Here's a nifty little video that was created for the end of producer Russell T Davies' and star David Tennant's run on Doctor Who. And who doesn't like singing, dancing aliens ?Nice, eh? I think the world needs more of Billie Piper dancing. But that's just me.
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I have a theory. I think we’re changing all the time, you and I. Even when you think you aren't. Even that hard-headed redneck miscreant who doesn't seemed to have evolved past the Neanderthal stage. He’s changing, too.
Some of the changes are big, and you can feel them happening, like when that guy who comes over and drinks all your beer while you watch football wraps his truck around a tree when he’s loaded, leaving you reeling like the elevator door opened and you almost stepped through into that empty, black abyss. That’s the moment you quit drinking.
Some of the changes are smaller and almost glacier-slow, like the way your political views morph as you spend time with friends and/or a spouse, or the way you start out hating musicals, but you put up with them because they’re important to the woman you’re in love with and, quite unexpectedly, one day you find yourself humming “Seasons of Love” or “Tonight”.
So what’s this all about?
As most of my friends know, 2011 has been a hell of a year. It was so hard on my wife. And, it turns out, it really kicked my ass, too. The experience–the ongoing experience–has changed me both profoundly and in subtle ways.
It’s like I can feel my brain being rewired. Things that once seemed so important to me are now little more than dusty curiosities, while others things, things that were always vital, are now so significant to me that I have trouble find the words to express their importance.
I’m Mark 2.0, with 2.1, etc, not far behind.
But just so you don’t think I’ve changed too much, here’s a video of Peter Griffin farting.
Here’s what’s been going (or hasn’t been going) on:
Writing
Dead Earth: Sanctuary is being revised. Dave Wilbanks and I want this manuscript to sing before we turn it in to the publisher. When I sent it to him, it probably sounded closer to William Shatner than Tony Bennett. I’m sure when it returns to me the pitch will be closer to perfect.
I have begun the second Dead Sheriff book for Evileye Books. It’s a bit difficult to talk about it, since the first book isn’t out yet (and I don’t know the release date), but I can share the opening of #2:
The Indian youth screamed when Arlo Belcher bit into his shoulder and ripped away a mouthful of flesh and muscle and blood.
“Damn it, Arlo, I ain’t even got the fire built yet,” his brother said.
“Cain’t help it, Billy,” Arlo said, around a mouthful of meat. “I was hungry and this here Injun tastes good.”
I have a couple of short stories in various stages of completion, and another novel I will be writing as soon as The Dead Sheriff #2 is finished. As always, my writing schedule and productivity waxes and wanes with the demands of my full-time job and personal life.
Reading
For my birthday, Norma got me a number of books by Jack Kirby and others featuring the work of Kirby and his partner of many years Joe Simon. I’m working my way through these slowly, a story or two at a time, so I may savor the experience for as long as possible.
I’m also reading Killing the Blues by Michael Brandman. Or, more precisely, Robert B. Parker’s Killing the Blues: A Jesse Stone novel by Michael Brandman. This is a continuation of the popular series from the late Parker. Brandman is a writer/producer on the CBS Jesse Stone movies. His style is not very close to Parker’s, and the novel reads in places like a first draft, but I’ll stick with it and see where it goes. Parker’s Spenser series is also being continued by mystery writer Ace Atkins.
Next up in the queue: The Affair by Lee Child and Feast Day of Fools by James Lee Burke.
Pod of Horror
I hope to have another episode up this month. Other than that, I don’t have much to report.
