NEWSFLASH!!! I'm just back from a mind-blowing trip to Tahiti and the Marquesas. A striking contrast between idyllic blue-lagooned palm-fringed Tahitian islands with their flamboyant Rae Rae's, what they call the third sex, languid transsexuals and trannies fabulous in chic clothes, flower wreaths and necklaces and heels; and the harsh mountainous islands of the Marquesas with waves crashing up against unforgiving rock walls, dense foliage, mysterious history, strange sacred sites...and a recent history of cannibalism...all for a Black Book magazine assignment for their winter 2005-2006 travel issue. Thanks to the wondrous Tahiti-Tourisme board and Spring-O'Brien. See below for more info...
Meanwhile, here in gorgeous Topanga, which never loses its luster -- I am busy banging out a novel-for-hire due in less than three months! After teaching mediabistro.com's groovy but grueling 12-Week Novelist Bootcamp, now I have the same real-life deadline. Not to mention the Tahiti piece for Black Book due in September, the book in November, the usual teaching gigs and a non-fiction book proposal due imminently -- time to go underground! So I'll tuck a jasmine flower behind my ear, toss on a pareo and hunker down -- disciplined, but with island style.
I returned home to the sad and shocking news that Eddie Bunker had died. Age 71. Burbank. Jim Fitzgerald gave me the news in NYC. Eddie wrote so many classics, from ANIMAL FACTORY to DOG EAT DOG to EDUCATION OF A FELON to LITTLE BOY BLUE -- many made into films. And he appeared himself in many, including, perhaps most famously in "Reservoir Dogs." Coincidentally, my ex the ex-pat playwright living in Poland now with a Polish bride many decades his junior -- gotta love him -- John Steppling -- had a hand in the recent film script of "Animal Factory."
I remember the first time I met Eddie Bunker, with Jim (who was Eddie's editor for years, then agent, and was my editor on GWYF-UC) -- at Eddie's Hancock Park house he shared with then-wife and his young boy. We had gotten Eddie a grisly cop photo book -- and Jim had guessed Eddie would particularly cotton to this one shot of a head sitting idly on asphalt on a rural road, as if someone was buried up to their neck. But no. The head was missing its body. It was a decapitation post-accident. Jim was right. While we sat at Eddie's table eating the Chicken Diablo he'd cooked himself, Eddie sat at the head of the table, not eating, smoking a cigar, and laughing, er, his head off -- at that very picture. His sense of humor he might've been born with -- but it was also forged in the many years he spent in and out of prison, San Quentin in particular.
Which reminds me of another time I saw Eddie, when I invited him to be a guest speaker at the UCLA course I was teaching, The Necessary LIe: Turning Life Into Fiction (which I will be teaching in a 6-hour stint, one-day, for www.mediabistro.com Sunday, Aug. 21st): (TK...More shortly)
The last time Jim saw him, at Musso's with Feral House's Adam Parfrey (I kick myself for missing this -- only a month or so ago) -- Eddie was regaling them with tales of robbing jewelry stores -- for kicks. As Jim said, Eddie WAS L.A. literature somehow. It is a thriving place, literarily, artistically -- but the loss of Eddie Bunker -- is a serious blow. As his wife said, when asked why'd he die? "His wheels just fell off." Nobody can replace him. R.I.P. Eddie.
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PUBLICATIONS, CURRENT AND UPCOMING:
SIN HOUSE, novel-for-hire. (TK...More shortly)
LOVE JUNKIE, book proposal. (TK...More shortly)
BLACK BOOK MAGAZINE. In the recent issue, I did a write-up on freaks in entertainment. I know. That's everyone in entertainment. But I focused on born freaks. You know. Think Katherine Dunn. But they wouldn't talk to me! I ended up doing tons of research, synthesizing that as best I could, and interviewing the maestro of them all, John Waters. He rips the world a new asshole with his charm, intelligence, insights and unabashed bad taste and unique style. Check out www.blackbookmag.com for more info, or order the issue.
In the current Black Book, I dropped a saucy one-liner about a squalid hotel I stayed at in Bangkok with my then lover for their Sex In Hotels write-up.
And, as I talk about more below, Emma Forrest and I will do a duet on our recent trip to Tahiti/Marquesas for Black Book's winter 2005-2006 travel issue. Pics from trip to come soon!
