The Debut of "Lookout"

Back in July, Figment.com had hosted a Summer Reading Contest that I decided to enter because, well, it seemed like a lot of fun. You got to choose one prompt out of three choices and write a 500 word story. The prompt I had fallen in love immediately was this:

A high school student on his or her first summer job

Super. Well, as I brainstormed, I realized that my own experience with summer jobs was slim, at best. When I was in high school, my summers consisted of jumping in the pool, complaining about the lack of snow, reading, and plowing through a slew of video games. Oh! And brushing up on my rusty math skills before facing the fall semester. So what did I know about summer jobs? Well, only one thing: they're supposed to change you. 

I missed out, but I wanted to make sure that my story touched on that thought. And then, as I wracked my brain for a summer job idea, I came across Maia Flore's Sleep Elevations series. The concept of sleep, flying, and the whimsical backdrops for each photograph is stunning. You need to check them out. 

One in particular, pictured here, just slapped me upside the head and said, "OVER HERE! I'm your summer job!"

Well, yeah. You know how it goes. 

I wrote my story, featuring my shy protagonist named Lorelei Hall, who won the job of the town's lookout - basically, a glorified lifeguard. Lorelei is strapped to a cloud and keeps an eye on the beach-goers... but she also hopes that having this coveted job will allow her to make friends and come of out her shell. In 500 words, I did the best I could and posted the story. 

"Lookout" didn't stay up for very long since I realized that I couldn't keep up with the feedback-seeking demands of this particular contest. However, I still planned on coming back to the story again someday.

That someday is now. In stepped The Tripod Cat, a new literary journal that my fellow MFA friend, Alan, started. What's unique about this journal is that the issues are all audio. You hear the stories and poems being read, instead of reading them. It's kind of exciting. The issues are free and, if you decide to get them from iTunes (yes, free), you can listen to them on your mp3 players. Yeah. Cool. And scary, haha. 

Alan took a liking to "Lookout" right away; it'll appear as a serial at The Tripod Cat. In fact, the first segment of "Lookout" is already up. You can listen to it and the rest of the issue here. 

Fair warning: I'm the one reading "Lookout." No surprise, right? I'm the one who wrote it. However, it's hard for me to listen to my recorded voice... I think it sounds funny. *Kim reveals her kryptonite, bwaha* 

I'm not sure how long this serial will be (hence, I'm not saying, novel, novella, or even short story right now), but I'm looking forward to hearing what you think you think about the story. It's gotten bigger:

Lorelei Hall has been chosen as this summer's lookout in the seaside town of Helium, but it doesn't mean that she'll be spending her summer simply strapped to a cloud. A wild wind's approaching the town and only Sculley and his uncle Gallagher - two rascally wind peddlers - know about it. Sculley and Lorelei will have to work together if they have any chance at saving Helium - too bad their personalities clash. 

Clouds and Clouds

By the by, has anyone noticed how clouds have grown in popularity lately? Even the whole floating-in-the-air-strapped-to-a-cloud thing. I want to post two peculiar sightings to finish out my blogging for the day. 

Ellie Goulding's "Anything Can Happen." Brilliant song, brilliant video. I must have listened to this song a hundred times since its release. Did you see the scenes where Ellie's floating in the air with a cloud? It look EXACTLY like Maia Flore's photo! When I watched this video for the first time and saw it, I almost spit out my soda and started pointing frantically at the screen (I was alone, yet I felt I had to do this, haha). 

And this one, ironically a Guinness commercial (I still don't get), features a  brave and curious cloud that takes on the city. The narration gives me the shivers; I'm such a sucker for that kind of thing. 

Publication News: Rose Red Review

Hallo! How's October treating you so far?

Although I'm still sweating in my shorts and tank tops, the world is starting to change. Ghosts hang like used tissues on tree branches. The grim reaper watches me as I dump half-price cheese balls into my shopping cart. I wish for bats, remembering how I saw them fly each morning while I wandered the outside hallways of my high school. Gads, I love Halloween spirit.

