I AM ROSE RED

{Rose Red courtesy of Leonora Roy}

 

"Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting,

dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before."

- Edgar Allan Poe

OCTORBER 3RD

 

Some call me Rose Red.  It is not my name, of course.  Now, my true name is Death.

 

My beauty killed me in a fashion. 

 

Compassion brought me back to a semblance of life or more accurately, of life-in-death.

 

I am fit for no man. 

 

And yet ... one cursed man would be my friend ...

 

and perhaps more. 

 

His name is no more real than my own: Adam Black.  His best friend may very well be a demon.

 

Come to Bottle Bay this October 3rd and find out for yourself.

 

It will be a Halloween that you will never forget for the rest of your life ... however short it may turn out to be.

ARE YOU EXCITED?

No, not about Miley.  Shiver.  The poor girl is like a train wreck that never stops.

No, I'm talking about truly important stuff here:

 Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is leading off an entire night of new ABC programming (always a risk, especially in these fragmented times),

taking on TV's top-rated drama (NCIS), satisfying the expectations of Marvel Comics fans and Joss Whedon's considerable cult following,

that's a lot for any spin-off to live up to, even with source material like The Avengers.

But hey, this is S.H.I.E.L.D.  They protect the ordinary from the extraordinary.

Those who have already seen the pilot know that in patented Whedon fashion, S.H.I.E.L.D. slyly subverts portentous comic book clichés with refreshing blasts of self-effacing wit amid all the stylized mayhem.

The show's greatest asset is also its most provocative mystery:

the resurrection of Agent Phil Coulson (the dry, wry Clark Gregg)

 from his untimely fate in The Avengers, supervising deadly Ken's and Barbies as they jet around the world in a mammoth stealth aircraft.

Then, there is my personal favorite:

The thriller Person of Interest, which moves from Thursday to its new night and time period (10/9c) for a third season with everything,

including the mysterious missing Machine, (which spies on us all and spots individuals about to be murdered) in flux.

Shaw, the sociopathic ex-intelligence agent, (Sarah Shahi, now a series regular) is partnered with Reese, the former government operative seeking personal redemption (Jim Caviezel),

and their latest case involves figuring which of the many naval officers visiting New York City for Fleet Week is the Machine's target du jour.

Carter (Taraji P. Henson) has been demoted to patrol cop after tangling with the infamous HR, but she's not about to give up —

and neither is institutionalized hacker Root (Amy Acker). Sounds like we're off to a strong start.

What TV shows, if any, are you looking forward to?

WHEN YOUR LIFE IS DARK WITH MORE THAN NIGHT

 
GOTHIC/FANTASY has a beautiful new blog.  Visit it for a treat:
http://nitetalesat-darkcastle.blogspot.com/

 

 http://www.amazon.com/LUCIFERS-ORPHAN-ebook/dp/B00F5M84I8/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1379957491&sr=1-1

Because of Amazon's uniqueness, my first review isn't. 

 

So if anyone would like to read the first few chapters and review,

 

I will give LUCIFER'S ORPHAN to you for free.

What with Alex's CASSASTORM onslaught and other multiple releases,

 

I am not expecting any takers but as Custer said, "If you don't ask, you don't get."

Of course, he got more than he bargained for!

 

GOTHIC/FANTASY talked on his blog about what Gothic fiction really is.

 

What with THESE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS, THE VAMPIRE DIARIES,

 

and assorted vampire and werewolves novels coming out every week,

 

it would seem that Gothic literature is undead and well.

Or is it?

Think of Dracula and the enormous influence that book has had on culture.

 

How many single books can claim to have had the same impact on the minds of so many people—many of whom have never read it?

 

My Father Renfield even teaches from it on how to approach life in a meaningful way in my own END OF DAYS.

PRIDE & PREJUDICE meets THE HOBBIT

What makes a book Gothic anyway?

 

To me, at its core, Gothic fiction has these characteristics:

 (1) The main character is being asked to reject the rational world in order to embrace the primitive world of our emotions.

(2) This is usually done through a supernatural element that invokes a feeling of dread or terror.

 (3) The supernatural world is represented by a character who has completely rejected the rational world for this primitive world.

 (4) The story serves to warn the reader of the danger of giving oneself over to the seductive but dangerous world of the primal man.

Do you think the modern "Gothic" novels truly are Gothic? 

 

 

 Should the term be expanded in response to the modern world?

 

 

Or would doing so totally destroy the essence of what it means to be Gothic?