WOMEN ON THE EDGE: WRITING FROM LOS ANGELES. This antho I talked about in the last Update, edited by the fabulous Sam Dunn and Julianne Ortale, comes out in October, 2005. But the buzz is now beginning. Bzzzzzz. And I got a cool mention in the recent write-up in Kirkus. The story that appears is "Meat-Eaters of Marrakesh" -- a Timex story that keeps on ticking, having been published over the years in Chelsea, the Barcelona Review, and now here in its leanest meat form. I enjoy the excellent company of people like Aimee Bender, Lisa Teasley, Dylan Landis and others.
Here's the Kirkus Review, August 1, 2005 (with bolding thanks to Dylan Landis):
Diverse collection cuts a broad swath through
the L.A. literary scene with fiction ranging from sparklingly edgy to
patently peripheral.
It's a mixed bag, sampling authors both established (McSweeney's contributor
Aimee Bender, novelist Rachel Resnick) and relatively unknown
(Venezuela-born Anita Santiago, author of the remarkable "Flying Blind").
The stronger pieces are generally able to carry the rest, offering images
and impressions sure to linger in readers' minds. Most of the stories
address life's big questions through its minutiae, plotting the points of
existence on a human map of banality writ large. In Karen Horn's "Levinium,"
an elderly man dying of cancer looks back on the "very personal matrix of
his life" as a series of facts on a grid, obscuring the hugeness of the work
he contributed to the Manhattan Project. The collection favors the
time-worn themes of aging, death, motherhood and love in its various
incarnations. The characters are not the traditional women these themes
might suggest, however: They're brash, thoughtful, intelligent, sassy.
The tough lesbian protagonist of Bender's "Debbieland" is a bully who grows
up to collect the tears of her lover in a vial, poignantly preying upon the
sorrows of others. In "Contraband," Los Angeles Times Book Review poetry
columnist Carole Muske-Dukes brings a refreshing subtlety to the age-old
debate between political idealism and lived reality. Co-editor Ortale's
"Milk" spins a hauntingly surreal tale of a septuagenarian woman who starts
to lactate, depicting her unlikely miracle with an impressive lack of
sentimentality. Resnick's images of rotting meat and a decaying relationship
resonate in "Meat-Eaters of Marrakesh."
Admirably pushes boundaries."
BLACK CLOCK. The excellent new lit mag, helmed by none other than the
legendary scribe Steve Erickson (also a denizen of Topanga Canyon though
rarely sighted except at Abuelita's for a rare cadillac margarita) -- asked
me to write a story, which I told you guys about in the last Update that was
due December 1st, and I did. The story's called "Endangered." It appears in
BC3. I got to do a reading at the new Dutton's/Beverly Hills with the
excellent David Ulin and marvelous Miranda July -- she of the hit hot film
"Me And You And Everyone We Know" which she wrote and directed and starred
in. Whew!
Miranda (also my middle name) read this intriguing bit from her journal that quietly, casually, mesmerizingly, slayed the audience. Her film, which I'm eager to see -- also stars John Hawkes -- a very cool guy you'd probably recognize from tons of films, and Lynch's "Twin Peaks," and "Deadwood" -- I met him years ago in Stuttgart, Arkansas, where I was working on the ill-fated flick "Rosalie Goes Shopping" -- Brad Davis' last film. We didn't even know he was sick. Hawkes, a former boxer and Minnesotan, became a friend -- though we've lost touch over the years. He's the real thing. Timeless. Ageless. Super-talented and big-souled. When he was on "Rosalie," he was living in Austin, Texas, doing guerrilla theater on busses and hanging with the blues musicians, including Rosie Flores.
THE DICTIONARY OF FAILED RELATIONSHIPS (Three Rivers Press), edited by Meredith Broussard, just came out in Italian. I love that their title is CHIAMMAMI, BASTARDO! meaning, of course, CALL ME, YOU BASTARD! The subtitle is L'ABC DEGLI AMORI SBAGLIATI -- meaning, yes, the ABC's of Love Gone Wrong. This is the antho where my story, "'M' Is For Muay Thai" appears.
