Blast From The Past - Pre-SNT Titles

[MaryRae]

Thanks to the proliferation of used books available from Amazon, E-Bay and other sources, we can now catch up with books we may have missed the first time around.

I finished The Planets last night. Having come out in '91, I'm sure I sold a few copies of it as I was working at the now defunct Waldenbooks in the University Mall in Carbondale, IL, at the time.

At the time I was mostly reading non-fiction history and social studies books along with a series of westerns by Don Coldsmith, so it wouldn't have exactly been on my radar screen. Seventeen years later, a couple of lakes (or at least fairly large and unusually clean cesspools) have flowed under my particular bridge.

I must preface my thoughts by admitting that if not for the author, The Planets or the subsequent The Constellations would not be the type of book that would jump out at me. I have never read a lot of fiction, or a wide variety of books. I have always tended to go into overload mode on whatever topic happened to interest me at the time.

Reading The Planets made for several comical incidents on the train, that would go something like the following:

Me - Laughter
Co-worker - "What's wrong with you?"
Me - "Nothing. It's this book I'm reading."
This would be followed by a brief retelling of what had just happened in the book.
Co-Worker - "That sounds like a weird book, Mary."

That may not actually be a bad word to describe the contents of this book. Note though, that "weird" doesn't mean "bad." Any book containing a serial hardware store burgler known for using a burro as a getaway vehicle can lay claim to the word "weird." That's just fine by me, as anyone who knows my sense of humor will tell you I do weird just fine.

In short if you haven't read it yet, find a copy (fairly easy to do online). Be careful not to blow your Diet Coke out your nose, particularly if you like to read while driving.

The Constellations is up there on my short list of books to read next.

[Holly]

I've never read "The Planets," but the phrase "Remind me to Murder You," has become very common in my vocabulary and is next on my list of books to read. It is fortunate that I have a library with in biking distance that has a great selection. At least Maryland got that right.

[Jenny Boylan]

wow. Thanks for the blast, Mary Rae.

The record should show that there is an even earlier, even MORE out of print collection of juvenalia and grad-school-show off stories entitled REMIND ME TO MURDER YOU LATER.

I feel bad that Planets is so "weird." But it is. I think it bears the tightly-wound-up restlessness of its author, and that makes it just so goofy. But I love that book still-- it IS a riot, and that was the goal. That, and trying to touch people.

In re: the Centralia mine fire at the heart of the novel: something you can't see, that you can't stop, that slowly, invisibly spreads and destroys the familiar place you have known-- What is that a metaphor for?

Oh, let's not always see the same hands.

The Constellations is a failure, alas. The "sequel" has at its heart a small girl trying to find the mother who left-- and yet, I never lost a mother, and the book loses itself. A sequel to a book that didn't sell well in the first place? Not a good decision, commercially, for the author. The Constellations is the one book of mine that I would NOT bring back into print if I had the option, probably. It took me years to recover from that dud. (although the book had its fans). Most authors's careers would have ended after this, but my career, like my life, has been one long mulligan.

Then there are the four young adult books, which I was paid to write, which we dont' talk about.

But if you wanted a full list, it'd be this:

REMIND ME TO MURDER YOU LATER (1988), Johns Hopkins University Press. Stories.
THE PLANETS, (1991) Poseidon/Simon & Schuster. Novel
THE CONSTELLATIONS (1994) Random House. Novel
GETTING IN (1998) Warner Books. Novel
4 Young adult books, published under the pseudonym "Jonah Black" (1999-2000)
• Diary of a Teenage Stud: I. Girls Girls Girls
• Diary of a Teenage Stud: II. Run Jonah Run
• Diary of a Teenage Stud: III. Faster Faster Faster
• Diary of a Teenage Stud: IV. Stop Don't Stop
SHE'S NOT THERE: A Life in Two Genders. (2003) Doubleday/Broadway Memoir.
I'M LOOKING THROUGH YOU: Growing Up Haunted (2008) Doubleday/Broadway. Memoir

Coming next:
FALCON QUINN: The Black Mirror (2009) Young Adult/Fantasy. Harper Collins
FALCON QUINN and the Sea of Dragons (2010)

Boylania has also appeared in anthologies. I had a short piece entitled
SAUSAGE KING in the "Mondo Jimmy Dean" anthology published by St. Martins, and part of I'M LOOKING THROUGH YOU was published in Jonathan Ames' SEXUAL METAMORPHOSIS anthology of trans memoirs.

