The Great Rabbit Wars Pt. 27

Observations of Fival's Pets 002 (access previous Communications)

Date: Unknown (approx. time of Second Human Offense)

Location: Former Underground Human Settlement

Author: Unknown

A parade of gunfire was a prayer answered. We heard it. Echoing from the entrance tunnels to the underground city. It was the most human sound we'd heard in months and some of us wept in our shadowy hiding places. Many wanted to cry out and rush toward the symphony of weapons but the rest of us held them back. There were always a handful of the horrific Pets nearby. Scavengers. Waiting for a chance to pluck one us off for sport.

The Pets screeched and hollered when they heard the invasion. A bizarre animal ritual they'd adapted. Circling each other like images from old movies. Cowboys and Indians flicks the Human High Council used to show in the RecCamp on weekends. The children latched onto the exaggerated whooping and stomping and it's become a battle cry in their mutated brains.

We had no way of knowing the tunnels were rigged. Sabotaged. I wouldn't have thought the Pets capable. I'd assumed their minds had warped into instinct without foresight but I was wrong. They'd expected the Human Offense and prepared. The soldiers were massacred from all angles. The Pets nested in the bodies and feasted. Some of our numbers broke and insanity sunk in. I would have found the entire scene too gruesome to bear myself except that it gave us a respite from our tortures of several days from the preoccupied Pets.

With rescue now seemingly impossible, a quick death is what most of us pray for.

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

Monday Morning Glory

There's a good reason why I always list Syd Barrett as one of the biggest influences on my writing. I listened to his music extensively in my formative writing years. His songs and song lyrics tapped into the same stream of imagination from which the stories in my mind seemed to spring from. Songs like "Baby Lemonade", "Bike," "Silas Lang", "Effervescing Elephant" among others, all captured this idea of a children's story gone weird and somehow wrong, which were very much the kind of thing that I started out writing. But he also had an outstanding inventiveness when it came to language and playful use of words.

Here is one verse of his that I find perfect in every way:

"Rats, rats, lay down flat

We don't need you, we act like that,

And if you think you're un-loved,

Then we know about that..."

-Syd Barrett

On the surface, it seems like a great bit of Edward Lear nonsense verse or something Lewis Carroll's door mouse might spew between verses of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat". But when you dig into it, it's a pretty profound statement condemning people in general as being akin to rats. The fact that he's able to do it in a quasi-children's verse is what always strikes me.

The idea of using children's book aesthetics for other ends is something that always fascinates me. The art of Mark Ryden does this expertly with painting. In a my novels, I often infuse childlike imagery into the most emotionally tough sequences in the story...I find it effective in being both comforting and frightening at the same time. This is a remnant of Syd's impact on my artistic development.

Weekend Music Roundup

The oppressive heat caused me to hunker down into the basement this week. I worked from that cool den of darkness trying to forget the world above me was burning. As a result, I listened to a ton of new albums seeing as how I only had my headphones for speakers. I personally like to listen to most albums on headphones for the first time. It's truly the only way to hear the richness of the music. As a matter of fact, every album on this list was a headphones first album (though not all from this week, but most). A smattering of new and old, this is what I bring you:

Smoosh - Withershins: Here's my super-freaked-out-excited-when-I-saw-this-came-out album of the week. Seattle sisters Asya and Chole began their musical careers when they were in elementary school. Their first album She Like Electric is a great record capturing of the musicians at that age. Their next album Free to Stay is an amazing, amazing album, capturing the sorrow of middle school heartbreak and uneasiness. Now in their mid-to-late teens, come Withershins and it's pretty spectacular. Having matured as musicians, they tread the same wistful melancholy as the previous album, but explore it from a different perspective. Certainly the best piano heavy album I've heard in ages and Asya's voice is just so beautiful. A definite contender to be around for the best of the year list.

Jakob Dylan - Women + Country: Let me start off by saying I've never been too into any of the son's projects. I thought Wallflowers to be really generic as well as his other solo efforts. So I was skeptical when I starting seeing all the great reviews for this one. Thankfully, my good friend the dANIMAL convinced me to give this one a try. This is a pretty epic record. Nothing groundbreaking or earth-shattering in the folk-americana-country vibe of the tracks, but still they are done to perfection in most cases. There's also a blend of a Tom Waits sound into some of the tracks and when that clicks in, the results are pretty awesome.

Charlie and Lola - Charlie and Lola's Favourite and Best Music Record: Some time last week I wrote gushing about this BBC show and in the process discovered there was an album too and had to have it right away. In some ways this plays out like the show with the characters talking over music but it's so much fun. The music is great, ranging from jazz to big band sound but think it of it more as a spoken word record. "Boo!" is hilarious and so is "Germs" in which poor Lola feels "extremely and terribly not well at all."

Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles: This came out in 2008 and got quite a bit of buzz, as has their newer album. Always somewhat intrigued, I checked it out and was speechless. I can't remember an album I've hated so much that is enjoyed by people whose opinions I trust. I found it "extremely and terribly not well at all."

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Ask Forgiveness: An 2007 EP from the prolific Will Oldham that I missed simply because sometimes he's too prolific and it's easy to skip a release here and there. In hindsight, this is one I should have picked up in favor of some others. This has quickly become my second-favorite Will Oldham release behind the masterpiece "I See A Darkness". For me, this is the only other album of his that keeps that same vibe throughout, the very dark sad deep folk that he does best. The cover of "I've Seen It All" is heartbreaking. I never thought the original Bjork/ Thom Yorke version could be improved upon, but this surpasses it.

The Ivytree - Winged Leaves: More lo-fi psychedelic folk from San Fran area that continues to please me immensely. Part of the whole Birdtree, Skygreen Leopards, Giant Skyflower Band scene, this is another beautiful release of slowcore bliss.

The Thermals - More Parts Per Million: The first album from Portland's garage power punk outfit that came out in 2003 is raw and delightful. The songs burst out of the speakers and just kicks through the walls. I truly don't understand how Green Day can be so popular and yet nobody knows The Thermals.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy: This 1970 album is pretty much a gem of country rock in the same style as Gram Parsons. So many of the songs were familiar to me from my childhood spent listening to folk station on the car radio for countless hours. Just a really good listen that comforts me the same way "The Wonder Years" does or America's "Horse With No Name." And the bluegrass elements certainly make it stand out from a lot of its contemporaries.

David Crosby - If I could Only Remember My Name: The landmark 1971 album from Crosby is certainly the highlight of his solo career. A truly great folk rock record that in many ways mirrors the albums Neil Young was making in the same era. It's beautifully unfocused and just moves through the mood much like later Jefferson Starship or early Grateful Dead records, which makes sense seeing as he was a part of both of those outfits at this time. If you're a fan of that kind of folk-rock, this is worth having.

George Harrison - Thirty Three & 1/ॐ: There is a clear downward trajectory in The Dark Horse's solo career, starting with one of the best albums ever made All Things Must Pass and ending with that horrible Cloud 9 album. Unfortunately his 1976 album is a definite progression toward Cloud 9. A handful of decent songs can't save the blandness that really began with Extra Texture (the album prior). For a completest only.

The Fascinating Life of a Library Book

(illustration by Trina Shart Hyman (c) 1968 from Stuck with Luck)

It's no secret that I suffer from collector compulsion. My home looks like an old curiosity shop stuffed to the brim with toys, books, knickknacks, and what have you. I like to think of it as a museum of imaginative thought, but I'm sure others would call it a junk shed. Their loss.

One of my favorite collecting hobbies is the accumulation of old children's books. Library sales are great for this. Typically the books for sale are cheap and out of print, books that have lost favor or been replaced. There's always great finds here for a Kid Lit nerd.

The other amazing thing is that the books almost always still have their library cards inside the front pocket. I love looking at these and studying them. Below is one from a book I purchased at such a sale:

First of all, just looking at the handwriting and names and wondering about these children who are now well older than I am in some cases, is a fascinating activity in its own right. Which of them really read the book? Who just checked it out because you had to check out a book and then it sat in their school desk until next library day? Which of them was reading it at the table and left the spaghetti sauce stain on page 26?

Random Awards (Just because it's fun)

Best Name:

Beth Grimm

Funniest Signature (tie):

Peter O and Larry R (Larry has an edge though, he checked it out twice)

Odd Case of Deja-Vu:

Julie Houska whose "Julie" looks exactly like the handwriting of a Julie I once knew in elementary school

With this book card, I was struck by how popular it was in the first three years in the library. You wonder if in 1969, one kid in a class loved it and his or her friends wanted it next. Or if the librarian loved it and read it a group? Maybe the library simply didn't have as many books? After those years, its activity slows. Checked out only once in '72 and once again in '73, twice in '74 and not again until '76. It sits lonely on a shelf from '79 to '83. And oh, the long years between '84 and '92 when it wasn't brought home to anywhere. Last checked out in 1999 and the given up in 2009.