BLURBS. I've written a few more blurbs this year. One for Rob Roberge's way cool, dark and twisted and fast-paced debut novel, MORE THAN THEY COULD CHEW (Dark Alley/Harper Collins) "Call it kink-noir. Call it beer-soaked black humor. Call it whatever you want. But buy this book." And you should. Elizabeth Kadetsky's FIRST THERE IS A MOUNTAIN: A YOGA ROMANCE. "Like an electric lotus, this book dazzles with its hard-won revelations." Previous blurbs, for the record, include: Glenn Gaslin's groovy O.C. tale BEEMER (Soho Press): "A Super Big Gulp of clever vidpop prose; Gaslin channel surfs Pynchon and navigates the Outer Limits with Douglas Coupland""; LIVING DEAD GIRL by the ever-ebullient and ultra-witty Tod Goldberg: "TK"; legendary darkside publisher/writer Adam Parfrey's APOCALYPSE CULTURE II (Feral House): "Apocalypse Culture II is an instant classic, blasting through the last frontiers of taboo"; Shawna Kenney's I WAS A TEENAGE DOMINATRIX: "TK". Some made it to the hardcover jacket, some just for online press, some ended up on cutting room floor, lost forever -- except for here. They're mondo time-intensive -- I try and read the book at least twice, take notes, to cook up an appropriate blurb. Obsessive-compulsive, anyone? The idea is that it's good karma. I was helped, continue to be helped, and love creating community and helping other writers if at all possible. But meanwhile, the bills pile up and I don't get my own work done. Time for a blurbish sabbatical. Meanwhile, enjoy the ones above -- and check out the books!
READINGS, UPCOMING AND PAST:
826 LA (TK...More shortly)
WOMEN ON THE EDGE appearances: West Hollywood Book Fair panel with Janet Fitch, Sam Dunn, Julianne Ortale, Lisa Teasley and Aimee Bender...(October 2nd); 826 LA (benefit reading Friday, October 14th with Sam Dunn, Julianne Ortale, Dylan Landis & Aimee Bender). There will also be a reading at Skylight with some of the other writers, on TK.
WORKSHOP MEMBER NEWS
PLEASE SEND IN NEWS TO ME IF YOU ARE A FORMER STUDENT, WORKSHOP MEMBER, OR KNOW OF NEWS OF ONE! And click on back issues to see earlier news.
Aaron Jacobs, is riding the wave of his surfing experiences into more and more publications. (TK, More shortly...)
Mindi Combs, that fastest-talking ornithologically-oriented gal this side of the 405, is one of my excellent workshop members from the O.C. and Chapman program, has a story in the current issue of CLEAN SHEETS, a cool online erotica mag.
Powerful poet and imaginative shoe designer Vicki Whicker, who's often at the Sunday Topanga workshops, was just named editor of the new lit mag MO+TH. Check out Village Books in Pali for frequent readings. The mag will draw from fellow writers in Jack Grapes' workshops and beyond.
Tom Misuraca (TK, More shortly...)
Super-talented Sera Gamble, who's been writing for TV with her stellar writing partner Raelle Tucker, also a previous workshop member -- were staff writers on the short-lived ABC series "Eyes" and are now staff writers for the upcoming WB series "Supernatural." Between the two of them they're sure to raise the level as high as dWeeBy will let them. Sera also has a story forthcoming in Susie Bright's BEST AMERICAN EROTICA 2006 and a fresh acceptance from Nerve.com for her sexy, sad, wise and utterly compelling story featuring a new tattoo, "Blue Star." Go Sera!
Kris Klabacha's story "Disposal," which she wrote in a UCLA workshop I taught, Fiction Writing: A Limited-Enrollment Workshop, is coming out in THE MADISON REVIEW IN FALL 2005. It's her first publication. How rad is that! Kris is a rockin' chick, with a direct line into the dark side of humanity.
August 5, 2005
Ia orana! Ka ho a!
It has been an eternity. A strange patch of time. A relationship come and gone, other things come and gone, a quiet and slow-churning struggling period -- and once again, I write to you all when I am recently returned from a trip.