This month is also proving to be one full of, well, my stories.

This may be a late announcement, but the lovely Rose Red Review has published my short story called, "Scissors & Thorns." Hurrah!

You may want to read this story if you:

• think scissors are magical
• never underestimate the danger of thorns 
• are partial towards clumsy boys with fishing traps

"Sleeping Beauty's Dream" by Catrin Welz-Stein

If you've been reading along, you already know that I have a thing for Sleeping Beauty. It's one of my favorite fairy tales. There are so many angles to explore, ideas to follow... and I feel like, one day, I'll end up with a giant pile of short stories and novellas that all center around it. After all, just look at "Tick-Tock Beauty," the short story I had written for Mossyhearth. I can't get enough.

In this case, the idea of what caused and sustained the thorny barrier in the original fairy tale was what started "Scissors & Thorns." Even if the good fairy had cast the spell to cover the castle in thorns, how could the thorns stay alive for a hundred years? Maybe by feeding on the all the boys that weren't the princess's true love... or maybe, well, the thorns weren't purely thorns at all. Hmm. Hmm. Go read the story.

In other news: two more stories will soon be published this month.

The first is a flash fiction piece that will appear in the first issue of the White Ash Literary Magazine.

The second is the first segment of an audio serial featured on the Tripod Cat.

Believe me, I'm excited to share these stories with you.

So, September...

I got home with knots in my shoulders, but a spring in my step. For the first time in the last four weeks, I finally have a spot of free time to relax and regroup. The perfect time to blog. My plans for this month's posts were going to be fantastic. Trust me. They would have blown your mind.

But September decided to have none of it.

From The Enchanted Cottage (1924). YES. My sentiments exactly.

The Fall semester is typically a whirlwind of surprises, deadlines, and extra events to color autumn and dawning winter with different flavors of stress.

The best way to express this past month is with bullet points:

• Being up to my nostrils in manuscript revisions
• Attending meetings about things like how to graduate by properly formatting thesis 
• The usual school stuff (like teaching and taking classes)
• Squirming over a ridiculously lovely burgundy coat - and NOT pressing the "purchase" button
• Emotionally prepping for Disney's Food and Wine Festival 
• Welcoming my best friend and her husband's new baby girl (even if it's only through email so far). 
• Rolling around on the floor with my dog, Misty
• Putting off watching Gravity Falls because, as amazing as that cartoon looks, I can't find whole episodes (or balance that and manuscript revisions).
• Contemplating buying a blow-up, electronic Dalek and riding around in it at school. 
• Adopting a Dalek mentality towards my revisions. EXTERMINATE THE ADVERBS! 

Through every speed bump this past month, I had to tell myself:

The truth is: of course I care. I always care. But just watching this gif made my stress more bearable - especially because I loved the film, In the Good Old Summertime. It's the first color film I saw with Buster in it. He's adorable and I almost cried when he appeared on screen ;_;

Dwah. Look at 'im.

Returning from my digression... this month hasn't been all business. I've eaten a lot of sushi (there's a new all-you-can-eat buffet in town), listened to Shelly Fraley's albums over and over, and geeked out over Richard Barthelmess in The Enchanted Cottage (1924).

OH. And I was just bored enough at a meeting today that I doodled this (and colored it when I came home):

Jimmy, Ashlyn, and Diamond! Yay!

I dragged my feet through this month. It's actually surreal to think that it's almost over. And I'm looking forward to October.

Dime Stories: The Escapist Book Fair

"No chance of rain. Hurry."

There's a rumor in this city, as old as the sewer steam that rises from the vents. The librarians whisper about it during their lunch hours, spearing their walnut and roman salads with silver forks. Derek's heard them talk about the book fair that meets only once a year, a book fair that only invites the dreamers of the city.

