It’s been a productive writing week. I submitted one story last weekend, a substantial rewrite of an existing manuscript. Then I wrote and revised and submitted another story during the week. Finally, today I did a rewrite of a third story and submitted it to a new market.
After I got the new story off yesterday, I put up the outdoor Christmas lights. I insist on waiting until December to do this, regardless what many neighbors do. It was unseasonably warm, so I was in shorts when I put them up, which seemed unnatural. However, it was an easy task because last year my wife talked me into installing permanent hooks instead of using the staple gun. I’ve maimed more than a few strings of lights over the years thanks to errant staples.
Today’s accompanying photo (Britain’s youngest undertaker) was inspired by a line from this week’s Burn Notice. Michael and his brother are dressing up as part of a sting operation when Maddie walks in, demanding to know what they’re up to. “I have to help some friends,” Nate says. “And you have to dress like a funeral director?” his mother responds.
A few projects I was involved with this year were nominated for a Black Quill Award. When the Night Comes Down, edited by Bill Breedlove was nominated in the Best Dark Genre category. That’s the book that contains four of my stories. In the same category, Dead Set, which has one of my stories. Thrillers: 100 Must Reads is nominated in the Best Dark Genre Book of Non-fiction category, and the book trailer for Specters in Coal Dust is nominated, too. The awards have a reader’s choice aspect, so go ahead and cast your votes here!
I hear that Fringe is moving to Fridays when it returns in the new year. That’s a time slot that did well for The X-Files. Doesn’t matter much to me because I never watch the show live. It’s up against CSI.
This week’s episode was terrific, and finally the two Olivias are back where they belong. The same can’t exactly be said for Broyles, unfortunately. That was one major needle that Faux-livia gave to Peter to paralyze himself after her cover was blown. When Broyles learns that Peter has been literally sleeping with the enemy, Walter tries to ease the tension with this revelation: “In the 1970s, I innocently wandered into the wrong home and it was three days before I realized my mistake. And, unlike Olivia, the woman with whom I was sharing a bed didn’t look like my wife at all.” Walter’s Palinesque contribution to the English language came when he claimed that Peter was tricked by Faux-livia and “fell straight into her vagenda.” His food passion provided the ultimate clue that allowed Astrid and Peter to track Faux-livia: the address on the box of pastries she brought Walter. When they arrive in the neighborhood to follow up, Walter volunteers to start with the pastry shop, of course.
Differences between the alt-world and ours: As we knew before, JFK wasn’t assassinated. There’s a picture of him with grey hair on Walternate’s desk. The train station in Newark is called Springsteen Station. Central Park appears tropical. The Roy Orbison song “Anything You Want, You Got it” is a ballad. The East River suffered a vortex twenty years ago that killed 165 people.
The guy who wants new legs has been gate keeper to the quantum entanglement telegraph. I want one. Looks like the others finally kept their promise to him when he delivered the missing part of the Walternate machine.
When they converge on the train station, Walter says “no gun for me” to which Broyles responds “Good idea.” I had a suspicion that the woman hostage was a mercury dude, an alt-world spy who, we learn, can never return home. This guy liked his current face. “I seem to be a big hit with the ladies.” There’s only one woman Peter wants to be a hit with, and she’s back now. I wonder how long it will take for them to really kiss again…for the first time. I do wonder a bit who the Peter was who visited Olivia over there. He had no knowledge of this projection, which leads me to believe it was completely a product of Olivia’s psyche.
We watched Knight and Day last night, a light action romantic comedy starring Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise. I see Rotten Tomatoes is split right down the middle on it. The story has absolutely no believability quotient whatsoever. It has so many holes and unexplained questions that it can’t possibly hold water, and yet it’s fun. There’s a MacGuffin called the Zephyr that everyone wants. Cruise and Diaz carry the audience along, willingly or otherwise. They speak fast, and ignore the impossibilities they’re expecting us to believe, so we go for the ride with them. The worst of the CGI was the bull run, but the rest of it was okay. We laughed. We learned that Cruise’s character’s real name was Knight, but where did the Day part of the title come from? Shannon from Lost has a bit part of Diaz’s younger sister.
