Fahrenheit channel 451

In an article in LA Weekly, Ray Bradbury claims that his intent with Fahrenheit 451 has been misinterpreted— that it “is in fact, a story about how television destroys interest in reading literature.” I know that Bradbury has been on the anti-TV bandwagon for a long time. When I saw him in the mid-90s, he was telling people to stop watching the local news reports. I do, however, have a sneaking suspicion that this article is a bit of revisionist history tainted by his growing disdain for the medium—one that he had no trouble tacitly endorsing with his very own Ray Bradbury Theater anthology series. Still, it’s an interesting article.

Here is the cover for Legends of the Mountain State, an upcoming anthology edited by Michael Knost with stories by Thomas R. Monteleone, Tim Waggoner, Kealan Patrick Burke, Scott Nicholson, Joseph Nassise, Bev Vincent, Mark Justice, Geoffrey C. Fuller, Michael Hughes, Jude-Marie Green, Brian J. Hatcher, Trent Walters, and Marta Murvosh. My story is called “Screaming Jenny.”

I finished reading Cormac McCarthy’s The Road last night. It’s a fast read, no chapters, written in an episodic style with frequent space breaks. Nameless, faceless father and son head south and east across (America?) years after an apocalyptic event. The only way to estimate how long it’s been is by guessing the age of the son, who was born after the event. Six to eight years would be my guess. It’s a constant struggle for survival and possessed of the same anti-society feel as Cell. Everyone must be treated with suspicion. A tragic story filled with hope.

I received my copy of Postscripts 10 from PS Publishing last night, a signed trade edition. I’ve read a couple of the stories already via proofs but I look forward to spending time with this meaty collection. Think I’ll read Connelly’s The Overlook first, which shouldn’t take long since it’s only 200-ish pages and I read the serial version online.

Another TV series had a season finale that tore the core group apart: House. I haven’t been following the media on the series to find out if any of the quitting/fired characters are expected to return next season or not. In all honesty, I don’t care one way or the other—I’m not terribly attached to any of them and they could bring in a new set of flunkies without seriously harming the series. Might even reinvigorate it. Loved the “American cigars” scene at the end. I also watched the finale of Boston Legal last night. Not exactly an original solution to their plight in terms of the murder case, but fun to see Shatner pick Denny out of the clouds and have a couple of moments of brilliance. My tape cut out during the balcony scene at the end, so if there was any surprise reveal I missed it, though I suspect there wasn’t.

Spent the last two mornings revising an old short story. I was planning to submit it before I went to Japan but on rereading it I discovered it had an unfocused point of view and decided the tale would be much better with a limited third POV. Slow progress on the edits, but I hope to have it ready for resubmission by the end of the weekend.