This time, Tahiti. Yup, Tahiti and the Hiva Oa in the Marquesas. I have languished in lazy lagoons, with fresh white tiares stuck behind my ears, coconut oil moistening my limbs and infusing my wornout battle-weary brain and spirit. I have swum with sting rays (awesome -- stunning writer Dylan Landis eloquently calls the rays "flapping velvet" -- but she never fed them -- they have prehistoric, powerful beaks! birds of the sea -- I fed one, almost lost my finger -- memories of Ajax back at home -- and leaped up on the pontoon it was so wildly bizarre!) and reef sharks, searched for whales, watched spinner dolphins turn somersaults in the air, visited sacred sites in Hiva Oa -- the end of the earth, where Gauguin and Jacques Brel died, I have gone to Heiva festivities with a stunning Rae Rae, transsexual, Dyane aka Matahi -- the Polynesian Naomi Campbell -- on the island of Bora-Bora, which she calls "borrring." And I call, paradise.
It all began when Emma Forrest, the amazing wunderkind writer from the U.K. who lives in New York City -- who's not even 30 and who's bodaciously bombastically gorgeous and charming and fun -- who started writing a pop culture column at age 15 -- whose third fab book, CHERRIES IN THE SNOW, has just come out to raves in the Guardian among other places -- suggested we go to Tahiti and write up a story for Black Book.
Why Tahiti? Why Black Book? What story? Well. At the time, she was in the midst of relationship turmoil and ending something, and was pregnant and planning to abort. I was mourning another failed relationship and a lost pregnancy, one I'd very much wanted. Voila! Where better to go but Tahiti?! To heal. Emma with her own brand of healing, which required spas and tattoos -- whereas mine featured fear-smashing and adventure -- and perhaps a willing Polynesian donor? So suggested Emma, saying they were famous for willingly impregnating foreigners. Romantic as I am, this didn't really appeal -- but the trip did. And so did going with her. The perversity and stubbornness of two female friends going to a honeymoon destination -- why not? Why wait?
I recalled that when my first book came out, it was in effect my debut -- my coming-out party -- and my wedding. Even if I do have one some day or the equivalent of one -- this was that equivalent, then. A celebration. A union. Writer and book. An excuse to buy the most sumptuous clothes I'd ever bought -- a sleek muted sheeny formfitting blue mermaid skirt with a jewel and bead encrusted snug velvet vest...
And this? A kind of honeymoon. A celebration of love of life. Of adventure. Of forging on. Perhaps to mark the time. To fertility. Whether manifesting as a child, family, and/or more writing -- who would know. But hope was there. Maybe, I would even get my first tattoo...stay tuned!
(TK: Ann Marlowe party in Manhattan, Elizabeth Wurtzel's birthday bash around the corner, Salman Rushdie on a cruise boat -- all simultaneous events, what they call in City That Never Sleeps, holographic fun...the simultaneity of socializing -- Ann's new book THE BOOK OF TROUBLE: A ROMANCE about her love affair with the Arab world and one Arab in particular -- a complex, nuanced, politically textured tome which I had the pleasure of stealing glances at in proofread form and can't wait for galleys...)
A pai,
Rachel
Click to get back issues of updates -- more gossip, ranting!
Bullfighting, Black Clocks, & The Bermuda Triangle of Holidays: 2004-2005
Seoul & Shanghai Surprise: Spring/Summer 2004 Pornification with All-Star Susie Bright
Falling Into Winter Into Spring Renaissance: Nov. 2003 - Feb. 2004, With Scent of India
September 2003: Lusty Divorcees!!! A Different Drumbeat -- LA Times essay on Topanga
May & Summer 2003: R.I.P. Eddie Little
December-February 2003: India! White Tigers, Cremations, Maharajas & A One-Legged Sadhus from Texas
Winter 2002 -- Back-to-Back Black Book Covers -- All Things Cusackian & "Meant Work"
Summer Splash 2002: Entering Beckworld and Other Self-Tanning Adventures in Scribbling
December 2001-January 2002: General Holidaze, & The Erotic Side of the Flu
September-November 2001 -- the 9.11 Spread, This New World Of Ours
September 2nd Update: Loss of Lima, and, other ramblings from the days before The World Changed
June-August 2001: Off the Rails at Track 16 Gallery & Other Tales
April/May 2001: Second Pick-of-the-Litter Winners! plus Snap and trash from Tin House bash
December/January 2001: Happy Kwanzaa Send-Off, Holidazing
November 2000 Update: Seven Deadly Sins Contest! Plus Bonus Political Rant
June 2000 Update: Hell's Angels, Rocking the Tin House, and More!
February 2000 Update: My Bloody Valentine