jpwilson

Happy Birthday Peggy

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 09:27:25 GMT

I shall have to be creative in what kind of trouble to lure you into this year. Last year's karoke wasn't as much fun as I expected.

I didn't write this, but I wish I had

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 12:57:13 GMT

Rant

What an absolute masterpiece - reminds me of Perec's La Disparition. I don't think that even at my best I could write this.

What Do You Have To Say? - Not Enough Coverage

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 12:11:17 GMT

What isn't written about enough in today's world?

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LJ thought they were pitching me a softball. About a month ago I announced that I was writing a paranormal romance novel about Frank & Tony and a resort on a mountaintop in PA. So clearly I think that "what is not written about" is gay paranormal romance.

But I chose that because I thought it would sell. Paranormal romance is an exploding genre and I judged that it was the genre where it was possible for a first time author to be published. That doesn't actually mean that I thought that was what needed to be written about. The distinction between "art" and "saleable" is a question I think best discussed late at night over a second bottle of Galiano with close friends.

I went into history in part because it was the path of least resistance, but also in part because I found an incredible wealth of stories about people like me. People throughout history who had stories that taught me something. I'll admit that in the beginning most of the stories were about futility. About men and women who were, by any definition "great". Endowed with abilities and talents greater than my own. Favored by fortune with positions where the commanded wealth and power that nobody today can dream of - and they still failed. Some of these people were petty, but others had a vision - they wanted to give their children a world better than the one they'd received. And they failed. Some improved the world, but

"Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp,
Or what's a heaven for? All is silver-grey,
Placid and perfect . . . " Browning's Del Sarto

Now I've got to go off for more tests - I've got a suspicious bulge in my abdomen which could be related to Porphyria, or it could be a hernia, or it could be something "interesting". When I come back I'll try to finish the essay.

Wow - that took longer than I anticipated. Today's educational word is "intussusception". For a special bonus of my weekend fun, look up "Neuropathy" and "Allodynia". For a few days typing was agonizing.

Obviously the interruption in my train of thought wrecks whatever structure I once had for this essay. I had planned to start with why I found history fascinating and bridge to why I find the Romantic movement so compelling - these wonderful idealistic people who chose to preference ideals over reality. I'd hoped to do a contrast of Francis Bacon and Percy Shelley. The summary of the summary (as Keynes once said), is that we can't have a civilization without Bacon's invention of the scientific method and we can't care about that civilization without the Romantic sensibility.

And there was a fantastic quote by Bruce Mcallister - in the story "Stu" that I've lost.

So in the context of that, what needs to be written about? We need more stories that bridge the isolation of one soul from another. Stories that support and join us, reminding us of common bonds - bonds like the awe that so characterized the best of the Romantics.

Posted without (much) comment

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 11:27:30 GMT

Bloodwing
Mr.Wizard
Vamp

I think I have permission to post these. They may vanish.

I've managed to possibly extract Mr. Tanner's text.
Tanner's comments

I'm aware that Tanner's comments are only one side of the conversation. Those who understand why it must be that way will understand; others will be frustrated. I cannot control that.

Wow

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:48:49 GMT

Bit of a a physical collapse this week. Had some medical problems over the weekend and received emergency treatment. Either the drugs or the stress were too much for me, and Monday afternoon I had a relapse. So I'm hooked up to the machines again today listening to the whirring of the pumps and washers, and staring at my belly which we hope will decrease in size.

And thinking. Thinking about William Blake and Adam Smith. About Benito Mussolini and Oliver North. About Stephanie and about Neville Chamberlain. Thinking about my father and his father and his father and about Robert Lee Tanner. I've written and deleted the next paragraph several times, and I'm just not ready to embrace it. But I find it ironic that as I finished my last post, Dido was asking if there was anything in her life that she truly owned.
(yes, I listen to Dido occasionally. Mixed with Rammstein. Accept it. Move on.)

The world is a different place. And not all of this weekend can be washed from my body by a set of machines.

