Smells Like School

(Me: first day 1st grade; altered)

The Wednesday after Labor Day was always the first day of school in the town where I grew up, so even though it's been years since I've sat in a classroom, the air felt damp with a chalky smell when I woke up this morning. Something about the first days of elementary school always felt oddly magical to me, but magical in the fairy tale sort of way where anything, good or evil, was possible in the world. (I was strangely introspective child.) There was something about the world that looked and smelled differently on those days.

It seemed to me back then that colors changed overnight as I slept. Gone was the glossy glow of summer, replaced by the matte finish of autumn. The air grew thinner with the far off threat of winter. And like the weather, you were a different person than you had been the day before because now you had a new identity that came with a new class and new teacher and new grade. The first day of school was the measuring day of your life's calendar and the tone of the next year was going to be set in the next several hours. It's a weighty thing for a child and needless to say, left me most often with a stomachache.

In a way, starting to explore the story of a new novel is similar. It's like entering the woods and not knowing what lurks around each corner. Some trees may hide friends. Others hide wolves and witches. It's up to you, the writer, to shed light into the underbrush and make the place exactly how you want it to be. Elementary school and childhood for me was kind of the same way. Imagination is so powerful at that age, you can make the world whatever you want it to be...at least within your own mind.

So it's back to school for me today in a sense. It feels like as good a day as any to make some of the difficult choices that must be made early on in writing a novel. These are the kind of pivotal choices that define the type of book it's going to be. Let's hope I make the right ones and that this is going to be a good year.

The Great Rabbit Wars Pt. 34

Excerpt from The Cadet Manifest 001 (access previous Communications)

Security for the New Settlement is our duty. All Boy Scout Cadets take shifts on the parapets and at the main gate. Since the return of Our Angel, Bianca has ordered us to refuse entry to any and all Rabbit Soldiers. There have been bloody altercations as a result, but we've held them off every time. Drastic action must be taken however, or else our infant settlement will perish.

"We must kill General Nippon," Bianca informed us at the last rally of cadets in the town square. "Once he is eliminated, we will be left alone." The boys cheered and shouted and stomped their feet and pushed and jostled to step forward and be the volunteer chosen for the honor of our enemy's death. "No," Bianca said. "We mustn't use one of you brave boys. The rodents don't trust you. We must use one of the girls. She'll be able to get close without being suspected."

The girl chosen is one Bianca says has been difficult with her training. She's visited Fival more than any of the other girls. The cadets all question whether or not she can be trusted with such a difficult operation but Bianca assures us, "She will do splendidly." To ease our fears, one cadet will picked to escort her to the warrens, disguised as rabbit girl. The number of volunteers was far less for that task but we still have one of our best Scouts paired with her. If all goes according to plan, Nippon will be dead in a week and the Rodent Army will fall apart from within.

- Scout Master 155

(Tune in next Story Time Tuesday for the next installment)

Discovering Something New

I've begun piecing together the many scattered pieces of the next novel I want to write. Yesterday I sat down to write-up character sketches and the story started to flood in. I love this part of the process. It's like seeing scenes from a movie that has yet to be made and I can't wait to see the whole thing. I have most of the plot elements figured out, just have to put them in order. Without giving away too much, I can say that it will be a dark modern fairy tale. Hope others are as excited as I am.

Weekend Music Roundup

Summer's end is upon us, but not without a fight. Temperatures took a spike into disgusting territory this past week which meant the speakers were aching for some high impact warm weather music. Music is so mood influencing that it's impossible to separate certain albums from certain seasons. Summer music tends to have more of a pulse, probably because I always feel so sluggish. I listened to most of these albums for the first time this week, others are hold overs but seem to fit the pattern.

O. Children - O. Children: The debut album from these London goths was one I've been waiting for ever since I heard the single "The Ruins". There's a definite classic goth punk influence from Bauhaus and even the more pop goth elements of The Cure. But this band is also very much part of the newer generation of bands imitating that era. It's a decent album and reminds me a lot of early High School years, which was also fitting with the Back to School hullabaloo. "The Ruins" is still the best song on here however.

Klaxons - Surfing the Void: Finally, the follow-up to the 2007 debut Myths of the Near Future. Not that I'm a die-hard fan of that album, but 3 years is long time. Rumor is, there was a scrapped album made in between. I wasn't expecting much, as I said, I enjoy the first album but don't swear by it. Perhaps that's why I was so pleasantly surprised by this one. Sure, it's the same nu-disco, furious tempo, indie rock as the first, there's no new ground here, but it sounds good. And of course, the cover is one of the best of the year.

Cotton Jones - Tall Hours in the Glowstream: Here is an album I was really looking forward to. Last year's Paranoid Cocoon was one of my favorites of last year. It was a folk pop masterpiece. This album is different. It's influences are more early '70s west coast lo-fi folk. It's fair example of that Gram Parsons style, but the last album was so inventive and brilliant that I can't help but view this a step-backwards. Another lesson in the danger of expectations.

Wild Moccasins - Skin Collision Past: This Texas indie band's debut confused me. The songs are all decent, but for some reason it doesn't feel like any of the album is played with even the smallest amount of passion. Listening to it, I couldn't help but feel like the band didn't care about the songs and wondered how they expected me to. But I'm aware that some people just don't connect with some works. It was a solid enough construction that I'm sure there are people out there that will feel it, but it passed me by.

