Reprocessing My Own Life, poem by Gary Glauber (Celebrity Free Verse Poetry Series)

REPROCESSING MY OWN LIFE
by Gary Glauber

Money would have been great
but they required suppression.
We felt that the original was good
so we stuck to our guns.
Finally we came to an agreement:
the payment is very small.
In the mainstream I am essentially a novice,
not known.

It may be that I’ve lost the ability to write.
It’s been over twenty years
and it’s very problematical.
This is definitely an unproven thing, an X factor.
I may find that I’ve wound up with nothing.
I don’t think my agent figures I’m going
to live much longer.

I’m more or less apathetic to the megabucks.
I live a rather ascetic life.
I don’t have material wants; I have no debts.
My condominium my car my stereo is paid off.
A person must always take his best shot at everything,
whether he repairs shoes, drives a bus,
writes novels, or sells fruit.
You do the best you can.
If you fail, well, blame it on your mother.

SOURCE: Phillip K. Dick’s Final Interview with John Boonstra, Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone Magazine (Vol. 2, No. 3, June 1982, pp. 47-52).

IMAGE: Author Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) by Philippe Hupp, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: This found poem is from an interview with celebrated science fiction writer Phillip K. Dick. This was his final interview actually, and in it he discussed issues with rewriting his work for movies or novelizations of movies. Many of his works were made into successful films, including Blade Runner, Total Recall, The Minority Report, The Adjustment Bureau, A Scanner Darkly, and more. Unfortunately, he did not live to see many of these things happen. His work is amazing, and I’ve always been influenced by his works and ideas.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Gary Glauber is a poet, fiction writer, and teacher. His works have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, as well as “Best of the Net.” Recent poems are published or forthcoming in Fjords Review, JMWW, Stone Voices, Ginger Piglet, The Citron Review, 3 Elements Review, The Blue Hour, Stoneboat Journal, Stone Path Review, Fredericksburg Literary Review, and Think Journal. He is a champion of the underdog who often composes to an obscure power pop soundtrack. His first collection, Small Consolations, is due out in 2015 from The Aldrich Press.

But Where’s the Cat, story by Philip K. Dick

BUT WHERE’S THE CAT?

by Philip K. Dick

“But let me tell you my cat joke. It’s very short and simple. A hostess is giving a dinner party and she’s got a lovely five-pound T-bone steak sitting on the sideboard in the kitchen waiting to be cooked while she chats with the guests in the living room — has a few drinks and whatnot. But then she excuses herself to go into the kitchen to cook the steak-and it’s gone. And there’s the family cat, in the corner, sedately washing its face.”

“The cat got the steak,” Barney said.

“Did it? The guests are called in; they argue about it. The steak is gone, all five pounds of it; there sits the cat, looking well-fed and cheerful. ‘Weigh the cat,’ someone says. They’ve had a few drinks; it looks like a good idea. So they go into the bathroom and weigh the cat on the scales. It reads exactly five pounds. They all perceive this reading and a guest says, ‘okay, that’s it. There’s the steak.’

They’re satisfied that they know what happened, now; they’ve got empirical proof. Then a qualm comes to one of them and he says, puzzled, ‘But where’s the cat?”’

SOURCE: Excerpted from The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldrich by Philip K. Dick.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Philip K. Dick was born in Chicago in 1928 and lived most of his life in California. In 1952, he began writing professionally and proceeded to write numerous novels and short story collections. He won the Hugo Award for the best novel in 1962 for The Man in the High Castle and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best novel of the year in 1974 for Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said. He is most well known for his short story “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep,” made into the film Blade Runner. He died in 1982, shortly before the film was released. Dick was a prolific writer with forty-four novels and over one hundred short stories to his credit. Other film adaptations of his work include Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly, Minority Report, Paycheck, and The Adjustment Bureau.

PHOTO: Philip K. Dick and feline friend.

Ursula LeGuin’s Rejection Letter and Subsequent Acclaim

In 1968,  Ursula Le Guin‘s agent received the following letter from an editor regarding Le Guin’s novel The Left Hand of Darkness:

Dear Miss Kidd,

Ursula K. Le Guin writes extremely well, but I’m sorry to have to say that on the basis of that one highly distinguishing quality alone I cannot make you an offer for the novel. The book is so endlessly complicated by details of reference and information, the interim legends become so much of a nuisance despite their relevance, that the very action of the story seems to be to become hopelessly bogged down and the book, eventually, unreadable. The whole is so dry and airless, so lacking in pace, that whatever drama and excitement the novel might have had is entirely dissipated by what does seem, a great deal of the time, to be extraneous material. My thanks nonetheless for having thought of us. The manuscript of  The Left Hand of Darkness is returned herewith.

Yours sincerely,

The Editor
21 June, 1968

The following year (1969), Walker and Company published The Left Hand of Darkness to overwhelming critical acclaim. The novel also won the prestigious Hugo and Nebula awards. Here are some of the reviews Le Guin  has received for the book:

“[A] science fiction masterpiece.”—Newsweek

“A jewel of a story.”—Frank Herbert

“As profuse and original in invention as The Lord of the Rings.”—Michael Moorcock

“An instant classic.”—Minneapolis Star-Tribune

“Like all great writers of fiction, Ursula K. Le Guin creates imaginary worlds that restore us, hearts eased, to our own.”—The Boston Globe

“Stellar…Le Guin is a superb stylist with a knack for creating characters who are both wise and deeply humane. A major event in fantasy literature.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Find The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin at Amazon.com.

