Fiction
Saint Martin Brings a Dead Man to Life
I’ve been neglecting to post here the latest pieces on the Dead Man as published in RIC – I also failed to meet the deadline for the March edition of RIC, first issue I haven’t contributed to in quite some time. However, the Dead Man never goes away – he can’t, that’s his problem. April piece is being finalised as we speak, and see the other recent contributions below. With thanks, as always, to Saudamini.
My piece The Quadrant of the Dead Man has been published in the January 2022 issue of RIC Journal.
Bit of a story behind this one.
Last year, I wrote a Dead Man every month for RIC, January through to December. I had absolutely decided to take a break from that output and not write a Dead Man for January 2022 at least – maybe even beyond. But three things happened.
A friend, Mimosa Shah, sent me How a Gray Painting Can Break Your Heart, an interactive essay by Jason Farago on the work of Jasper Johns, specifically the painting ‘In Memory of My Feelings — Frank O’Hara’. I appreciated the gesture of having an essay sent my way; the piece is lovely and rich and exactly the kind of thing that you want from a discussion of art, especially that which does not comfortably reveal itself. But hidden in the artwork in question is a reference to a dead man, which got me thinking.
Secondly, at the time of writing, I had Covid-19. I have, for most of my adult life, framed my experience in or through writing, so it seemed important to mark this, somehow – because it is something we as a species, or at least I as an individual, have been trying to outrun for the last two years, but also because the Dead Man has evolved during the pandemic, taken on a new meaning or role. It made more sense to try to write something at the time, not less.
And, finally, once I started, the writing came easily – clearly, there was more story to tell.
Thanks, as always, to Saudamini.
The pandemic continues, the Dead Man wanders on. My piece The Dead Man and the Drop Tower has been published in the April 2021 edition of the ineffable RIC Journal.
With thanks, as always, to Saudamini for giving life to the Dead Man.
My piece The Dead Man’s Circumstances has been published in the final edition of RIC Journal for 2020.
The Dead Man has again accompanied me through the year, guiding me through the madness of 2020 like Virgil. I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating: I couldn’t have continued to write The Dead Man without RIC’s support. Though I need The Dead Man – and, this year, needed him more than ever – without RIC there would no need to write on him.
With thanks, as always, to S.
Very pleased to be able to share that my piece Ueno Zoo has been published at Fugitives & Futurists, an exciting new lit journal out of the UK.
Wrote this while watching nature documentaries and reading Kafka’s Lost Writings but also while holding in mind a couple of pieces I wrote a few years ago, specifically Then God and Economies of Scale. I love the image that accompanies the piece, it matches the intent perfectly.
With thanks to Andrew.
I’m very pleased to have a new piece in the November 2020 edition of RIC Journal titled The Dead Man’s Gift.
The Dead Man buys birds, the pandemic continues: New South Wales has had eleven days with no reported community transmission of Covid, Victoria has had 20 days straight of no new cases, SA has just entered full lock down.
Thanks, as always, to Saudamini.
So the Dead Man is finally dying, dies, dead… my piece The Dead Man’s Death has been published in the June 2020 edition of RIC Journal.
I hope you like this one – it was a nice one to write, appeared in my head and simply needed to be set down, adjusted a little, polished and then sent.
Thanks as always to Saudamini.
Quick one.
This is the recording of a reading from 27 August 2018 of my short story Faulkner On The Balcony, originally published in Burning House Press.
Forgot about it, don’t remember why I made it, but found it the other day in my voice memos.
Very pleased to say that my piece Reverse Obituary has been published in the January 2020 edition of RIC Journal.
This was inspired by the desire to write an obit of sorts for Kabid and pull all the threads of his life story – i.e. pre-death and before he became The Dead Man – together; the Dead Man died long ago, and has since taken on a life of his own. But also I came across this wacky article in QZ on how envisaging one’s death can help with career goal setting…
Enjoyed the writing of this one a lot, felt the high for days. Thanks to S – as always.
So the 926 Years release officially begins with the November 2019 mail out from Sublunary Editions, on the way to subscribers now. The November letter takes a cut called ‘Shelly Valentine’ from the book I co-wrote with Kyle Coma-Thompson. Should give you an idea of the vibe of the thing and the games Kyle and I are playing. Anyway, super excited that a sliver of it is out in the world. More soon, obviously – 21 Jan 2020, to be precise.
We share the edition with ‘The Bakelite Telephone’, a piece by Imogen Reid. Good news, too, because Imogen and I have been following each other around for a while now – Gorse, 3:AM, Felt: Aesthetics of Grey, and elsewhere I’m sure. More reason to take a look.
Thanks to Josh for this one and, of course, Kyle – it’s a pleasure to be part of the monthly editions. Be sure to subscribe to Sublunary Editions to get fresh literature in your postbox every month and… buy our little book.
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