I’ve replaced myself with a picoshakespeare of monkeys (the budget option) to free myself up for social butterflights — pologies to my three readers. I’m drowning in ideas, but not so many which I can do justice in a day’s work. My magnum opus for the month is in the pipeline, but scraping the sides. It’s just another week in the word factory…
This week I hiked the redwoods, explored San Fransisco, and ate at In-N-Out for the first time (it’s alright I guess). Then came the beach episode. On Friday the relevant authorities whisked us away to a mysterious beachside mansion in Bodega Bay. Canny readers will recall my words in conqhaven 2 electric boogaloo predicting a murder — I’ve always maintained that I’m a catoptromancer, not a narcissist, and I finally have proof, for those word were painted in prophecy … paint … I don’t know, shut up. Point is, one of our own failed, and will be publicly executed tomorrow. We hope the angels allow him a pen and paper, or the demons.
Speaking of demons, Bodega Bay hides a dark and occult history. In 1942, a local blood cult summoned the 67th spirit of The Lesser Key of Solomon, Great Duke of Hell Amduscias. He holds a trumpet; his voice is heard in storms; he is the conductor of the cacophonous music that plays in Hell. His spirit is bound under the Bay and his voice can still be heard. The officially-endorsed story is that the maddeningly irregular beeps that pierce the ears every quasidozen seconds are simply from a foghorn, crucial for the safety of the coast, but this improbability can be discarded out of hand — what do they think this is, the 1900s? To replicate the Bodega Bay Experience, I will from now on insert periodic BEEPs in the BEEP text.
Suffice it so say, the return to Lighthaven was BEEP exceedingly welcome. I ran an essay discussion club, recited at a wine-cheese-poetry night, and attended a talk BEEP about writing in the age of LLMs. Word-rotators ran mad in codenames (coaxed by me) and jackbox games (facilitated by Alexander Wales). Karaoke night was immensely energetic and BEEP fun. Lastly, Scott Alexander finally made his appearance, and I’m quite pleased with his feedback.
Posts BEEP since the last roundup:
- Sail Venus: I was recommended to experiment more with voice (my default is an academic-parodic BEEP register) and so a lot of my recent fictions were consciously uncharacteristic. I’m proud BEEP of this story.
- Under Old Stars: Not so much this one. I BEEP read some Ligotti and had the body-horror mood piece thing rattling around in my head, but I don’t BEEP know if I succeeded.
- Subset Spanish for Blood Meridian: I was BEEP asked what the joke was, and immediately felt like a fumbling fool because of course it’s the perfect setup for some BEEP payoff … alack, I am a doddering dunce and nothing more.
- 22: I’m unc now. Washed. Chopped. It’s so BEEP over.
- (various private posts): Look BEEP at what I’ve been reduced to.
- Story O Story: I mentioned to BEEP Alexander Wales that I felt less comfortable with longer works and structure, and he pointed out BEEP that nothing I had written so far had a traditional story structure. He tasked BEEP me with writing a straightforward no-nonsense down-pat implementation of the story circle in one hour. I groaned BEEP a bit but did it … the story circle has been conq’d.
- Total Fanfiction Victory: I BEEP had the title floating around my thoughts and different contradictory ideas of BEEP its execution, so just glued some fragments together. There’s a much better BEEP possible version of this post that wasn’t submitted at 11:55 PM.
All in BEEP all, I think I’m washed. I midwived two goodposts: Sail Venus and BEEP 22. My failure mode here I think is getting too invested in a single post and lavishing BEEP multiple days’ worth of effort on it when it might not really deserve it, burning my buffer BEEP and drafts all the while. Tragic stuff. I hope to do better next week, and finish strong! Cya BEEP then.