9th Street Blues

The Clearinghouse begins: 9th Street Blues, a short piece about a boy, his bicycle, his father’s drugs, and the second Dust Bowl, is out now on Smashwords/everywhere.

Get it here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/482608

Description: Tommy spends his days riding his bicycle on the dust-drifted streets of Woodward, Oklahoma, delivering the chemical compositions of his adoptive father Sal to the few customers that remain. The fields pull up little but dust and poison, and the majority of the citizens have departed for greener pastures in resurgent post-war California. On his last day as bicycle courier/drug mule, Tommy makes his rounds – but with one vital difference. 9th Street Blues originally won the top prize in Chapterfy’s inaugural short story contest.

In Keeping With The Name Of The Blog…

http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/fermi-paradox.html

Some disturbing food for thought on the continued silence of the night sky. Well, I suppose it’s not all disturbing. Just a few of the concepts, such as the one where the possible Great Filter is actually ahead of us and we have an infinitesimally small chance of proceeding into the wider universe. Actually, come to think of it, the concept about possible predator civilizations lurking out in the stars cutting off attempts at proceeding outward into the galaxy is the cause of more of my sleepless nights, likely because I played Star Control 2 at a very impressionable age. The idea is outlined rather well in the Wait But Why link, but I think it’s summed up best by the following passage from The Killing Star, by Charles Pellegrino and George Zebrowski:

Imagine yourself taking a stroll through Manhattan, somewhere north of 68th street, deep inside Central Park, late at night. It would be nice to meet someone friendly, but you know that the park is dangerous at night. That’s when the monsters come out. There’s always a strong undercurrent of drug dealings, muggings, and occasional homicides.

It is not easy to distinguish the good guys from the bad guys. They dress alike, and the weapons are concealed. The only difference is intent, and you can’t read minds.

Stay in the dark long enough and you may hear an occasional distance shriek or blunder across a body.

How do you survive the night? The last thing you want to do is shout, “I’m here!” The next to last thing you want to do is reply to someone who shouts, “I’m a friend!”

What you would like to do is find a policeman, or get out of the park. But you don’t want to make noise or move towards a light where you might be spotted, and it is difficult to find either a policeman or your way out without making yourself known. Your safest option is to hunker down and wait for daylight, then safely walk out.

There are, of course, a few obvious differences between Central Park and the universe.

There is no policeman.

There is no way out.

And the night never ends.

That’s the sort of cheery, smiling bit of thought-experiment that I’m always on the lookout for.

Gone From The Charts But Not From Our Hearts

…is how they usually introduce an early rock ‘n’ roll radio show but in this case the line is apt for literature. Off The Shelf is a new site set up by publishing giant Simon & Schuster to allow business insiders (editors, agents, authors, etc.) the room to reminisce and review books that they’ve loved that are at the very least one year old (my first novel, for example, is a year old now – how time flies).

Let’s face it, even with a downturn in the industry there is a lot of books flowing through the stores on any given day. The bestseller lists and the review pages in the papers are full of books that you would love to read, but maybe you don’t have the time when they’re out or you’re already committed to another book or series of books. The ones you notice tend to slip away; you’ll remember them months or years later when you catch a reference to them, or maybe you’ll never think of them again. Off The Shelf is for those books – books that the insiders feel didn’t get their fair share of attention when they were fresh and new. It’s a neat idea and I commend S & S for setting it up.

Hello New Visitors!

I’m glad that so many people like the guide to GBV, there will be more discographies in the future. I like writing them and people seem to enjoy reading them. I already have two ready to go, so look for those in the coming days.

Also, since you’re here, consider buying a book. People also tend to like it, I find.

W.H. Auden Reading “Friday’s Child”

W.H. Auden was born this day in 1907 – celebrate with a Friday poem read by the author himself in 1964.

Kat Dixon Is Giving Away A Free Poetry Collection

I have yet to read it, but I’m all about the sharing of poetry, especially if the author is doing a promo giveaway. It’s hard to get poetry published these days and I’m glad to see people working the artform. So – Black Racket Ocean – Kat Dixon. Remember – if you download the PDF and like it, support the author by buying the hard copy (the link is provided on the same page as the free download).

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to buy a copy of mine.

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