gwynnega

At least two of my friends (that I know of) lost their homes during the recent wildfires. There was finally rain in Southern California this weekend, which was such a relief.

This morning my friend Brandon Jay, whose house burned down in Altadena, posted this amazing video of himself and his kids performing "Burning Down the House."

Brandon writes on FB: "Altadenamusicians.org will be coming soon. Our mission is to replace all the instruments destroyed in the recent California wildfires. We'll be setting up a platform where survivors list all their lost instruments like a wedding registry for instruments. Then donors can view the registries, see pictures and read stories about them and purchase and replace them, or better yet donate their extra gear to make everyone whole again."

It has been really something (especially amid the horrible political situation in this country) to see our local communities taking care of each other.

I just saw the awful news that Lara Parker has died. We became friends in our MFA Program at Antioch Los Angeles in the mid-00s. Lara was writing her second Dark Shadows novel, and I was also writing a vampire novel. Her attitude towards me at first was very Angelique--i.e., Who Are YOU To Also Be Writing a Vampire Novel in My MFA Program? I'm not sure how that morphed into friendship, but the shift happened rather quickly, as I recall. At the time, I had not yet seen Dark Shadows.

At some point, I think after we'd both graduated, our mutual friend Dodie Bellamy (who we'd both studied with at Antioch) contacted me because there was going to be a Dark Shadows Festival in Hollywood, and she wondered if I'd like to attend with her and watch the fans go wild over Lara. I had no idea what to expect, but the fans did in fact go wild over her. She was still so beautiful and so poised. The Festival made me curious about Dark Shadows, and I became a fan of the show. Lara and I both attended Jim Krusoe's writing workshop at Santa Monica College, and I kept asking her questions about Dark Shadows and old-school soap opera production in general (because I was writing Can't Find My Way Home). She would do Angelique's evil laugh for me, to my delight. For years, whenever there was a Dark Shadows Festival in town or she was doing some other event, I'd go and catch up with her--usually while she signed many, many autographs. I hadn't seen her in several years. She was such a warm friend, and I will miss her terribly.

I found out yesterday that my old friend Hamish Kilgour has died. I'd known him since the mid-1980s, when I met him in Auckland. He was a musician (The Clean, The Great Unwashed, Bailter Space, The Mad Scene, etc.), a visual artist, and a poet. He was also an amazing letter writer. We saw each other in person in various parts of the world (and kept in touch later through social media), but the first years of our friendship were conducted primarily through the post. I still have his letters. He inspired a lot of my poems when I was a young writer. I reread some of them yesterday. Here is one (actually a section from a longer poem, "Three in Christchurch, January 1987").

Room

One day when you weren't there
but all your paintings were
I sat on the paint-splattered floor
and painted my fingernails red.
At home my mother says
Open a window, the polish
stinks up the house, she cannot
breathe. But this room already
smells of paint. While my nails dried
I sat with fingers outspread
and smiled at the paintings,
they smiled back.
There was a paperback of Katherine
Mansfield stories on the floor
beside me. Later
I looked through a stack of drawings
on the floor, found a couple of my
letters there.

I'm so glad I was able to make it to Readercon this year (after missing it last year due to illness). This may have been my favorite Readercon yet, in spite of my vertigo. The vertigo did make things challenging at times, but to my surprise, I felt exponentially better than I did at Wiscon, less than two months ago. This is encouraging, to say the least.

As usual at a con, I didn't see or spend time with everyone I would have liked to, or attend all the panels and readings I wanted to (some of which were scheduled opposite my programming items), but I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was so great to see Lisa Bradley (and family), Sonya Taaffe, Victoria Janssen, Virginia Mohlere, and many others. I saw readings by Lisa, Sonya, C.S.E. Cooney (her forthcoming novella Desdemona and the Deep is going to be fantastic), Carlos Hernandez, and Marissa Lingen, as well as readings from Ellen Datlow's The Saga Anthology of Ghost Stories (Gemma Files, Jeffrey Ford, Stephen Graham Jones, John Langan, Paul Tremblay). Then there were the hilarious (and at times disturbing, but mostly hilarious) Dramatic Readings from the Ig Nobel Prizes (Marc Abrahams, C.S.E. Cooney, Rose Fox, Heath Miller, Sonya Taaffe). I'd been hearing about the Ig Nobel readings for awhile, and they did not disappoint.

