Meet Mr. Magee

I was a little over 80,000 words into my novel when I came across the curious account of Sylvester Magee. Mr. Magee died in 1971, around the same year that Mr. Sam, one of the characters in my novel, Your Pal Al, died. When writing my story, I had no idea what I was doing or where I was going. Mr. Sam came to life in the bluish glow of the screen, just as Albert did. They came to life together and grew into real people together. Albert is a young, white boy from Florida. Mr. Sam is an old black man from Georgia. Samson is quite literally larger-than-life. And, up until the time that I discovered Sylvester Magee, I thought he was quite old, too. Meet Mr. Magee.

Diane Arbus

Retro photography. I fell for her photography in college in the early 80s. Every picture tells a story, to be sure, but Arbus takes it to another dimension. This photo has inspired many—from Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's Teach your Children Well to the creation of Bart Simpson. And it has hit me as well. Colin Wood is only seven in the photo, so he is a bit younger than the novel's main character that I have been laboring on for more than ten years. I have been working on the second draft of Your Pal Al. The first was not quite complete and needed a lot of fixes. I hope to be done soon. 

Diane Arbus: Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, N.Y.C. 1962

“She catches me in a moment of exasperation. It's true, I was exasperated. My parents had divorced, and there was a general feeling of loneliness, a sense of being abandoned. I was just exploding. She saw that and it's like . . . commiseration. She captured the loneliness of everyone. It's all people who want to connect but don't know how to connect. And I think that's how she felt about herself. She felt damaged and she hoped that by wallowing in that feeling, through photography, she could transcend herself.” — Colin Wood

RIP John Prine

I hate this news. Damn that ’Rona!

The Wanderers

On my recent trip to Paris, I had to stop at one of the most iconic bookstores in all the world, Shakespeare and Company. And look at what I saw there—The Wanderers by Chuck Wendig. It's waiting for me at home on my TBR pile. 

 The Remaking is four retellings of one story, held together by the tenuous threads of urban legend. It was a quick read. It grabbed ahold of me and did not let go. 

Some reviewers claim that this is not a horror tale and that it seems to defy characterization. To be fair, The Remaking isn't horror or thriller. It is hard to pin it down. The author does tell a haunted tale, a ghost story held together by the spell of possession. And one is left to wonder if Amber, the protagonist, is the haunted one, or if the story is an indictment of society on a relentless and continuous cannibalistic feeding upon the old and regurgitated lust for having to make all that there is ours. 

At times, the story almost feels repetitive. Almost. Just when it starts to head down a familiar path in the dark, it evolves and twists and changes—the story snaking its way through the past and present. But isn't that something that you would expect of a story titled The Remaking?

*Thank you to Quirk Books and Goodreads for the ARC giveaway.

Coyote Songs – Gabino Iglesias

It has been said that Iglesias’s words cut like a knife. To some, maybe, but only to those who refuse to open their eyes and minds to what he is trying to reveal. Yes, he has carved away the unnecessary words leaving a brutal reality that few in this country know to exist. Like his words on the page, his stories explore worlds and long-held beliefs that are a reality for many.

I went into this book only knowing that it was Barrio Noir, and I wasn’t sure what that was. I had no idea that I would be getting multiple stories tethered to one another by sinew, blood, and magic, so I felt a bit lost when the first chapter ended. I wanted to know more about Pedrito and his father and hear more about the monstrous fish they were hunting. I found several Aligator Gar carcasses on the shores of the St. Johns as a kid growing up. I imagine that they are the most monstrous fish swimming in those waters. They are armored with a most formidable suit of preservation. So tough that the original peoples of this land used them as arrow points. You might need both if you dare read this in the dark of night. But, I digress. I did get more story, and then some. These stories will get under your skin and haunt your dreams. They should also haunt your reality because they are as old and as new as it gets in this country.

** UPDATE **
While reading Coyote Songs, I have had to keep my Irish mojo with me to hold all the vengeful spirits at bay from la Frontera. 

I had been looking forward to reading The Nickle Boys from Colson Whitehead from the time it was announced by Doubleday. It brought with it a mix of dread and curiosity, of shame and duty to read. It is loosely based upon the horrors that occurred at the Dozier School for Boys. The sad thing is that we will NEVER know the depth of horrors that went on there. This book is equal shares grim and hopeful—grim in the horrors of times past as well as the present and hopeful in that in knowing, we can banish our own demons and, hopefully, regain our humanity. It is a brilliant and essential read. 

Photo: ©Michael Spooney Barger, Reuters, Corbis

Here is a link to a story at the Smithsonian Magazine, “Archaeologists Finally Know What Happened at This Brutal Reform School.” You might want to take a look after reading the book. 

** UPDATE**

Winner of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

TBR

 

A few new books for my towering “to read” stack.

Opening lines: 

“Even in death the boys were in trouble.”
—Colson Whitehead’s  THE NICKEL BOYS. 

“Savannah uses an old frisbee as a pillow.”
—From the local author
Caleb Sarvis’s DEAD AQUARIUM

“Your voice is who you are.”
—JamesVictore’s FECK PERFUNCTION

Deep Silence: A Joe Ledger Novel

It’s hard to believe that the ride is over. Ten books! Every one of them is a thrill ride, and Deep Silence is no exception. This one has it all—alien tech, terrarists, terrorists, Russians, Lovecraftian horrors, Washington politics, and a lot of strings stretched back to the many previous Ledger novels. As with all of the Ledger novels, you don’t HAVE to read the previous ones to enjoy this one, as Jonathan Maberry is crafty enough to weave in just enough detail without being tiresome, but it does add a little bit of comfort in another pulse-pounding read.

