***POISON TONGUE TALES***
The last time I published a book was in February of this
year and it was a collection of dark poetry called Necrograph. I think I’m
about due to publish another book. The next one on the assembly line will be
Poison Tongue Tales, a collection of short stories from the science fiction,
fantasy, and horror varieties. It’s currently going through another round of
editing from my overly awesome beta reader Marie Krepps. I specifically told
her to look for places where I can show instead of tell and she’s done a
phenomenal job of pinpointing those areas for me. What can I say? She does a
lot for me and I try to repay her as much as possible.
So far she has given me notes on 17 out of all 50 stories in
the collection. If you want to be alphabetical about it, it starts with Acid
O’clock and ends with Gates of Hell. Ordinarily, I could polish 17 stories
standing on my fucking head. I could do all 50 stories while doing the splits
over an alligator swamp. I could do Poison Tongue Tales and American Darkness
while sitting on a bed of thumb tacks. If all of these obscene analogies aren’t
getting to you, what I’m trying to say is that editing a short story isn’t that
hard to do. It’s not like editing a novel, like Occupy Wrestling, where I had
to constantly change plot mechanics on my way to the final chapter. These 50
stories are all standalone in nature and only add up to three single-spaced 11
X 8 pages per story.
That’s why it pains me to say that I haven’t edited a single
solitary story since Marie Krepps did her most recent round of critiques. No
Acid O’clock, no nothing. Not yet. My reason for this has nothing to do with
real life obligations or even mental exhaustion. It has everything to do with
fear. That’s right. Something as simple and irrational as fear has stopped me
from getting started on making these changes to Poison Tongue Tales. If I had
to take a guess as to what this fear is over, I’d say it’s a fear of having a
huge task in front of me. These new changes are going to radically transform
the way each story looks, but it’s still the same kind of labor as before, so
what’s all the fuss about?
I have no reason to fear critique as much as I used to. In
my younger years, I had an over-inflated ego that would burst at the smallest
suggestions. Now that I’ve surrounded myself with people who give a damn and
are with me for the long haul, my sensitivity to critique has gone down quite a
bit. I might even say that I’m immune to it now. So again, what’s all the fuss
about? If I actually enjoy listening to Marie and her advice (because she’s
hilarious and thoughtful at the same time), where’s all this fear coming from?
For far too long, Poison Tongue Tales has been considered a
backburner project, meaning the WSS, Demon Axe, and everything else took
precedence over it, even the Dark Fantasy Warriors, for shit’s sake. I have all
the time and energy in the world to complete this simple task of editing the
shit out of these 17 stories that Marie has compiled for me. If you want to
talk about energy, I somehow found the energy to read 30-40 pages of my Carl
Hiaasen book per day. The last time I showed that much dedication to a book was
when I read “The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie
(I hope the movie adaptation will be good). If I have the energy to blitz
through a Carl Hiaasen novel, I should have the same energy to blitz through
Poison Tongue Tales. The energy is there, but so is the trepidation. What the
fuck, brain?
I know that an unexplained fear seems like small potatoes to
you, my readers. Hell, you’ll probably want to flood my Face Book page with R.
Lee Ermey memes after reading something like this. But I assure you, I can get
over this fear in due time. I have four books to show for my worked up courage,
why not have five? And then after Poison Tongue Tales, I have five different
ideas for what I’ll send Marie next:
- Filter Feeder (environmental urban fantasy)
- Watch You Burn (psychological urban fantasy)
- Demon Axe (unfinished heavy metal urban fantasy)
- American
Darkness 2:
- Poison Tongue Tales 2: Warrior Spirit (unfinished collection of science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories)
On a side note, Marie once told me that I use the word “warrior”
a lot in my stories. She even joked that if my characters took a huge dump in
the middle of the road, they would be called “shit warriors”. Not only did I
laugh my ass off at that remark, but it’s also one step closer to me actually
editing Poison Tongue Tales and not letting some bullshit fear get to me. If
it’s finally time for me to “cowboy up”, then I’m shooting from the hip. Adios,
amigos! Thanks for reading!
***DARK FANTASY WARRIORS***
As you guys can see, Sonya Demonic is now posted online. I
showed my drawing of her to my mom and she said that Sonya looked strikingly
like my ex-girlfriend Brianna. I can’t say she’s wrong. Hehe! What’s next you
ask? How about Ronis Wakizashi from my most recent WSS entry “Fire and Fury”?
Sounds about right. I’ve always wanted to draw a half-Japanese redneck sheriff
with a big ass shotgun and fuzzy beard. Actually, this might be more daunting
than editing Poison Tongue Tales. Wish me luck!
***LYRICS OF THE DAY***
“This is the point from
which I could never return and if I
back down now then forever I burn. This
is the point from which I could never retreat, ‘cause if I turn back now there
can never be peace. This is the
point from which I will die or succeed. Living
the struggle, I know I'm alive when I bleed. From now on it can never be the same as before, ‘cause the place I'm from doesn't exist anymore.”
-Immortal Technique rapping “The Point of No Return”-
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