 

Remember my FIRST BLOGFEST!

 http://rolandyeomans.blogspot.com/2013/09/my-first-blogfest.html

One of the first ten reviewers of LUCIFER'S ORPHAN will win this:

 

WHY FRIENDSHIP? {a return visit}

Friendship.


My most popular post, visited many times each day is this one.

So I thought I would bring it to the attention of my new friends,

adding some new items to make it interesting to those who read my earlier post:

Anais Nin, the enigmatic French author famous for her journals spanning 60 fascinating years, wrote:


"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world dawns."


It would be hard to say whether King Solomon was made more alone by his many wives or by the prison of his throne.

Nonetheless, King Solomon wrote:

"Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up."

Friendship.

It is what is so very lacking in today's cyber-society where everyone is twittering, but no one is listening. Or giving a damn.

They are hunched over their blackberries, waiting impatiently for the message to end so they can jump in with, what is essentially, a "Listen to me!"

Because so few of us have it, friendship and its portrayal are what will bring us back to a novel over and over again. I know that it is the case for me. And for the friends I talk to.

Frodo and Sam. Sherlock Holmes and Watson. Spencer and Hawk (from the always entertaining Robert B. Parker series.) Elvis Cole and Joe Pike (from the Robert Crais fascinating detective series.) Bill and Ted. Calvin and Hobbes.

Family is a crap shoot. Love cools. But friendship endures.

Friendship is one of the cornerstones of my surreal Noir, FRENCH QUARTER NOCTURNE.

The supernatural predators come out after Katrina. Can two undead legends stop them?

Two friends:

Samuel McCord, agnostic undead Texas Ranger. Renfield, haunted revenant priest.

They have known one another since Istanbul was Constantinople and honor still had meaning.

Both love mysterious, beautiful, deadly women. McCord would say all beautiful women are both mysterious and deadly. His love is Meilori, a being from another plane of existence. "Born of stardust and the sea" as she once told him.

And Father Renfield loves Sister Magda, the nun who serves with him in his church. Yet the friendship of the two undead men is a kind of love in itself like David's and Jonathan's:

{At this point in the novel, Renfield, the vampire priest, and his best friend, Sam McCord, are stepping out from behind MEILORI'S, looking at the flooded street before them.}:

Renfield bent down and picked up a floating child’s doll, its false hair soaked and hanging. Its glassy eyes eerily reminded me of too many human corpses I had seen floating down this same street.

Renfield stroked the plastic cheek softly as if it had been the flesh of the girl who had lost her doll. Closing his eyes, he dropped the doll with a splash that sounded much too loud.

That splash said it all. Renfield looked my way with eyes that clawed at me.

“I could take the Blitz. It came from Man. This .... This is from God.”

I just looked at him. From God? I bit back the words that first came to my lips.

It was plain he was hurting inside. And I put up with such talk from Renfield. He was my friend. And he was a priest.

Priests were supposed to see life through the filter of faith. Still, I had lost faith in the unseen long ago. It had slowly faded like mist on a summer sea.

But there is a toll to such a thing. I looked around about us, trying to see it through my friend’s eyes of faith. I failed. Not a first for me.

Renfield’s head was down, though his eyes followed the floating body of the plastic doll as the currents pulled it under the black waters.

“Do you think He finally has had enough of us, Sam? Enough of our cruelty, our madness?”

I rubbed gloved fingers across my face. Like I said, I was at a loss at whether the Great Mystery even existed or not, much less be able to give a true answer to that question.

But Renfield had his own doubts about God. He was my friend, and I wouldn't push him over that dark edge.

“Hell, Padre, I don’t know. Could be.”

I smiled bitter. “You know the Lakota Sioux call God The Great Mystery.”

“You call Him that, too, as I recall.”

“Yeah, ‘cause what He’s up to most of the times is surely a great mystery to me.”

He studied me. “You’re not ---”

He waved a hand around us. “ --- mad at Him for all of this?”

Mad at someone who might only exist in empty prayers to equally empty darkness? I saw the anguish in my friend’s eyes. I chose my words carefully.

“Hell, Padre, we all chose to live in a city seven feet below sea level right by the coast, protected by levees built and maintained by a corrupt government. What did we think would happen?”

Renfield shook his head. “We all denied. It’s what humans do.”

His lips twisted. “Even those of us whose humanity is only a memory.”

I clamped a hand on his left shoulder. “You’re human where it counts.”

His face twitched as if his tongue tasted bad. “And where’s that?”

“Your soul, Renfield, your soul.”

“I lost that a long time ago, Sam.”

I might be at a loss about God, mind you. But I was sure about the soul, for I had seen its lack often enough in too many eyes. Just like I saw its solid presence within Renfield's.

