Photo “you, there” © kate elizabeth
Things is strange.
Scrawled-on Windjammer bar napkins lie in wait. Psycho Liza, a chunky Elvira, is on one of them. She shows up at the Windjammer every Thursday at 5:07pm for the $2 wine drink special, sits at the same dinky round cocktail table every week. By 4:45pm the place is packed with local shmoes just waiting to see what Liza’ll do this time.
Lukewarm ideas are here and there in the writing journal. They’re gray flannel nights. I had red silk and champagne ones in mind. The wasted space idea’s a good one, but it’s stuck in my throat. Every time I swallow, it gets a little closer to the vat of gastric acid licking up at it, wanting to denature it.
Had a pleasant surprise from Walter Conley, who thought to stick a “for Miss Alister” under the title of his noir piece “Princes,” published in “A Twist of Noir.” Link’s here if you’re curious. Walter’s hot these days, been bending light with his words.
Got a dark piece called “Zero,zero” coming up in MiCrow, the flash fiction supplemental section of Full of Crow. Theme is “Half,” publication is “MiCrow: Winter, 2010.” It’ll be online February 1. Main Full of Crow page link’s here, if you want to get a preliminary feel for the intense heat waves over there.
1/31/10 NOTE: the 2/1/10 MiCrow pub date has been pushed out to 2/10/10.
Smash the glass and grab the goods. Just go ahead now.
The Essence of a Thing 
I have a gut feeling that Psycho Liza will be a character to remember, a lady who could win a stare off with Hannibal Lecter.
LOL! Probably not Lecter…but then, one never knows what’ll end up happening does one? ; )
Oh your ideas are a precious velvet-filled box I’d like to steal for myself :)
Ms. Mood, you always know just the right words to say : )
Well, you’ve been a busy girl — congrats on those gigs at MiCrow and Disenthralled! Don’t worry too much about the red silk and champagne ideas; you should be enjoying the real thing right now… just be sure to keep a pen handy, y’know, just in case Psycho Liza decides to show up.
Thanks, Anno. And good advice re: the fabrics and fluids et al! Psycho Liza has been skulking around my head… Wish she’d just strike and scare the crap outta me, get it over with… : )
Fictionally speaking, of course, gray flannel (well, maybe blue flannel) tops red silk and champagne any day of the week. Psycho Liza probably eats gray flannel. Looking forward to the Zero.
Gray. Hmph. Of course I did once read something Nabokov said about Chekhov’s Lady/Little Dog story that was along those lines. Instead of describing the mood and moral situation, Chekhov paints it with gray carpet, a headless horseman inkstand gray with dust…
Interesting, i’ve learned something new today.
waiting impatiently. I think I know psycho Liza. She started up a conversation with me at a bar and then every time I turned around she showed up in my life. At my apartment, at my job, even at my church. When she started dating my boyfriend I decided that a line had been crossed, a milestone reached. My building has a large incinerator in the basement….
It doesn’t surprise me Liza’s crept ‘round your life. She’s everywhere. Even in incinerators. Heh. Good one, Dee ; ) I hate to say, though, that you may be waiting a bit more. I’ve got one of the biggest projects of my life going on right now, but at least I’d gotten a start on Liza by way of our church girl May. I’ll leave you with that wicked suggestion…
Wow A – went and had myself a read and then spent an hour curled up in a corner. That was painful to read and created a picture of desolation that is inescapable. Helpless and hopeless. Sorry I was so late – I was neck deep in educational technology but this was certainly worth coming back for. You done good girl!
Aw, Dee, you weren’t late at all. MiCrow Winter 2010 just came out yesterday, I think. That’s when I found it, anyway. Zero,zero’s pure desolation alright. Desolation and futility run riverlike underneath the catwalk I’m on. I get splashed occasionally. Thank you so very much for taking time to read my stuff, my dear : )
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