Wake of Vultures – Lila Bowen

This one is a fun and easy read that will leave you with a LOT of sand in your boots!

Not everything is as it seems in Lila Bowen’s Wild West, and everyone is not the most likable cowpoke, but they have no trouble in the interesting department. It is a weird Western, jammed it into an old, cracked, weather-worn boot with a healthy dose of mythology. Take some monsters, mysteries, mayhem, and quirky characters, chuck them in that boot, shake ‘em up real good, and dump ‘em out. You’ll find them all re-arranged into a compelling coming of age/mystery/quest. Nettie Lonesome is a compelling, well-crafted protagonist who took ahold of me from the start and didn't let go.

5 stars. I will be reading the rest of her Shadow series. You should, too.

World Book Day

It’s #WorldBookDay. What's on your pile? 

 Together again.

Godspeed, Mom.

For those of you who are interested, we will be having a memorial Mass on December 15. Still working on details.

Harlan Ellison -- Pay the Writer

There was still so much to learn from him. Pay the writer. Pay the artist. Pay the designer. Pay those creative people in your life. If you aren't one of the creative types, please stop and think before asking for something for free with the promise of exposure. What do you think we want? More people like you who want us to work for free for more exposure to more people who want more free stuff?

How To Be A Person - Shane Koyczan - Lyrics/words (spoken word)

It seems like forever since I have visited. I hope you all are well.

After each book in the Joe Ledger series by Jonathan Maberry I find myself wondering the same thing—how can he top that? How can he continue the tale of Joe Ledger and the Department of Military Sciences without getting repetitive and stale? And then I buy the next novel and I lose myself again in the excitement, wonder, patriotism, adrenaline, loss, and, yes, terror. Lots of terror. This one features a female protagonist that goes by the name, Mother Night. A lot of the regulars are back with a few surprises. You don’t have to start at the beginning, but this series is so good, you should!

JONATHAN MABERRY is a New York Times bestseller and multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Patient Zero, the Pine Deep Trilogy, The Wolfman, Zombie CSU, and They Bite. His work for Marvel Comics includes The Punisher, Wolverine, DoomWar, Marvel Zombie Return, and Black Panther.

SUAU-1980

Here's an old illustration that I did for a fraternity event when I was in college. It was called Suau and generally, had its origins as a spoof of another fraternity's formal "Old South" party. They wore Confederate officers uniforms, some rode horses, and flew the rebel flag. Ours was more of a redneck luau and it was much more than a party. It started weeks before the event when most of the members stopped shaving. After about a week, we would don overalls, straw hats, and flannel shirts and deliver invitations in person. Some of us carried piglets or chickens for effect.

The party itself started Friday night. We stayed up all night with out chef as he cooked the pig. Poker and beer were essentials as was a good dose of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Charlie Daniels, and the Allman Brothers. Saturday morning the party started back up with games (usually involving mass quantities of beer), lunch, more music, and usually, mud was involved somehow. After lunch, we usually dropped our dates back at their rooms and everyone got showers and naps before it all started up again at night for a little more refined dance party with most of the brothers now clean-shaven and dressed much better. The party would usually start breaking up around 1am but would continue in some form as long as the beer was still flowing. Somewhere along the way, the party lost favor and then, my fraternity was banned from campus.

Random Thoughts…

Last week, and despite all that is going on these days politically, I encountered two situations that gave me pause. The first struck me as odd when I stopped at a street vendor for lunch. She was selling hot dogs from a small hot dog cart and was being paid a visit by the Health Inspector. Nothing out of the ordinary there. The cart, I assume, passed as he finished his inspection while I was waiting and didn't appear to issue any citations. At the very least, he didn't shut her down so I assumed the food was safe. That said, as I stood and waited, I also watched. The cart operator was wearing sanitary gloves as food preparation was taking place. I am not aware of the actual law but she wore them while preparing the food and removed them before handling money—as she always does. The odd thing was that while the food inspector was rummaging around in her coolers, he did not wear gloves. Time and again, he handled raw meat and vegetables, and not once did he wear gloves. Another odd practice was that, while checking temperatures, he repeatedly used his thermometer without sanitizing it prior to sticking it into another item. I find that odd. If something was contaminated, his negligence would contaminate almost everything else in the cooler. To be fair, he did wipe it off each time BUT HE USED AN OLD STORE RECEIPT!

Saturday, I had another experience with a situation that makes me go "hmmm".  I had stopped at a Raceway in Orange Park to get gas. Not my first choice as I like to know what kind of gas is going in my car but the place looked clean and well cared for. After filling 'er up, I pulled up to the store to wait for my wife. That was when I noticed the Brinks truck. As you would expect, there was an armed guard outside waiting for the second guard to exit the store—security measures. The problem with the picture that I was seeing was that the guard positioned outside the store had one hand occupied by her cigarette and the other was very much engaged by her phone. Had I been someone with ulterior motives, her behavior would have made for an easy target.

The things that you will see when you take a few moments to really take in what's going on around you is something. I'm not sure that something is something that makes me feel better about how distracted or intimidated people are these days.  

David

I woke this morning to sad news. My cousin, David Courtney, passed away. He was so many things to me, and I know he touched many lives. When you lose a parent far too early—as I lost my father to cancer when I was in my 20s—Dave was like a father. He was also a creative force in my life—an artist, a musician, a writer, and a master engraver. His memoir, From Tea Boy to Tiffanys, is a great read. I do hope it gets published someday. Dave was my mentor, and he was a friend. He believed in my own talents when so many others dismissed them as distractions or hobbies.

Tonight, while I grieve, I will remember the good times, the parties, and the laughter. I know that the heavens will be shining a little brighter, and I will remember the amazing family that he leaves behind, and I will keep them in my prayers.