The blue moon New Year ushered in winter's luminous magic, and white feather snow has kept it pure ever since. When I ski at night, I feel like I’m encased in silver, and yet everything around me throbs with that phantom blue. Which makes the movie Avatar very timely. The inhabitants of that mythical world are just that shade of blue, and the lead character is Jake Sully, and -- well, the crossovers between that fantasy film and my reality are arresting, to say the least.
It isn't just that the jungle canopy provides the same up-and-down sense of travel as my twisted forest trails, or that arcing and wheeling through the air on the back of a dragon is like soaring through icy sweeps on skis, or even that I seem to recognize settings in the film where I encountered adventure or a clearing where the characters share golden moments. It's the evocation of the same inspirations and feelings that come to life in my real-life daily escapes. As if an entire world has the copyrights to my thoughts and the patent to my soul.
Maybe that's why my column on Storytellersunplugged this month resonates with those uncanny connections. Here's the link: http://storytellersunplugged.com/thomassullivan/2010/02/16/thomas-sullivan-how-to-love-a-villain-riding-dragons-on-pandora-avatar/ is a piece about expanding one's range, about sinners and saints and psychoanalysis, but it all comes back to Avatar. Who would've thought a flick with a tired Hollywood premise could leap so far into magic? But then, it isn't the thin premise that carries the magic. It's the characters and their relationships in a natural order where passions lead to higher truths. Gets better every time I see it (3 so far). Big theater screen a definite plus.
Hope your Valentine's Day had a pulse. Mine always end in a heart attack, but this year I was shocked early when a tweet I posted on Twitter brought in a flood of responses from around the globe, all from women apparently who deemed it romantic, thank you very much. To wit, Valentine’s Day: I shall visit a place where a woman once married me in her heart, mind & soul, and loved me with her body.
On the writing front, a couple of new literary sites debuted this month with features on this disreputable author, one in the USA and one in Norway. Dr. Elizabeth Fortin’s http://www.avidreaderswrite.com/3/category/thomas%20sullivan/1.html has an extensive interview, and Jan F. Lockert’s http://janlockert.blogspot.com/2010/01/american-writer-deserves-international_24.html has an in-depth review of my work. Thanks to them both for their insights and high quality presentation. I was particularly delighted to see Elizabeth’s link to the Glenn Frey video of “I’ve Got Mine” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igADRpd7ncc , which Glenn generously dedicated to me after using a phrase from my novel THE PHASES OF HARRY MOON. And likewise, Jan’s appeal to American publishers for a comprehensive edition of my shorter work is most welcome.
Wish an American publisher would re-issue or do a mass market on my Pulitzer nommed THE PHASES OF HARRY MOON (E.P. Dutton hardcover 1988), Jan. This one has never died and now, 22 years later, seems to be some kind of cult item, judging by the monthly mail I still receive about it. Thanks, BTW, to Grant Soosalu of Australia and others who have added to that sentiment in their blogs or publications just this month. I have the rights to the novel, if the notion of putting it on a new stage reaches an interested publisher.
Below, Doc Foto has sent me his spoof on President’s month with a jab at the fact that my address changes to 3rd Tree/Snow Trail/Deep Woods for the duration of winter. I have, in fact, skied well over 100 adventures so far on 70+ skiable days this season. And then there is snowshoeing, and taking my Adam ‘n’ Eve sleeping bag to the Golden Meadow or other secret sanctuaries just to feel the immediacy of new inspirations and magnificent memories. For all the chaos and contacts in my life, I still relish the solitary exclusiveness of those perfect interludes. The other photos below are from different day or night skis. Do you see the huge face emerging from the snow swirls in the greenish-blue pix, and the windmill in one of the b/w pix? And can you see why I connect all of those settings with the magic of Avatar?
If you want to spy on my crazy musings and largely illegal activities in small bites, may I invite you to follow me on Twitter? It’s just something fun you can peep at when you want without having to interact. Samples of recent Tweets: If I let my pride become more important than my love, I become quite ordinary. I don’t want to be ordinary. And... You think maybe the Blue Man Group are runts of the litter that the Na'vi exiled from Pandora? Here’s the link: http://twitter.com/thomassullivan . I’ll also be happy to put you on the mailing list for free newsletters packed with stories and adventures, including photos, if you email me at: mn333mn@earthlink.net . If you’re reading this on a mirror site, it may not have photos. Past columns and newsletters w/photos are archived at the author’s website below under News & Articles (http://www.thomassullivanauthor.com/News.htm ). The newest ones are usually up within a day of being sent out.
Thomas “Sully” Sullivan
http://www.thomassullivanauthor.com/
http://twitter.com/thomassullivan