Freeway & Jake One - The Stimulus Package: This is a hip-hop album that I've been hearing a lot of great things about, and seeing that Freeway is from hometown Philly, I had to check it out. It's very much a throwback to '90s hardcore hip hop, of which I've always been a fan. Freeway's flow is pretty awesome. There's some really stellar tracks on here, Microphone Killa being the best. If anything, it suffers from being too long (like a lot of hip hop albums) and weaker rhymes are used fill tracks. But with the miracle of iTunes, it slims down to a banging EP perfect for the end of summer.

Holly Miranda - Sleep on Fire EP: A couple of weeks ago, I reviewed Holly's other EP and gushed a second time about her full length album. Now it's time to finish up with this, last year's solo-debut EP. In some ways, this might be my favorite. It's simpler and so beautiful. Holly's amazing voice really shines on this recording. Absolutely incredible indie folk.

The Ronettes - The Best of The Ronettes: As a little kid, I listened to a lot of Motown sound and '60s pop on the radio's 'oldies' stations the my mom and aunts like to listen to. I've always loved it and the Supremes have always been a favorite of mine. What I didn't realize before listening to this a few months ago, was a lot of those Supremes songs that I loved were really The Ronettes. Perfect vocal pop.

The Rosewood Thieves - Rise & Shine: As I mentioned two weeks ago, this band has been one my new favorites of the past month or so. This is their 2008 full-length album (their only LP so far). It's '60s inspired psychedelic pop bliss, it takes the catchy hooks of the Beatles and blends it perfectly with the NYC interpretation of Britpop that many bands were doing ten years ago, but never quite as perfectly as this band. Fantastic.

Poco - The Ultimate Collection: I'd never heard of this band until my mom told me about them two weeks ago. She'd never heard of them either. (For the record, I get my love of '70s folk from my mom). Turns out, Poco is Jim Messina's post Buffalo Springfield band and lasted quite a long time, but apparently without much commercial success. As with most retrospectives, this album is hard to judge because there are so many evolutions of the band that span decades. The early material is fantastic '70s west coast country rock and natural extension of Buffalo Springfield. The later '80s stuff isn't and becomes the kind of soft rock that I can't stand. This is why I tend to stay away from hits packages as a rule. I'm definitely interested in hearing some of the full early albums.

Morcheeba - Who Can You Trust?: Nothing says summer like trip-hop and the sweet smell of sweet leaf. This is the band's first album, from 1996 and I can still kick myself for not listening to them back then because I certainly would have LOVED it. I still do, but it was music tailored made for those weird years leading up to the end of the millennium. Easy beats, dreamy voice, it's the sound of summer on record.

I, Me, Mine

A common theme that runs through most of my characters is a feeling of isolation. Though they may have friends or love interests that help them through it, there are moments where they are convinced they don't belong in the world. This isn't some glorification of the outsider (as I've been accused of in the past) but a manifestation of a way I've often felt. I think a good number of writers feel this way and felt this way since childhood. We are observers, watchers, and rarely participants. Stories and fictions are how we connect with the world. Books are a comfort for isolation and writing is a gift to others who share the feeling.

Remembered From A Dream

Sometime near 6:00 AM:

A sick person lies on the ground of a hospital waiting room adorned in the dark colors of late '70's furniture and the dawn light streaming through the window. A fairy flutters over the sick patient as the nurses behind the reception desk glance over their shoulders, uninterested. I watch fascinated as the fairy breathes into the mouth of the patient and I see their body turn into rainbow striped glass. The fairy touches the patients belly button and the glass shatters into uncountable pieces. "It was their time," the nurse says to me and I nod, speechless at the beautiful horror.

Peeking Under Rocks

The entertained public is a puzzlement to me at times. Routinely, the confusion stems from the unexplainable success of indescribably awful trash. Other times, I find myself amazed as to why some pre-packaged piece of trash, which all indicators and marketing experts predict hit status for, fail so miserably. Don't get me wrong, this pleases me. But I don't get it. If you liked the last turd, what made you suddenly develop aesthetics?

There are also times when the entertained public rewards something stellar. Inception is one of those times. After seeing it, part of me is thrilled that a complicated story could continue to do well at the box office. Nolan has intriguing way of telling a story that's very literary in nature, but translates wonderfully to film. It's nice to see people interested in it...even if most of them are only interested in seeing cities fold in half or people walking on walls. Which brings me to the point of this post:

I'm amazed at the overwhelming inability of many people to grasp a layered story.

In every article I've read and most online reviews, there is this prevailing theme of having to see the movie more than once to get everything that is going on. The majority opinion is that the movie is 'soooo confusing'. Huh? It was? I mean, it was complex and layered, but it wasn't confusing. If you paid attention, it wasn't hard to keep track of the plot. You had to think, but they were constantly reminding you visually or directly of where you were and what was happening. It wasn't Finnagens Wake for crying out loud!

So while the movie's success is pleasing, the revelation concerning the public's lack of comprehension skills, ability to think on multiple levels or understand inventive storytelling is very upsetting. I see this all of the time in book reviews too, where people only read the action on the surface and not any of the under layers. As someone who obsesses about the under layers, the extended metaphors, and importance of the moments in between action, this trend disturbs me.

Am I expecting everyone to see that the pace of Pure Sunshine mirrors the peaks the valleys of an acid trip? Not really. Do I think readers will pick up on the fact that the ever diverging interpretations of the same moments by Henry and Catherine in The Heights are symbolic of how fate is pulling them apart? I hope so. Did I expect people to pick up on the metaphor of the appeal of fascism in Zombie Blondes? I did and I expected too much of too many people apparently.

So while I hope that Inception's success will spawn more complex movies with the budget for visuals currently reserved mostly for garbage, I won't hold my breath. Because let's be honest, most people just wanted to see cities fold in half and people walk on walls. I will just have to take comfort in knowing that those people probably suck at checkers.