The next year will see a LOT of short works of mine in anthologies:
"The Missing Person" (different from the short piece on this site) will be a short story about being trans in an LGBT anthology for Young Adults published by Harper's.
"Trans" is a memoir piece that will appear in LOVE IS A FOUR LETTER WORD, an anthology about relationships gone bad from Plume. ("Trans" will also be excerpted in the Sunday New York Times' "Monder Love" section.)
"Maddy's Day" is a memoir piece about sons and fathers, for the anthology GOOD BAD/BAD DAD.
And "Jonesin'" is a wacky short story about Casey Jones that will appear in the Hopkins Review this January. This is the first piece I've written like this in 25 years-- back full circle to the "experimental fiction" of REMIND ME TO MURDER YOU LATER.

Then, there's a piece I'm supposed to write and perform for the Richard Hugo house in Seattle next spring 2009. I have the title "My Avatar" and nothing else. It is to be a story, but also a live performance piece. We'll see how this one turns out.

As these short pieces get published, I'll put them up on this site so you can sample them.

That's the complete works so far. I also owe Broadway/Doubleday an adult novel in the next year or two: that will be my first piece of grown-up fiction in 10 years. You think I still got it in me?

[MaryRae]

Originally Posted by Jenny Boylan

wow. Thanks for the blast, Mary Rae.

Soitenly!

Originally Posted by Jenny Boylan

The record should show that there is an even earlier, even MORE out of print collection of juvenalia and grad-school-show off stories entitled REMIND ME TO MURDER YOU LATER.

Found it at Amzazon.com. It's in the living room library as opposed to the stacks in the basement. That tends to put it on the short list. Getting In is it's next door neighbor.

Originally Posted by Jenny Boylan

I feel bad that Planets is so "weird."

Believe it or not, the use of the word was complimentary in nature.

Originally Posted by Jenny Boylan

In re: the Centralia mine fire at the heart of the novel: something you can't see, that you can't stop, that slowly, invisibly spreads and destroys the familiar place you have known-- What is that a metaphor for?

Interesting. I missed that, though I can be a bit dense.

Originally Posted by Jenny Boylan

And "Jonesin'" is a wacky short story about Casey Jones that will appear in the Hopkins Review this January.

Greatful Dead or dead hoghead (engineer)? Sorry... had to ask.


Just a quick additional thought... Having read She's Not There and I'm Looking Through You, I found it interesting to note little passages in The Planets that reflect events you wrote about later in the memiors. Call them "Ah-haaaaa" moments.

[Holly]

Originally Posted by Jenny Boylan

Then, there's a piece I'm supposed to write and perform for the Richard Hugo house in Seattle next spring 2009. I have the title "My Avatar" and nothing else. It is to be a story, but also a live performance piece. We'll see how this one turns out.

I don't have the professional experience to lend a hand to that project, but I'd be more than happy to help if you need material. Having experienced an "Avatar Crisis" over the last 10 years, I might be able to contribute.

Holly

[Jenny Boylan]

Originally Posted by Holly

I don't have the professional experience to lend a hand to that project, but I'd be more than happy to help if you need material. Having experienced an "Avatar Crisis" over the last 10 years, I might be able to contribute.

