p.s. Hey. So, there's the last of the trilogy of posts spotlighting the short stories of Elizabeth Young. As before, I know reading fiction from scanned pages is a less than ideal situation, but, in this case, the choice is either giving Young's work visibility and accessibility online in this form or not at all, so give it a shot, yeah? Let's see ... I think there are some people around here who are thinking of attending the premiere of 'This Is How You Will Disappear' in July. If so, the program/ schedule of the Festival d'Avignon has been announced and is available online here. Also, if you're a print magazine reading type, the new issue of the Dazed & Confused higher brow spin-off magazine 'Another Man' has an interview with me and also a fashion shoot by my pal and the oft-mentioned around here artist Scott Treleaven. Otherwise, I'm still sick with this cough/chest thing and feel like crap and am a little crabby as a result, so forewarning in case that mood creeps out. ** David, Well, he's certainly very particular, that's for sure. But that particular vinyl 'nugget', which I actually priced out of curiosity, only goes for around $18 tops, so, in that sense, assuming any master who liked him could easily snag a copy from eBay or elsewhere, he's quite a bargain of a slave, so the demanding part is relative? Awesome about the AW thing-in-progress. Tenterhooks. ** L@rstonovich, I've only seen maybe three or four episodes of 'Hoarders', but it has a short term addictive effect at least. ** Bollo, Hey, man. I don't know who Rick Stein is, should I? Sean Scully, I know. Oh, new Hannum zine, I see. And a new Locrian record as well! I think I'll try to order them today. Really, really hoping on the funding front re: you, man. ** Nerstes, Hey, man! Wow, of course I remember you. I've wondered how you were doing with quite some frequency in fact. It's great to see you! The question of how many of those guys are real is the eternal, unanswerable question, I guess. Have you gotten beyond that concern you expressed on your blog about writing something without narrative and dialogue? You know I think it's completely more than possible, even a higher calling in fact. Oh, 'Safe' was reprinted in this book of my short fiction called 'Wrong', which should be pretty easy to get, I think. I'm trying to feel better. I hope to soon. Man, fill me in what's going on with you, if you don't mind. It really is terrific to see you. ** Chris (British), I have no patience with illness. I find being sick an insult. Grr. Oh, thanks a ton about sending the crazy links if you can. That's very kind of you, and, if you can, I'll make good use/post of them, I assure you, and, if you can't, it's all good. ** David Ehrenstein, Hey, David. I'll try to grab an episode from somewhere. Maybe they show 'Gossip Girl' in France, although it would be dubbed. One way or another. ** No more teenagekicks, I know, a splendid batch, I thought, ha ha. Thanks, Mark. ** Bernard Welt, Oh, it wasn't supposed to be funny? Okay, I really don't get it. I'm going to wait until I'm healthy and think about it again. I seem to be the great minority who didn't think 'The Ghost Writer' was all that hot. I liked it a lot until that car started following him whereupon the plot twisting, untwisting stuff kicked in at which point I thought the film became a drag. Maybe I didn't understand it either. I think I'll probably see 'Greenberg' only because Baumbach co-wrote 'The Life Aquatic' and 'The Fantastic Mr. Fox', so he has a bunch of at least initial cred for me. ** Tosh, Hi, Tosh. Well, as I just inferred to Bernard, I don't think missing 'TGW' in the theater constitutes the end of the world, but maybe I'm a loon or something. So truly true about The Associates. ** Bill, You leave, like, tomorrow, right? Yikes. Will you be online and around while you're over there or, rather, over here? I'm super pleased you liked 'TFMF' so much, of course. I've never read the book, actually, so good question about Kristofferson. He was very Anderson. ** Empty Frame, I'm trying to get better. We'll see. Good luck with the scrambling, and I'll look forward to more gab time. ** Joseph, I hope 'Hot Tub Time Machine' makes it to France. Thanks for the well wishes, man. ** Justin, The slaves get all the thanks for going all out, ha ha. I just cast my usual net. Your therapist sounds cool, or, rather, like a therapist in the most correct, best sense. Damn, I love the sound of that Vivisection suit you're planning a whole lot. Can you say/describe more? ** _Black_Acrylic, Nice call-out, man. If my slave posts helped, I'm chuffed. Everyone, you can simultaneously feel the call to submit to the next issue of the great zine Yuck 'n Yum and check out our pal Ben Robinson's designer handiwork by clicking this. Mm, yeah, I see about the arts editor position. The non-paying aspect is most unfortunate. It does sound like you might end up getting roped into an amount of work and time that might not be worth it all in all, but, mm, I guess considering it makes sense. ** Little foal, Hey, man. Oh, first thing, I'm launching your amazing guest-post here next Wednesday, April 7th. It's such a beauty, man. Thank you so much. I've never known anyone who was infatuated with Frankie Muniz before. Maybe you managed to be a good kid and yearn for destruction, etc. precisely because you were and are a writer. Or, let's say, if so, you would be kind of like me. Not that I didn't do stuff, but it was paler than pale compared to the yearnings. I'm just saying your description of your younger self matches one of my descriptions of a young, budding artist. I never thought or think about not being young anymore. I