Trivia Tidbit: Ursula K. Le Guin and Philip K. Dick were in the same high school graduating class — Berkeley (California) High School Class of 1947

Ursula K. LeGuin’s Rejection Letter — and Subsequent Critical Raves

Silver Birch Musings: I’ve come to believe that the most important thing for any writer — and what keeps you writing — is belief in your work, despite what others may say about it. Sometimes, other people don’t understand what you’re trying to do — or your style and subject matter is just too different from what people have seen before. I’ll admit I’ve been on both sides of this fence — I’ve  misunderstood other people’s work and have had readers dismiss mine. The main thing is to keep writing — and never let anyone else’s opinion discourage you.

To make my point, here is a rejection letter Ursula K. Le Guin‘s agent received in 1968 from an editor regarding Le Guin’s novel The Left Hand of Darkness:

Dear Miss Kidd,

Ursula K. Le Guin writes extremely well, but I’m sorry to have to say that on the basis of that one highly distinguishing quality alone I cannot make you an offer for the novel. The book is so endlessly complicated by details of reference and information, the interim legends become so much of a nuisance despite their relevance, that the very action of the story seems to be to become hopelessly bogged down and the book, eventually, unreadable. The whole is so dry and airless, so lacking in pace, that whatever drama and excitement the novel might have had is entirely dissipated by what does seem, a great deal of the time, to be extraneous material. My thanks nonetheless for having thought of us. The manuscript of  The Left Hand of Darkness is returned herewith.

Yours sincerely,

The Editor
21 June, 1968

The following year (1969), Walker and Company published The Left Hand of Darkness to overwhelming critical acclaim. The novel also won the prestigious Hugo and Nebula awards. Here are some of the reviews Le Guin  has received for the book:

“[A] science fiction masterpiece.”—Newsweek

“A jewel of a story.”—Frank Herbert

“As profuse and original in invention as The Lord of the Rings.”—Michael Moorcock

“An instant classic.”—Minneapolis Star-Tribune

“Like all great writers of fiction, Ursula K. Le Guin creates imaginary worlds that restore us, hearts eased, to our own.”—The Boston Globe

“Stellar…Le Guin is a superb stylist with a knack for creating characters who are both wise and deeply humane. A major event in fantasy literature.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Find The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin at Amazon.com.

Trivia Tidbit: Ursula K. Le Guin and Philip K. Dick were in the same high school graduating class — Berkeley (California) High School Class of 1947

But Where’s the Cat?…by Philip K. Dick

“But let me tell you my cat joke. It’s very short and simple. A hostess is giving a dinner party and she’s got a lovely five-pound T-bone steak sitting on the sideboard in the kitchen waiting to be cooked while she chats with the guests in the living room — has a few drinks and whatnot. But then she excuses herself to go into the kitchen to cook the steak-and it’s gone. And there’s the family cat, in the corner, sedately washing its face.”

“The cat got the steak,” Barney said.

“Did it? The guests are called in; they argue about it. The steak is gone, all five pounds of it; there sits the cat, looking well-fed and cheerful. ‘Weigh the cat,’ someone says. They’ve had a few drinks; it looks like a good idea. So they go into the bathroom and weigh the cat on the scales. It reads exactly five pounds. They all perceive this reading and a guest says, ‘okay, that’s it. There’s the steak.’

They’re satisfied that they know what happened, now; they’ve got empirical proof. Then a qualm comes to one of them and he says, puzzled, ‘But where’s the cat?”’

From The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldrich by PHILIP K. DICK

Photo: Philip K. Dick and feline friend.

True Noir Grit

On Saturday, July 7, 2012, writer Joel Metzger (right in above photo) and the cast of Hothouse Bruiser – including John Terry (pictured at left) – celebrated their breakthrough new program.  The audio series – which will be available soon as phone aps on multiple platforms – takes listeners on a journey through the mysterious, future-noir cityscape of the Los Angeles Quarantine.

Hothouse Bruiser offers the gritty romanticism of Raymond Chandler and the weird what-if-ness of Philip K. Dick in an original brew like nothing ever heard before.  With a brilliant script by Metzger and outstanding performances by a stellar cast — headed by Paul Nobrega in a star turn as Jason “Bruiser” Brusman —  this addictive audio treat will be available in nine 30-minute episodes. For more about this exciting new series, visit hothousebruiser.com.

Joel Metzger‘s story about how he brought Hothouse Bruiser to life is an inspiring (and instructive) tale that shows his own true grit. More on this in an upcoming post.

Photo by Silver Birch (shot in Los Angeles, July 7, 2012)

Strange & Wonderful

Riverview Park bloomed on the shore of the Chicago River from 1904-1967, and inspired many an aspiring writer with its strange and wonderful sights. Perhaps Ray Bradbury walked its odd paths and saw freaks and geeks for the first time there. I love the above photo because it shows the magic — in this case, Aladdin’s Castle — in the midst of typical North Side Chicago residences. It’s possible that Bradbury and the other visionaries — Philip K. Dick and L. Frank Baum — who spent time in the Windy City felt their imaginations soar because they lived in a place that welcomed weirdness.

Something in the Water?

I have often pondered the Chicago connection of three visionary, genre-changing writers:

• Ray Bradbury was born about 40 miles north of Chicago in 1920
• Philip K. Dick was born on the South Side of Chicago in 1928
• L. Frank Baum, wrote The Wizard of Oz in Chicago, where he lived from 1891-1910

Photo Credit: Martin Addison (street art, Barnet, Great Britain). For more info, visit this link.