A couple of terrific panels I attended were: Being Vague to Make Space for Horror (Stephen Graham Jones, Darcie Little Badger, Sonya Taaffe, teri.zin, Paul Tremblay) and Writing While Chronically Ill or Disabled (Lisa Bradley, Vylar Kaftan, Darcie Little Badger, Sheila Williams). I'd already watched it at home, but I attended the screening and Q&A of Tananarive Due's excellent documentary on black horror films, Horror Noire, and got even more out of it than the first time I saw it.

I was very happy with the panels I was on this year: The Horrors of Being Female (with Gemma Files, Arkady Martine, Gillian Daniels, Nicole Sconiers, and Kate Maruyama) and The Peril of Being Disbelieved (with Meg Elison, Sonya Taaffe, and teri.zin). The second of these was held on the last day of the con, when I'm typically feeling at my most drained and incoherent, but the topic was so rich, and Sonya and Teri had such great insights, I happily would have continued for another half hour at least. (And I enjoyed describing my favorite scene from The Exorcist, in which a mansplaining doctor gets backhanded across the room.)

Also, I had fun at my poetry reading, albeit sparsely attended. I'm sure I've left things out. But it was a wonderful Readercon.

I got home from Madison last night, after an epic day of travel (resulting from my original flight being canceled due to weather). Wiscon was excellent, especially getting to hang out with my friends, including

nwhepcat,

oracne,

cafenowhere and many others. The panel and reading I participated in were both a lot of fun (especially the reading, with

cafenowhere, Patty Templeton, and

shadesong). N.K. Jemisin's and Hiromi Goto's Guest of Honor speeches were very powerful.

Books I bought at the con:

Women Scientists in Fifties Science Fiction Films by Bonnie Noonan
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
Re-Generating WisCon edited by Rebecca J. Holden
Naomi Mitchison: A Profile of Her Life and Work by Lesley A. Hall

Also I bought a beautiful necklace by

elisem entitled "Pink Ladies of the Singularity."

I may have eaten more cheese and drank more alcohol than I usually do at Wiscon. Fried cheese curds plus a giant gin beverage are an ill-advised combination, but I was relatively unscathed.

Current Mood: cheerful

There were some definite highs and lows to my 2013, but overall it was an excellent year.

I had three poems published:

"Ginnie and the Cooking Contest" (a prose poem) in Interfictions Online, Issue 1, May 2013

"take off your horn-rims and fly" in Flying Higher: An Anthology of Superhero Poetry

"a tipping point" in The Cascadia Subduction Zone, Vol. 3, No. 4 (Fall 2013).

I started the year revising Out of Uniform (a novel I hope to get back to in 2014) and writing a sekrit project. Then when I received my agent's notes on Can't Find My Way Home (AKA the Jo book, AKA the book that would not die), I dove back into work on it. I'd hoped to have that done by the end of this year, but I am getting there. I've also been writing more poetry this year, which pleases me.

Healthwise, I'm still in physical therapy for an issue that's been causing me chronic pain. I'm a lot better, though it continues to be a frustrating situation. On the bright side, my physical therapist is a genius, and part of my treatment includes one-on-one yoga instruction, which is awesome. Also on the bright side, I was able to attend WisCon and Readercon (which I also plan to do in 2014).

Scott Miller died this year, and although we were only slight acquaintances, his death had a huge impact on me and others who love his music and his writing.

For me this has been a year rich in friendships--not only continued friendships, but also new ones and renewed ones. I'm so grateful for the many amazing people in my life.

I wish you all a very happy new year.

Current Mood: grateful

Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate. I've been having a lovely holiday break, which began last week with a visit from Sofia Samatar, in town to read from A Stranger in Olondria at Betalevel in Chinatown.

Tonight I'm going to my mom's for lamb dinner. Then I'll come home and watch new Who.

Here, have a Christmas song by my friend Stew.

"Xmas Again (Now I Have It All) - The Negro Problem" (Watch on YouTube)

Current Mood: happy

It is Henna Day, on a pleasantly warm LA December day. I have a neck ache, but the cool henna on my head seems to be helping.

