Passing Strange is strangely wonderful

Tonight I went to see a terrific play with friends --it recently moved from the Public Theater to Broadway and it's an odd one. No one I'd ever heard of in it. Great cast. A musical written by a black musician named Stew (no last name)--autobiographical. He narrates the story about a young middle class black kid living in LA who decides he wants to write and play rock and roll. His mother is a single mother but they're financially comfortable. He leaves to go to "find himself" in the sixties--to Amsterdam and then to Berlin. There are four or five musicians who are onstage (but seated in holes in the stage throughout. The youth (He's never given a name) meets all these kids his age and hangs out with them--does does acid and hash and has lots of sex (it IS the sixties) but is dissatisfied and leaves for West Berlin. There he meets several avant garde artists/lefties against he bourgeosie (while they reveal that they are --of course--from the bourgeosie.
The structure is complicated. The narrator often talks to the audience. Or just watches the action while his young alter ego acts (out) on stage. We all three recommend it!
For more info
Passing Strange

Houses fit for science fiction and fantasy movies

Here's a set of interesting houses from around the world.

your fantasy home?

Thanks to Jonathan Carroll.

Animal adorableness for Friday

If your heart isn't warmed by this you are heartless :-)

Ducklings saved from storm drain

From Jezebel

Guidelines for Interfictions II: The Second Anthology of Interstitial Writing

Edited by Christopher Barzak and Delia Sherman


Please note: I have nothing to do with this anthology.


GUIDELINES for
Interfictions II: The Second Anthology of Interstitial Writing

We invite submissions for an Anthology of Interstitial Fiction, to be published by Small Beer Press under the auspices of the Interstitial Arts Foundation in Fall of 2009.

What We’re Looking For
Interstitial Fiction is all about breaking rules, ignoring boundaries, cross-pollinating the fields of literature. It’s about working between, across, through, and at the edges and borders of literary genres, including fiction and non-fiction. It falls between the cracks of other movements, terms, and definitions. If you have a story idea that’s impossible to describe in a couple of sentences, it may be interstitial.

We’re looking for previously unpublished stories that engage us and make us think about literature in new ways. Rather than defining “interstitial” for you, we’d like you to show us what genre-bending fiction looks like. Surprise us; make us see that literature holds possibilities we haven’t yet imagined.

We are also open to graphic stories of about 10 pages.

Who We’re Looking For
Writers in all genres of fiction (contemporary realism, mystery, historical, fantasy, whatever) who have an idea that challenges generic tropes and expectations. If you’re not sure whether a story is interstitial, send it along anyway.

Practical Matters
Our submission period will be from October 1, 2008 to December 2, 2008. Please submit electronically only. Send your stories to: interfictions@interstitialarts.org. You will hear from us after January, 2009.

Overseas submissions are welcome. Stories previously published in other languages may be submitted in English translation for first English language publication.

Please follow standard manuscript formatting and submission conventions: ie, double-spaced, with 1” margins, and the name of the story on each page. No simultaneous or multiple submissions. Word count is open, but the ideal range is 4,000-10,000 words. Payment will be 5 cents a word for non-exclusive world anthology rights, on publication, along with 2 author’s copies.

Any questions? Write us at interfictions@interstitialarts.org