Craig Davidson

Monday, October 29th

AMC MONSTER FEST

Hi All,

Is anyone else as glued to this as I am? The American Movie channel---no. 47 in my cable pack, right up at the high end of the cable universe---has been running horror movies all day the past 8 days. It goes on until Halloween. Just fantastic stuff. Usually my TV "homepage" would be channel 25, the trusty ole Food Netwook. But until Halloween, AMC trumps it.

I guess why I'm liking it so much is it's such a nostalgia trip. As some of you know I started out writing horror (I don't know why I've taken to saying "started out"; certainly I plan to write horror again; just no ideas for the past little while), and watching AMC I'm seeing some of the flicks that made me want to start writing in the first place. THE FURY, all the HALLOWEENS, Hitchcock stuff, CHILDREN OF THE CORN (He wants you too, Malachi ... he wants you, too.) There's THE EXORCIST, which is killer---but the great thing is, it's followed up with THE EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC, which is an utter piece of crap but still, I was into it for reasons I can't quite pinpoint. EXORCIST III, on the other hand, is remarkable for a handful of truly freaky scenes including this one ... wait for it ... waaaaaaaaaiiit ...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH8ynu0jRvY

Oh, yeah! I tried to find the second scene, the one where the old lady's crawling around on the hospital ceiling wile George C Scott looks around all baffled in his skinny tie, but no dice. Oh, shit! I spoke too soon:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjFHigs7Sl8

You creepy old broad! Get down off the ceiling! You'll break your hip and that ain't gonna be covered under MedicAid.

Craig Davidson on 10.29.07 @ 09:51 PM EST [more..]

Saturday, October 27th

THE FIGHTER in Italy (Fun with Babelfish)

Hi All,

Here's the first review for THE FIGHTER in Italy. This was actually picked up quite recently---like, 5 months ago---so that's a really quick turnaround to get a book out; RUST AND BONE won't be out there until 2008. But since I'm flying over there for a festival in a few weeks, I suppose it's best I have something to promote and now I do. I can't upload the Adobe document (the review's right next to Charlize Theron, Esquire's 2007 Most Beautiful Woman, a perfume ad; so even if you didn't like the review you could've gazed at the ad), so I've just gone the babelfish route again. It actually gives me a little bit of a headache, but it's sort of fun trying to sort out what, exactly, was said. For those of you who know Italian, I'll post the original, too.

All best, Craig.
Craig Davidson on 10.27.07 @ 10:49 AM EST [more..]

Tuesday, October 23rd

Young Canadian Writers

Hi All,

I ran across this article the other day and, unsurprisingly, it's provoked a bit of an uproar:

www.thestar.com/sciencetech/Ideas/article/268644

The basic premise of the article being that Canadian readers are stodgy, Canadian literature is archaic and anti-youth. That's a poor man's (homeless man's, if you're a Bill Simmons fan) Coles notes. You should read it if you haven't already, if you plan on reading this post.

So it's been replied to more or less in the manner expected. Here's a sampling (in the comments section):

www.quillandquire.com/blog/index.php/2007/10/22/canlit-hates-youth-says-young-author

I'd say the commenters are all jag-asses but I happen to like Robert Wiersema both as a writer and as a fellow human being so he throws off the curve. The others commenters are not without validity insofar as their criticisms are concerned, but, in typical Internet backhand, they often overstate their points and take them into the realm of personal attack---which I suppose they see as clever, and I personally see as lily-livered (yes, I've watched a few Warner Bros cartoons lately). Then again, seeing as Stephen Marche takes a stab at Margaret Atwood and others, perhaps it's not entirely unfair that the knives are turned on him.

Craig Davidson on 10.23.07 @ 06:54 PM EST [more..] [1 Comment]

Friday, October 19th

Dynamite Eyes / Music

Hi All,

So, a few things. First of all, here's a little story I wrote for Esquire, part of their "Napkin Fiction" series. This is a cool series and I encourage you to go read a bunch of them. The editors had this idea to send out Esquire cocktail napkins---each writer only gets one, so you can't screw it up or edit it much---and on that napkin you've got to write a narrative. So, an excercise in minimalism. I suck at minimalism. Anyway, I also have to admit that, when under time constraints and/or length restraints, I---and to judge by some of their napkins---other writers as well, do resort to their "tried and true." In my case, that often involves a fistfight. So, this one's called: "Dynamite Eyes." And please, roam around and check out some of the others. You will be surprised some of the writers who've done one. Thanks to Tom and Anya for letting me participate in the project.

