Help Me, Rhonda (or Whoever)

Spent some time last night and today organizing my “RFN” folder…ie, the stuff I’m supposed to be working on right fucking now. This ranges from the usual helpings of stories, poetry, scripts, potential novels (ha!) and fic to various professional projects, documents, correspondence. This led directly to the discovery that with the inclusion of recently-placed pieces as well as never-placed ones, I now have a backlog of 21 poems from which to prospectively cobble together a third collection (though frankly, I think some of these poems will never see the light of publication, and probably shouldn’t…they’re more-than-good for a sixteen-year-old, say, but not so great for a forty-year-old).

So: A fairly good Saturday overall—managed a workout, bought a “Cal-lowe’en” costume (a bat-suit from Old Navy [ie, a suit which makes you look like a bat, rather than one worn by Batman]…icky and cute at the same time, just the way I like that sort of thing), plus another pair of jeans and some more shirts—though broken up in the late afternoon by Steve taking a nap, Cal very definitely not taking a nap and me stupidly falling asleep anyhow, only to later rocket awake with my body all jack-knifed and clenched when some fucking enumerator hammered on our front door; Steve didn’t hear this, of course, and was annoyed at me for claiming it happened/waking him since, given I was basically naked at the time, I thought a fully-dressed dude snoozing on the couch might possibly be the better choice for door-answering duty.

But then there was last night, what with the hideous gas, everything turning to muck and water inside me, my shoulder puffing up like a fucking adder, etc. I got to sleep at maybe 3:00 AM, dreamed of Armageddon all night, woke contorted. Since then, today’s mainly been about looking after Cal (three huge melt-downs, one sparked by the concept of bedtime-without-bottle), running domestic errands (food shopping, bought a shower curtain) and other, equally boring crap. Life has its poetry sometimes, doesn’t it? As Gabriel Gray would say.

Now I’m putting together a package of stuff that was/will be published between December 2007 and December 2008 for Steve Jones’ Mammoth Book of Best New Horror #20 solicit; annoyingly, it looks like “Marya Nox” won’t be on that list. But a bunch of other stuff will be, and that continues to be pretty damn cool.

Finally: Though I very much appreciated sovay’s suggestion for third slot in the Dark Arts (“Ring of Fire”, my Rhakshasa story, from The Worm…), it’s also occurred to me that there are even more obscure things I’ve written since which might bear highlighting in any anthology that’ll be sold at a big(gish) convention. Specifically, my other two choices might be “Landscape with Maps & Legends: Dead Voices on Air” (originally published in the now-defunct journal Suspect Thoughts) or “Every Angel” (my first official Loonie Dreadful, published as a stand-alone chapbook by Kelp Queen Press). Pros and cons of all three as follows:

A) “Ring of Fire”—set during the Indian Mutiny, pitting an insane British soldier against a shapeshifting local demon. Good: Not a regular monster; a fun historical piece full of exotic detail; fairly sexy and yet offputting; comes with own theme song attached. Bad: Old(er); maybe shows its derivation in a slightly more obvious way than later stuff (a surfeit of Kiplingesque narration, o my beloved; Desbarrats Grammar is as much Ronald Merrick from Jewel in the Crown as anybody else); cultural appropriation abounds (though an Indian lady once told me I got a lot of things right, which was heartening).

B) “Landscape with Maps & Legends: Dead Voices on Air”—Toronto folksinger gets obsessed with tracking down “original version” of local murder ballad, is stolen away by modern-day Fae (the Sidderstane and Druir families, respectively). Good: If I go with “Strange Weight” as another part of the triumverate, this shows you why you should be afraid of Maccabee Roke’s relatives; epistolary construction holds up well; comes with own whole soundtrack attached; some people apparently find it creepy as fuck. Bad: Epistolary construction may take a while to get into; tie-in factor may be a minus rather than a plus for other readers.

C) “Every Angel”—gangster obsessed with religion sends his go-to guy to kidnap an “angel” that’s been spotted nesting under a bridge, blasphemous existential fun ensues. Good: Again, not your regular monster; chimes in nicely with stuff I’m exploring in other works (Judy Kiss stories, etc.); has a Quentin Tarantino snap to it (gore plus jokes, with thin veneer of crime). Bad: The horror sort of sneaks up on you, unless you’re genuinely afraid for your soul/that you might not have a soul, whatever; some people find mention of religion offputting no matter what, though I’m pretty sure I can’t be accused of coming off like a Chick Tract.

Sooo…what I’m basically asking for here is a vote (done in comments, natch). Some of you have read all these stories, some haven’t. And though it’s not like I have to make my final decision tomorrow or anything, I’d still love to hear your thoughts, either way.

P.S.: BTW, does anyone out there know how to upload songs or make icons, both using a Mac endowed with the usual OS X package? It seems increasingly stupid for me not to be able to do these things, so could you maybe explain th(ese) process(es) to me, or point me towards (the) relevant tutorial(s)? Thanks in advance.