Contact information

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 17:14:23 GMT

Life is... a little different than it was last week. I'm still trying to absorb that. Sometime soon I'll post what I feel I can. But in the interim there are some people who may want to reach me.

If you're looking to contact me, you can address email to my username at comcast.net

PUzzle captured from Gary's computer

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 21:08:04 GMT

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=199728165

http://www.myspace.com/modernmagus

Ignore the following - I thought this was important but it is a pure coincidence
~~http://www.myspace.com/lawrblood~~

Bonus: Fiction

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 20:40:44 GMT

I'm quite pleased by the response you've all given me. I've still got some work to do on the tail end of the essay on horror. But today I'm going to give you a special treat. Brandon Sanderson says that fiction is about character, plot and setting, but that Character must be the most important. So let me share the following paragraphs that introduce some of the characters. And some of you may recognize the setting as a fictionalized version of Chamber's resort.

Frank sighed in satisfaction and leaned back into his lover's chest. The view was beautiful; autumn trees filled the valley below and covered the mountain opposite. There was just enough chill in the air to emphasize the warmth and comfort of the embrace, and the local cheese went perfectly with the wine. To top it all off, they were idle until midmorning tomorrow. Frank sighed a second time, slightly louder, and felt his lover's head shake in refusal. But the arms clenched more tightly around him, reassuring him that all was well.

Frank smiled contentedly and felt Tony's muscles shift behind him as he smiled too. They were fortunate that they knew each other well enough to finish an entire argument without a single word being spoken. The valley was beautiful and Frank wanted to stay. But Tony couldn't stay. Tony couldn't stop moving; what time he had, Tony wanted to spend moving, seeing new things, making up for all the time he'd spent rooted to his father's house. This valley was beautiful, but there would be others, and only a fool would trade a pretty view for the little time they had left - even if the view came with a really splendid Pinot Noir.

Sipping the wine, Frank considered tomorrow's appointment. Sherry Langford was a pleasant sounding woman with excellent manners, but according to rumor she was exceedingly difficult to work with. She had the money, and was willing to spend it in buckets if she thought the purchase was wise. But she had to be convinced, and in her opinion, conviction only came through intellectual combat. Everyone who had dealt with her reported that she'd adopt and defend a contrary opinion; if you could find enough facts & figures to bring her around to your point of view, she'd pretty much write you a blank check. But if you failed to provide the arguments, the logic and the numbers to back your point, she'd dismiss you out of hand and then go hire your worst enemy and argue your position against whatever he brought to the table. Frank had a week to figure out what she wanted, and then to argue her into it. She wanted to take the resort upscale, and to attract a higher clientele, and she was convinced that art was the way to do it. She'd contacted Denis Shumaker, but Denis had heard enough about Sherry and practically begged Frank to take the job. It would have been a disaster for Denis anyway - Denis would have argued that the "Soul of the resort needed to be given voice, to dialogue with the guests and with the landscape itself, on a spiritual and aesthetic plain, mutually improving the guests and art." That sounded great to her clients in Seattle, but Sherry Langford would have tossed her out of the office midway through the first sentence. Denis had passed along the contract, but even more important she'd passed along the name of a prior guest, who was more than happy to have dinner and tell stories about his time with Sherry at Chambers.

Sherry had quizzed the man on art, and seemed interested in Naturalists especially William Bliss Baker. Baker's art would look splendid against this setting, but Langford would be wiser to invest in some Luminists. - There were four or five Kennsett's on the market at what Frank thought was a sinfully low price. With Langford's money he could find a David Bustill Bowser, and the African American Nouveau Riche would swarm the resort. But Frank's ace in the hole was that he knew a man who owned an Inness. A man who was about to be served with some very expensive divorce papers, and might be persuaded to part with the painting that he'd only bought to impress his wife at a bargain basement price. Langford could snap it up and hang in Chambers for the first public viewing in a dozen years; that would bring in twenty high rollers to the resort in the first year. Of course the other thing that Sherry's guest had told him was that he shouldn't stay at the resort, and that he shouldn't be there after dark no matter how much money Langford offered him.

