I think I saw the wind today. Not secondary effects – like curled leaves being ripped from trees or waves of Indian grass churning in a meadow – but the wind itself. I actually saw it. It danced with the sky, moving the Prussian blue in dips and swirls as if it were partnering with an elegant ballerina made of pale peacock glass. It happened so fast from horizon to horizon that I barely had time to be awed. The enchantment, however, lingers like something more than a memory. Memories are only URLs to the past, but the shimmering sky is still with me, drifting like an afterghost superimposed now over the wind’s pawprints on a pond or within rolling herds of “thundering” clouds. Autumn is so impatient in its scene-changing that sometimes you get a peek behind the curtain. Hope you are catching your share of glimpses. And may falling leaves grace your shoulders with rainbow epaulets.
Hey, Kama Sutra fans, just thought in case you’re bored you might want
to know that it’s DRAGONFLY MATING SEASON! Srsly, if you’ve never had occasion
to watch those aerial acrobats when they are woo-wooing, this could be
inspiring. Dragonflies are too elegant to pose for porn, but they don’t seem to
mind if you take a front row seat in Nature’s theater. You might want to bring
binoculars, though, on account of the whole shebang continues without any
flight cancellations. On the contrary, after takeoff dragonflies just turn
their necessary reproductive components into pinwheels without any perceptible
loss of aerial dynamics. Hey, why else would they need so many wings? It’s also
why you might hear the females singing, “…it’s all about that base, ‘bout that
base – no treble,” while in the full flush of estrus. Think of it as sex on a
roller coaster, reaching escape velocity and leaving the tracks.
It’s Trick-or-Treat time again, and the
Q&A in my column over on Storytellers Unplugged reflects that as I reach
into the mailbag of goodies. Here’s a sample:
Q [Adelaide?, S. Australia]: I love your
Sullygrams and columns and I’m wondering which ones your fans liked best if you
have any idea.
A: Anytime I write about characters or
relationships, a flood of responses comes in, but the Valentine’s newsletter
February, 2012 [ http://www.thomassullivanauthor.com/newsletters/02162012.html
],
and the column for that same month were personal accounts of the love of my
life and still bring in an occasional email, most of which offer advice to me
or she-who-kindled-the-flame
If you’d like to see the rest of October’s Q&A, here’s the link: http://storytellersunplugged.com/thomassullivan/2014/10/15/thomas-sullivan-ghosted-posts-hosted-coast-to-coast/#respond .
Thanks to all those who picked up on the totally HUGE news for me this month and have already downloaded CASE WHITE! This is my first new novel in several years, but the truth is I’ve suppressed most of it for over three decades. Written at the height of my identity crisis in the marketplace, I wanted it to unify all aspects of genre and mainstream that were dividing me into different readerships. CASE WHITE is an epic brew – historical, mainstream, thriller, romance, mystery, adventure, religious legend, literary – with strong characters who live through the paradox of a nation that went insane for 12 years. But the novelization travels well before the era of two world wars. I still find it difficult to talk about the four years of intense research it took to write the first draft. There were some golden opportunities in the early marketing, including one very large advance, but they would have required me to “Ludlum-ize” the novel – narrowing it into one genre and defeating its purpose of bridging labels.
It’s a tough sell, trying to become a genre unto yourself, a writer for all seasons; but unless I can market myself whole cloth, I’ll forever be parsed into separate fan bases. I think readers are more eclectic these days, and with the advent of low-cost e-books, fans are less hesitant to read across borders. So, it’s time. Again, thanks for all the interest, and if you’re reading CASE WHITE and finding it compelling, would you please consider posting a review? More info will come to my website, but here are the links to Amazon [ http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O79GQTE ] and Barnes & Noble [ http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/case-white-thomas-sullivan/1120482249?ean=2940150574632 ] as the book builds toward Christmas.Taking advantage of some friends’ photo skills to fill out an itinerary for you this month. The shots below include: #1 cover of CASE WHITE; #2-8 hiking/running at Crow-Hassan; #9-11 shots of some Michigan travels taken by Doc Foto (musician Mark Manrique); #12 friends Lois & Dave McIntyre & lions in Zimbabwe (or was it Zambia) – one of those Z safaris.
Whether you call it balance or compensation, the natural inclination of the universe is toward symmetry. Repress that and you force a change somewhere else. It’s a dynamic process you interact with more or less constantly. Unless, of course, you prefer stasis and inertia. Nothing wrong with that, as long as you are willing to trade the absence of lows for the absence of highs. If you haven’t the courage to reach for “happily ever after,” then you probably shouldn’t start “once upon a time.”
Life is like Halloween, filled with costume changes in search of
balance. But if you never take off the makeup, the real you may as well be a
fantasy. Much better to brush the cobwebs off your window, look out at the
world, and whisper, “Trick-or-treat?”
Thomas "Sully" Sullivan
You can see all my books in any format here on my webpage or follow me on Facebook: http://www.thomassullivanauthor.com