“No, you didn’t. Like mine, your soul is a cocklebur. You can’t shake it no matter what you do.”

He smiled wearily. “I must have missed that verse in the Bible.”

“Gotta read the small print, Padre.”
*****************************************************
I'll let Mark Twain have the last word on friendship : "Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of joy you must have somebody to divide it with."

THE NIGHT IS DARK, AND I AM SMALL

Nissa Annakindt
http://linalamont.blogspot.com/

wrote that my post of yesterday came at a black time.  Go check out her blog, will you?

She's written how the blog world seems to be in a state of atrophy.  But FB and Twitter allows for too shallow and meager a portion of prose to write of anything of import and reflection.  What do you think?

She had a grim day yesterday.  We've all had them.  You might be going through one right now.

“Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”
― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”
― Maya Angelou

“Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow.”
― Mary Anne Radmacher

Sandra, my best friend, who is fighting cancer, recently told me,

"Some storms never leave.  You have to learn to dance in the rain."

IT IS NOT HOW WE SEE THE STORM BUT HOW WE SEE OURSELVES

1.) Realize that you are an amazing creation

    Your immune system is intricate and amazing.

    Your mind contains the potential to create by-passes to re-route your thinking past damaged areas.

     During Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, I saw simple people rally and become heroes.  You can, too.

2.) Still feel down?

    Get your endorphins going and your body moving by taking a brisk walk or lifting some weights (even soup cans or water bottles).  Expensive equipment is not necessary.

3.) Still down?

    Go to your city's homeless shelter or Salvation Army Food Center -- help out those who are hungry and hurting.  Getting involved with the hurts of others might make yours seem less urgent.

4.) Make your body work FOR you:

Dopamine is the fuel that keeps people motivated to persevere and achieve a goal.

You have the power to increase your production of dopamine by changing your attitude and behavior.

  Scientists have identified higher levels of dopamine -- also known as the "reward molecule" --

as being linked to forming lifelong habits, such as perseverance.

     A.) Feel Fat?

     B.) Take the emphasis off talk of "obesity"

     C.) Shift it to empowering  yoursef to want be healthy because you learn to love the feelings and consequences of being physically active and eating better.

The biggest pay-off isn't simply the shedding of pounds or lowering BMI, it is the broad spectrum of improvements that activity and health brings to your personal and academic lives.

5.) FIXING THE BLAME DOESN'T FIX THE PROBLEM:

     A.) Stop caresssing the problem

     B.) See yourself walking away from the battle a winner.

     C.) Brainstorm every way imaginable to solve the problem -- even ones that seem far-fetched.

6.) BREAK DOWN THE PROBLEM BEFORE YOU HAVE A BREAKDOWN:

     Most problems can be broken down into do-able units.  Clean up your basement one corner at a time.  Change that tire one lug at a time.  Run that mile one step after another.

7.) THE CLOCK IS TICKING:

     I once saw an early black and white movie on the Titanic where all through the movie there was a clock in the lower right hand corner of the screen counting down the minutes to that iceberg.

     As I saw people bicker about such trivial things or ignore each other, wasting precious, fleeting moments --  I realized we all have that little clock ticking down.

     Let the small stuff slide.  Appreciate the beauty and the people around you while you have them.


8.) WALK YOUR INNER CHILD:


A walk often blows away the mental cobwebs and brightens the mood.


Try seeing your walk as you might have as a small child: sense the wonder of a falling leaf, the joy of a scampering squirrel, and the feel of a snowflake on your tongue.


9.) LAUGHTER MAY NOT BE THE BEST MEDICINE BUT ...

     The human mind/body relationship is odd. 


If you force a smile even when you are not happy,


the endorphins are still released in a small amount ... and you feel slightly better.


     But don't over-do it: folks might throw a net over you!

ARE YOU DISCOURAGED?

Alex Cavanaugh intimidates me ...

   He spends SIX HOURS a day visiting 100 BLOGS DAILY!

   This week it must be TEN HOURS DAILY!

I don't know about you but I work looong hours.  There is simply no way I can equal that.  Can you?

Does this mean we are destined for the back bleachers of blogdom?

I can hear Yoda right now: THAT IS WHY YOU FAIL.

1) COMPARING OURSELVES WITH OTHERS IS A SURE WAY TO DERAIL OUR WRITING

     Exercise the muscle --

       Write.  Write.  Write.

       Be better today in some small way in your writing than you were yesterday.  You are the only competition you truly ever have.

       Vincent Van Gogh once said,

“In spite of everything I shall rise again: I will take up my pencil, which I have forsaken in my great discouragement, and I will go on with my drawing.”