Writing: Downside

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 18:45:58 GMT

I wrote an earlier post mentioning that fiction gave me the ability to write my opinions without restriction. The downside of that is of course that nobody will pay me to go to this haunt: Africa Haunted Castle

Theory: Horror

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 21:46:51 GMT

What is horror?

I've been asking myself that for a while. What makes a scene horrifying? What is it that we enjoy about a scary story?

Talking with some friends - Peg & Kali- we came up with a list of things that contribute to horror

Disorientation: Sensory disorientation is scary - either by occuluding a sense (darkness) or confusing it (background noise), or overstimulating it (strobes, smells), or by inappropriateness. Disorientation puts you off balance.
Powerlessness: Things are more scary when you've got no power to affect the outcome. If we can act effectively, the situation is less scary.
Incomprehensibility: We're used to being able to understand the situation; when we can't, that's scary.
Violation of expectations: When the evidence of our senses violates our deeply held beliefs, that's scary. We know that the dead don't rise. But if we think we see a ghost or a zombie, we're scared. If this commonly accepted fact is wrong, what else don't we know? This is one of my favorites. And it doesn't have to be done as bluntly as Lovecraft & his ilk

I want to write a scary novel. I freely admit I've picked paranormal romance because as Scalzi says "That's what sells", but having set myself the goal, having permitted myself an opinion, I want to do it reasonably well. I want my scary story to be scary.

Haunt: Darkwood Manor

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 15:55:40 GMT

DarkWood Manor
Splendid little haunt in the romantic town of Luray Virginia. Peg found this on An index site of horror resources and suggested it.

There's a fairly extensive legend. I'm impressed by their depiction of a sorceror who anticipates the consequences of ill considered ritual. The overall backstory contains some creative content, but can't resist the temptation to recycle Lovecraft.

Aside: At some point I'll get a 2x4 and use small nails to form the words Cthulhu is an Elf on the business end and use it to thwack anyone who includes Lovecraft without a reason. Horror and Fantasy ought to be about creativity, not about the endless recycling of old tropes into new media. One can write fantasy without using Elves that are derivative of JRR Tolkien, and one can do horror without reference to Lovecraft & Poe. The reason they're potent is because they were creative. Honor them by being creative, not by treating their creations like aluminium cans. End Aside:

They've done a decent job with line entertainment and exterior dressing of the set. There's a looping videotape which reviews the high points of their legend and which tries to put you in the mindset to enter the haunt. When you enter they put the most scared & hysterical people in the front of the line which serves as a clever way to regulate speed and to ensure that the best scenes are exposed to those who will react the most strongly. Then they split the group further - which put me more in the mind. (I could hear the horror movie expert screaming "never split the group!!!" in the back of my mind). The set is splendidly decorated with hundreds of atmospheric pictures & props, some of which contain surprises.

The staff is very good - they tell you a bit of the story and then urge you on quickly. I wish it were near enough that we could go back and go through several more times to look closely at some of the effects, but part of creating horror is not giving you the time to react.

The best effect in the haunt is the room with the coffin - which is fitting given their legend. I won't say more than that.

They make good use of jumpers and chasers to keep the group together - our group had a bit of trouble pacing because we were grouped with some goth teenagers who wanted to prove their sang froid by interacting with the characters. I have to point out that the actors were up to the challenge.

All in all a splendid haunt. I wish that other haunt staff could see this one.

Welcome Peg!!!!

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 15:33:50 GMT

Excellent news!

Peg, who easily qualifies as my best friend, will be visiting America. She's working on a project that mirrors mine and we'll be visiting places that are relevant to our research. Our next joint visit will be the Chambers resort & spa.

Peg & I worked together on a writing project a few years ago, and kept up contact after the project finished. We work well together. She's a perfectionist who uses words like scalpel's. I'm more logorheic - words spew out onto the page. Between us we get stuff done on time and under budget, which means we get paid.

