Tag: amwriting

You Can Order This Book From Me

my first book
A little anthology of my writings I put together. Art and cover design by Heather Balchunas

It’s my first book. I’ve had this idea for at least a decade: Writings that straddle the line between fantasy and nonfiction. This is the realization of that notion in glorified chapbook form. Each of these stories has one foot in the “real” world, one foot in… well… some other world. Some stories lead with the real foot, some with the fantastic foot.

Preliminary reaction has been enthusiastic, and to be honest, I’m quite proud of this work. People really seem to like that Heather Balchunas cover, too!

It’s 60 pages of my prose (with a little bit of poetry mixed in) and you can get it for 10 bucks plus 5 more for postage and handling. I have a venmo account, or you can send me a check made out to Diane Griffin and your mailing address to my mailing address, which is:

Broadcast From the Brain Radio
POBox 176
Montague, MA 01351

eMail me at dianenmrk@gmail.com for further details for how to get this via venmo.

I’m also discovering that some people like their copy of the book signed. If you would like me to scrawl upon the title page of your new book in my terrible handwriting, let me know. I’ll be glad to do so. There are only a few copies left of this first printing, so get yours today!

It’s Not Made by Great Men

Yet that’s how I wrote it.

Yesterday, I went to the Greenfield First Sunday Word open mike. I read my blog post A 500-Word History of a Lost Civilization That Stood for Over a Thousand Years. As I was going through the piece, I realized that what I was reading was a high school history report. Which is fine, I suppose. Paul and others joked that there would be an exam. Hah. The original post was a writing assignment I set myself to see if I could do it. The challenge was the title. All in all, I give myself a B for that post (to continue the joke.)

Readers of this blog will note that last week I posted about seeing Gang of Four up in Maine the previous weekend. Before I got up and read, I thought about referencing the band before I read the piece, but ultimately decided not to. I’m not one to avoid a mixed message generally, but in this case, it didn’t seem like the right thing to do to put what would ultimately be seen as a disclaimer in front of my own work. I try not to do that.

But here’s the disclaimer I didn’t perform at the open mike. I agree with the sentiment in that song. And the piece I read (as you will see if you go back and look) is all about a few of the Great Men of the Eastern Roman Empire. I’m currently working on a novel that is a fantasy set in some factually erroneous version of the world of the Romans. One of my rules for the book was that it would not be about the nobility or rulers of the Empire. I wanted it to be about individuals walking around on the ground, not the folk in Blachernae Palace. There’ve been so many “court intrigue” novels. I have no desire to write another.

Perhaps, at some point, I’ll write another history post and try to give the flavor of the life of an ordinary Roman, and maybe something about how that changed over time. What would it be like, I wonder, to live in a stable, long-established place in the Empire? Probably not so different from any other place in the main, but very different in certain details.

One detail I can share is about how a middle-class house in the Empire was set up. There was always a great central room where day-to-day living, entertaining, and even worship would typically happen. It wouldn’t include the kitchen, although dining would likely take place there. Kitchens were always off to one side and out of sight.

Stay tuned. This interests me. I’ll see what I can do.

I’ve noticed
When some celeb dies
I first think,
“Another
“One who’s managed to escape
“These terrible times.”

–7/24/25

Here are Some New Seven-Word Stories

Imagine Israel and Palestine, a single state.

I am listening to the first Genesis.

I am enjoying a glass of Meletti.

I need to write about this album.

*å#@#å*

We’re painting our house red next week.

The US has a corrupt neoliberal government.

Update About My Incessant Scribbling

I guess this is a thing now.

I recently got published in Meat For Tea: The Valley Review with a piece called The Casserole Tree. I read at their issue release party at Gateway Arts Center in Holyoke. I didn’t read the published piece, I had already read that one out, and there was something else I preferred to share. I liked that event. It’s in a bar, there was music and visual art and poetry and rock music. I’m looking forward to the next one.

As far as the piece I read at Gateway Arts, I plan to read that one again at Paul Richmond’s Third Tuesday Word this week.

Work on the summary of The Story is proceeding. It’s taken me months to even summarize this thing, and all I can think as I go through it is how much work it needs. I am sure it’s going to grow from the current 120K draft, but who knows by how much? All will be revealed in time, I suppose, but this thing is not going to get shorter, and there is so much work to do. It really is going to take years.

I want to read an exerpt from the thing in front of people, but open mike slots are 5 minutes as a rule and I want to read for at least 10. I haven’t found a 5 minute chunk that’s worth excerpting!

In other news, I still have the Socialist Ghost Story sitting out, waiting to be returned to. I was struggling with that one a bit, but I theorize that the reason I was struggling is Too Many Irons In the Fire. Once I can devote my whole brain to it, it will come into sharper focus. I am afraid it might be a while before I do get back to it. Maybe I should drawer it, but I definitely want to go back and finish it.