The Good

It has been too long. But I am still writing, and I couldn't be happier with the way EM2 is now going. Those in the know will be seeing more and more of it.

Site Update

You may notice the site changing visually over the next few days. Don't be alarmed. It may even look better now.

EEMM22

I'm 22 years old.

EM2 is getting a slow start; it's up to 1350 words now. I'll write more when I can. It feels quite different from EM1; even the dialogue is snappier. I'm also happy to announce plans to tie in an old character, one who might be my most beloved of all time.

I got my hands on the classic Tezuka manga Phoenix. So far, just the first two volumes (Dawn and Future). I'm not really a manga guy at all, but thanks to the musical efforts of the group System 7, whose latest album was inspired by Phoenix, I discovered a compelling science fiction plot intertwined with an interesting twist on history. I've also ordered the CD version of that album (I bought the MP3 version a few weeks ago) along with a vinyl single containing remixes of one of the album's songs.

Speaking of music, I've been collecting Underworld's Riverrun 12-inch remix vinyls. They're all pretty good, but even better, in the middle of my collecting spree (ordering two at a time to be shipped from the UK), Underworld opened its digital store, which happens to have those very singles in CD quality. I am quite excited about this; I can only hope we'll get more stuff, soon!

I finally picked up a book that has haunted me since I first understood that I liked sci-fi: Eon. It has stared at me from just about every book store and library shelf I can remember. I was actually looking for Poul Anderson's Harvest of Stars, just because, but it wasn't in the store. Eon is interesting, but also provides a reminder of why I prefer "softer" sci-fi: the characters are single-mindedly obsessed with their damned science and math. Most of them are enjoyable in spite of this, but the main female character, Patricia, gets on my nerves. She's either 100% certain or 100% uncertain of herself. I'm probably only 1/5 of the way through it, so things may change. Even if they don't, I have the feeling I won't regret buying the book. On a side note, the book was written during the Cold War (albeit near the end), and the nuclear holocaust scenario that may or may not come true in the story makes me smile a little. I'm glad the Cold War looks rather silly to us now, because it sure didn't seem that way to Bear when he wrote Eon.

My man Emmett pointed out the Forever War books. I've been in a "war sci-fi" rut lately, having gone through Starship Troopers (both the book and the film) and having picked up another copy of John Steakley's Armor (an excellent book, by the way). Maybe I'm just trying to find inspiration for the militaristic aspects of EM2. Oops, did I let that slip out?

Him

It's done. I've finally gotten a surge of strength, and Earth Mother I is complete. 19,300 words is roughly novella-length! There's a lot to patch together before the public can take a peek, but it's the best thing I've ever written. I feel great!

Holding the Moth

Things are happening. I haven't yet finished part one of Earth Mother; I will, soon enough. Aside from that, I've had several material gains since the last update:

• The Rice Boy printed comic book (quite excellent!).
• The Oblivion With Bells gatefold vinyl, complete with larger, better art all over that place.
• Rusuden's Warm Human Antennae, which I have reviewed on the music page. There may be some other new things for you there.

Musical Pens

Some happy, some sad. Some good, some more good. In the happy and good department, we have a new site section, the Music page. It has two track-by-track album reviews and a handful of nice little links; I plan on expanding it to provide comprehensive thoughts and sources for all the music I listen to. I'm not sure what the "guides" section is for, but time may tell. The playlists will be entertaining, as well. I already have a few lined up; I simply have to find a good format for the playlist pages.

In the sad and good department, I wrote what I find a marvelously expressive sketch war tonight. It was born out of a brainstorm I've had raging inside me for some time; speaking in futility to my parents about my motivations, or lack thereof, brought this sketch to the surface. I find it sad and a little scary, but there is a lesson to be learned, and there may yet be beauty in't.

White Pages

This week is the beginning of my final phase for Earth Mother .I.. With any luck, Part .I. will be finished soon. I've already begun writing notes for Part .II.; where my "outline" for its plot was perhaps twenty words in length at the time I threw down the entire Earth Mother idea, I have given a nice little synopsis of the events leading up to Part .II., and some of the events that will be included.

