City of Legends

After one of my sons (who will remain nameless) managed to mangle my headphones the other day (the sixth set to be lost to teenage son abuse in the past year) I went out and bought another.  Not much of a choice, really.  I don’t buy the high-end stuff…it breaks just about as easily as the cheap stuff and then it starts getting really expensive.

I like the new headphones, although the cats have gone into perpetual hiding.  When I can crank up Blood Sweat & Tears‘ "Redemption" so loud I start sneezing during the horn bridge between verses and can feel my ear wax liquify, I am a happy camper.  It’s like when I lived in LA the first time and would go to the club called simply "The Rock" at the corner of Topanga and Sherman Way and be legally deaf for a few days afterwards.  I like music so loud that it causes change on a cellular level and could theoretically be employed as a remote detonation system for IEDs in Afghanistan.

Wrote some more this evening.  High speed stream of consciousness stuff.  Highly romantic.  Some of it pretty erotic.  Yeah, I;ve got it bad, again.  Dig a hole and keep the shovels ready, we all know how these things end.  I have a sense of humour about the doom, but I acknowledge it.  Larry Jaffe says its because I expect more out of people than they are really capable of.  Dan McTaggart thinks I’m certifiable insane, but a noble warrior in the cause of love. 

Noble madman?  Wouldn’t be the first.  Sometimes I feel like Stephanie Hodge in her classic "Jungle Fucking" comedy routine, when, after describing an impossibly intense and perfect sexual encounter pauses and asks "Is that too much to ask?"

Ah…I recall the poet saying he would pay "twice the price of Odin for the wisdom to know the truth".  Odin gave up an eye for wisdom.  To be able to see through the bullshit of those for whom love is but a slipcover, a veil, a pretense…that would be worth never seeing light again.

If there is an honorary citizen of the City of Legends, it almost has to be Daniel S. McTaggart, the Mountain Poet I have collaborated with and read alongside of.  He has been a guest on my podcast show, I designed the cover for his 2007 book "Midnight Muse at the Convenience Store" and he is just a good guy and a capable poet.

His new book, "Diner Poems", has just come out ( ISBN# 978-0-578-04587-0 for those of you wishing to order from Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble, etc.)  Dan loves his Americana, and an entire book of poems about diners?  Natural for him.  I was supposed to write a piece for the book about "Plato’s Cave", which is the inspiration for one of the poems in the book based on a discussion we had on that philosophical construct in a diner near Fairmont, West Virginia, but he decided to go pure with his material (I can’t blame him) and I promise I’ll do my best to drop the word here.

But here is a sample from the new book, entitled "Plato’s Cave on a Diner Napkin".

Some exciting news from Daniel S. McTaggart (Dan the Man).  Seems a national magazine for convenience store insiders has picked up some of his poems from his book "Midnight Muse in the Convenience Store" for reprint.  Proud of him, I am (plus, it doesn’t hurt that I wrote the foreword and designed the cover for the book, so it’s all free publicity for me..).

Dude, you rock.  I’ll fill the rest of you in with the details (like the magazine name) when he gets them to me.

It’s a bit different this year than last, but I am well.  The writing is strong, the readers are appreciative, and I still control my own fate.  That’s always nice.

Got to see my Grandmother over the weekend.  A strange visit, as she was in and out of reality.  At 97, though, I hope I am as strong and vital as she is.  The funniest part of the visit is when she accused one woman who works at the facility of looking at me "funny".  She kept asking her "Why are you looking at him funny?" then turning to me and asking me if I noticed.

I’d noticed.  Although I wouldn’t call her looks "funny". 

I am compiling my master list of blurbistas for the new book (I take science of "blurbology" very, very seriously, as those who write the jacket blurbs for my books are frozen as a snapshot in time, their feelings and thoughts at that moment sometimes being the introduction to them, via my works, to my readers).   I am only partially able to spend the time in the recording studio that I would like, as my voice is still in and out.  Dammit.

Some of the new poems are getting strong, positive reaction.  This tells me I am cracking through an emotional barrier.  Nice to be alive.  Usually.

