Another New FLB Book!

Good news, everyone! According to the Francesca Lia community, Suza Scalora and Francesca Lia Block will be collaborating on a new title called Evidence of Angels--which already has a HarperCollins placekeeper website.

Ms. Block is crazy prolific this year! This means we have

The Waters and the Wild (I've read the ARC of this; it's a nice meld of her old and new styles)

Evidence of Angels

Open Letter to Quiet Light

Little Pink

Pretty Dead

Wood Nymph Meets Centaur: A Mythological Dating Guide

Lay Me Out Softly

and House of Dolls

to look forward to in 2009!

The Typewriter Girls!

Good friend and Leaving Shangri-LA correspondent Emily-HyperFaerie attended a Typewriter Girls show in Pittsburg at my behest. Here's what she had to say:

The Girls had an old-school typewriter set up at the entrance and encouraged audience members to add onto an Exquisite Corpse poem (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exquisite_corpse) which would be read at the end of the show. After much futzing with the typewriter, I added some lines from my old poems and a few lines of "red rum" for good measure, and Julianna put in one of her favorite song quotes...

The show itself was fantastically wild and stunning, with belly dancers, local poets reading bizarre snippets from their books, a gorgeous androgyne Eros-boy go-go dancing in wings and a Speedo, burlesque performers, and the TGs themselves in drag as Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot. When the performance itself ended, the Girls put on music and the audience had a wild dance/makeout party...

Read the full account at her blog: Poetic Cabaret is Freedom.

The Half-Twisted Twists of Trinity Place: Second Verse, Same as the First

Photo by Mr. Nightshade

You all may remember when I published the first verse of The Half-Twisted Twists, an epic rhyming poem about two vaudeville stars and their crazy scheme to gain fame and fortune. The majority of it is stranded on a laptop which is having a bit of downtime, but I thought I'd post the second verse so you awesome readers can see what happens next.

If any of you have verses three and four of Half-Twisted Twists, please send them to me! I miss them and want to work on it.

They sewed into the night with derangement and passion
and made gilded clobber like the nightmares of Fashion.
They had hats like flowers and ombre-dyed tights,
Dresses with sequins and run through with lights
Mermaid tails for a Barnumesque Siamese twin,
And men's suits that glittered like skies over Brooklyn.
"If nothing," said Rie, later on, when she's pressed,
"I'll never deny the Twists were well dressed."
They sang pieces not known in proper tradition
Practiced acts that were glorious acts of sedition
(The sedition, in part, was meant to woo
the socialist diva on floor #2)
Painting was easy, but the scenery cursed;
Next time they wouldn't steal wood from a hearse.
For one week they hammered and spangled and sung
And Friday next, jumped when the telephone rung.
"Oh my gaaaaaaaawd," drawled the agent they'd found in a bar,
"The theatre said, like, they'd make you both stars!"
"Incandescent and burning? You got it," said Cal,
"Where is this luminous downtown locale?"
"A dive of a place, the Vamping Vagabond,
Put the burly in burlesque this side of the pond.
There are strongmen in tutus and parrots that swear
Mustaches to ride from here to Montclair.
It's built like a palace, 3 stories tall
Oh, there's a curse, but don't mind it at all."
Their Agent hung up, they could hear her hair-flip;
Rie was regretting their benefactress's tip.
"A curse? There's nothing in the handbook 'bout those,
It might makes us wanton, or strip all our clothes."
"A curse," scoffed Cal,"some considered that blessed.
But life's much more fun when you keep saying yes."

Their fortune's in wit, their fate in their face
The Half-Twisted Twists of Trinity Place

A really important question...

Who's the cutest?

A. Clare Crespo

 

B. Lisa Loeb

or C. Kate Nash?

The Girl in the Castle Inside the Museum by Kate Bernheimer and Nicoletta Ceccoli

My amazing readers! Do not fret; I have not abandoned you. I've just been under the weather (and over the moon...) for the past week, and in the excitement neglected my favorite little corner of the web.

In the interim, I met the amazing/amusing/fantastic Penelope Bat, but that's another story for another post. :D Just let it be known that she is every bit as cool as she is on her blog, Cocoa, and she has exciting news for the lot of you. (It's a surprise! As a trade, I showed her the location of the Secret Stash, which I only reveal to the best people ever. Problem is that I know so many of them...)

Anyway. Book!

 There, through that window, right there.

Do you see her?

It's been said she's lived there forever.

Did you ever wonder if there were tiny people sharing your world? The Girl in the Castle Inside the Museum spins the tale of a tiny blonde girl in a castle full of "music and grace," with checkerboard floors, flying windup toys, cuckoo clicks and pinwheels. Even in this dream world, she longs for company, and reminisces about those who made the journey to her castle. But wait! She has an idea to light up her lonely world--and you can help her.

Kate Bernheimer is a fairy tale scholar; her background shines through the simple but lovely writing. However, my true love is for Nicoletta Ceccoli's art. She brings the tropes of pop surrealism--big headed waifs, old-fashioned toys, dream ballets--to a young audience. (Has anyone done a collection of pop surrealist picture books? Rock-a-Bye La Rue Gallery? Anyone?) Her palette is muted sea and fog tones, with touches of acid green, cerulean blue and raspberry red for liveliness. Every time I look through the book, I find a new detail: buttons atop crenellations, a wheeled fish, pom poms and flowers in visitor's hair. It's a picture book unlike anything else you've seen before, and if you love other worlds, museums, modern surrealism and fables, it's a must-read for the younger folk in your life.

*An interview with Kate Bernheimer

*Illustrated review at 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast

*Nicoletta Ceccoli illustrates marvels with a style that splashes color and whimsical details in soft, mystical dreamscapes. I confess that I have altogether too much fun playing around with the Book section of her website. Che bellissima, Nicoletta!

*Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle is a legend amongst miniaturists, an epic, intricate love letter to fairy tales and legends.

*Not all sweetness and light? Alexandra Blythe's miniature work, with its bagpipe-playing octopuses, naughty fairies, exquisite cabinets of curiosity and bemused baby dragons, may be your cup of tea

*The Toymaker is a papercrafter's delight, with the same sort of classical-but-modern fantasy feel as The Girl in the Castle.

*Ullabenulla is a fellow lover of all things fanciful and miniature, and curates her own beautiful little dollhouse, with a hat and pastry shop inside!

* Inspired? Create your own teeny doll house. I spy a Dame Darcy creation inside!