www.esquire.com/fiction/napkin-fiction/davidson-napkin

Other than that, just a few links to MySpace pages who I owe a plug to for stealing their songs. Well, not stealing because they are free, but listening to over and over ad nauseum until most reasonable and sane people would be sick to death of them but me? No way. This one song, 'Pristine Version 2007' by The Absence, a French band, I've listened to while writing and RE-writing this novella I'm working on. I think it's because the song kindled in me something about the ending of the story, which is key, and I kept listening to it over and over, picturing that ending scene, so listening to it while writing was a means of keeping the whole works on a rail leading to that last scene, the song the rope I was holding onto tugging me to the end. Whether it works or not as a writing tactic, I don't know. Certainly other people's brains would've melted out their ears listening to these songs as much as I have. But, as I've got another day or two listening to them, I thought I'd put up their myspace pages and see if anyone else wants to give them a listen. Fair warning: my music tastes are my own, and not to everyone's liking.

The Absence: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=78194160
City and Color [props to St. Kitt's!]:
http://www.myspace.com/dallasgreen
(the song I've over-listened to here is the 4th, "Like Knives Live."

All best, Craig.
Craig Davidson on 10.19.07 @ 10:46 AM EST [link]

Tuesday, October 9th

Back!

... the road is lawwww-whooong! with maaaaany a wind and bend / It leads us to whooooo knows where / Who knows where ...

Okay, so, back in Calgary after my vigorous constitutional in St. Catharines and England. A good time was had crashing on many couches, a couple a beds (always alone, lamentably), the cobbles outside a few boozers in a heap of my own puke (yes, that's right: I'm capable, when terribly intoxicated, of amassing a HEAP of puke; looks like a pile of wet leaves. Okay, so, I'm not really that manly), and wherever I could find succor in general. Thanks to my brother, Sam, Jay, Nicole, Kate, and everyone else who's doors I darkened; needless to say, if and when you're out Calgary way, you'll always to have a place to hang your hat---although I don't allow hats in my house, sorry. Unless you're wearing a buzzby, in which case I'd permit it.

Nothing that happened was of any great blog-worthiness. Good times, but not necessarily awkward or silly or strange or worthy of blogging. I did get some writing done while I was away---I know I said I'd take a break, but I'm a good-for-nothing liar in that regard---so I've got two novellas to print up (I wrote them longhand, which I haven't done in ages) which I think are good insofar as they are completely different from anything I wrote in RUST & BONE---not that I want to disavow those stories at all, just to say these are different, although a character from R&B shows up in one of these novellas---so once I've finished this other one I'll have the start of a pretty cool book, maybe. I was given an invite to submit work to Esquire, the fiction editor, but I seem to be completely incapable of writing a true short story anymore; 5,000 words just gets me warmed up, I'm afraid. So, sad as it is that I can't submit these there, I think the novella may be the right length for me, generally; it suits my masochistic nature that I'd chose the length editors are generally least interested in, and is toughest to sell.

So, what now? Well, I'm not sure. I've got to finish that novella. I go to Italy next month for the Umbria literary festival, and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone there and getting up to some shenanigans. After that, the party draws to a close. I've been sending out applications here and there. We'll see what happens on that. I don't know what I want to do, really, but I know I need to do something. I have been learning the kazoo in case I need to do some streetcorner busking; I've also been working on my mime skills and am happy to say my "trapped in an invisible box" bit is absolutely spot on. My organs all appear to be in good shape, so I can always sell those. Anyone with a complete liver is a greedy bastard; that's how I look at it. If you've got it, SHARE IT, that's my motto! So long as you throw a few ducats my way for the honor, you know?

Here's an old interview I don't think I ever posted. Conducted by Doug Johnstone, who I met in Scotland and who was a great dude. His book TOMBSTONING was great, and the followup will be called THE OSSIANS; a rock-band book, which is fitting, as Doug also play in NORTHERN ALLIANCE, a band. He's also got his PhD and I believe he can fly, or else bend animals to his will, or melt steel with his gaze, or something. Check it out if it so pleases you:

www.list.co.uk/article/4228-craig-davidson

All best,
Craig.

Craig Davidson on 10.09.07 @ 03:06 PM EST [link]