2) A FABLE:

The devil offered all the tools of his trade to anyone who would pay the price.  

They were spread out on the table, each one labeled-

Hatred, Malice, Envy, Despair, Sickness-

all the weapons that everyone knows so well.  

But off on one side, apart from the rest, lay a harmless-looking, wedge-shaped instrument marked “Discouragement.”  

It was old and worn, but it as priced far above all the rest.

When asked the reson why, the devil explained,

“Because I can use this one so much more easily than the others.  No one knows that it belongs to me, so with it I can open doors that are tightly bolted against the others.  Once I get inside, I can use any tool that suits me best.”

3) COURAGE:

The word encouragement means “to put courage into.”

Conversely, discouragement takes courage out.  
How can you reach for the stars, go brave, or climb the highest mountain if you lack courage?

4.) LORD OF THE RINGS:

The Breaking of the Fellowship did not stop the various members from fighting on, each in their own way.  We, too, must fight on in our own way -- always searching for new paths that will lead us to the victory that awaits a heart that will not quit.

Everyone in the Fellowship had the opportunity to turn back, but they didn't.

They believed in what they were pursuing, even if they knew that pursuit might lead to death.

Believe in your dream. And if it is so very dark and you feel so very small, remember Galadrial:

"I give you the light of Eärendil, our most beloved star. May it be a light for you in dark places, when all other lights go out."

There is a Light at which our world scoffs, but it is a Light that will lead us through our darkness if we but look for it.  May it be there for you today.

THE DAY JOHN FORD PUNCHED HENRY FONDA & GAVE BIRTH TO MODERN CINEMA

The most disastrous moment of John Ford’s illustrious Hollywood career took place at the U.S. Navy base on Midway Island in the Pacific Ocean in September 1954.

The legendary film director was starting work on "Mister Roberts," the movie version of the fabulously successful Broadway play, starring his old friend Henry Fonda.


from the moment they got to the location, Ford and Fonda clashed.  Fonda felt it was neither as funny nor as nuanced as the original play.

Producer Leland Hayward arranged for a clear-the-air meeting in Ford’s room in the Bachelor Officer’s Quarters.

Ford was sprawled on a chaise lounge with a tall drink in his hand. Before Fonda could finish explaining his concerns, Ford sprang up and punched him in the face.

The actor fled the room in stunned silence.

Fifteen minutes later, Ford knocked on Fonda’s door and stumbled through a tearful, abject apology, but things were never the same.

Ford, a life-long alcoholic, started grimly working his way through a case of chilled beer each day on the set.

"Mister Roberts" was a box-office hit, and won three Academy Awards, including Jack Lemmon’s first, for best supporting actor.

But Ford and Fonda were both bitterly disappointed. They never worked together again.

The Western had been John Ford’s favorite movie genre ever since he first arrived in Hollywood 40 years earlier in the formative days of moving pictures.

At the moment of Ford’s greatest need, his longtime friend and business partner, Merian C. Cooper, came up with the idea for a Western he thought John Ford would find irresistible.

"The Searchers," a new novel by author and screenwriter Alan LeMay, was a captivity narrative set in Texas during pioneer days.

It was based in part on a true story — the abduction of a nine-year-old girl in East Texas in 1836 by Comanche raiders.

While "The Searchers" pays homage to the familiar themes of the classic Western, it also undermines them.

Its central character possesses all of the manly virtues and dark charisma of the Western hero yet is tainted by racism and crazed by revenge, his quest fueled by hatred.

His goal is not to restore his lost niece to the remnants of their broken family but to kill her, because she has grown into a young woman and has become a Comanche bride.

At the heart of "The Searchers" is John Wayne’s towering performance. Wayne had portrayed morally ambiguous men before, but in "The Searchers" he is darker, angrier and more troubled than ever.

This dark knight is determined to exterminate the damsel and anyone who stands in this way. Still, because he is played by John Wayne, his charisma draws us in, making us complicit in his terrible vendetta.

Largely overlooked in its time — it was not nominated for a single Academy Award –

"The Searchers" has become recognized as one of the greatest of Hollywood movies.

It was extraordinarily influential on a generation of modern American filmmakers —

from Steven Spielberg to George Lucas to Martin Scorsese — imprinting itself on their psyches and their ambitions during their formative years.

Just as Ernest Hemingway noted that “all modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called 'Huckleberry Finn,'”

Film critic Stuart Byron once declared, “in the same broad sense it can be said that all recent American cinema derives from John Ford’s 'The Searchers.'”