this *is* my happy faceHere in Providence, summer is still February again.
Blood Oranges progresses at an impressive clip. On Sunday, I wrote 2,443 words, and yesterday, I did 2,188 words and finished Chapter 3. I've cleared with my agent that this novel will be, at most, 75,000 words (my novels are usually more that 100k). And, by the way, this isn't YA. At least, not necessarily. I think some people are confusing Blood Oranges with Blue Canary, which will be YA. It is very difficult to explain to people what it is, this book, Blood Oranges. It's sort of to dark fantasy/urban fantasy what The Fifth Element is to science-fiction films. Which means, among other things, you'll either get it or you won't. You love it or you'll hate it. It's also a loud "fuck you" to the "romantic urban fantasy" or ParaRom or what the fuck ever you might call it or have heard that crap called. Blood Oranges is me, taking back the night. Or to paraphrase Ursula K. LeGuin, this is me taking back the language of the night.
We saw a rather excellent thriller last night, a French film, Antoine Blossier's Proie (Prey, 2010). I suppose it could be classed as a "creature feature," an eco-thriller, or something like that. But I'd say, take the parable of Cain and Abel, add a herd of boars driven wild by toxic discharge from a factory, and put four angry men in a forest at night. With guns. That's what the film is, and it goes surprising and unexpected places. I was especially pleased with the ending.
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I'm going to repost this, because people may not have seen my post last night, and the whole Publisher's Weekly thing is still making me smile (By the way, I NEED A COPY OF THIS ISSUE OF THE MAGAZINE, as nowhere in Rhode Island carries it. IF YOU CAN LAY YOUR HANDS ON A COPY AND SEND IT MY WAY, I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER):
The Publisher's Weekly review of Two Worlds and in Between has come in. Not only is it starred, it was chosen as the "Pick of the Week," out of all books reviewed this week. PW has never before been so kind to me (and no, this is not the NEWS THAT IS SO GOOD, SO COOL I received last week. Anyway, here's the review:
Two Worlds and in Between: The Best of Caitlin R. Kiernan, Vol. 1
Caitlin R. Kiernan. Subterranean (www.subterraneanpress.com), $38 (576p) ISBN 978-1-59606-391-4
"I wasn't always a storyteller," Kiernan (The Red Tree) claims in her introduction, but you wouldn't know it by the tremendous talent displayed in these 26 stories of life, death, undeath, horror, sorrow, and a peculiar sort of beauty. This retrospective volume, the first of two, contains works published between 1993 and 2004 that show Kiernan's rapid ascent from a journeyman writer bringing a fresh perspective to classic horror themes ("Emptiness Spoke Eloquent," a Dracula "sequel," and the title tale, an exercise in punk nihilism with zombies) to one of the most innovative and imaginative stylists in contemporary dark fantasy. Particularly noteworthy are two award-winning stories: "La Peau Verte," an otherworldly absinthe fantasy, and the horror tour de force "Onion," about a couple haunted by encounters with the supernatural that represent both the most horrifying and the most transcendent moments of their depressingly common lives. All of the selections are distinguished by Kiernan's poetic prose, which conjures a rich, enveloping atmosphere of dread and imparts a surreality to the narratives that supports their weird events. Every story in the book deserves its "best" designation. (Oct.)
So. Yeah. Wow.
Also, the 600-copy limited edition of of the collection is now completely sold out at the publisher. However, the trade edition can still be ordered directly from Subterranean Press.
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Links to three more Rift screencaps, Selwyn in Iron Pine:
Selwyn and Jude at the frozen Tarn, southwest of the Chancel of Labors.
By moonlight, the high pass at Mage's Mark.
Before the gates of Stillmoor
