VD 11/11/22

Weekly Thoughts

I’m writing this over a breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, and coffee at the local coffee shop near my new home in the Lowcountry.

Today is Veterans day so I spent a good bit of the morning reaching out to my old friends from back in the warfighting days. Unlike vets of the past who celebrated by getting together in bars, we post pictures on Facebook. Thus is life. When I’m done here I’m going to go get a haircut and spend the rest of the day with my wife and daughter.

Two nights ago I finished Mccarthy's new novel The Passenger. I’m going to write an in-depth review in the next few days. I need a bit more time to think over the beautifully written but difficult and complex work. The Passenger is a novel that I know I will have to revisit in the future, especially after I read the second part, Stella Maris, which is due for release in December.

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Substack

I’m starting a process of disengagement from social media. The constant schizophrenic noise of Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram has become more and more unbearable. Facebook became unusable years ago and I only use it for picture posts for my family and the occasional group; Twitter is rapidly becoming the same. The algorithm of these sites has diminished the value because I no longer see posts from people I follow, instead, my feed is buried in idiotic reposts filled with braindead pseudo-political commentary and other inanities. Even the analytics from Substack prove to me that Twitter is useless, most of my reads come through direct email or other Substack recommendations.

As an independent writer, I cannot turn my back on the internet. I would love to be a Cormac McCarthy or Thomas Pynchon, anonymous and quiet, living a life of writing obscurity. But, being from the digital era and not having the backing of the literary establishment means that I would be unable to get any of my writing out for you to read. So I have to compromise, and in this case, I think the best course of action is to turn away from the digital dopamine pumps and focus on long-form platforms that reject algorithmic bugfuckery and allow for personal curation. Substack is the perfect platform. The reach of Twitter without the psychosis-inducing stupidity.

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Writing

Now that I’m settled into my new home, fully unpacked, and comfortable in my environment, I’m throwing myself at completing the two major projects I started when I was living in the South Pacific. The first of the two is a collection of stories that are interlinked in theme and style. The direction of the work is similar to what I started in the piece published in Alexander Hellene’s Pulp Rock anthology. If you enjoyed my work in that collection you will like what I am working on now.

 The second, and more important of the two, is a novel I’ve been working on and off for over a year.  I don’t want to write too much about this one until I feel that I’ve locked in some stylistic points that I’ve yet to solidify.

One thing I plan on doing shortly is releasing individual shorts here on Substack. These will be for paid subscribers as a thank-you for supporting my writing through generous donations. I will also write some in-depth commentary and variations that will not be released anywhere else. All money raised on the substack subscription model supports my writing. I want to avoid having to use crowdfunding for the collection, so any money from here will go towards cover, formatting, and editing cost. Subscribers will get early access and free copies.

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Reading

Like I said above, I finished The Passenger a few nights ago. A beautiful book that will require some thinking and maybe a re-read to fully comprehend. Last night I started Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, a true crime novel about a murder and scandal that took place in the midst of Savannah’s high society. My main interest in the novel is that it takes place in my new home the Lowcountry. Savannah is a fifteen-minute drive and I’ve already visited some of the places mentioned in the book.

 I also picked up Walter Edgar’s South Carolina: A History. I enjoy knowing the history of places I visit, even more so of places I live in. A few years ago, I read Clavell’s Tai-Pan and became intrigued by the history and culture of Hong Kong so I read everything I could find about the city before finally visiting in 2017. Having a decent grasp of the history and culture enriched my trip significantly. I did the same when I spent a few months in Kuching, Malaysia, and of course, I read deeply about Japan and its culture during the years I lived outside of Tokyo.

On the internet this week I mostly stayed away. The midterm election dominated discussion and I’m just not interested in the smoke and mirrors of the modern democratic process. The whole thing feels ridiculous. The only interesting online writing this week came from

Chuck Palahniuk

, who wrote a piece Why Short Stories, and from

Alexander Hellene

who finished his series about physical media with Happiness in Magazines. Both are excellent reads on a similar topic.

Until next time.