Sunday, November 18, 2007

post proto: mission and explanation

With the shadow of middle age haunting my every increasingly creaky move, thoughts have begun to stir like half-formed serpents within my hind brain. Thoughts of despair, of fear, of failure. The years are moving on, and I haven't moved with them.

It's a familiar tale, this one.

Writers are born that way. It is a defect, like club foot or a congenital heart defect. I wrote every day for most of my life, scribbling stories and fantasies down in notebook after notebook. From my mind spilled fevered visions of far-off lands, of tragic heroes and gigantic, impossible swords. It is the way my brain works.

Yet life found a way to distract my attention. I got married, had children, went to work in a cubicle perched at the edge of the Pit of Hell. I set writing aside, taking pleasure instead from reading the works of other authors, living vicariously through their words, their stories. Later, I found the internet community of literary fandom, and took more pleasure reading it all: reviews, screeds, short stories, the babble of authorial voices chattering from blog to blog in a gossamer web of technique and passion. Years have accrued. My middle has thickened. And I felt a wanting.

It is time for me to become an author.

Much comes attendant with writing. Over the course of time, I've discovered a desire, perhaps a penchant for review and critical thought. I have spent years weeding through my thoughts on the fantastic and my basic views of speculative literature. I hope I have gained insight.

Spurred by Aidan's interview with bloggers I created this blog to share these things.

This is a blog of reviews, of random thoughts, of technique. With this blog I will chart the course of my own writing. I will engage in the genre dialog that is such an important aspect of speculative fiction.

After many years positioned as an onlooker, the desire to join finally overwhelms the silence. It is time for me to join the game.


2 comments:

Aidan Moher said...

It's terrific to see another blog popping up! One of my biggest hopes with regard to the blogger interview was that it would inspire some others to join the fray.

I'm glad my blogging buddies could be so persuasive!

Thanks for the link in the sidebar, I've gone ahead and added you to my own blogroll. I look forward to see what you have to bring the table!

~Aidan
A Dribble of Ink

Brian P. said...

Thanks a lot, Aidan. I've been hanging around the blogosphere as an observer for a long time, and that interview was the final spur in the ass that got me setting up my own.

Thanks for the link. I hope I can produce something interesting enough to warrant further visits.