On an airplane, missed a flight to Paris which [Liz] already boarded. At different points during the dream (mostly in order): I’m being chased and I escape through the doors from one plane to the next (they appear to be stacked); in a gift store when a riot breaks out and everyone grabs whatever they can to use as a weapon – I grab a belt – jewelry, clothing stands, hats are thrown to impale or injure; a family gathering or party is thrown and Ben is there – doesn’t vaguely look like him except for the red hair, and he remains throughout the rest of the dream including the shopping riot; Sarah appears briefly when I’m attempting to call [Liz], who keeps calling Kourtney Kardashian’s cell phone; Sarah and I make plans to catch another flight. In hindsight, I can’t imagine why I didn’t think to do it sooner.

- August 15, 2009

• In honor of National Clown Week (and nobody told me?!), here’s a slideshow of historic clown photos courtesy of Slate.
• Check out the smashing new Dr. Sketchy’s site, complete with branch profiles and full search capability.
• Support budding young writers, support the Desert Island Supply Co. in Birmingham, Alabama.
• The Uniform Project is in its second year with a new “Pilots” series. Funds raised for this month’s project will benefit Blair Grocery, a school in New Orleans’s Lower 9th Ward.
• Jenny of Fashion for Writers rants about the blatant Orientalism in Dior’s new ad campaign, “Shanghai Dreamers.”
• Beth Hommel, personal assistant to Amanda Palmer and all around superstar, has written about her battle with depression. For anyone who’s been there or feels they’re on the brink, read the comments. They’re inspiring.
• The Cassini probe captures Alpha Centauri, the sun’s nearest star system, while photographing Saturn. From 80 million x 330,000 miles away!
• These tiny sculptures carved into pencil tips by Dalton Ghetti are astounding.
• Prop 8 overturned!
• Etsy recs: Ugly Art Dolls by Ugly Shyla, Rustic Goth, tracemyface design, and Midnight Zodiac Leather Works.

From Close Range: Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx.

55 Miles to the Gas Pump

Rancher Croom in handmade boots and filthy hat, that walleyed cattleman, stray hairs like curling fiddle string ends, that warm-handed, quick-foot dancer on splintery boards or down the cellar stairs to a rack of bottles of his own strange beer, yeasty, cloudy, bursting out in garlands of foam, Rancher Croom at night galloping drunk over the dark plain, turning off at a place he knows to arrive at a canyon brink where he dismounts and looks down on tumbled rock, waits, then steps out, parting the air with his last roar, sleeves surging up windmill arms, jeans riding over boot tops, but before he hits he rises again to the top of the cliff like a cork in a bucket of milk.

Mrs. Croom on the roof with a saw cutting a hole into the attic where she has not been for twelve years thanks to old Croom’s padlocks and warnings, whets to her desire, and the sweat flies as she exchanges the saw for a chisel and hammer until a ragged slab of peak is free and she can see inside: just as she thought: the corpses of Mr. Croom’s paramours – she recognizes them from their photographs in the paper: MISSING WOMAN – some desiccated as jerky and much the same color, some moldy from lying beneath roof leaks, and all of them used hard, covered with tarry handprints, the marks of boot heels, some bright blue with the remnants of paint used on the shutters years ago, one wrapped in newspaper nipple to knee.

When you live a long way out you make your own fun.

• Gala Darling poses in Hopeless Lingerie despite hotel screw-ups, blown circuits, and nerves. And the results are breathtaking!
• Design a cover for Borowski’s This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen and win $1,000. (Venus febriculosa)
• Check out these galleries of Lolita and The Name of the Rose covers for inspiration.
• Fantasy Magazine reviews The Neverending Story. I knew I wasn’t the only one who thought it stood the test of time. I’ll take skilled puppetry over CGI any day.
• BOOKSHELF PORN!

To: AFA Action Alert
From: PZB

Thank you for alerting me to Home Depot’s admirable policies and respect for other people. I’ll be sure to shop there more often than I already do, and I spent $500 there last week. I’ll also post this information on my blog, which has several thousand readers. You’ve just gained Home Depot a great deal of business.

Very sincerely yours,

P.Z. Brite

• Read what prompted the e-mail above, Sometimes You Love Your Spam Box, and consider making a purchase at your local Home Depot.
• I want my own fairy tale cottage.
• Aromaleigh is closing its doors so everything’s 35% off. I’m sad to see them go. I recently started playing with mineral makeup again and their Glissade formula in 1CL was a perfect match. I’m thinking of sampling some Meow Cosmetics. Has anyone had any luck there?
• BPAL has announced that they are releasing a line inspired by The Last Unicorn. Then I found this thread discussing hypothetical scents for Labyrinth and Legend. Can I say right here that I would buy a bottle of every fragrance from both? A girl can dream.
• And this week’s Etsy finds: The Starshine Company (mineral makeup and perfume oils), Tea For All Reasons, and Sea Unicorn (lockets and jewelry).

This actually is one of my stories, written in 2001 for an 8th grade English assignment. As far as I know, it is still being shown as a “good example” on the overhead projector during class.

A Light in the Night

The night sky was suddenly alit with brilliant colors, from rich purples to neon greens. They fanned out like rays of the sun from a single object, pulsing against a vast wall of blue. The base, a silver, elliptically shaped disk, seemed to hover overhead, miles and miles away. The brightly lit shape inched through the night, a sound never escaping its walls. If one were to examine it closely, they would notice the set of piercing orange orbs at the front of the disk, glowing like two large cat’s eyes.

It slid along, coming to a halt over a large crop of woods. With a sudden jerk, it sped away in the opposite direction, as if frightened. Then it flew silently once again, its rainbow of lights growing steadily dimmer. Every few moments it would rotate in a complete circle, until finally it continued spinning round. It stopped one last time at the base of a towering mountain, merely a shadow against the nighttime backdrop. Its wash of colors seemed to be sucked back into its base, never to be seen again. Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, it abruptly flew up and vanished behind the mountain and into the darkness.

Wow. Thanks, Ms. Lee?