Apparently I haven't posted on LJ since last Henna Day. Last time, Doris Lessing had just died, and now it's Peter O'Toole, who I adored.

Last night I went to a lovely holiday party at Carolyn and Dave's house. Their cat Nora dealt fairly well with her house being full of people.

Here is a link to a gorgeous song about infinity that my friend Steve Gregoropoulos wrote and performed:

Infinity

Current Mood: uncomfortable

It is Henna Day, on a wonderfully non-sweltering day in Los Angeles. We're even supposed to have some actual autumnal weather later this week.

Last night I met up with friends at the Story Tavern in Burbank to see the Johnny Come Latelys play Irish music. I ate shepherd's pie and sang along with "The Wild Rover."

Then when I got home I discovered my friend Lyman Chaffee (Listing Ship) had posted a video of himself singing my friend Carolyn Edwards' beautiful song "Lazy." So here it is.

"Lazy" (Watch on YouTube)

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: Gilmore Girls on SOAPnet

I've been having a lovely long weekend, in spite of ridiculously hot and humid weather. (I can handle dry heat, but humid heat just does not work in Los Angeles!) The weather makes me feel like staying inside, but I'm planning to drive to Stories Bookstore this afternoon (though episode four of Orange Is the New Black is calling my name).

On Friday night I went to the Echo to see reunion sets by Velouria (dear friends of mine who comprised one of my favorite local bands in the '90s) and Popdefect. In the process I saw a ton of old friends and acquaintances. The club was too hot and too loud, but it was a lot of fun.

"Velouria reunion at The Echo, Los Angeles, 30 August 2013. "Audrey and Anguish"" (Watch on YouTube)

Current Mood: cheerful

My friend Lara Parker has a new Dark Shadows novel, Wolf Moon Rising. I haven't read it yet, but loved her previous Dark Shadows book, The Salem Branch, which she was writing when we were both MFA students at Antioch. (As some of you know, I became a Dark Shadows freak because I went to Antioch with Lara, who played the witch Angelique on the show.)

She's in the midst of a book tour (dates on her website, linked above), and I was delighted to see that Dodie Bellamy (our teacher from Antioch) posted about her appearance at Borderlands in San Francisco. I especially liked what Dodie had to say about the treatment of genre writing and literary experimentation in MFA programs. (At Antioch I wrote experimental poetry and a vampire novel, so I know what she's talking about!...though fortunately I had teachers who got what I was trying to do.)

Current Mood: tired of summer

It is Henna Day, in the midst of more annoyingly humid summer weather. The henna is cool on my head. I am longing for autumn.

On Friday night I had dinner with Carolyn at Taix and saw '20s/'30s/'40s jazz by the Silver Palm Trio.

Yesterday I took three bags of clothes and shoes to the Goodwill, then went to Skylight Books. I said hi to Franny, the bookstore cat, and bought new editions of Frank O'Hara's Meditations in an Emergency and Poems Retrieved. (I have O'Hara's massive hardcover collected poems, but I've been wanting more portable O'Hara books, and there are no O'Hara ebooks yet.) What with so many of L.A.'s independent bookstores now gone, I'm perpetually grateful that Skylight is thriving.

I've been working on the Jo book and a poem, and sending out submissions. I will do more of all this after I rinse out my hair.

Current Mood: lethargic
Current Music: Beatles, "Ticket to Ride"

Originally posted by

shadesong at Flying Higher: An Anthology of Superhero poetry!

It is HERE! The ridiculous superhero poetry anthology that started with me making people scribble poems on their placemats at dinner at Wiscon HAS ARRIVED.

Behold the wonder and the glory of Flying Higher: An Anthology of Superhero Poetry! Congrats to all the poets, and thank you again for playing with us. <3

Edited by Michael Damian Thomas and Shira Lipkin!

Cover by Rin Venieris.