My handwriting how somehow gotten even smaller; I suspect that this is because I have misplaced my pen and now use a mechanical pencil to write in my notebook. I'm writing fifteen or sixteen characters per inch, which is probably smaller than an eight-point computer font (size twelve is something like ten characters per inch, while size ten is twelve per inch). The notebook itself has exceeded its sixtieth page; with the generally small handwriting of the past half-year, I am satisfied that Notebook Three packs more punch in every page.

A new sketch war awaits typing. I am unsure if I should post it, as it was the first after a long period of silence, and it makes little sense (in a bad way), but tomorrow will tell.

Speaking of the fine art of writing by hand, I was delighted to find something new in the local Barnes and Noble. For the past few months, this store has not stocked my preferred kind of Moleskine, the pocket-sized, unruled (plain) notebook. After a fairly thorough inspection of other book stores in my area, I have found that no one has it on display. Is the plain notebook that unpopular? Or are they burning all stock off before the coming of the new Softskines? Either way, I couldn't get a new notebook for the eventual succession of Number Three. So I looked around the store a little more, and to my surprise I found a series of small, softcover notebooks that is very much like a long-gone favorite of mine, the Moleskine Volant. The Volant softcover pocket notebook was my first kind of Moleskine, and really the first kind of notebook that I used for writing and ideas, rather than for the purpose of a journal or diary. It was an important milestone in my life. Well, the Volant has been off the market for two or three years now, and I wished I had snatched a few more up when they were still in stores. But the stuff I found from Nava is just as good: a set of twelve 80-page notebooks, one supposedly for each month in a year, in close approximation to the Volant style. That's 960 pages! I probably won't burn through 80 pages in a month, but the notebooks are simply numbered (one dot per month), not named (January, February, etc.). The paper is of high quality, and $25 (at least, that's what I paid at Barnes and Noble) for 960 pages is better than I expected for something of this type--the Volants vere about $6 for three books of 64 pages. Anyway, if you are interested, keep an eye out for Nava Design's "One Year of White Pages" notebook set.

The latest EM-dash

Earth Mother continues its domination of my soul. I'm more than 15,000 words in, and I still have quite a bit to write before Part I is over. Still, over the Christmas holiday, I wrote a good bit, and I'm very happy with the way things flow nowadays. risa comes tomorrow!

Case File Updates

The site has been "updated." I took out the goofy CGI stuff that ran the front page and its linked stories. Instead, it's plain old HTML, lacking even style sheets or document-specified fonts/colors. I guess it's kind of ugly, but that's not what matters, anyway.

More importantly, I added "Equinox" to the list. I was holding off until I sent it to a publisher, but I decided I'll just keep it. If you haven't already read it, take a look!

I also removed Armored Core. This is due in part to the old conversion issue I had that caused all em-dashes to become ellipses. Mainly, though, I am fixing it up so that all the formatting remains intact, including italics, "smart quotes," and what have you. Because the damn thing is so long, I'll have to comb through it before I can put it back up. The stories I already have here should suffice.

Finally, I'll be adding some of my older stories from high school. These are not very good, but it's still some nice history.

L = r x p

A spin-off, it is. Literally. From Equinox's home system were hurled a number of uninhabited planets that the original rulers of Equinox quickly forgot (well, they also died, of course). One of these planets has happened into a small, poor solar system that is home to a colony of miners.

I'm 8900 words in, and less than half-way through Part I. It's a funny thing: every story I write overshadows the last. I thought it was perhaps because it took me so long to write a story (usually one short per year), but even with my extremely quick turnaround from writing "Equinox," the familiar jump in skill and spirit is still present; it's not a time-based thing, after all. The only limit is how quickly I can write a story.

For now, I'm enjoying this one too much to rush it. I know this attention to quality and detail will pay off for the reader.

LET'S GO RED SOX, AGAIN

I'm 1800 words into my next story. I don't think I'll be done any time soon; I'm seriously taking my time, and nothing has actually happened yet. I'm simply developing the characters and revealing the workings of their society. This society and its members will undergo an important change soon, so it's necessary to give some small impression of where they came from. I believe I'll make this whole thing publicly available once it's done, rather than sending it off to a magazine. With any luck, it will exceed the usual submission word limit anyway, and I'll be forced to publish it myself! Writing this story is making me truly happy. It's already my best yet; once it's done, I'll either have a great thing on my hands, or I'll lay it down and start writing something even better.

