I’ve recently taken another ride on the merry-go-round that is the process of getting published these days.
Here’s a direct quote from a friendly publisher who took the time to answer my request for a reading,
“…it’s almost impossible to sell any debut fiction at all these days, wherever it comes from, unless it’s a bestseller…”
In a way it’s refreshing to hear. And not the first time.
To follow up on the distinctions brought up in From Windmills to Wind Turbines, and Back to Windmills…, There is this further distinction that applies to the basis of the fundamental rift between Technology and Craft. Continue reading
Life is being devoured by growth, misplaced growth, growth that refuses to admit to cycles and insists on a manic linearity that can only lead to collapse and immense destruction. This kind of growth exists in nature, it is cancer, malignancy. It is no stretch of poetic fancy to recognize the way our culture is functioning as a form of planetary cancer.
Reading accounts of life in preindustrial contexts is often a lurching experience. We find so many instances where we are used to, “And we started her up and motored on through!” Where, instead days weeks, even months or years, are spent dealing with a discrete obstacle of distance, or adverse conditions such as wind, or current, or altitude; we expect to simply power-on to get what we want, when we want it. The same holds true regarding getting things done. Instead of a few clicks and the delightful expectation of an overnight delivery, we read of the grueling effort required to make the simplest thing.
“Stone Soup is also literally about our relationship with Food.”
So went the placeholder for this section on Food. It’s not only literally true, but obvious!
Is there a way to get past this? Do we have to?
You may find this phrase, attached to the title Stone Soup, a curious choice of words and a doubtful connection. Let’s look into why it’s here.
Over at Horizons of Significance, and in a longer poem, I’ve written a fair bit on the Spectacle. It’s a way of speaking about the juggernaut of words and images and events that keep us in thrall to our illusions.
What strikes me about the Spectacle in relation to Stone Soup is the way this story shows us a way past our focus on Spectacle and towards a focus on satisfaction.
