
‘I Don’t Belong’

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Andre LaFosse
‘A self-described “turntablist/guitarist,” Andre LaFosse has released solo recordings of groove-based compositions, and has contributed to several motion picture soundtracks. He has looped exclusively with the Echoplex Digital Pro since 1995, and is considered by many to be its most advanced practitioner. “I find the Echoplex to be an incredibly deep and extremely intuitive real-time performance instrument,” says LaFosse. “My current rig is an Echoplex controlled with a Digitech PMC-10 foot controller, and, sometimes, an expression pedal. I occasionally use effects, but I generally feel that I get a more engaging musical performance just by playing the guitar and using various Echoplex functions to generate development. I try to think of the loop itself not so much as a specific sonic result—a static event that repeats over and over—but rather as a technical starting point to create extremely dynamic, evolving, structured musical events.”‘ — Guitar Player

live

_____________________
Ariel Pink w/ R. Stevie Moore
‘L.A. weird-pop scene leader Ariel Pink’s collaboration with one of his major influences, the lo-fi figurehead R. Stevie Moore, is finally getting an official release. The collection, which bears the exceptionally awful title Ku Klux Glam, has been floating around for awhile. Twenty of its 60 tracks will be released on April 30 as a cassette in an edition of 100 for London “stoner pop” label Stroll On Records. Each tape is numbered and accompanied by a fold-out poster. As you no doubt know, Ariel Pink is known as something of a lo-fi originator, and is often regarded (sometimes earnestly, and sometimes not earnestly) as a precursor to the genre known as “chillwave” or “glo-fi.”‘ — Nashville Scene

‘Why Can’t I Write a Hit’ live @ Villette Sonique 2012

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The Icarus Line
‘As a modern echo of the rock & roll terror that was inspired by Black Flag and the Stooges, the Icarus Line offered a screaming wake-up call to the West Coast underground in the late ’90s. Coming together following the demise of a handful of aggro-punk projects in their Los Angeles homes, singer Joe Cardamone, bassist Lance Arnao, and guitarists Alvin DeGuzman and Aaron North went through several different drummers before finding Jeff Watson a year after their formation. Never performing without their signature uniforms (black shirts and pants with thin, red ties), the band’s self-given nickname, Red and Black Attack, was a reference to their stunning live performances, which more often than not ended in bursts of chaotic destruction.’ — allmusic

‘Slayer’

______________________
Los Angeles Free Music Society
‘The Los Angeles Free Music Society (LAFMS) has been, since the early 1970s, the banner heading of a loose collective of experimental musicians in Los Angeles, California who were joined by an aesthetic based around radicalism and playfulness. Key players have included Joe Potts, Tom Recchion, Joseph Hammer, John Duncan, Dennis Duck, Juan Gomez, Kevin Laffey, Chip Chapman, Fredrik Nilsen, Jerry Bishop, Ace Farren Ford, Ju Suk Reet Meate, and Rick Potts. Notable band configurations have included Le Forte Four, Smegma (who relocated to Portland, OR in the late 1970s), Solid Eye, Airway, Monique Experience, Foundation Boo, Extended Organ, and The Doo-Dooettes. Their influence is seen most immediately in other Pacific-coast “isolationist” experimentalists like Caroliner Rainbow, Sun City Girls, and The Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, as well as Japanese noise projects like Hanatarash, Hijokaidan, and Incapacitants.’ — Wiki

live @ The Getty, January 20, 2012

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Cold Showers
‘Confidence isn’t always born of experience, as seen by the forceful debut by Los Angeles band Cold Showers. Combining influences of late 1970s post-punk with a sonic exploration closer to something from Neu!, it is the carefully constructed spatiality of the music that gives the somewhat minimal lyrics their weight; distant and atmospheric, it lends the hazy vocals a detached, ghostly cast. Moments of aggression and transcendence transform the songs from mere sound to rich sonic narratives: within the rise of the language lies a vision under restraint, a pent up joy that is like nothing else. The resulting sound is unexpectedly tough, vital, and contemporary.’ — Mexican Summer

‘I Don’t Mind’ live @ Room 205, 2012

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Sun Araw
‘Cameron Stallones used to live in Austin, but he now lives in Long Beach, where he chills and records both solo as Sun Araw and as part of smoked-out psych group Magic Lantern. He also pours on the mutant James Brown riffs in Vibes, a vertiable “supergroup” of Not Not Fun, a label and general posse whose tie-dye drone cassettes and tropical fuzz LPs have recently contained a buttload of great sounds. Sun Araw’s solo Neo-Primitive hits and neon pyramids fit right at home on the imprint alongside the likes of Pocahaunted (on whose recent Passage LP he contributed to), Mythical Beast, Ducktails, and Robedoor, but Sun Araw’s sonics have got to be the most visual.’ — Tiny Mix Tapes