Holly

Well to be honest I NEED ALL THE HELP I CAN GET with this one. It's an honor to have been asked--I'll be performing with a buncha better known New Yorker writers, including Juniat Diaz, so I said, put me in coach. The "theme" is theirs. So far? No ideas. (haven't tried that hard though.) An Avatar? I mean, I don't want to write about people online, so much-- does that sound interesting? But what else does it mean?
AV • A • TAR
1. Hindu Mythology. the descent of a deity to the earth in an incarnate form or some manifest shape; the incarnation of a god.
2. an embodiment or personification, as of a principle, attitude, or view of life.
3. Computers. a graphical image that represents a person, as on the Internet.

I had a vague idea of writing about representations-- actually I thought I'd write about "finding a female voice", which is something I haven't written about much. Or "how I found my name." The character, who might be me, will also be online, and keeps changing her avatar at an online board (as I did at MHB: one week I changed it every day-- I was the Lost in Space Robot, astronaut Kim Nowak, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Amelia Earhart. At present, over there, I'm Harpo Marx....)

The incarnation of a god? An embodiment of an attitude?

Since this is a performance piece, I also kind of want to sing something, maybe play the piano. I don't know.

I have been very busy this week editing the new book, reading it OUT LOUD, all 600 pages, to my chidren. Then, yesterday, I got a panic call from the New York Times, asking me if I had any ideas on a particular topic for the op/ed page, and I said, Maybe, and spent the whole morning writing it--they emailed back at noon, yow, we like it, now re-write it. Spent the afternoon re-writing, filed it again last night, and am now waiting for the final pass this lovely first of August morning and with any luck BAM it will be on the bloody op-ed page of the New York Times Sunday. It's a nice little piece of work, and the first time I'm talking about trans issues directly, sort of, in the NYT. Which is a nice turn of events-- and my sixth op/ed for them in seven months, which makes me feel pretty darn good. To be honest, I'm still as intimidated as I can be by the new york times, and to have them reach out to me so regularly makes me feel, well, you know. Almost like a real writer.

Which raises another aspect of the avatar business. Online, there's an image that represents us; but it's often not us. So who am us anyway? (as firesign theatre used to say) How do we find ourselves?

Anyway, story ideas for "My Avatar" are welcome here. Better yet, you write it and send it to me. I'll keep the cash and pretend to have written it myself. Fair?

[CeeCee]

What a cool idea for a piece. Avatar flipping is an interesting aspect of board participation and especially trans sites. The alternate word definitions are also really interesting. I think of those Hindu deities with their symbolic postures and props they are holding. Or the incarnations of Krishna, each a study in its own right.

Me, my avatar has been: four Skyline Chile Dogs (still is on MySpace), an assemblage of state flags, Alfred E. Neumann doing a "Got Milk" pose and various poses of me ranging from "country girl" to head shots. I am most insecure with the avatars that are my own photos though. I am somewhat camera shy (not a typical trait for these parts) and never feel fully "captured" by any single image. I can't wait to read/see/experience the performance work you are planning

[Holly]

I have to admit, I know almost nothing of the Richard Hugo House. What kind of performance is this supposed to be? Who is the audience?

[DanaZ]

Originally Posted by Jenny Boylan

The character, who might be me, will also be online, and keeps changing her avatar at an online board (as I did at MHB: one week I changed it every day-- I was the Lost in Space Robot, astronaut Kim Nowak, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Amelia Earhart. At present, over there, I'm Harpo Marx....)

Are we forgetting Jodie Foster?

[Jessicayogini]

Originally Posted by Jenny Boylan

Well to be honest I NEED ALL THE HELP I CAN GET with this one.

I went through the NY Times archives and read all your pieces. Dierdre Finney's wedding announcement came up too. I find it encouraging that you coming out as who you are gender-wise leads to you being more able to manifest your talents more too.
In the Hindu spiritual sense of avatar, there is also a sense that it is relatively easy to be God the Creator or God the Destroyer or whatever, but that to bring that into form as a specific instantiation is the truly difficult and admirable feat.
In some ways, this is perhaps the opposite of the usage in cyber space. Not a mask or costume or personality easily adopted and changed but rather creating a visible surface that is coming from the deepest unseen truth.