Posts Tagged ‘bret easton ellis’

Is this some weird kind of new therapy? (Bret Easton Ellis Reading!)

I probably got that quote slightly wrong. But it’s from What About Bob? a fantastically funny movie and probably my favorite Richard Dreyfuss roll EVER. For those of you who have not seen it, do. It is a delightful farce about mental illness, and Dreyfuss channels his inner Donald Duck on a scale never before seen.

Work continued on Secret Project S, but who the hell gives a crap about that? Last night was the Ellis reading! I will admit to being completely starstruck. Though I am now quite certain that I am physically unable to squee, because I didn’t do it last night, and I surely would have, had I been physically able.

What a reading. Never mind the very stinky old man just to our left. Never mind the barrage of occasionally meandering questions during the Q&A session. Ellis was charming and funny, insightful about his own work without sounding weird and obsessive, or aloof and bored. He had a great rapport with his audience, and graciously signed everything they had for him to sign. His reading voice wasn’t the strongest I’ve ever heard, but it was a lesser read section that he did last night, and he carried it well. I couldn’t decide whether to have the book personalized to my real name or my pen name. In the end I did my real name, as it is simple and I didn’t want to sputter like an idiot trying to spell my freakin pen name. As far as the book goes, the early pages of Imperial Bedrooms are solid, and I feel a bit more heart in it than I expected. A bit more regret.

Fantastic.Now I must close up shop for the day. The cat is bored, and demands some playtime.

I no longer know who I am and I feel like the ghost of a total stranger.

The quote for the day was a three-way tie between "Umm, Gangbang 101, Freebasing Tutorial and Oral Sex Workshop" and "I met a Dutch TV actress and we drank absinthe at a bar called Absinthe." These are, of course, from The Rules of Attraction, and I am using a Bret Easton Ellis-related quote because I am only hours away from going to a Bret Easton Ellis reading!

Holy cow. I’m tired, and it’s been a long day, and I now drive a 1991 Dodge POS that I have named affectionately, "Gonzo", but I still can’t wait to head into the city and hear this icon read some new stuff. I think my favorite work of his was actually Lunar Park. No wait. Hell, I don’t know. Did anyone see the film version of "The Informers" last year? Weird, and not as affecting as it could have been. And it didn’t manage to come off as disaffected either. It should have been affecting in its air of disaffection. Okay then. I’ll just file that one away under sentences that make me sound stoned.

Work slowed on Secret Project S today, but I’m not worried. Much of that slowness came from the desire to go slow, and also a change that I argued with myself over, involving a character I thought would turn up now, but instead is holding out for the second book. If there is such a thing. Project S must sell first, sadly.

Well, I’d better track down my ride (Gonzo may or may not have survived the trip). Imperial Bedrooms, here I come! Unless my ride does not show up. In which case I will be off to kill my ride.

You Paid 800 Dollars for Fish Boots?

So I’m not sure about the actual amount Denis Leary paid for the boots, but you get the idea. Quote of the day from the fantastic screenwriter’s movie, Suicide Kings, one of Leary’s and Christopher Walken’s best performances to date. See it. See it now. Watch it again.

Did a good portion of work on Secret Project S. It was a dreaded ACTION scene, and they almost never come out right the first time around. I tried to be careful, but I don’t doubt that I’m going to have to infuse it with something or another later on. Add an extra sense or sentence. It is clicking along, finally, and I am getting the urge to push my self-imposed word requirement deadline up to 15k before I leave for Seattle. I probably should, especially with Scenes from a Sequel starting to play out in my head. I’ve got two and a half months to make a real go of this book. In between, Anna Dressed in Blood will demand revisions, and then Cas and company will probably start knocking on my brain telling me it’s time to play.

I must express my fangirlish glee at the prospect of being at a Bret Easton Ellis reading/signing in June for his new book, Imperial Bedrooms. Oh, how I love Bret Easton Ellis. He gets better and better. Some people might say that he’s no longer as relevant as he was in the early to late nineties, but those people can just suck it. I will even forego my Barnes and Noble discount and buy the book from the Indie bookstore he’s reading at, in order to get it signed. Now that’s devotion.

On a personal note, Dylan and I are suffering from nightmares caused by Stephen King’s IT. I absolutely love that things can still creep you out even when you are fully grown. It gives me hope for humanity.

Promotion for Sleepwalk Society is going to start soon. I’m supposed to do an interview for blogtalk radio. Milan Kundera would not approve. He thinks that writers should only do interviews in their chosen medium, that is, written interviews, to be sure the words come out correctly. Kundera is a genius, but come on, how much fun is that? However I will carefully practice the use of fricken and effen in the days to follow. Just to be safe.

It is a gorgeous day here, albeit a bit windy. I must grab Dylan and head out to the stable to ride my horrible, horrible horse.