‘Crown Shell’, live March 25, 2012

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DARGAR
‘DARGAR from Los Angeles is the black metal/noise side project of Pete Majors and James Brown III, who are both members of bloody black metal thrash band HARASSOR. Their dissonant, crusty, and atmospheric recordings are achieved using unconventional techniques, as the band members never actually performed together on the tracks. Under the ethereal blanket of kittens and candlelight, Pete’s vocals and guitars were recorded at Major’s Headache studios. James then meticulously cut, pasted and edited the raw recordings into tiny components, which were then re-arranged and looped to accompany newly programmed drum tracks. The results are dense, filthy and chaotic metal songs, with discordant moments of beautiful sorrow, and Pete’s evil, unnatural vocals tying it all together.’ — Rising Beast

‘Track 2’

________
Abe Vigoda
‘If you want to know how kids can get so fucked in the head growing up in southern california, you gotta know about Abe Vigoda. Chino is the home of this sort of No Wavey sort of Pop oriented sort of twisted punked 4 piece. You can see it in the way they pound the living shit out of the instruments they play, and you can see it in the way they talk about things they are interested in, these kids are fucked, but in a good way. Fucked in the way that they can make a good record and play really good shows above all odds, like having terminal cancer and mental illness. Juan will kiss you if you ask and they are HUGE in England.’ — PPM

‘Repeating Angel’ live @ Coachella, 2012

________
The Samps
‘Last year, Cole M. Greif-Neill (the sometimes-guitarist for Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti and one-third of the Samps) made a simple admission in an interview with Vice about his sample-based collective: “I can tell you that we have no idea what we’re doing.” On the surface, we could take him at his word. Here are three Californians taking time out from their other bands to put together a little EP, often via web, with no desire to play any of the material in a live setting. Often, this sort of homemade pleasure project can be a little too indulgent, and as long as the day job is working out, there’s really little risk. But The Samps is a tight, wonderfully nuanced little outing where all that pleasure really shines through. Each experimental element here is firmly supported by genuine grooves and an ability to distill a variety of pop genres– from cartoonish electronics to hammy disco boogie– to their gratifying essences. And even if the result is sometimes unrefined, it’s anything but uninformed.’ — Pitchfork

‘Hyperbolic’

_________
LA Vampires
‘LA Vampires is the name of the solo venture by Amanda Brown, formerly one half of Pocahaunted along with Bethany Cosentino, who left to concentrate on her own project, Best Coast. Perhaps Brown, having watched Cosentino’s career take off in the last year, wants to match some of Pocahaunted’s local/blog acclaim with some commercial success, because with LA Vampires she has moved beyond the dark drones and goth-tinged psych-rock of her former base duo towards a more “pop” sound. She hasn’t moved all that much, actually. And “solo” isn’t exactly the right term. Because her three releases to date, which came out last year, were all collaborations of one sort or another, and when we say “pop” we’re not talking Britney, unless you think of Britney submerged beneath a mound of murk and diffused by dub.’ — The Guardian