Table of Contents:

Introduction ~ Shira Lipkin & Michael Damian Thomas
Becoming Wonder Woman ~ Julia Rios
AND THE BRONZE MEDAL GOES TO... ~ M. David Blake
Robin’s Legs ~ Mary Robinette Kowal
If ~ Kip Manley
O CAPTAIN! AMERICA'S CAPTAIN! ~ Alex Bledsoe
Mrs. Freeze ~ Anita Allen
Riveted ~ Lisa Bradley
Untitled Haiku ~ Amy McNally
Untitled ~ A.C. Wise
Supervillanelle ~ Lisa Nohealani Morton
The Tiger is Herself ~ Gillian Daniels
Untitled ~ Eric Burns-White
swimming lesson ~ S. Brackett Robertson
Pantone 032 ~ Torrey Stenmark
Untitled ~ Lynne M. Thomas
Said Gorilla Grodd, to God... ~ Erik Amundsen
Unofficial Love ~ Shawna Jaquez
Riddler’s Clues, a Villanelle ~ John O'Connor
Invisible ~ Emily Wagner
Hawkguy ~ Michael Damian Thomas
Darksein the Diabolic Plots His Comeback from Beyond the Grave ~ Mike Allen
Alias ~ Erika Ensign
Judah Maccabee ~ Benjamin Rosenbaum
The Scarlet Witch at Rest ~ Laura McCullough
APACHE CHIEF ~ Sofia Samatar
Wonder Woman Lassos the C.E.O. ~ Wendy Babiak
Inhumanly King. (a poem by Black Bolt) ~ Adam P. Knave
Poison Ivy ~ Emily Nordling
An Elegy for Evelyn Cream ~ Amal El-Mohtar
The Wolverine ~ Matthew Kuchta
Bat-Mite's Refrain ~ R.B. Wood
Untitled ~ Adam Lipkin
take off your horn-rims and fly ~ Gwynne Garfinkle
Untitled ~ Stefan Krzywicki
Guarded ~ Stephanie M. Clarkson
J'onesing for J'onn J'onnz—A Fanboi's Paen to the Martian Manhunter ~ Kelly McCullough
Rocket’s Red Glare ~ John O’Connor
The Bone Woman ~ Alex Dally MacFarlane
Unmasked ~ Claire A. Miller
knitwear is both harder and softer than suits ~ Wednesday Burns-White
The Fish Aquatic ~ John Klima
You! I Thought You Were Dead!* ~ Steven Marsh
Untitled ~ Fritz Bogott
Untitled ~ Mari Ness
Bless Us, Nellie Bly, Saint of the Secular Upstarts ~ C.S.E. Cooney
The Ballad of Captain America's Disapproving Face ~ Catt Kingsgrave
Untitled ~ Michael McAfee
The Tick ~ Liz Argall
Superheroes ~ Meredith Schwartz
Friendship and Butts ~ Shawna Jaquez
Green in Gold and Silver ~ David D. Levine
Super Sense ~ Talib Hussain
Superhero Haiku Triptych ~ Paul Weimer
Princess of Gemworld ~ Mary Anne Mohanraj
Limbo ~ Shira Lipkin

From the intro:

One lunchtime at Wiscon (the major feminist SF/F convention held in Madison, WI), we were discussing poetry. Like you do. In particular, we were discussing topics that Michael didn't think could make for good poetry under any circumstances. Specifically: Superheroes. Shira and Alex Bledsoe absently agreed... then started generating ideas. "I could do a good Superman poem, I think," Alex said. Shira offered Wonder Woman - no, Amethyst - no, too many choices! - and said, "Actually, we should do an anthology." Since Michael never says no to an anthology challenge, he agreed.

Said idea might have been utterly lost in the mad whirl of Wiscon activity had we not ended up at dinner that night at an Indian restaurant with a dozen wonderful writers, editors, and miscellaneous marvelous people who, when Shira insisted they all write superhero poetry on their placemats, actually did so. The seeds of this collection were collected that night.

And that might've been it - a small collection centered around one fun dinner - but we decided that everybody should have a chance to join the fun and did an open call for submissions. The anthology quickly expanded to what it is today - a collection of over 50 superhero poems from the ridiculous to the sublime, from award-winning poets and writers to total poetry novices and everyone in between. The unifying thread through this collection is a pure love for superheroes, in general and in particular, whether they're the heroes we grew up loving, those we create ourselves, or just the structure and tropes of their worlds.

We just wanted everyone to have fun writing superhero poems. We hope you enjoy them.

Current Mood: pleased

As a kid, I was very fond of Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell (the movie versions). Being Jewish, I found them weirdly fascinating. (I think I also had a comic book about Jesus at roughly the same time.)

