Franz Marc: Tierschicksale et al.

Recent reading in photography has, as might be expected, led me to some art I had not seen. I know very little about visual art, and last night I saw Franz Marc’s painting, The Fate of the Animals (click for large version), for the first time. Marc is considered to be one of the principle [...]

EMPM: Glossary (1)

floor: n 1: [Common Use]  The part of the unit in which the patients spend their time. As opposed to the nurses’ station (fishbowl) or therapy rooms. “What are you doing out here on the floor with a college degree?” ______ Lakeside Behavioral Health System: n abbrev. Lakeside 1: [Common Use] The psychiatric hospital I [...]

EMPM: Geography

The East Unit was kept secure by three sets of electromagnets. In the absence of a 9-10 key or person to press the button inside the nurses’ fishbowl, only a great amount of inertia would open the doors attached thereto. Even then, one set lead only to the West Unit, another set downstairs, and the [...]

EMPM: Prologue

Working title for my novel that isn’t actually a novel and never will be: The Electromagnetic Paper Machine (not to be confused with the title of a real novel by Ken Kesey, who also wrote about a mental hospital) I wanted to write a novel like Kurt Vonnegut wrote novels. That is, good. I wanted [...]

Novel Not Novel

Last week an old friend asked me, “What’s going on over there? You’ve stopped writing.” Well, that’s both true and untrue. I’ll lay it out for you straight. I have no talent for fiction. Still, let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. This Winter saw a lot of boredom in [...]

A Note on Fiction vs. Non-fiction

Dear readers, both of you, A certain amount of hyperbole can be good for enjoyable non-fiction. Up to this point, everything written here has been more or less true. The only possible departures have been hyperbolic in nature. That however, will end. I have been posting not just to please my tiny readership, but also [...]