‘Freedom 2K’
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*

p.s. RIP: Franz West. Hey. First, three alerts for you. (1) The new, long awaited issue of DC’s favorite non-USA-based zine in the world aka the mighty Yuck n Yum, edited in part by the very fine d.l. _Black Acrylic, is now online and ready to be perused by each and every one of you. This issue includes work by three unimpeachable local gods: the extraordinary artist Kier Cooke Sandvik, who made a magical reappearance here yesterday (!), the writer with the most cake aka James ‘Sypha’ Champagne, and Mr. _B_A himself, i.e. mega-multi-talent Ben Robinson. You’ve simply gotta see it, and it’s right here. (2) If you’ve never been to St. Marks Bookshop in NYC, you’ve obviously heard about it because it’s one of the world’s greatest bookstores and cultural treasures. They’ve been having serious financial troubles, as you might have heard, and they’re currently raising money to help them move in a more affordable location, and, if you’re in a position to chip in even a little bit, please do. You can find the fundraiser page here. (3) The superb writer xTx, whose most recent book was on my mid-year Best of list, and who has recently become something of a prized d.l. here, has a great short story entered in a contest called the South Million Writers Award, and she has a great shot at winning, and it would awesome if you would click this, and vote for her story ‘The Mill Pond’, which will only take a few seconds of your time. Thank you! Other than those alerts, I’m kind of hazy this morning due to bad sleep due to the current Parisian heat wave, so apologies for any vaguing out on my part today. ** Allesfliesst, Kai! Mister! How lovely to see you, maestro! I’m glad that here and I are not forgotten, and, of course, I understand, and don’t even feel you need to respond to this sort of query-type thing, but I’m hoping you’ll be in Berlin when I’m there with ‘Them’, and that I’ll get to see you, man. Lots of love back. ** David Ehrenstein, I still have positive thoughts re: being sick in bed too, knock on wood. They still make house calls here in France. Well, one’s personal physician doesn’t, but if you want or need a doctor to come to you, one is sent to you. Oh, uh, hm, I don’t know about the marriage thing. It wouldn’t help the visa, so probably not. We just found out this morning that Yury can apply for French citizenship now! So, we’re about to get all over that, obviously. ** Cobaltfram, Hey hey hey, John. Friday/Monday, that’s service. Crossed fingers for today. Ah, so you’re one of those Knopf dreamers, ha ha. It’s interesting that Knopf usually ends up the example publisher that people use in that kind of sentence. I think if I didn’t have publisher, I would dream about, mm, Farrar Straus. It’s probably not anywhere close to as hot here as it is where you are, but it’s miserable nonetheless, and there’s hardly any air-conditioning in Paris except at hotels and movie theaters, and certainly not here at the Recollets, so ugh. I haven’t forgotten about Banville. I want to read him. I’m just trying to go through the book pile that I have before I score new stuff. So, will do, man. Cool breezes. ** Alan, You get DC’s Nobel Peace Prize for luring Kier back in here. Sweet. I can’t imagine sharing versions of my novel before it’s finished. Never say never, but I never do that. Usually, I’ll have one confidant whom I can show it to if I really need some feedback in-process. It was always Amy Gerstler before I relocated over here, which made showing her work impractical. That said, this is an odd case because, as I said, a revised version of the first chapter is also the text for Gisele’s and my upcoming theater work ‘The Pyre’, and that’ll premiere before the novel gets published for sure, so I guess people who see that piece will see a version of a section of the novel early. If I do a scrapbook for this novel, and I’m not sure if I will, although probably, I’m pretty sure I’ll be making the pages here on the blog. Fine day, sir. ** Sypha, Understood about the draw of the Antichrist. I think things based in the Bible are just an immediate turn off for me. Too much baggage. There’s a new Godzilla movie coming out, if you haven’t heard. I don’t know if the big G is villainous or a good guy in it. I think it’s Japanese. I think it might be about the nuclear meltdown last year. That is an awesome Godzilla scene you linked to, definitely. My favorite is ‘Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster’. Nice to agree with Mr. Bennett. I guess I thought Heath Ledger was kind of always pretty sexy. ** Kier, Kier! Man oh man, it is sweetness incarnate to see you! Is this just a one-time drop in visit? How are you, if not? You’re hugely loved and always missed, my dear friend! ** James, Hey. I’m all right, just very wilted by this heat spell. I was a weird kid ‘cos I was always into heavy revision even when I was wee. Even my diary entries went though multiple drafts, ha ha. It’s true, though. ‘A queer Gordon Lish,’ ha ha, what a curious image. I edit my stuff constantly and continually along the way. I have to because my novels progress not because of the narrative but because of systems I devise within them, and I have to get the writing up to a certain level whereby the associations and internal rhymes and stuff are working properly before I can proceed. But then when the thing is fully written, the editing and revising becomes much more intensive. I don’t yet know how long this novel will be, assuming I keep writing it and don’t abandon it. I’m thinking it’ll be short, but I really don’t know yet. Congrats on the length of yours, man! Oh, and thank you a lot for sending those things to me by email, and, yes, I will use them on the blog as a post. I’ll give you the launch date soon. Yeah, thanks, man. ** Bill, The Ozon trailer does look good, right? It hasn’t opened here yet. I think my favorite movie in which CB appears would be, hm, well, ‘The New World’, for sure, and probably ‘Velvet Goldmine’ second. I’m imagining that your Dark Knight response won’t be very dissimilar to mine. ** Wolf, You caught the cameos! Excellent! Or most of them. Lukas Haas, Star Trek, Farrah Fawcett, Bugs Bunny, … None of the ‘Exorcist’ stills fit into my stacking plans. Gisele does Batman … hm. Well, she’s getting into doing operas, so that might work. I like that Bieber scene. It would be a good ‘end of Act 1’ point, don’t you think? ** Steevee, Shame about Toronto, but, yeah, I hear you. When does the Carax open in the States? It would be so interesting to talk to Carax, so I really hope you get to do that. Yeah, I heard about the St. Marks move. I chipped in some bucks. I’m just so glad if it can survive, and I remember St. Marks from its first, smaller, less fancy location, so the move doesn’t disconcert me so much. ** Flit, Oh, awesome that the Onda was crucial, cool. The only time I saw Moby live was in his early rave days pre-crossover fame, and he ended his set by striking a Jesus on the cross pose, so I’m guessing that he was totally fine with being on that pedestal, but who knows. Nice to hear that about Andrew, and it’s cool that you guys are such good buds. Give him my famous cyber-hug but, uh, over the phone, I guess, if you can figure out how to do that. Your new tumblr looks fucking amazing! Bookmarked! Yay! Everyone, the seriously ultra artist Flit has a new tumblr where new works both appear now and will be appearing in the future, and you must check it out, instantaneously if possible. Oh, and A himself has a tumblr too! Shit. Everyone, one last thing, d.l. currently in absentia Mr. Andrew McKinney also has a new tumblr that contains a batch of his (not merely) sexy collages, and you should take a look at it as well. Here. Wow, you’re nice, thank you, pal. ** 5STRINGS, Summer in Marseilles? Mm, I might have to retract my recommendation. It is hot and humid and horrible there in the summer. But if you come in August, it’ll already be cooling down because French summers are not the director’s cut. You know where I live? Well, I guess that’s not hard. The cafe here at the Recollets has become so popular and hip and the-place-to-be now than when people ask where I live, I can just say I live at Cafe A — that’s it’s name — and they know everything. Tar pit? Don’t know. Good question. Should I find out? Should it stay a mystery? What would GBV hire me to do? They do everything. I got nothing for them. ** Daveyhoule, Hey D yourself, fellow D! Nice book scores. ‘SAFE’ for $2? I think that’s money in the bank maybe. Let me check. Hold on. Yeah, Amazon is selling it for $176. And you get to look at my lovely ex-boyfriend faking an orgasm crossed with being murdered or something on the front cover. Wait, you’re sick? In the middle of the summer? Man, sorry to hear that. I feel sick in this heat and I’m not even sick. So I can’t even imagine. ** _Black_Acrylic, First, hooray about the new ‘Yuck n Yum’! I can’t wait to pore through it. Nice cover. Congrats! And I’m so happy to hear that your talk went well. Look forward to the photos. Was the talk videoed? Will we be able to attend it online? ** Will, Hi, Will. I’m Facebook friends with Basinski, and I have had really nice interactions with him there, but I’ve never met him, which is strange since I’m from LA, and he knows a lot of my friends, and I’m a big fan of his. How are you? What are you working on? ** Un Cœur Blanc, Hey there! It’s so very nice to see you! I know, summer is almost over. Thank goodness, if you ask me, but it’s boiling here right now. I’m so sorry to hear that you’ve been ill in bed. I hope it’s something very flyby that will leave you alone immediately. I’ve never read ‘Mourning Diary’. Strange. I think I will endeavor to find it. Well, again, it’s wonderful to see you, my friend! Take good care and take lots of love too. ** Misanthrope, Actually, none of them were dead. I made sure. That’s just your sick imagination, buddy. And the gun in the baby’s mouth was just a drawing of a gun. I guess it kind of hard to tell from the photo, ha ha. Okay, so it’s anxiety. Good, well, okay, not good, obviously, but better than bad health shit. Wow, you’re actually asleep while I’m typing this! Between that and the return of Kier, this is quite the monumental occasion. ** Chris Dankland, Hi, Chris. It inspired a story? Dude, who ask for anything more? Awesome. The only time I was in Houston, it seemed pretty hellish to me, and that was, fuck, forty innocent years ago or something, so I can only imagine. Faulkner, yeah. I should read him again. It’s been forever, but, yeah. I … don’t think I ever read the Snopes books, did I? Hm, I don’t think so. The Purdy to Faulkner thing is pretty astute. Nice. For years and years, I wanted to write a novel that would be a rewrite of ‘The Heart is a Lonely Hunter’. Not in a post-modern way exactly, but … I could never figure out how to to do it, but, weirdly, the novel I’m working on now has a lot of ‘THiaLH’ in it, even though that’s not a point of reference for me at all. Anyway, thanks a lot for sharing your thinking, man. It’s always inspiring. ** Bollo, J, my man. Yeah, Bikini Kill started a record company. Interesting. They’re in an upcoming post here, and so I was roaming around getting their current scoop. Have you heard that new Jóhann Jóhannsson album? Maybe that’s what you’re listening to. I had lunch with him once. Nice guy on top of everything else. Yay, about the new video, very obviously. Man, I got even sweatier than I already was just from seeing the word bbq. I want whatever the opposite of a bbq is. A Black Hole? Enjoy the fire and food, if you can. We’re supposed to drop down to 24 degrees tomorrow, but I’ll believe when I feel it. ** Postitbreakup, Gosh, you’re most welcome, pal. More from me tomorrow too. What a coincidence! ** Okay, so I have the blog’s 23rd gig for you today, and it takes place in LA, and it has a ‘Made in LA’ guarantee, and everything you see up there happened in 2012, so it’s fresh and ready to go, if you are so inclined. See you tomorrow.