Mary Holmes on Eduardo Carrillo

My teacher and mentor, Mary Holmes, had this to say about the artist, Eduardo Carrillo.

And he got the money together and he went to Spain because that is where Bosch is. He simply submitted himself to Bosch and in that submission, of course, he became enormously powerful as a painter.

The worst thing that can happen to people is they never submit themselves to anything, and there they are floating in a kind of limbo and it doesn’t matter what they do. The power to submit yourself and through that become strong is the greatest thing anyone, a painter or anybody, can do, certainly anyone in the arts at the present time when there is no powerful tradition to make you this or that. You are on your own to create not just yourself but the whole meaning of your life, in terms of art.

I discovered these words of hers, spoken at a memorial service for the artist, quite by chance today. Although I knew her, or rather, observed her, over a long period of time, I did not know of this moment, or her relation with this artist, many years her junior, but also some years my senior. As is said, the hand of the artist is revealed in everything they do, so the voice of a wonderful speaker is apparent even in the less lively lines of type. It is maybe not so apparent without her voice. But I, blessed that I am, can still hear it. For the complete (and short) speech, check here.

Troy Davis

I've been trying for a couple of unsuccessful evenings to somehow get the YouTube video to load here, but I'm going to override either my or my connection's inadequacies and just post the link.

The Troy Davis case is a cause celebre, which may or may not help save his life. I'm opposed to the death penalty on principle, but this case is a bit different. As they say in all those shoot 'em up revenge movies, 'This time it's personal'.

For a few years now, I've participated in the Amnesty International holiday card write-a-thon. It's a nice thing to do to remind you of some of the true values of the season, but though I send cards off to people in far parts of the world who are imprisoned or beleaguered, I don't know if they ever get them, or if they get them whether they ever see them, or if they see them, whether they can read English or understand what I'm trying to express even if I do.

Two Christmases ago, though, I got an answer back from one of the people I had written to. It was from Troy Davis, who was, and is, sitting on death row in Atlanta, Georgia, after being found guilty in the shooting death of a police officer.

I, of course, have no idea what his involvement was that night. I do know that a lot of the witnesses have since recanted, but you can read all about that here.

Having exchanged a few letters with Troy over the intervening time, I do consider him a friend, and if asked to place a bet, would bet on his innocence. What I do know is that this is not some depraved and hardened individual who deserves to die. And I also know that what he has been seeking over time is not just clemency, but a new trial, where witnesses who were young, poor and vulnerable might be called again to tell what happened that night. Again, there is much more information on the Amnesty site than I can articulately post here.

I'm posting this here, not because this blog has any big following, but because I've already written to the Parole Board and the Governor and emailed friends, etc. This is just one other small thing I can do, and so I'm doing it.

This is a man who has come down to the wire on being executed three times. Talk about your cruel and unusual punishment. Even Dostoyevsky only had to go through that once.

The Sentence is a Lonely Place by Gary Lutz

There's a wonderful, thought-provoking essay in the January issue of 'The Believer' by Gary Lutz. Originally, it was given as a lecture at Columbia University this fall. (I confess a certain love for lectures printed afterwards). What Lutz does is break down prose into one of its most basics units, the sentence, and attempt to analyze what goes on there. He's a very close reader, and the study of literature can only benefit from the likes of such as he. If I'm remembering aright, Lutz also likes words, and likes to add them rather than subtract them from our vocabulary, which I applaud.

All that said, my real reaction to Lutz's essay on sentence was to say to one of my co-workers and recent holder of an MFA, "What it really makes me feel is that I don't know anything at all about writing." She was quick to chime in that studying for an MFA made her a better reader. She hadn't yet weighed in on whether it made her a better writer.

To remove it a little from the personal sphere, Zadie Smith said much the same thing, I think, in an interview--where she was the interviewer--with Ian McEwan.

My personal theory is that many if not most writers like to read other people's discussion of the craft. But I believe that the way that they actually learn is not through analysis, but through osmosis. I am not sure that thinking about their sentences ultimately helps them. But feeling their way through them, pausing, lingering, working for some better phrase or intonation might.

Zoetrope All-Story Vol. 12, Number 4

For those of you who don't know Francis Ford Coppola's contribution to the world of literary magazines, well, you should. But this is a standout issue among the already exceptional. The stories, including those by April Wilder, Rachel Cusk and even old F. Scott F. himself look fantastic, but the reason that you're going to want to go and seek out a copy of your very own is so that you will have the photographs of rock musician Lou Reed in excellent prints in your own hot little hands.

I hope the cover photo I downloaded is at least tantalizing...

New to Me, 2008

Just about a month ago, Peter Rozovsky 'tagged' me to challenge me to come up with a list of authors that were new to me that I had read in 2008.You can read about the challenge here.

I got out of it at the time by citing Adrian McKinty's refusal of a similar challenge, where he pointed out that the year was not yet over. But as he has now posted his own Books of the Year, and 2008 is even now receding quickly into memory, I guess my excuses have now faded away.

