Thursday! Between the Zines for June 21, 2023
V3, E31
I do believe we have a name for this thing! I’d been wondering what to call the editions of Thursday! that fall between the ‘zine editions and, well, it’s right there, isn’t it? So now we have the ‘Zines and we have the Betweens and that’s awfully keen.
Know what I mean?
One of the criteria I use when I pick stories or poems for Thursday! is “fun”. Do I think the piece I pick will be fun for you to read? Do I think the story is fun? Did I have fun writing the poem? Fun is a big deal in what I write, for a couple reasons. First, I think the literary world is stuffed entirely too full of pretentious authors writing pretentious “message” stories or stories that seek to “subvert your expectations” or “shatter conventions” or whatever the hip, new phrase is today.
Phooey to all that.
I like fun stories. I think most of us like fun stories. Now, when I say “fun”, I don’t necessarily mean “light”. Fun stories can be heavy, can deal with loss and love, crises of faith and conscience. Fun stories can be deep and meaningful, can carry valuable morals and lessons. Fun stories can last for generations1. The same goes for poetry. We still talk about the poems of Ogden Nash and Lewis Carroll just like we talk about the poems of T.S. Eliot and Paul Dunbar2. Since I love to read fun stories, it only makes sense that I want to write fun stories, too. Again, that doesn’t mean writing isn’t work. To be perfectly honest, I don’t have a lot of fun while I’m writing. Once in a while, I get a hot idea that propels me along and those times are like riding in the front car of the wildest, most exhilarating roller coaster in the universe. Those times don't come often, though. Most times, writing is work and a fair bit of frustration. It’s building more than conjuring, connecting one idea with another, setting one scene snugly against the next one and cementing over the gaps so no one notices them.
When I’m done, though? When I can step back and look at the whole thing? I’m looking for fun. If I don’t see it, I know I’ve not done my best work.
The first poem in last week’s newsletter was one of those “work, but fun” things. I wanted a story that sounded sweet, in a modern, free-form sort of way. I also wanted it to bring a definite Lovecraftian feel as well that would culminate in an outright weird ending. You can just conjure something like that. It does take work, and let me tell you, I put work into it. When I was done, though, I knew I had something fun. Weird, sure, but fun3. I think you can see the weird/fun/interesting parts of everything in last week’s newsletter. If you can’t, I’ve not done my best, and I always want to give you the best writing I can.
Speaking of weird and fun in equal measure, go back and check out the second poem. You won’t find those “serious” literary poets writing about what they’d say if they could speak Cat, now will you? You will not. Relish that, my friends, because that’s the kind of “what in the world is Jimmie doing now” kind of stuff you’re going to see a lot around here4. The same goes for the first of the stories. One of the ideas that’s been kicking around my head for years, is the idea of stuffed animals as guardians against The Night Things. I’m not sure if it’s a good enough idea (perhaps the word I’m looking for isn’t “good” but “complete”) to hold up an entire story, but if it is, it’s going to get written. Just don’t ask me when.
Now the last story, with the ghost dragons and the Mother Sage, is a cool idea for which I don’t have a longer setting. I’ll be entirely honest with you — I have no idea what the threat at which I hinted in the story might be. It’s certainly related to an earlier apocalyptic disaster that made the world what it is in the story, but I don’t know more than that. The entire story came from a desire I have to write in a post-apocalyptic world — something I’ve wanted to do since I saw Thunder the Barbarian and read The Sword of Shannara. I have the desire, but not the right setting. That will come. Until then, you’ll probably see a few more stories like “Reading the Light of the Ghost Dragons” until I hit the “right” thing. When that happens, expect big fun.
Biiiiiig fun.
Fancy more stories and poetry? Read all you want at JimmieWrites.
Buy my picture book of poems about werewolves and atomic monsters!
Read “The Paper Swans of Ellendell” in Postcards from Mars!
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The Hobbit is, to my thinking, one of the most fun stories I’ve ever read. Don’t even try to tell me it’s not deep.
If you don’t know about Paul Laurence Dunbar, please spend some time with his work. You’ll be better for it.
Pretty sure “Weird, but Fun” could be my personal motto.
I really do hope you’ve figured that out by now, though. Maybe you’re new here, in which case, hi! Welcome! I’m a little bit not normal.