Fuck Zuck. Had to leave for my mental health. I am on BlueSky and that is it. I quit Twitter because of fElon Musk. I am only on BlueSky now where I have buried my head in the sand. I have references to Trump, Elon and Zuck muted. I still get all the news but I'm not buried in dystopia the way I had been. Now I am kinda watching it all burn down from the balcony...sipping a bourbon. And harming edibles. Cheers!
Buffalo Trace has become my go to. Versatile at the price point and all. You can take a shot or put in some ice or mix it in a cocktail without feeling guilty because it doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Lifting a glass any minute...
I dig Buffalo Trace, but I am a bottled-in-bond guy. 100 proof, tastes great on ice or with a splash of soda. Current favorites come from Old Grand Dad and Evan Williams. Old Grand Dad is the same mash bill as the much pricier Basil Hayden (he IS the Old Grand Dad...even though they are made from different distilleries), just a bit stronger and not as mellow as it isn't aged as long. A high rye mash bill which I enjoy.
I for one really like hearing you meditate on your own writing and process, self-bloviating or not.
I identified with a lot here.
This:
*On the one hand I would like them to go along with it, accepting the absurd situations I invent as they come*
nearly every time I'm read by anyone else.
And Kafka was what started things for me, too. I've recognized him as an influence in your work (e.g. the toll-taker guy in Edju who in a fit of pique can't get out of his ticket booth!) and very much enjoyed it. I'd say I accepted that absurd situation as it was happening. :-)
Original fearless artistry is seldom warmly embraced by multitudes. Sometimes deeper appreciation by a few is far more meaningful than admiration by the disinterested masses who follow trends and the idea of literary personality. You're a literary compass for more than you imagine R . . .
This is the newest surprise I received on a submission I was invited to submit. It is a response to a work he ( Robert Frede Kenter had published a while back in Fevers of the Mind
Taking up your invitation :-) - Firstly I think 'weird writing' deserves a caveat at the very least; at best perhaps, it deserves a different descriptor. Literary craft, over the last fifteen years at least, seems to have been pretty much sidelined for more pedestrian, predictable, formulaic, - to the innocuous and in some cases, offensively bland - at least to those unafraid of a critical reading, even if one still keeps such opinions to oneself. 'Weird' is reductive and almost self-maligning, as if admitting to it being something far less than it actually is. It removes agency from the artistic voice and mind which created it - and it does a serious disservice to the craft too. When I say that if anyone feels their writing is weird, the caveat it deserves at the very least, is that it means it is not within the standardised expectations of the mainstream. What it should mean is that the work is fearlessly explorative and delves into the depth of language, not only as a form of expression, by which all manner of storytelling should be possible, but also in terms of form and craft. Kundera wrote in his treatise on the art of the novel that the novel can be anything since only a novel can discover what it truly is. This is the artistic liberty we are driven to explore - I hope at least. I'm likely to be verbally slain by some for this: I do subscribe to the idea that not all can be taught in the art and skill of writing - like any other art form, some are born to it in deeper ways than those who strive to become a writer by methods, courses and a host of how-to subscriptions. There are still those original minds who were called to this craft, who never sought it out, who never chose it on a given day, or mood and for whom, as hard to stomach as this life apprenticeship to the art of language can be, we are nothing without it.
When we take literary craft and storytelling to a space / landscape, sculpted by imaginative ideas or original, or even critical thinking, there should not be the necessity to defend it as 'different'. I think we agree that across all artistic disciplines, conformity kills. We should not feel the need to feel defensive of our approach, our internal dialogues with other works, or the ways in which we treat our readers to the feast from which we draw conversations, commentaries or allusions. All serious artists delves into the nature of other work; this is not to plagiarise but an exploration that is the lifeblood of literary and artistic legacy. And for me, Bob, converse away, for your work is richer and ever more inviting and exciting a read, than most of what finds its way onto bookshop shelves, prize-winners and the bestseller lists. If you recall even Eliot, to his critics, most often retorted, in response to critiques of his 'obfustications' and difficult work, 'it's all on the page' ...
By the way, I started posting on my old bloggy blog. Gonna vent at the world and eventually wind up on some watchlist. In case I totally disappear, that's what happened.
I've been known to harm a few edibles in the past few years. For science. Heya! - Earl
Kinda missing you over at the salt mine.
Fuck Zuck. Had to leave for my mental health. I am on BlueSky and that is it. I quit Twitter because of fElon Musk. I am only on BlueSky now where I have buried my head in the sand. I have references to Trump, Elon and Zuck muted. I still get all the news but I'm not buried in dystopia the way I had been. Now I am kinda watching it all burn down from the balcony...sipping a bourbon. And harming edibles. Cheers!