If you want a piece of the action, e-mail me. I'll be glad to leak previews. I even developed a formatting program so I could share it with others (I've begun typing this one before completing it in writing; anything longer than a few thousand words needs to be typed in parallel if only to avoid tedium later).

Underworld has had to cancel the European leg of their world tour because one or several of its members are very ill. Let's hope they recover their vitality soon!

Can't Type No More

The Sun Rises on Equinox

I received "Spikee/Dogman Go Woof." Still have to listen to it (that comes tomorrow).

Oh, yes, and "Equinox" is finally done! I wrote over 2,000 words today for an exhilerating to a thrilling story. Next comes typing and revision!

0 proof

1. I got Dirty/Minneapolis today: two great sides.
2. I just had non-alcoholic bouron; the alcohol evaporated.

New Page

We got us a new page: the HTML version of my site's RSS feed. It's ugly, but that's how I like it.

OHMIGODWHATHAVIDONE

I got a few CDs yesterday: C+C Music Factory's Gonna Make You Sweat, Digitalism's Idealism, and The Chemical Brothers' We Are The Night. C+C, of course, created their socially and intellectually potent album in 1990, while the other two are from this year. I'll focus on those two albums here (I know any readers need not re-read that Gonna Make You Sweat crosses temporal and spatial gaps of excellence to this very day).

Digitalism is best known for its highly addictive single "Zdarlight." I first heard it on Benassi's Cooking for Pump-kin Vol. 1 and I was immediately hooked. For the next year and a half, I wondered if Digitalism had any other songs. The answer was no. I soon gave up, thinking these guys had both started and ended their careers with "Zdarlight." I ended up in Borders and, to my surprise, I saw that Digitalism had released an album at some point this summer. Idealism is not the greatest thing I've heard (that honor belongs to Underworld's entire catalogue), but it technopop mixture is entertaining enough that I know I'll be playing it fairly regularly. For those who need a comparison, I'll say it sounds similar to Daft Punk. Anyway, it has an unadulterated version of "Zdarlight." That alone will get more rotation than all of We Are The Night.

Why is that? Well, those of you who know me may remember my Chemical Brothers phase a year or two ago. Starting with their first two albums, Exit Planet Dust and Dig Your Own Hole, I enjoyed the breakbeats (or whatever people call them—stupid electronic genres...). Their later works were always a mixed bag; I loved Surrender, was lukewarm to Come With Us, and I really hated Push the Button at first. PtB eventually grew on me; it had enough songs that I could ignore the Chemical Brothers' sudden, bizarre entry into the field of hip-hop. During the summer, I wondered a little about future Chemical Bros. releases, but I never knew they were due for a 2007 album. Then I saw it right near Idealism in Borders and cautiously picked it up. Was it going to be another PtB? The answer is no. It is far worse than their last album. The tracks with lyrics are solidly horrible, while the ones without lyrics are still subpar. It almost seems that the Bros. knew what they were making; their overplayed terrible track, "Do It Again," asks, "OMIGODwhatHAVIDONE?" repeatedly, while "The Salmon Dance" raps at one point "I heard someone say out loud, 'Wut da fuck iz dat?'" (Side note: I never knew "Do It Again" was by the Chemicals—every time I heard it on the radio, I assumed it was yet another annoying song by Timberlake or similar. If only I had been right.) I admit that it may grow on me, but it better do so quickly, or else the CD will find itself cracked in half under a landfill. I advise against getting the album. As I meditate on whether or not I'm going to destroy my copy, I'll listen to my favorite song from it, "The Salmon Dance," which wins "best song" simply because of its sheer stupidity.

Oh yes, we saw Underworld, too. I won't try to use words to describe it; all I can say is that it was well worth the money and I will see them again as soon as I can.

SG Returns!

For the multitudes who miss Syringeguy, I have a special treat: I've brought his pages back from the dead! In addition, I got my hands on one or two previously thought to be lost (including the original, starring Bill Catambay). I also got rid of the old SG page layout (which used the former color and design scheme of this site) and updated it to use the primitive table system employed on the front page (which, by the way, I stole from jwz)!

Check out the news item link to revel in the glory.

Equinox's Equinox

I'm about half-way through my latest story, "Equinox." It's undoubtedly the best I've written so far. If you want to spoil a lot of the surprise, check this out. It leads to what is a subset of my notebooks (the password, in case you need to know, is gochoo. Enjoy the suspense!