Peg will be posting here occasionally. Which means I have to set some rules. Peg's not quite as wild as some of my friends - so please treat this as the living room of your best friend's parent's home. (If you treated this like the living room of your parent's home, some of you would get me banned from LiveJournal pretty quickly; so pretend it is the living room of someone you respect). If you misbehave Peg will be forced to give me "The Look". Nobody wants that.

Welcome Peg!! I'm looking forward to seeing you.

Introduction

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 15:20:09 GMT

Hi,

I'm JP. Nice to meet ya.

So who am I and why am I here?

Well I recently discovered that I'm going to be spending a lot of time in a hospital bed with tubes running from a tube in my thigh to a large machine that will launder my blood. I'm still not entirely sure why - this is my first day in the process, and I'm still doing research. On top of that, my doctor's aren't entirely sure what is wrong.

I'm a writer. Most of America has seen or read my stuff, but you'll never see my name attached to it. I'm a ghostwriter. I started in college, and the money has been steady enough to allow me to survive comfortably. I'm also a wicked hand with a grant proposal - which is probably why they let me earn the PhD in History. Quite a few Professors were willing to cut me some slack if I was willing to write a paper making a convincing case that it the professor's work on some collection was really the best investment that the owning institution or government could make.

But primarily I'm a ghostwriter. And earlier this year I allowed my friend Peg to talk me into trying to be a writer about ghosts. I'm working on a book about a paranormal investigator. I figure if I can carve off 1% of the paranormal romance market, I can afford to pay off some of the credit card bills. And the time spent hooked up to the marvels of modern medical science ought to give me the time to write.

As a part of that effort I'll be touring haunts, haunted houses, presumptive locations of supernatural mojo and the like. I'll be reviewing them here, partly so that I've got notes for my investigator, but partly for fun.

If you want to post something in the comments introducing yourself, feel free. If you want to suggest a haunt or location that might do well in a book, chime in.

Haunts: Goatman Hollow

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 14:43:09 GMT

http://www.goatmanhollow.com/ has some pretty loyal fans - I gather it started as a backyard/family haunt, and has grown over the years. They've moved from a backyard to a rented or borrowed building, and they've acquired a large staff of mostly young, very amateur staff.

There's a story - something about a part goat/part man. There's also a history involving Dr. Stephen Fletcher, his wife and some experiments. Parts of the story are rewritten every year, and the full legend is apparently only known to the creator of the haunt. Over the years some internal traditions and jargon have crept in - like "cryptids" which are evidently important to the story, but not explained at the Haunt. This year's legend includes a number of other jokes & puns - like the scientists characters who are named after towns in Maryland, or the "ARC" which is another artistic effort worked on by some of the staff. Unfortunately Goatman is in danger of becoming accessible only to the insider. I wish they'd put up exhibits and/or infotainment outside that could make the site accessible to guests.

There's a great deal of work in the haunt. A building which was probably an old hardware store has been gutted and rebuilt with many interior chambers. Some are haunt standards -like the winding black maze. Some are relatively novel. Most of the chambers however are "one trick ponies" - rooms that illustrate some clever effect that inspired the creator, but don't support either each other, or the story. Sadly, once the effect was achieved, work on the chamber seems to stop. Generally they affect only one sense, and only one sentence of story. They also decline in entertainment value. The second and third rooms are well presented (if thin), and hint at horror, but after that there are a variety of badly presented disconnected chambers that lead to boredom. There are a few good rooms in the mix, but I don't want to spoil the surprises.

I mentioned above that the actors are young and unskilled. They strive to get their lines out, but aren't able to make them real, and aren't able to do any pacing. The languid wander destroys any element of suspense or disorientation. Occasionally the staff resort to senseless humiliation of the guests as a form of comedy.

Having said all that, they clearly love their haunt, and that carries a great deal of weight. The overwhelming impression is one of potential - this could be a very good haunt. We left happy, and we'll try to come back next year