We stand a better chance of getting rain this week than we have in a long time, with the POP at about 30% every day, and high temps below 95° for at least the next couple of days and below 100 all week°, which is a nice change. The only upside to this drought and heat is that I haven’t mowed the lawn in a few weeks. It’s a little bit ragged at the moment, but it seems cruel to assault it when it’s struggling for its life.
My short story “Charlie’s Voice” will appear sometime in the next week or two at Story Station, which is billed as “The Finest Children’s & Young Adult Stories of Fun & Adventure.” Since the story has a juvenile as a protagonist, I decided to try to sell it as a YA story, even though I don’t really consider it much different from my other stories. It’s a post-apocalyptic tale inspired by Mark Twain, after a fashion.
I received word today that the Canadian anthology Hard Ol’ Spot will be going to the printer in August or September. However, a second layer of editing took place, and I am expecting a request for revisions this week, so it looks like I’ll get a chance to revisit my story, “Adrift,” one more time. This is good news in a way, because there was at least one change that I wished I could have made long after the story was accepted for publication and maybe now I’ll get that opportunity.
I watched Sleuth, the 2007 version, directed by Kenneth Branagh and written by Harold Pinter, wherein they reinvent the classic play and film. Michael Caine switches roles to the elder of the duo and Jude Law plays the role originated by Caine in the 1972 movie. The film is very claustrophobic–the only shots taken outside of Caine’s house are a few glimpses of a car approaching the house toward the end. The house is stark and modern, infested with cameras as part of an elaborate security system, which allows Branagh to offer some very interesting perspectives from camera POV. He goes a bit overboard with this at the beginning, as the first few shots are from jarring perspectives. Completely overhead as Law’s character, Milo Tindall, greets novelist Andrew Wyke at the entrance of Wyke’s mansion and then, a few seconds later, an out of frame shot that captures the two only from about mid-chest down as they talk. It’s always a delight to watch Caine chew up the scenery, and he doesn’t often get the major showcase for his talents that he’s offered here. Law has moments where he’s over the top, but his performance in the second act is amazing, though I won’t explain why because it would give something crucial away about the story. It’s a very talk-y film, more of a stage play on celluloid, but that’s not a bad thing. It was savaged by the critics, but I enjoyed it, mostly because of Caine, who is one of my all-time favorites.
Got a lot of work done on the 2500-word essay this weekend, both reading reference material and writing the actual piece, which now stands at about 1700 words. I don’t think it is going to go to full length, although I may surprise myself. I’m waiting for a book to arrive so I can begin reading for the final article I need to write for this project, a 500 word essay about a subject I’m not as conversant with as the others. This one has been on my to-do list for ages, and I’d love to get it out the door by the end of August.