I've always been interested in the life of objects and especially books. As an author, the interest has only grown. I know there are many many copies of my books out there and I always hope they have a friend. It saddens me to think of CatKid on a shelf for 10 years without making one child laugh or the Pirate School kids not having an adventure for a decade. At least I can hope in thirty years someone like me picks them up and enjoys them all over again.

Wake Up Now, It's Time

Every story has a language of its own and exists in a world where no other story can. So switching gears from one project to another requires a bit of reprogramming of the voice inside my head.

Simple enough.

I just switch the channel.

The difficult part is trying to find that channel you had on several stories ago. When you try to tune in, you may find nothing but static.

Over the past two weeks or so, I've been reworking a manuscript I'd written over a year ago. I knew it needed some restructuring both in story and character for some months now but had been occupied with another book. Finally having some time, I was excited to work on it again because it's honestly been a labor of love. It's one of those books I've always wanted to write projects. It doesn't hurt that I also believe it's quite good and that the changes I've planned are only going to make it better. My one worry was that I wouldn't be able to write in the voice or style to match what was already written.

I think this is one of the hardest things when it comes to revisions. Luckily, I have some practice in this with series writing. The books in a series are sometimes written several months apart. I've also learned to never fully let a story out of my head until it's bound between a cover or I've declared it dead. Now I simply let the characters take a long nap, letting them sleep peacefully until I rush into their hiding place in an arm-waving panic, shouting for their help.

I'm happy to report, I was able to step right into the narrative without missing a beat. If anything, I've read more books in the genre over the past year and know more how to capture what I want than I did before. I must say, I'm enjoying my journey back into this world. I missed these guys.

The Great Rabbit Wars Pt. 26

Observations of Fival's Pets 001 (access previous Communications)

Date: Unknown (approx. time of Second Human Offense)

Location: Former Underground Human Settlement

Author: Unknown

They get worse and worse and worse. These creatures. They torture us. All of us who stayed behind. The council weren't any help. Sealing themselves up inside their storerooms until they met their own end. But some of us have managed to live. We breathe anyway. Living is something that I've quite forgotten to be honest. When we're not hiding in holes, we are being burned by these devils. Poking at us with hot flames and singeing our skin so that we are all scarred and infected.

If they happen to be sleeping or feeding, then we're choking on the gas clouds that have poisoned this hellish place. The gas seems to bother them less. Some of us theorize that the children mutated, making them able to breathe the methane levels. It would explain their violent behavior and failing language skills. Their brains have been fried. Inside and out. They call themselves Fival's Pets but I doubt even the rodents would accept these abominations.

There is no escape from here. This is our Hell. Those who have tried have been skinned. We are being kept as humans once kept our enemies. Many of us still hold out hope of a rescue. While I assume one might be attempted, I believe it has little chance of succeeding. They keep getting worse and worse.

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

Monday Morning Glory

(Flag Ceremony - '98 (watercolor, colored pencil)

The American Revolution and the founding of America have always held a place in my imagination. As a concept, it's undeniably attractive. As a citizen, it's often frustrating knowing that we have yet to live up to the ideals set forth in that time. I briefly mention this frustration in Pure Sunshine as the main character passes by Independence Hall. But a lot of poets have expressed their feelings about the American experiment over the two hundred plus years of the empire in great detail. Two have always stood out for me, expressing the spirit for better and worse.

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear...

-Walt Whitman [1860]

Under the bluffs of Oroville, blue cloud September skies, entering U.S. border, red red apples bend their tree boughs propt with sticks.

- Allen Ginsberg from The Fall of America [1965]

Written almost exactly 100 years apart, I think these two poems combined capture the way I've always felt about America. Whitman's poem captures the sense of hope and possibility for what America can be. Ginsberg's poems bring out the harsh reality of a dream corrupted and controlled and the heartbreak of those of us who still believe in possibility.

For the last several years, I've been collecting scraps and bits of verse or ideas, sticking them in a folder marked America (Again). One of these days, I plan on writing my own epic poem about this strange land. Until then, I will share one scrap, written possibly two years ago with the title Independent Nation scribbled atop with a drawing of a boy saluting nothing in particular:

Dead leaves are my citizens.

Dandelions that I let breed

are as well.

My piece of the mountain bought and paid for,

I even own the clouds when they pass overhead,

And all the way down to the road

that runs alongside.

I am its little lord

and I do my best to govern without any laws.

The woodchuck, the woodpecker, the hungry rabbits, bees and birds,

They're all here.

They all seem to notice.

The deer leave halo footprints to let me know.

When I stand still and face the wind crawling quickly from the west,

It almost feels like I understand,

for a brief moment,

what 'America' was supposed to have meant.

-brian james 2008