In no particular order, then:

Gregoire Bouillier
Joseph O'Neill
Samuel Butler
Sara Gran
Shirley Abbott
Julian Rubenstein
Micah Perks
John Hubner
Heinrich Boll
Cory Doctorow
David Park
Jonathan Coe
Glenway Westcott
Adam Mansbach
Patrick McGrath
Zoe Heller
Matt Haig
Alaa Al Aswany
Amara Lakhous
Jean-Claude Izzo
Adrian McKinty
Gene Kerrigan
Declan Burke
Lorna Sage
Meg Rosoff
Zoe Heller
Rabih Alameddine

Slightly sketchy:
David Sedaris--I'd certainly read an essay or two before, but had never sat down and read through an entire book of his before.
Arthur Phillips--again, I'd made a start on a couple of things in the past, but hadn't gotten very far. Come to think of it, I didn't this time either. But paradoxically, the difference is that now I get him. So I think that rates something.
T.H. White--I know I read something as a kid, but The Once and Future King was a revelation to me as an adult.

Even more sketchy, because in some ways just more shameless self-promotion since these are my fellow authors in the Carpathian Shadows, Volume 2 anthology. But strictly speaking, it's true:

Carol A. Cole
Kevin Tipple
Kristin Johnson
Christine Barber
Donna Amato

Oh, and I shouldn't forget reading an entertaining novel by our publisher, Rob Preece.

Being somewhat lazy, I am not going to try to figure out the debut novelists here--I think this might be technically difficult to ascertain, and for the most part wouldn't apply anyway. As for tagging, well--if you even so much as glance at this blog, consider yourself tagged. And it's your solemn duty to report back here. Anonymity does not shield you from having to fulfill this requirement. It's in the blogger contract when you log on.

Just kidding, oh ye of trembling heart.

And the Bad Drives Out the Good...

I know that for all practical purposes, I should really leave my self-promotional entry for Carpathian Shadows, Volume 2 up through the holidays. But I really just can't resist posting this recent spam email I got, and beside you can always scroll down. I seem to have a weakness for this stuff, so I'm very much afraid that it may crowd out all those pieces of writing actually worthy of praise. Ah, well. You read the title.

This email comes from "Froebe Lewellyn" and it's subject is "Christmaas Night". Doesn't this already sound like a lovely European Felix Noel sort of scene?

True, the tone changes somewhat with the opening line "Girls will drop underwear for yyou!", followed by the appropriate link. But then this might be the best Christmaas gift that many could hope to receive, and far be it from me to judge.

And then we have a short cryptic--what?--poem? paragraph? story?

It was most touching to see how some of the rubber us a great
advantage, of which we did not fail the night after the
did she talk to you at all when she reached the carriage.
good morning, mrs my brother was killed, painlesslyi quite
painlessly

Don't you feel somehow that if you studied this long and hard, you might eventually render it comprehensible? Okay, you don't, but that's just because I gave you the heads up that it was spam.

"It was most touching to see how some of the rubber..."

"a great advantage, of which we did not fail"


"Did she talk to you at all when she reached the carriage?"

"Good morning,Mrs., my brother was killed, painlessly--quite painlessly."

There's a story in the gaps, I promise you.



Where do they get this stuff? And why? Does anybody know?

In any case, Feliz Navidad, Froebe Lewellyn, whoever and wherever, and I suppose I should add whatever you are. You will pardon me if I don't respond directly...

And now for a bit of shameless self-promotion

Updating to say that I do promise that this post will not remain prominent, though frankly, I can't see that I'm going to get around making a big change before the New Year, the holidays being what they are. So, in the meantime, I'm posting the link to Fictionwise, where you can get the anthology at a discount, and then rate it if you are so inclined.



Press Release:

"Carpathian Mountains, ancient castle, and unexpected overnight lodging creates havoc for some foreigners.

Carpathian Shadows: Volume Two follows the haunting aura of Lord Erdely from the Carpathian Mountains in Transylvania, Romania, and his mysterious castle.

Lord John Erdely lived in the 17th century and date of death never confirmed since no body has ever been found. It is rumored he dealt in black magic to suppress the ongoing collaboration of the churches to bring a unified religion to all people, a Greek Catholic practice.

Enter the present time…

All visitors staying in Cornifu Hotel are surprised with a mystery invitation for a one-day excursion to Erdely Castle. Befuddled but amused at the same time, they accept, unaware of the events to follow."

For the purposes of this post, the name of this blog should temporarily be "Things You Most Certainly and Without Any Doubt Have Missed", but it can't be helped. I recently submitted a story for the above named horror anthology. This, the second volume, which includes my story, came out on Halloween. It's in e-book format at the moment, and is available through booksforabuck.com, but will be available in print form in the very near future.

I'm editing this to add the Amazon link for the print version, should anybody be so inclined. It's here

The thing that makes this post a little less self-serving than it might initially seem is that there are five other writers, an editor and a publisher who have all worked hard on this book, and I'm happy to be in their company. My own story isn't the scariest in this collection, but I think it's all right in its way, and there are a couple of others that are more bone-chilling. A nice review was posted here:

Chris Chat

What I like about this review is that it recognizes the special qualities of each story. I'll post the ISBN for the printed version of the book here when it's out, but meanwhile do check out Rob Preece's excellent BooksforaBuck.com website,especially if you're interested in sci-fi, horror and/or romance...

Oh, and if the idea of this intrigues you, I expect you'll also want to check out
Carpathian Shadows, Volume One, also from BooksforaBuck.com, featuring four more authors tackling the same premise.