feel like I stayed young, even if I'm not. I agree with Bill re: normalcy and all that. ** Dynomoose, Ha ha ha, wow. That was a good one, Adrienne. Whoa. ** Creative Massacre, Well, pal, it's not going to surprise even the teeny weeniest when I say you should totally and absolutely go for the summer/ France/ culinary studies opportunity. But, I mean, is there a solid argument against doing that? ** Steevee, Glad you got the screeners, at least. Yeah, my cold, if that's what it is, is just hanging around sans noticeable improvement too. It's maddening. ** The Dreadful Flying Glove, Thank you, kind sir, for your fine and acute delve into the batch. Totally, on the prog epic text grab. Please do. And 'execution style fuck', is a tasty head scratcher. I thought firing squad, not that it lead me to the source. TheBishop's smile was kind of my favorite thing, I think. Grudgeful progress, okay, I hear you. I can relate to that on the artistic and maybe health fronts depending on whether I can get through tonight without a hacking cough. Oh, a guest day on the Super Furries, wonderful! Oh, that's great, and a great post idea as well. Thank you, my goodness, thank you! ** Changeling, I suppose you're right. About the tuck and roll train exit cure. It sounds utopian in my mind, but then so do a lot of just awful things, I guess. Ear bleed, yikes. I'm trying to put that and the missing shoe and the 'mashed' together and figure it out. No luck so far. Mine? A lot of coughing and swearing at myself aka the powers that be under my breath. ** Sypha, I'm glad you're getting better at least. Your getting lost story eerily brought to mind that story I posted here a few weeks ago about that boy who got confused about where he was and disappeared, so I'm glad you made it home. The combined superpower of cuteness and a boner to block interest in complicated substance is one of the reasons why I'm doomed to be a failure as an artist. ** Inthemostpeculiarway, I'm interested in people who happen to be cute and who feel misunderstood and disturbed when other people decree them cute and then find anything about them that disrupts that superficial impression to be a problem. Oh, well, I guess slaves like trendy fiction as much as the next guy? Thanks for the understanding about my lengthy cigarette butts. They're gradually shortening. Uh, the 'SiH' cover shows a toy bear. I didn't pick it. It looks clever, I guess. It looks a lot like 'Ugly Man' but with a toy bear instead of a pickle, basically. Yikes, weird and kind of intense about that guy you knew. I think it's kind of cool that people think of you as someone they can talk to about their problems. It's probably kind of a hassle for you, but it speaks to ... your fine character or something? My day: Another ughy one, basically. Oh, I did meet with that guy from Switzerland. Very cool guy, named Antoine Bal. I met him on Facebook. We're going to do the interview in the future, it turns out. We just had a coffee at the Recollets and chatted. It was nice. I felt my most unsick of the day while doing that. During my exile, I bought some food, and I bought the new issue of The Wire and that Another Man magazine I mentioned up top, and I read the interview with me, and it's okay, I guess. It's hard for me to judge, obviously. The lay-out is nice. So I did that and waited and eventually was let back into my pad. Oh, this experimental French theater/art group is developing a performance work based on my novel 'The Sluts', and I found out yesterday they're showing a first sketch of the piece this week in Paris at the venue Menagerie de Verre along with a replaying of David Bobee's theater piece 'Dedans Dehors David' based on a chapter from my novel 'Closer', so it's kind of like a celebration of my stuff in theater form or something, and I didn't know about that, or else I forgot until yesterday, so I have to get myself well enough to attend that, I think. Other than those things, it was a pretty dreary day of feeling blah or worse and then another night's sleep fucked up by coughing fits. I'm no fun right now. It sucks. If today improves, I'll be a little surprised, but I'll do my best. Gimme your Wednesday. ** Math, Thanks a lot, pal. Glad you're going up and glad you get to crash tomorrow. ** Alec Niedenthal, Hey, man. Oh, yeah, I loved Scott McLanahan's 'Stories II'. I did one of those 'recent read/loved' posts about it here a while back. Yeah, he's really good. Innocent yet dangerous is a great way to put it. Oh, for sure, please, link me to the new Night Train and your piece today, if you don't mind. Mr. David Rylance's piece in the new LIES/ISLE is really something, isn't it? Totally. In fact, I should ... Everyone, I think some of you know about the newish and really good online experimental writing site/zine LIES/ISLES that's co-edited by a long time if currently MIA d.l. Mike Kitchell. The third issue is now up, and it's a great thing overall, and it includes a knock out piece by our own David 'Slatted Light' Rylance among its goods. Highly recommended, if you haven't already checked it out. It's here. Paris seems pretty nice as far as I can tell so far. I'm a bit too disadvantaged to take advantage of it. Objectively, it's a bit too rainy, at worst. ** Misanthrope, Getting older would be totally awesome if it wasn't for the worn out body stuff. Really, apart from the physical shit, I do think it's no big deal and even kind of very interesting to be older. I don't know. ** That's it. Apologies again for any textual fallout from my feeling really crappy. Check out Elizabeth Young. If I can manage to be cheerier and more interesting tomorrow, I will be. Cross my heart. 'Til then ...