Found Art

Found this in the bottom of a shoebox where I have collected things from throughout the years.  I drew this in the 9th grade and really haven't drawn since.  It's tough to see, but there is a figure at the end of the hallway.  Apparently, I've always liked things with a bit of the creepy to them. 

1-14-5-23-2-5-7-9-14-14-9-14-7: 11-9-12-12-20-8-5-15-12-4-7-15-4-19-20-15-2-5-6-18-5-5

     The Buzzards are dead! 

Long live The New Flesh!

 ......Worship 15:13......

......

A Book from the Ether: Song of Kali, by Dan Simmons

I know I already threw a book out there by Dan Simmons, but I felt compelled to present another.  I can already hear all you Buzzards squawking, "We get it!  You like Dan Simmons.  If given the opportunity, you would volunteer to brush his hair and beard while exchanging childhood stories."  Well, despite this being true, this is not why I chose Song of Kali for this Book from the Ether posting.



The reason, however, is due to a world-traveling family member who is currently spending a few months in the Indian mountain town of Manali.  Song of Kali takes place in early 80's Calcutta.  Now, India is a big country and I imagine Manali is quite different from Calcutta.  For that matter, I imagine the Calcutta of 30 years ago is different from that of today.  Still, it seems an appropriate time to discuss this great book.  (Also, for that world traveler, being that one of your past haunts was Thailand, take a look at my last post, Escape!, where I discuss The Windup Girl, which takes place in a future Bangkok.)

Song of Kali won The World Fantasy Award in 1986.  The story centers on Robert Luzcak, who, accompanied by his wife and child, is sent to Calcutta by his magazine to locate recently written poetry by a writer thought to have been dead for a number of years.  As the story effectively unweaves, leading deeper into the dark side of Calcutta, Luscak becomes embroiled in events that seem to lead to one thing: a cult that worships Kali, the Hindu goddess of death and destruction.

This was Simmons' first book and, though it is by no means my favorite of his works, it is still well written and effectively creates a frightening world in the streets of Calcutta.  The following are professional critiques taken from Amazon:

Horror critic Edward Bryant calls Song of Kali "an exactingly constructed, brutal, and uncompromising study of the degree to which an evil place may permeate and steep all that makes us human" and writes that it embodies "the stance of a psychologically violent novel about a violent society as a defensible and indisputably moral work of art." --Fiona Webster



"The best novel in the genre I can remember. Dan Simmons is brilliant!" --Dean R. Koontz

"Song of Kali is as harrowing and ghoulish as anyone could wish. Simmons makes the stuff of nightmares very real indeed." --Locus

"Dan Simmons understands terror and what it does to readers. Where Stephen King flinches, Simmons doesn't." --Edward Byrant, Mile High Futures

"An absolutely harrowing experience." --F. Paul Wilson (author of The Keep)

Short Story: Solitary Man, Part 3

Well, hello there Buzzards and Non-Buzzards (by Non-Buzzards, I mean you are sane and do not kidnap people), here is the next installment of my short story, Solitary Man.  For those of you who have not read parts 1 and 2 of Solitary Man, here you go:

Solitary Man, Part 1
Solitary Man, Part 2

And, as an extra treat, I am going to give away the secret codewords The Buzzard Group (TBG) uses: Rat Shit Mongoose.  There, Buzzards, now you have to change all of your passwords.  That's what you get for kidnapping people! 

Enjoy the story, everyone.

Solitary Man, Part 3

This story has been removed as it will be published in the June 2011 edition of Deadman's Tome.

Escape!

Make sense of this to me, Non-Buzzards: I just returned home from being kidnapped by, just guess, The Buzzard Group, which you all well know goes by the acronym of TBG.  Hence, why I have not posted in awhile.  We'll get into that in a second.  But, first, would all of you fine people like to know what I came home to?  (PS-Just being polite.  If you are reading this, then you are going to find out...keep up, people.)  I came back to my home to find (in addition to empty beer cans covering the floor from the parties my pets threw...who knew dogs liked beer?) a mailbox full of letters (don't you hate it when separate thoughts are continually interjected into a discussion, making it increasingly difficult to follow a line of logic?).  As you may have already guessed, the angry letters were from TBG, issuing death threats if I did not continue my blog.  Now, explain something to me: How can TBG kidnap me and then be angry when I do not post because I am kidnapped?!  Incidentally, I was able to snap a picture of the TBG members that stormed my house, threw my dogs a diversionary steak and bound and gagged me (with my own dirty underwear...not pleasant). 

                                          Source: Robot Chicken, Season 2 Packaging

As for the phallic nature of the boy on the unicorn: no comment...very strange, I agree.

                                          Source: Robot Chicken, Season 2 Packaging


Also, I would like to direct your attention to the second picture.  Now, the world has proof of the evil intent of Mexicans!  They are not coming to this country to create better lives.  They are in league with The Dark Lord, Satan, himself!  (And, zombies and killer whales in drag, but that's not the point here.)  And, furthermore, they are all members of the shadowy organization, The Buzzard Group.  The revelations here are huge and as well documented and apparent as any Glenn Beck has presented to the world.

Also, stay tuned for details of my experiences during my abduction and, immediately following this post, Solitary Man, Part 3.  Later, come back to learn my most startling revelation: Eisenhower was a socialist Commie!  I am still compiling data/evidence, but you will see it shortly.  And, again, I will adhere to the Glenn Beck standards of responsibly compiling and presenting irrefutable evidence that not only impacts individual reputations, but also effects large scale perceptions of social reality.  No leaps of logic here.  I promise.   

I will send you off with a little book talk: I often read a fiction and non-fiction book simultaneously to cover all moods.  Here's what I'm reading now.  If any of you Buzzards or Non-Buzzards have come across either of these, let me know what you thought.  If not, check them out. The verdict is still out on The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi.  I just started it last night.  So far, though, I am intrigued with the world Bacigalupi has created.   

As far as my non-fiction pic, The Birth of Plenty: How the Prosperity of the Modern World was Created,by investment guru, William J. Bernstein, it is, so far, a great read.  I was hooked by a line in the description on the back cover: In a fascinating, irresistibly written work that recalls Jared Diamond's, Guns, Germs and Steel and other classic big-picture narratives of Western Civilization.  Being that I read Guns, Germs and Steel almost a decade ago, and it still remains one of my favorite books, I, of course, had to pick this one up.

So long and thanks for all the fish...