Derek thinks that he's earned the right to attend the book fair this year - he's racked up some good karma. On the weekends, Derek shaves, dons his black trench coat, and tracks down abandoned books. He carries a net with him that he uses to catch books, as if they were strays.

"I find most of them in dumpsters," he tells his friends. They back away from him; his clothes smell like rotten eggs.

Sometimes Derek thinks the books are talking to him. They squeak and groan as he puts their spines back together.

On the morning of the book fair, they woke him up by falling off his desk.

"'No chance of rain. Hurry,'" Derek reads. He fingers the telegram that was slipped under his door. The address listed is downtown, not too far from his apartment, but Derek jerkily completes his morning rituals of shaving, eating, and dressing. His heart pounds as he races down the street.

The door fair is in an abandoned lot. The narrow space, caught between two apartment buildings, is stacked with books. Trolleys form makeshift rows, nothing is labeled, and all of the books have unmarked covers. Dereks barely breathes, scared that the entire book fair will fade away like the smoky remains of a snuffed candle.

There are other dreamers at the book fair. Derek sees an artist with a shaved head fingering through a book of photographs. A little girl clutches five books in her arms.

Derek doesn't notice that they all disappear, at some point, the echoes of their smiles imprinting the air.

A mustard yellow book grabs his attention. It hums in his hands. When Derek turns to the first page, he reads the first sentence in his head. It's a story about tropical winds, sandcastle palaces, sword fights.

Before he can even think about closing the book, he falls into the pages, slipping into the ink and merging with the words.

How to Spend a Hurricane Issac Day

Who hasn't heard of Hurricane Issac?

Since I live in Florida, this terrifying hurricane has been everywhere. Not that, you know, I'm scared of hurricanes. We get them all the time, especially during the summer season. What worried me was that yesterday, Monday 27th, was supposed to be the first day of school. Would we get the day off because of the storm or did everyone have to drive through the wind, rain, and RNC traffic to reach campus?

Well, at the last minute, the schools closed. Monday had become a day off.

If you want to know the proper procedure for protecting yourself during a hurricane, you'd better read another blog. Because, like most hurricanes that hit here, the weather is bad enough that you shouldn't be driving, but it's nothing to really worry about. Stay inside. Have some fun. And that's what I did.

Here's how I spent my hurricane day:


1. Watch Dr. Who

When Dr. Who aired on the SyFy Channel a few years ago, I saw a smattering of episodes. Time travel, funny aliens, a lot of running and screaming - Dr. Who was very exciting, but it didn't quite grip me at the time.

I consider myself a fantasy girl. Give me swords over space ships any day. I have trouble engaging in - and sometimes even understanding - the technical aspects of science fiction. So when I was a little high schooler, watching Dr. Who for the first time, I thought it was just like the other sci-fi shows I'd watched growing up (like Farscape). I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything when I stopped watching.

However, I've since changed my tune.

One of my summer goals had been to watch EVERY EPISODE starting with the 9th Doctor. But then the reality of completing my thesis hit me - and I didn't do a lot things I said I was going to do this summer, haha. So when Hurricane Issac gave me an extra day, I turned on Nettflix and started watching. I've seen about six episodes so far, and I'm really loving the show.

Maybe I had to grow up a bit to be able to enjoy it, or maybe now is just the right time for me to start. I already jumped the gun and bought a "Bow Ties are Cool" t-shirt (not because of the show, but more so... because I really believe that). I can't wait to get to the 11th Doctor, but I will take my time and watch in order. I promise, haha.


2. Read Literary Journals

I have a big reading list, but more often than not I cross novels off my list rather than literary journals. There are two journals that I thought would be fun to read and I finally snuggled up on my couch and read them. Weird Tales and Shimmer are both journals focused on publishing speculative stories that are, of course, weird, whimsical, and surprising.