Buffalo Trace has become my go to. Versatile at the price point and all. You can take a shot or put in some ice or mix it in a cocktail without feeling guilty because it doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Lifting a glass any minute...
I dig Buffalo Trace, but I am a bottled-in-bond guy. 100 proof, tastes great on ice or with a splash of soda. Current favorites come from Old Grand Dad and Evan Williams. Old Grand Dad is the same mash bill as the much pricier Basil Hayden (he IS the Old Grand Dad...even though they are made from different distilleries), just a bit stronger and not as mellow as it isn't aged as long. A high rye mash bill which I enjoy.
I for one really like hearing you meditate on your own writing and process, self-bloviating or not.
I identified with a lot here.
This:
*On the one hand I would like them to go along with it, accepting the absurd situations I invent as they come*
nearly every time I'm read by anyone else.
And Kafka was what started things for me, too. I've recognized him as an influence in your work (e.g. the toll-taker guy in Edju who in a fit of pique can't get out of his ticket booth!) and very much enjoyed it. I'd say I accepted that absurd situation as it was happening. :-)
You do me a great kindness.
I used to play the ponies, too!
I always love your posts. No harming the horsies with them. :]
Original fearless artistry is seldom warmly embraced by multitudes. Sometimes deeper appreciation by a few is far more meaningful than admiration by the disinterested masses who follow trends and the idea of literary personality. You're a literary compass for more than you imagine R . . .
Thank you Amantine. That was beyond ever expected. I was always hoping for a small core of fanatics. I consider your work simpatico.
That means a huge deal, thank you.
This is the newest surprise I received on a submission I was invited to submit. It is a response to a work he ( Robert Frede Kenter had published a while back in Fevers of the Mind
https://icefloepress.net/2025/02/06/butterfly-in-a-hurricane-a-call-response-after-starlight-electricity-a-hand-of-cards-an-outlaw-hybrid-by-robert-frede-kenter-texts-amantine-brodeur-images-layout-robert-f/
Feel free to expand on your approach & thoughts
https://feversofthemind.com/2024/05/20/an-outlaw-hybrid-by-robert-frede-kenter-for-the-beat-poetry-outlaws-must-go-on-series/
Here’s an oldie … :-)
https://literarygypsy.substack.com/p/coming-soon?r=4sux4
Taking up your invitation :-) - Firstly I think 'weird writing' deserves a caveat at the very least; at best perhaps, it deserves a different descriptor. Literary craft, over the last fifteen years at least, seems to have been pretty much sidelined for more pedestrian, predictable, formulaic, - to the innocuous and in some cases, offensively bland - at least to those unafraid of a critical reading, even if one still keeps such opinions to oneself. 'Weird' is reductive and almost self-maligning, as if admitting to it being something far less than it actually is. It removes agency from the artistic voice and mind which created it - and it does a serious disservice to the craft too. When I say that if anyone feels their writing is weird, the caveat it deserves at the very least, is that it means it is not within the standardised expectations of the mainstream. What it should mean is that the work is fearlessly explorative and delves into the depth of language, not only as a form of expression, by which all manner of storytelling should be possible, but also in terms of form and craft. Kundera wrote in his treatise on the art of the novel that the novel can be anything since only a novel can discover what it truly is. This is the artistic liberty we are driven to explore - I hope at least. I'm likely to be verbally slain by some for this: I do subscribe to the idea that not all can be taught in the art and skill of writing - like any other art form, some are born to it in deeper ways than those who strive to become a writer by methods, courses and a host of how-to subscriptions. There are still those original minds who were called to this craft, who never sought it out, who never chose it on a given day, or mood and for whom, as hard to stomach as this life apprenticeship to the art of language can be, we are nothing without it.
When we take literary craft and storytelling to a space / landscape, sculpted by imaginative ideas or original, or even critical thinking, there should not be the necessity to defend it as 'different'. I think we agree that across all artistic disciplines, conformity kills. We should not feel the need to feel defensive of our approach, our internal dialogues with other works, or the ways in which we treat our readers to the feast from which we draw conversations, commentaries or allusions. All serious artists delves into the nature of other work; this is not to plagiarise but an exploration that is the lifeblood of literary and artistic legacy. And for me, Bob, converse away, for your work is richer and ever more inviting and exciting a read, than most of what finds its way onto bookshop shelves, prize-winners and the bestseller lists. If you recall even Eliot, to his critics, most often retorted, in response to critiques of his 'obfustications' and difficult work, 'it's all on the page' ...
You said it better than me. Thanks.
That was not my intention…
Still...
By the way, I started posting on my old bloggy blog. Gonna vent at the world and eventually wind up on some watchlist. In case I totally disappear, that's what happened.
https://beearl.blogspot.com/2025/02/quid-pro-quo-i-tell-you-things-you-tell.html