On Immortality
January 5, 2011
I write for entirely selfish reasons.
I want to live forever–simple as that.
I got a call from a good friend of mine yesterday.”Hey, did you hear about Dave?”
“No,” I said.
“He’s dead,” my friend replied.
Wow. Forty-three years old. Dead. It makes you wonder. It doesn’t really matter how you prop yourself up. You could hedge your bet by living a righteous life, denying yourself every pleasure, swallowing vitamins and sucking down soy milk, and it just doesn’t matter. Your number’s up, it’s up, and there’s no getting another one unless you choose to downgrade and head over to the Butterfly Line.
So, that’s why I write. That’s why I spend five hours every evening in the freezing cold basement dreaming up things that exist nowhere except in my head. It’s a pretty selfish thing, to want to be immortal, to want to reach out and be heard beyond the fair allotment of life I was given.
Through my words, the concrete vault that will be poured over my coffin one day means nothing.
My grandfather was gone before I was born. Heart attack. Happens in my family–in fact, I’m probably several million beats overdue. Who was my grandfather, I ask my dad every so often. And he sits down and shows me pictures and tries to recall his father as best he can, but the memory fades and the anecdotes don’t seem real. All I had for a long time were faded black and whites of a strange man in a strange suit from a time long gone. And then, my mom found an old suitcase in the attic full of musty old things. Mixed into the sundries was a crinkly old note written in my grandfather’s hand to my older sister.
“You need to quit acting up in school, and stop giving the nuns such a hard time. A sharp paddling is for your own good, and don’t you forget it. I want you to stand there and take it like a Garcia and don’t cry.”
So there he was–the long gone man had a voice fresh and new, leaping out from the past demanding strength and virtue under fire. Apparently he wants my sister to quit acting up. He didn’t get his wish, much, but, his words keep his wants alive. “Stand there and take it.” Maybe they should have put that on his tombstone.
So, I write. When my suitcase comes down some day in the future, it’ll be full of a whole trove of my words and my voice waiting to be heard again.
Cast a spell, write a verse, and let your voice be heard from the vault of death. Be immortal.
Bowl Naked
RG
TOTEH CHARACTERS: Torrijayne and Sygillis
January 4, 2011
"Torri and Syg" by Bea Matarredona-Garcia
COUNTESS SYGILLIS OF BLANCHEFORT AND DUCHESS TORRIJAYNE OF OYLNare characters that appear in the Temple of the Exploding Head trilogy. Both of them are ex-Black Hats, Syg having been turned in the original LoE book, and Torri in book 2. Syg and Torri have a bad history together, and were mortal enemies as Black Hats, often ignoring the Sisters on the battlefield so that they could fight each other instead.
As civilized, tamed ladies of the League, Syg and Torri no longer try to kill each other, however, they are still enemies, just on a social level. When invited to the same parties, they try to humiliate each other. Syg attacked Torri with StT’s that ate through her clothes at a recent ball, leaving her quite naked. Torri snuck a potion into Syg’s tea that turned her teeth black and flooded Blanchefort village with funny Syg-tee-shirts. They destroyed the buffet table at a party with wind and smoke as they attempted to Out-Waft one another. And on and on.
Despite their hatred of each other, Syg and Torri are good friends with their respective husbands. Torri often has Captain Davage in stitches with her off-color “Syg Jokes”. Torri also adores Syg’s children, Kay being her favorite. They often write each other, Kay referring to her with the code name: Dimples.
copyright 2011, Ren Garcia
News, Notes & Billygoats
January 1, 2011
Just a few quick things to start the new year.
THE DEAD HELD HANDS: Just as I’m ready to get back the edited copy of The Dead Held Hands, I’ve got a whole slew of changes, additions, and deletions. Of course an author is never truly finished massaging a piece of work, and I’m no exception. I wanted to “Activate” the first few chapters and streamline it a little bit. The changes make for a better read, but the MS will need to be edited again. Eh, yeah, sorry about that …
A couple of the changes in a nutshell:
Addition: Chapter 2: The Pale Ghost: Thirteen year old Lord Kabyl is troubled to learn that a “Pale Ghost” has been shadowing him for quite some time. His little sister, Lady Kilos, has inherited her great grandmother’s books of witchcraft and tries to perform an exorcism, getting rid of the pesky ghost once and for all.
Addition: Chapter 3: The Last Day of His Life: Lacking the Gift of Sight, unable to lift his father’s CARG and feeling himself a general failure, Kay plans to kill himself by jumping off a high balcony. A responsible kid, Kay tries to make certain the recovery and clean-up of his body will be as easy and mess-free as possible. That’s important to him. He’s certain he won’t be missed too much.
Appearances: If there’s a bake sale, craft show, flea market or parking lot gathering in the central Ohio area, you can bet I’ll be there and I’ll have my books with me. My next Big Showing will be at Millenicon in Cincinnati, Ohio March 18-20 with Loconeal Publishing. I’m also thinking about heading to Capricon 31 in Chicago, Feb 10-13. Here’s Capricon 31’s info: http://www.capricon.org/capricon31/index.php
Notes:
CHANTAL BOUDREAU: Congrats to the prolific and incredibly talented Chantal Boudreau as she kicks off her publishing career with Elements of Genocide. I only wish I could do what Chantal does, and I’m certain her first book will be a huge success. See Chantal’s blog at: http://chantellyb.wordpress.com/author/chantellyb/ I hope I get to be Chantal’s first customer.
JUSTINE MARIE HEDMAN: A huge talent with both word and ink, Justine’s finally ready to start shopping her fantasy epic: The Trials of Ephira: Beginning of the End. Good luck, Justine. I hope your busy schedule will allow you to draw me a few more great pics this year (fingers crossed).
Billygoats: A Clear Murder Threat
<–This posting could be a critical piece of evidence at my murder trial. I am eagerly awaiting the completion of the oft mentioned but seldom seen League of Elder Graphic Novel by MFK Comics. I’ve seen the script, so I know it exists. The talented writer, Daniel Morris, has overcome a few adaptation issues (“I hate your book, Ren, and, by extension, I hate you as well!”) and artist Jon Harvey has gotten the sordid details of his life worked out, so I’m certain 2011 will be a big year for the Graphic Novel. The health and safety of MFK comics depends on it.
So, I’m looking at you, boys … and I’ve got my gun.
Bowl Naked
RG
copyright 2010 Ren Garcia
The Temple of the Exploding Head 