An Important Announcement

I am happy to announce that two of my most important web sites are now available:

BasilSprig.com - my web site devoted to the less carnal and more spiritual things. This here blog you are reading is an extension of that important web site. But articles, news, poetry, things that I think are important enough to be very obvious (and not burried in the history of a blog) are posted there as articles, etc. I plan to add much, much more.


DragonsCleft.com - there isn't much content there yet, but this site is devoted to my Fantasy and Sci-Fi Fiction, where I write in the name of Arthur Pennybog. I currently have one novel seeking publication in the fantasy genre. It's a great novel, and I hope to attract a great publisher in order to meet head-on a great audience.

You may already know Mr. Pennybog from his blog DreamerOfDreams - where he is currently working his way through a phantasmagorical story about a lonely single guy and his strange dreams. This work is more "magic realism" than it is Fantasy- SciFi. Nevertheless, I've made it a work of Arthur Pennybog.

Lastly, Mr. Pennybog (or is it Mr. BenJava?) has begun a blog of Flash Fiction called FireFlash. Flash Fiction is a particular genre of the very, very short story. Basically, these are things that I have always written and called vignettes. But I guess the term in vogue for it now is "Flash Fiction." It is a short story of 500 words or less. Often between 100 and 250 words. I'm going to try to keep mine under 250 words, or at least under 300 words.

These are serious stories, not for the faint of heart. They have no overtly Christian "message" - personally, I say humbug to messages in stories. A good story doesn't have any overt messages, but it secretly speaks to your heart.

Well, there are other modes and existences of Basil the Wandering Fool - and they can be found by digging deep at the above sites. I don't advertise them... they are far to terrifying for public consumption.

Regards,
BasilFly

Jan 27, 2004
Planet Earth
(I have to keep reminding myself of this since I gaze at beautiful pictures of Mars all throughout my day.)
Ain't she pretty:

as I was saying...
Jan 27, 2004
Planet Earth
Where do Stories Come From, Part 2

And so, the Doc. says: stories come from these official little places we've all figured out meticulously, through our haughty degrees, and formal institutions. Look at Tolkein; Look at Thomas Pynchon; Look at the Cat In The Hat! The Cat in the Hat? (No, that's me speaking now, not him any more.) Yes, I say, look at the Cat in the Hat. Stories don't come from the formal institution. They come from incandescent moments with loud pounding music, good wine, good Bourbon, a good Single Malt. They come from skyscrapers, scraping the sky. They come from eavesdropping on strangers, and watching the hookers swag their way down the streets. They come from the lonely isolation of a bus ride through hell, on the way home from the grocery store. But, they don't come from my life. Oh no. Not from my heart either, or my mind. At least if they do, I don't want to know. Don't tell me.

Do they come from my nightmares, or my dreams?

Where do stories really come from? I have never hazard a guess. I have never had to look for one. When I write a story it is because I'm trying to escape it. I don't go looking for a story. I never have, and I don't want to. Perhaps some understanding of where a story comes from can help me along my way. Yes, it has. I learned something from the first week's lesson: dig deep. And so that's what I did, and I think it was evident all over what I wrote for my first assignment. But the prof says it doesn't show anywhere in what I wrote.

So, I guess I didn't get the point across.