Dan McTaggart has approached me about writing a brief essay explaining the philosophical construct of "Plato’s Cave" for his new book.  It’s a book of poems about diners.  No kidding.  But one day we were having lunch at a diner and somehow the concept came up and I explained to him my understanding of it and that moment got captured in one of his poems, so he wanted me to recapture it.  Like I can remember what I said.  Although I do recall the waitress had very nice legs.  I think that influenced my tip.

That’s all for now.  More later.

My occasional project partner, Dan "The Man" McTaggart, has come out with a new book that I did not design cover for, edit, write foreword to or in any other way contribute to or tamper with.

It’s called Six Days in Santa Fe and I, knowing the kind of heart and soul the man puts into his work and his talents, would recommend it without reservation.

Survived the reading.  Both Tag (Daniel S. McTaggart) and I cut out earlier, a bit disappointed by the turnout…but as I did no local media and the store did little (they had a big fish in Senator Robert C. Byrd coming in just a few days ahead of us and we were sort of pushed aside, which is understandable, but regrettable.

I did make my announcement at the reading:  I am stepping back from doing more public appearances for the next year.  I need some time to concentrate on writing, editing and healing up.  I could tell my stamina (and patience) was diminished and I don’t like putting anything less than everything out there.

Busy week, but I will be doing updates all over the place as time and sanity allows.  One of my favourite muses is back from holiday and so that will be a boost to my productivity.  I had a pleasant birthday weekend…a few surprises, but that is part of life, you know?

Some ideas for my next book are starting to take shape…but I am putting those off and promising myself to focus on my current catalog for now.  I have a tendency to start new project while the old ones aren’t even done twitching in their afterbirth.

There is a rumour that I would like to address.  Well, several, but this is the one I am addressing today.  There is talk that with the rise of williamfdevault.com I may be selling off cityoflegends.com.  Fair point.  I can say I have no immediate plans to do this.  For more than a decade people have been coming to the City to read my works and you’d be surprised, perhaps, to see how many come back again and again, off their favourites or bookmarks.

I don’t like leaving people stranded.

Here and Amomancer will be fairly quiet today, as I am busy with a conference.  Don’t let that stop you from browsing, however.

The Roman says hello.  The English Girl is tarting it up a bit.  And you don’t even want to hear about the more interesting aspects of my life, trust me.

Dan McTaggart is confirmed to be reading with me in the 10-12 and 1-3 slots on the 17th.

Having recently announced to the world that I am pulling out of AuthorsDen, a site where I had been in residence for many years, I just today reaffirmed my commitment to them and decided to re-assert my presence there.

Then mere moments ago I get a notice and a call from my friend and collaborator Daniel S. McTaggart, announcing he is dropping out of AD. I had to laugh.

Dan, you will be missed there, and anytime you want me to post anything of yours or let the world know about an upcoming project or event, just drop me word (and that goes for any and all of my writerly friends). Mi blog es su blog (we know how much trouble that can lead to, eh?)

Dan has stood by me through thick and thin, sharing some very bizarre events in my life, and I am proud to have not only designed the cover for his book Midnight Muse in a Convenience Store, but also co-authored an anthology with him, Psalms of the Monster River Cult. He has made multiple appearances on my lagging podcast (I’m getting back to it, I promise). Both books are available at fine bookstores and online. Go. Buy. Sheesh.

It has been an extraordinary week, and so many things are falling into place in preparation for what will be a pivotal 2008.

I want to thank all of those out there who have been buying my books, listening to me on Live365 and visiting my site and blogs and cheering on my relationship with the Diamondheart. I am learning every day, a little more, the virtue of truth and of patience. I love where my life is headed, and excited to believe I will have this life for some time to come.

Most excellent praise to Dan McTaggart, Huerta, Candy, Chanda Willard, Raven West, Larry Jaffe, Maureen Barber, Kathryn Kuzmar, Susan Sonnen and all of my other creative and excellent friends. This coming year I will be reprising my role as a judge for the Texas Panhandle Writers’ Association Frontiers in Writing chapbook contest, among other fun and games.

Fun. Fun. Fun.

Tuesday, January 1, expect a transformation in the fifth stuff of my world.