Scene: Sinistra

Saw a young (20-something) gal board the bus this morning. She caught my eye because she had this very retro hair -- honey-blonde, long (a bit over shoulder-length) that felt very 70s to me. Somewhere between classic Farrah hair and Cheryl Tiegs, maybe, although maybe some curling iron action on it. Her face was oval, and had a sinister beauty to it that reminded me of a former coworker, although she had full lips and arched brows and dark, squinty eyes. Couldn't be sure if they were hazel or brown. Just dark. She wore stovepipe jeans of very dark hue, and black booties, and a nondescript winter jacket. No jewelry on her hands, although her nails, while unpainted, were well-tended by the look of them.

Two other things jumped out at me with Sinistra -- one was her tendency to sit with her mouth open, very mouthbreathery, just kind of sitting there, squinting off into the distance, gapemouthed. The other thing was her gigantic backpack. The thing was huge. Sitting next to her on the seat, it came up to her shoulders, and was easily 16 inches thick. It was an olive drab canvas abomination, just massive. She was of middling height, perhaps 5'5" -- so the backpack easily dominated her frame. A bottle of pale orange-colored vitamin water was stuffed in the side of it, in a beverage caddy. I wondered what she'd be doing with that massive bag. She also had a purse, a black leather thing, ruffled.

The combination made me wonder what her story was. Runaway? A European of some sort, here on holiday? I don't know. She just squinted her way through her commute. Likely bound for Union Station, judging from the bus we were on. The train station? The colossal backpack looked large enough to hold her whole life.

Whew

2422 words written this evening, which let me cross the needed minimum 20,000-word threshold on the novella. The story's very nearly done, so I'm sitting pretty. Brain-sleepy at the moment, however.

Interview

My first interview! Woo hoo! Thanks, Judy Darley!

http://essentialwriters.com/d-t-neal-5155.htm#comment-11816

Words

Banged out another 3000 words last night and this morning, so I'm only about 3000 shy of what I need for my deadline (Friday). Should get there tonight or tomorrow morning, with time and breathing space.

Book: Horror In Paradise

I stumbled across a paperback, "Horror In Paradise" -- an anthology of horror tales set in the South Pacific. That amused me, so I snagged it, since I've written a few horror short stories set in that area. I don't know if it's any good, but I'll read it and see, and let you know.

This satellite image of Palmyra Atoll (to say nothing of its history) always horrified me. This barely-there spit of land in an vast and uncaring ocean.

And this video clip somebody shot, the darkness of the place, the isolation. Haunting...

Movie: Daybreakers

I saw "Daybreakers" the other day. I was psyched about it (the trailer looked very promising), but it didn't deliver. The concept was good enough -- a world where vampires took over, and humanity was on the road to extinction. Cool, right? Playing with Richard Matheson's wonderful "I Am Legend" concept.

But the directors (who were also the writers, and it showed) failed to execute their promising premise. It was faint filmmaking -- nonexistent (or flimsy) characterization, and meek plotting. It ended up a case where it lacked strong enough characters to be character-driven, and the plot wasn't thick enough to be plot-driven. The bad guys weren't bad enough, the good guys weren't good enough, the subplots weren't engaging enough. As a movie, it just showed up, really created this whole Screenwriting 101 kind of impression with me.

There were a couple of genuinely horrific moments, and a couple of arresting images, but as whole, the piece just failed. Some people have referred to it as a "popcorn movie" -- I hate that expression, but this movie failed even as that. If you want an actually entertaining "popcorn movie" then see "Deep Rising." It's actually thrilling, is well-written and paced, and is amusing. Good stuff. That's worth your time. This movie, however, isn't.

Thirsty

2070 words added this morning to the short story I'm expanding into a novella. I only need about 6000 words to make the minimum length (20,000 words) for the competition I'm thinking of entering, and as it stands, I should be able to bang that out today and tomorrow, with time and breathing space.

I was bummed -- my old Black Flag pin I had on my bag fell off somewhere along my ramblings through the city. Not sure where it was. If you see a little Black Flag pin lying in the snow in Chicago, pick it up, take it; it's yours.

Novella? What the hella!

I stumbled across this today...

http://essentialwriters.com/distant-worlds-anthology-5061.htm

And thought I have a few candidates I could submit. Why the heck not?

One of the likeliest contenders would need maybe 9,000 words added to it to make the bottom limit, lengthwise, which is cake for me.

The deadline is January 15, which is, what, nine days away? No problem. I think I'm going to do it. The story's just sitting there, why not give it a go?

Aegis, reviewed

Got a nice mention on this reviewer's page (below). Always nice to see...

http://essentialwriters.com/albedo-one-review-5032.htm

I submitted a couple other stories at some magazines. Have to hit the ground running in 2010.

Drat

First story rejection of the year: "Spare Tire."

Damn.

Year's End

A new short story idea came to me while driving about today:

• Roadkill

It's gonna be fun. The story was busy trying to write itself while I was driving, and I made mental notes and plan to work on it this week, maybe as soon as tomorrow.

I'm going to try to be super-industrious and do a short story a week in 2010. We'll see how it goes. I like the challenge of it. It's not so hard coming up with the ideas, as it is getting the time to write them. But all part of making 2010 a good year.

Crush: Princess Aura

I stumbled across the 1979 animated "Flash Gordon" series on DVD at Target today. Something I hadn't watched since I was nine years old! I used to love that show, could remember the theme song, all of that. Along with "Johnny Quest," "Battle of the Planets," and a few other shows. The same production team for "Flash Gordon" did "He-Man," I think, judging from the look of it.

Anyway, watching it again, I remembered Princess Aura, Ming's naughty daughter, and the impression she made on my nine-year-old male psyche! Simply put: Princess Aura was hot. I hated that she eventually liked Prince Barin -- she was way too much woman for a Robin Hood wannabe douche like Barin. Aura was pretty hot stuff for a children's animated show!

Princess Aura was certainly nicely-realized in the live-action "Flash Gordon" that came out the following year...

But the animated Aura was my first experience with the women of Mongo.

Crush: Ann-Margret

Mmmmmm. Ann-Margret was killer in the 60s. Total bombshell. I think I need to post two pix of her, methinks.