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WK39
May 31, 2023 14:25:58 GMT
Post by rockefeller on May 31, 2023 14:25:58 GMT
So here we have a young blues prodigy who throws it all away after killing a bandmate while DUI. His band's one big hit back as a teen still pays royalties decades later, when his legacy is still great enough that, after he's coaxed out of hermitude as a high school janitor to raise money for some ex-classmate/cheerleader's daughter's medical expenses via a reunion gig, the concert immediately sells out to standing room only. I can say from personal experience that after not playing guitar for 40 years, you forget a lot. Happily, though, he's been practicing, and even writing new music, the whole time. His comeback gig is epic, and he steps from grey anonymity again into the spotlight, rises from invisibility to rockstar among the impressionable kids whose toilets he cleans.
Okay, maybe Krenzel's Encore strummed my heartstrings a little harder than I like. The only music I ever performed were classical guitar solos: one at my sister's wedding reception, and the other a recital before the students and faculty at a college I attended, where, out of my league to begin with and having forgotten and dropped acid earlier in the day, I was scared shitless. Just as computers have made writing a lot easier, I'm told technology has made recording a lot cheaper and simpler, which is why, just like wannabe writers often pay to be read, wannabe musicians today pay to perform. So maybe I'm just envious of this legend for whom success seemed to come so easy.
But still, nice. Memorable. A real feel-good piece. Up it goes. Be a little surprised if this cap doesn't sweep the Terminal and tickle the Monkey. Made me think of Searching for Sugar Man.
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WK39
Jun 8, 2023 15:15:16 GMT
Post by rockefeller on Jun 8, 2023 15:15:16 GMT
Stepson has an ear infection and a new girlfriend. Coincidence? A mystery, as per the murder in Hartley's The Slice, to be solved? Whatever, now I gotta cover for him in the restaurant while he sits for the next three days in emerg, our family physician having abandoned his practice and walk-in clinics being more akin to call-in radio contests (where the first so-many callers get a chance at...) than medical facilities. Told him to do the online consult, where at least he'd have a chance of the ear being looked at before the end of the week, but the kid never listens.
Anywhat, couldn't really get into the aforementioned cap here. Little things like leading with a bunch of pronouns ("he") before introducing the MC by name confused. By the fifth or so page, I still didn't care about Carver or understand his challenges/motivations. It struck me as a weird contraction of noir and sci-fi (without much sci). If it weren't technically, and even descriptively, as competent as it is, I'd have no qualms about shitcanning it without a lot of to-do. And but so, I do have some qualms, but am portholing it nonetheless.
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WK39
Jun 19, 2023 12:36:10 GMT
Post by rockefeller on Jun 19, 2023 12:36:10 GMT
Like our leader, the illustrious Ted Rorschalk, here, I too was impressed with Mr. Soltani's cover letter. So impressed that I too was willing to overlook its want of TQR vernacular, or any indication of his having read our guidelines. Steeped in academia's accomplishments, this VC having now turned his clearly formidable attention to creative writing, I even skipped over other capital awaiting my perusal to give his Dark Blue a peek. I don't think Mr. Rorschalk (aka The Monkey) went that far. To be perfectly honest and slightly uncharacteristically heartless, I only got as far as page 2. And this far only because I wondered if I wasn't dealing with an unreliable narrator whose copious grammatical and punctuation errors weren't intentional, as in a voice thing. But the utter puerility of the narrative, a kind of teenager-y journal, quickly belied this conjecture and I could not but bail. Frankly, it reminded me of pieces workshopped on various writers forums I once frequented by... What is the politically correct & woke term now? I know "retards" is a no-no. The "cognitively challenged" maybe? Editorial scrapes were pointless, like washing a dirt floor. Most, sensitive to their handicaps, tried to be helpful, encouraged they continue writing, just maybe hold off on the subbing for a time. This cap is so bad I almost want to call bullshit on the cover letter. But then I remember that academic writing has always been some of the absolute worst. Throw in second-language challenges and... well... keep at it Mr. Soltani. Just don't give up your day job.
[addendum]
Mystified by the terribleness of this sub, I have shouldered through the text to try to glean a story. The title is drawn from a binary code fallen walnuts somehow express. I like that geeky computer/math stuff. And the piece is not without some poetic beauty. Still a hard and easy no, but with a tad more respect.
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WK39
Jul 5, 2023 13:32:03 GMT
Post by rockefeller on Jul 5, 2023 13:32:03 GMT
Okay, after this, no more queue jumping. Just something in the cover letter made me think this VC had potential and deserved a shot at our lowly Floor. And I was right. Subramani's Ava is a well written venture with lots of nice cultural and some historical detail. Technically it's good, too, save for the odd comma fault, as in, "The woman, in a bright yellow silk sari was straightening the piggy tails of the child I presumed was her daughter," where the one should be omitted or another placed after "sari" to form pair. Also, capping the sport of "Cricket" threw me. It's not a proper noun.
But the reason I'm tossing this memoir-esque offering into the Deluge beyond our Porthole is exemplified by its opening. The first few pages nicely describe a crowded bus ride, at the end of which the narrator sees a woman who reminds him of a childhood friend. And that's that for that narrative. The rest is reflection. Halfway through I still didn't see any coherent story or theme, a raison d'etre as Gabrielle might have said, only the rambling, probably autobiographical reflections of an able writer. At worst it reminded me of the Simpsons episode where old people are hired to break up a strike by nattering the strikers into submission with their disjointed narratives: "I wore an onion on my belt, as was the fashion of the times..." and so on. At best it's a worthwhile read, but not right for TQR.
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WK39
Jul 15, 2023 13:22:58 GMT
Post by rockefeller on Jul 15, 2023 13:22:58 GMT
Finally got around to Leonard's Novorossiya cap. The opening put me off a little, though not enough to bail. So many colors, prose bordering on turgidity. But then openings, usually the most overworked part of any story, often tend to suffer. I think maybe we read and reread, edit and re-edit (vise and revise?) them so many times in the course of warming up that we get tired of what was once fine and replace it with overblown perfection. The other quibble I have is that the piece is a fairly transparent political polemic, or maybe it's just that I don't necessarily agree with it all. The whole evil ruskie thing, the notion that immigrants are destroying us (US), when (imo) we've meddled way more in others politics and lives than anyone has in ours. But, like this lapel button my ex once gave me said, "You're welcome to your wrong opinion."
The cap is well written, intelligent, engaging and imaginative. Or maybe I'm just a sucker for good cyberpunk. Got a Gibson vibe from it. Loved the little blurbs and ads inserted throughout. Wasn't nuts about the ending. But, that's life. There are happily endeds, but no happy endings. This deserves further scrutiny at our loftier levels. Hey Bull! Hey Fish! Incoming...
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