I have been reading The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates, a writer I've long admired. This is a family dynasty page-turner, where the main character is not a family member but Niagara Falls. But can a waterfall be an animate creature?
I re-read recently Robert Aickman's story Wood (not be confused with another story by him entitled In The Wood). This is a masterpiece and perhaps my favourite ever story.
Rhys wrote the following on the aforementioned TTA thread yesterday:
A certain amount of self promotion is probably necessary and maybe even desirable. The question is how does one go about doing it without looking arrogant or (conversely) a bit sad?
Very wise and, together with Mark's wise statement (quoted yesterday on this blog), makes me think that - with the internet now in use for such self-promotion - there will be more and more need for an outlet (or at least a philosophy) such as represented by Nemonymous.
I also sincerely predict that both Mark and Rhys will become very big fiction writers for the 21st century.
My group of three novels about Bird Flu The Tenacity Of Feathers (incorporating self-contained novels 'The Hawler', 'Klaxon City' and 'The Angel Megazanthus') continues to receive a high number of "hits" on the internet where I have placed their raw text. Although I would like these novels to be traditionally published, I do not expect this ever to happen (for various reasons), but in the meantime some individual readers are publishing the works themselves as bespoke books. Very gratifying and thanks to them.
I continue to listen to all forms of music. My latest interest is in the Naxos-sponsored string quartets specially written for Naxos by Peter Maxwell Davies.
des
PS: Great to win Paul Barnett's Dan Brown competition on the TTA Boards yesterday!
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www.nemonymous.com
Des Lewis - GESTALT REAL-TIME BOOK REVIEWS
A FEARLESS FAITH IN FICTION — THE PASSION OF THE READING MOMENT CRYSTALLISED — Empirical literary critiques from 2008 as based on purchased books.
4 comments:
I like J C Oates, though I've never heard of this book. I'm curious about it. I think it was Oates who wrote a novel under the psyeudonym of a Portugeuse man. But she stated that it wasn't just a name, that she was, in a way, possessed by this person.
In the novel I'm writing, I want the town to be kind of a main character. But in a subtle way. I'm finding it really difficult to find a balance actually. I think it will be a character only in the way its inhabitants feel about the place, and the way they wear their emotions on the doors of their houses. I'm sure that doesn't make sense, but *I* know what I mean!
Rachel Kendall
Thanks, Rachel. Very interesting and good luck with it.
Thanks, Barry and Paul, too.
des
Hi, des,
Have you read Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates? I think it's a great horror novel, but I wouldn't read it once again - way too horrifying! I also enjoyed reading Haunted: Tales of Grotesque and Oates' novella The Ruins of Contracoeur. Great writer, indeed!
Best,
Yellowish Haze
No, Yhaze, not read those particular titles by JCO but I'll now keep my eye open for them. Thanks. des
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