Friday, June 02, 2006

Virgin Blog

So.

I finally gave in and started a Blog.

Here is where I'm supposed to craft a little bio for any misguided soul that may wander in, lost in the labyrinthine corridors of the Net...

Alas, I'm much too shy and retiring.

All you'll get is this: I live in the tropical paradise known as the Bahamas, and I sell Drugs for a living, for which profession the Government granted me a licence. I write, but am as yet unpublished, though I am a member of the Greatest Writing Site On The Planet. (The site is still under reconstruction as I write. You can find out why here.) I play the guitar, but am as yet not Eric Clapton, though I have three guitars: Gertrude, Suzy, and Sally.

The rest is classified information, given out on a need-to-know basis. This need is not necessarily yours.

Since I intend to Blog mostly about my writing (though I may inflict you with an Opinion now and then) I'll also say that I write sci-fi/fantasy, and am hot on the trail of a good literary agent whom I can seduce into representing me. Not this one. Good agent, but she doesn't rep sci-fi/fantasy, probably due to some unfortunate congenital mishap, poor thing.

I write speculative fiction, because, as Bradbury says, such books are About Something; they contain Ideas, and are surprisingly relevant. They are not an escape from reality, but are instead a kind of secret door into it, and a fascinating way of describing it. Fantasy writers have always understood Plato's Cave intuitively - our writing is merely an expression of an Idea, a hand-shadow puppet show for our readers, or in the case of science fiction, an inventive and imaginative Idea about how to solve a problem. There are submarines now, Jules, and you saw them first.

Enough philosophical claptrap. I really write because it is so much bloody fun. I write because I will explode if I don't. Indeed I held it in for most of my life, and my formal training is in the physical sciences (with a little Theology thrown in), but in my youth, lo, those many centuries ago, I found Conan languishing on a bookstore shelf. I carried him home and devoured him. Then I found Bradbury, o joy and wonder, and Poe, and Lovecraft, and Maugham, and Tolkien.

And I became a fantasy cannibal. I swallowed books, I inhaled them whole into my maw, and digested them over years. I have read The Lord of the Rings at least once a year since first finding it, and could probably recite whole sections.

Of course this is an addiction, and I freely admit it. But the simply glorious thing is that now I have the chance to write something...addicting... and pass the torch, or infect someone else with the love of reading. If I could write a story all green and growing like Bradbury, with the insight of Maugham, the scope of Tolkien, and the sheer blinding narrative pace of Howard, then I might call myself a Writer.

And if I write well enough, I can drown you in my Dream, take you down and hold you under until you inhale and imbibe it, so that when you come up for air the real world for a moment is the dream, and the world you left the reality -

Well, I can dream, can't I?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

What form. What style. What can be said except, "Bravo!"

Anonymous said...

Congratulations, Friend!
Love your forthright style! Keep on writing. You're bound to be a hit before long!

DreamWeaver

Zonk said...

Thanks friends!

What's this? Is this my first (and favorite) Editor, who has graced my Blog with a comment?

*Bows to DreamWeaver*
I will never forget that it was you who first encouraged me to write, DW; nor your honesty, or good advice.

But most of all I want to thank you for the gift of your friendship.

Kelly Meding/Kelly Meade said...

We have sucked another AW member into the wonderful world of Blogging! Great job, Zonk.

Alan Yee said...

Good job, Zonk. I've led you in the right direction into blogging.

g d townshende said...

There goes another soul sucked into the great black abyss known as the blogosphere!

:P LOL

Nice to see you've finally joined the crowd, sir. :)

Anonymous said...

A fun read, Zonk. (And I don't usually read blogs.) With your writing talent, I find it hard to believe you're not published yet...(you need to submit more!)Keep after that dream!

Anonymous said...

"With your writing talent, I find it hard to believe you're not published yet." Yes, I agree with pb10220 about it. If you are really not published yet (which I find it a little bit difficult to belive) then take your blog more seriously, post more frequently and soon you will find a lot of readers here.

Zonk said...

Hey GT!

Yes, they finally talked me into it, LOL.

Thanks very much pb and razib for those kind words :D

robeiae said...

Good start, Zonk. Well, I think it is anyway...it's all new to me, too!

Anonymous said...

More, please!!

Anonymous said...

very clear friend, and your point well taken. Continue to bloom and educate us all. Thank you for renewing my interest in reading again.

G

briliantdonkey said...

Hi Zonk,

I just came across your blog via the AW site to which i am a brand new member of. Very nice job so far and i must say i am impressed. Count me in as a return visitor.

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