Then a few years back I got into the original cast recording of Jesus Christ Superstar, partly because Murray Head (brother of Tony) sang the part of Judas--partly because I discovered it was a pretty nifty hard rock album.

Recently I learned my friend John Ramirez was putting together a one-time performance of the Jesus Christ Superstar songs at the Satellite (the nightclub formerly known as Spaceland, which is about five minutes from my apartment by car--I used to spend a lot of time there, but hadn't been there in years). Last night I went to the performance, and saw a lot of old friends, and danced. And wow, they did a great job with the music. (I wish the YouTube clips had better sound and picture quality.) Petra Haden (daughter of Charlie) = probably the best Mary Magdalene ever.

"Heaven On Their Minds" (Watch on YouTube)

Current Mood: impressed

It is Henna Day, on a pleasantly warm day in L.A. (following a spate of hot weather). I think I'm having my usual post-WisCon slump, and massive allergies aren't helping.

I never did properly write up Wiscon, but it was so great to spend time with

nwhepcat,

oracne,

skogkatt,

cafenowhere and many others. The Open Secrets group reading (Lisa Bradley, Amal El-Mohtar, Gwynne Garfinkle, Nancy Hightower, Kathrin Köhler, Shira Lipkin, Alex Dally MacFarlane, Elizabeth R. McClellan, Julia Rios, S. Brackett Robertson, Sofia Samatar) was one of the best poetry readings of any kind I've ever participated in. And there was the amazing panel discussion on speculative poetry featuring

tithenai,

shadesong and Sofia Samatar, and the also amazing panel on the new Queers Dig Time Lords book of essays, and

papersky reading from her two upcoming novels, and far too much more for me to reconstruct at this point...

Current Mood: lethargic

nwhepcat,

oracne,

skogkatt,

tithenai,

shadesong and Sofia Samatar, and the also amazing panel on the new Queers Dig Time Lords book of essays, and

papersky reading from her two upcoming novels, and far too much more for me to reconstruct at this point...

Current Mood: lethargic

Today is Henna Day, on a pleasant cool afternoon following a spate of broiling weather complete with wildfires. I have a big list of things to do after I rinse out my hair, but I'm moving a bit slowly after an action-packed Saturday: getting my hair cut, going to Secret Headquarters for Free Comic Book Day and to the lovely Story Tavern to see my friends play Irish music.

Oh, and I loved last night's Doctor Who. May have to watch it again tonight.

I'm still rereading Scott Miller's Music: What Happened?, which I can't recommend highly enough. Still nowhere near getting past his death, which seems to be true for many people who, like me, knew him slightly but know his music well.

Current Mood: lethargic
Current Music: Loud Family - Cortex the Killer

It is Henna Day, in the midst of an unusually cold (for LA) spate of weather (highs below 60 for the past few days). The henna feels cold on my head.

On Friday night I went to Taix and saw great sets by my friends Carolyn Edwards and Adam Marsland. This weekend I've been working on OOU (the Old Novel I'm Revising), continuing my Sherlock Holmes reread, etc.

[In a shocking twist, I tried to post this on Dreamwidth, but it wouldn't let me, instead of the usual problems with LJ.]

Current Mood: okay
Current Music: Gilmore Girls on SOAPnet

Today is the 10th anniversary of my first LiveJournal post. I think this Colette icon was my first LJ icon.

I've made so many good friends over the years on LJ. The online world has changed a lot since November 2002, but I'm still glad to be here.

Current Mood: contemplative

My contributor's copies of the new issue of Mythic Delirium arrived in the mail today. It's a beautiful issue, including poems by Sonya Taaffe, Rose Lemberg, Ken Liu, Theodora Goss, Shira Lipkin, Alex Dally MacFarlane, S. Brackett Robertson, Alexandra Seidel, and others. It includes my poem "The Pied Piper vs. the Sirens," which was inspired by this song by Jethro Tull (among other things).

Current Mood: pleased

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gwynnega

gwynnegarfinkle.com

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Altadenamusicians.org

RIP Lara Parker

Hamish Kilgour (1957-2022)

Readercon 2019!

back from Wiscon

2013

happy holidays!

henna day post

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holiday weekend

new Dark Shadows novel

henna day post

Flying Higher: An Anthology of Superhero poetry!

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