Ambiguity

It is a concept that defines and clarifies without being specific. One of my interests is New Criticism which is a critical analysis of literature based on its organic unity as demonstrated by the use of ambiguity and the intentional fallacy. It is interesting that Romanticism is also concerned with ambiguity, primarily the moral ambiguity of man and a focus on the beauty of nature as opposed to the imposed beauty of neo-classicism.

I guess beauty is where you find it. Beauty can be the perfectly constructed sentence and, it can be the appreciation of a perfectly formed Rose. These concepts have been exhaustively explored by philosophers much smarter than I and so I won’t be so presumptuous to attempt a philosophical enquiry, but I will give my take.

Beauty is selling a book, novel or short. Beauty is going through the process; submitting, editing and cover art. Beauty is seeing the process coalesce into a product for sale. For me, beauty is seeing my book for sale.

Don’t confuse my enamoration with seeing my book for sale with the joy and pleasure I get from seeing my child score a goal or seeing my child smile and laugh. It’s a narrow application of the concept of the sublime. My book for sale at www.RedRosePublishing.com is sublime. Watching my child smile or laugh is sublime.

Webster’s describes sublime as “supreme or outstanding.” I think all of the above qualifies, as does having you read my blog. Therefore, since I have a second book being published, I have kids scoring goals and you are reading my blog, I am living the sublime life.

Peace.

Reflections of a Green Monday

St. Paddy’s day has always fascinated me. I have memories of quaffing pints of green beer and gluttonous consumption of corned beef and cabbage. My heritage is Saxon, but on St. Paddy’s, everyone is Irish. I worked on Monday so I wasn’t able to engage in the festivities. My brother in law goes into the city every year for the parade and I am jealous. I have only lived in New York for a few years and I have yet to make the pilgrimage for drunken debauchery – my bad.

I have had a bit of an epiphany of late. I don’t want to jinx it by speaking about it yet, but I am more motivated, more inspired, more energetic and more committed than I have been in years. I feel as if a dark cloud has been lifted and the jovial visage of jocund day is smiling at me. The timing is fortuitous – I have a new book coming out soon, March 27th to be exact – and things at work are reaching critical mass requiring an inordinate amount of my time and energy. C’est la vie.

Not much else is going on right now.

Peace!

Spike

Writer’s Remorse

The new book will be released on the 27th. It’s called “A Slice of Life.” It’s a tightly written mystery, about 36 pages, in the vein of Mike Shane mystery mags.

I like this book very much. I think it is tight. I liked my editor and I think we did a good job. I penciled a drawing for the cover and Shirley Burnett brought it to life, made it sing!

So, if you liked “Pickup Lines From A Pickup Truck,” or you like my blog, you should buy “A Slice of Life.”

It’s available at www.RedRosePublishing.com in pdf and msn reader, will be available soon at Crescent, MobiPocket, Amazon in Kindle, Diesel, etc…

I am working on the next but am a little hamstrung. It will happen.

Spike

One for My Homey

My brother Jon had a birthday on Saturday. Unfortunately he wasn’t here to enjoy it. He checked out on me in 2001 at the ripe old age of 39.

Murph, I miss you terribly!

Spike