Weird Tales #358

Weird Tales has a long history, having been founded in 1923 (cool, right? I'd love to read some of those really old issues). Issue #358's theme was Hell (I had no idea when I bought it, haha), so I ended up reading about renegade angels and contract-wielding demons. Although the theme wasn't my cup of tea, I enjoyed all of those stories. Another great aspect about Weird Tales is that they also publish academic / non-fiction articles too that have to do with weird or speculative tales. The articles in this issue included a study of "weird" in film and how McQueen's fashion aesthetic could be considered "weird." interesting stuff.

My favorite story from this issue had to be "A Beginner's Guide to Sandcastle Alchemy" by Nik Houser. A group of boys from a specialized school go to the beach during a storm and build sandcastles - all the with purpose of trying to attract the attention of the Mermaid Queen. However, the boys have no idea what the Mermaid Queen is really like and what they are risking by following through with their whimsical sand structures. This story gave me the chills but it was very well done.

Shimmer #14

This issue of Shimmer didn't seem to have a particular theme, but the stories were strange and wonderful. From mud creatures to eerie trash men, I was surprised by how creative and exciting each tale was. Almost every story has an illustration too, made by the artist who did the cover. Very cool.

My favorite story here is "This House was Never a Castle" by Aaron Polson about a boy and his two sisters Rosamond and Olivia (who is ghost, having been eaten by a wolf). They live in a house kind of like a nautilus in that there are many rooms with shut doors - but there's no way in or out of the house without using a bit of magic. The siblings only leave the house to get food because the world outside is a dangerous place, full of soldiers at war, wolves, and disease. The boy struggles with his desire to stay small and protected, but knowing that he has to step up one day and be a man. This story was creepy and I got attached very quickly to the boy and sisters. I want to read more about them!


3. Bake Macarons

Ever since my mom and I started baking macarons, it's become like an addiction! While the trees out back shivered in the rain, we made two new flavors: banana and lilac. They both are delicious.

A note about the lilac: we bought lilac in the hopes of coming close to a flavor like violet. It would be amazing to make violet macarons, but violet anything is expensive and hard to find. My mom and I trolled all the health food stores in the area, asking for violets, to no avail. But one shop had lilac and so we decided to take a chance on that flavor. Thank goodness - it's really good and it does taste a bit like violet.

These are the flavors we used. Left to Right: Banana for the cookie, chocolate for the whipped cream center, and lilac water for the other batch of cookies and whipped cream filling. The Watkins brand of extract is amazing! I highly recommend.

The lilac water is sweeter than rose water... I dunno, I kind of like the lilac better, haha. I wish that the food coloring had been darker - we have to play around with that some more.


4. Play with Misty

Done and Done!

5. Listen to The Midsummer Station

I love Owl City. It's a fact. frankly, the new album, The Midsummer Station, couldn't have come soon enough. I listened to it for the first time while driving to and from orientation, blowing out my eardrums because, you know, I have to turn up the volume in my car.

During the storm, this energetic, cheerful music washed away the worst of the thunder and lighting flashing outside.

This album is better than I expected; typical of any Owl City song, it's hard to choose a favorite. However, I'm singling out "Metropolis" because there's something mesmerizing about it. Every time this song comes up, I have to pause for a moment and daydream. Here's the song and part of the lyrics:

Oh oh, I can't even take it in

Oh oh, I can't even take it in

Oh oh, I left my heart in metropolis

So far apart, I checked but the coast was clear

I feel like a postcard

I wish you were here

Subway through the dark, carriage through the park

Taxi down the street, get out and use my feet

Don't matter much to me what it is that I do

As long as I'm coming home to you

Oh oh oh, as far as I can see

You're the only one, the only one who can get to me

Like a hijacked plane or a runaway train

Or a speeding bullet, there's no stopping this

I left my heart in metropolis

A thousand miles feels like a million years

Like hundreds of postcards that say 

I wish you were here (I can't even take it in)

Airplane through the sky, greyhound racing by

Dirt bike on the beach, sailboat on the sea

Don't matter much to me what it is that I do

As long as I'm coming home to you