Haiku

By Alexandra Seidel

the blanketing sea
bodies stark against the surface
we wait for sunrise

The Appeal of Slush or Why I'm Afraid of Zombies

Since some time last December, I am happily reading slush for Niteblade Magazine. I only ever see stories, so my poetry slush experience is still non existent. I got to do some more reading as a first reader for the Odd Contest; that was really rewarding.

What I like most about slush reading is the sort of talent you get to see, people who you can tell are only just starting out with arranging words right there on that scary, empty white page, and those who show you so little when you want to see so much more of that writing.

Allow me to tell you what will get favorable attention, at least from this set of eyes.

See, there is this totally obvious, seemingly no-brainer: read the guidelines. Even if you disagree with them, stick to them. Just sayin'. I mean, if you managed to write this awesome, awesome piece of dark delight, you can go the whole nine and format it correctly, right? Please, do.

Also, if you do sent something to a certain magazine, make sure it fits. For example, Niteblade stories need an element of fantasy or horror. Your story can be fabulous, but without horror or fantasy, at least for Niteblade, you'll unfortunately not get an acceptance, instead you'll spend time waiting for a rejection slip.

A hook is a really good idea. Not that I myself always get that one right, but you want something at the beginning of your story that makes sure your reader cannot stop until it's all over. It has to be something shiny, for who among us does not share the magpie's like for shiny things, or something sensuously dark that likewise will make you want more.

I like conflict in a story. By this I suppose I mean a certain conflict that is resolved in a satisfying manner. Aristotle called it catharsis, the feeling of cleansing. I do not mean to say that I want to feel like I need to take a shower after I read a story, mind you!

This leaves me with The End. Yes, how a story ends matters to me. Even if the writing so far was great, a story will lose all its appeal if somehow I get the feeling that something is missing, that not all questions were answered, that I am left wanting. Keep your reader satisfied.

Of course, after you wrote the Perfect Story, proofread it. Properly.

And then, there is zombies. Now, I don't have anything against zombies as such. But zombies are a bit like vampires: you can only stand so much of them and as the genre has been explored a lot already, the part that you actually want to see had better be damn good. This is doubly true for zombie apocalypse. Yet, this story is a great example for a well thought out, well executed zombie apocalypse tale. I love this piece.

See, it's the badly written zombies that I fear...

Looking for Places that Yield Poems

So, lately I was thinking about mapping out the world a little more, poetry wise. That made me think that there is some amazingly engaging travel writing, but as far as I know little travel poetry. But I don't wanna side-track yet again.

I was basically thinking of places I'd like to go. At this point I'd like to mention that I'm happily considering suggestions.

Because lists are a great way of doing these things...(no order of preference here):

1. London
Have never been there. Figure there are loads of interesting places to see. Might be very touristy though.

2. Spain
Like, Barcelona or Madrid. I like the Spanish in general, I love the language.

3. Japan
Just my place. Temples, martial arts...seafood. Okay, just my place except for the seafood. I'd like to see Kyoto.

4. India
Elephants! And isn't India more or less the cradle of Buddhism?

5. New Zealand
Just because. New Zealand is old, and I like old things.

I did not put China on that list because I've been there. But! I would love to go back...only pity is that that would cut me off from Facebook and Twitter. Which reminds me, Egypt isn't on my list either. Oh dear, this shall not end in politics...

...WORLD PEACE!

Weihnachtsmarkt

Weihnachtsmarkt Goslar, Lower Saxony, Germany, 2008

It has been brought to my attention lately (again, actually) that not everybody Out There is familiar with the ingenious concept of 'Weihnachtsmarkt' (literal translation: Christmas Market).  I find that shameful.  I find that state of not knowing somewhat precarious for the well-being of all your souls.  Therefore, I shall explain.

Weihnachtsmarkt is something that happens in Germany and some other European countries in the weeks leading up to Christmas.  I'm currently living in Braunschweig (Brunswick), Germany, and here the Weihnachtsmarkt will open on Nov 24, two days from now.

Obviously, the Weihnachtsmarkt is a market, first and foremost.  Depending on the place, you will see people offering regional specialties, crafts, delicacies and clothing, art and jewelery.  The market traditionally consists of more or less small stalls, decorated in a Christmassy sort of way.  It is open every day from the end of November to as early as Dec 23 or as late as Jan 5, again depending on country and region.  And I positively love my Weihnachtsmarkt.

Why, you may ask.  Allow me to explain.

For one reason, the Weihnachtsmarkt looks nice.  Most cities do a lot to have the whole downtown area decorated splendidly with the Weihnachtsmarkt at the center of things.  You'll often see wooden models or even dioramas of European fairy tales and fairy tale characters here, witches, little children lost in the woods, Frau Holle and many others.  The Weihnachtsmarkt simply sets the right stage for Christmas.

Also, there is food and drink, and occasionally, music, so if I were a guy I'd say wine, women and song.  Right.  Moving on.  Food.  Something you can get pretty much anywhere is stuff like stollen or gingerbread, but even with those classics, there are too many regional specialties for me to list them all.  Very notable are those huge gingerbread hearts that some people have come to associate solely with Oktoberfest, which is a misconception.  When it comes to food, many cities simply have a very long tradition, and all you can do is try to savor as much as you possibly can.  Roasted almonds or sweet chestnuts can be found galore at every Weihnachtsmarkt as well.

Then, there would be alcoholic beverages.  Let me just clarify.  I am an athlete and I don't get drunk on a regular basis, but I can hold my liquor.  And I have taste.  So, I was gonna tell you about what we call Glühwein.  If I were to give you a literal translation, I'd have to go for 'glowing wine'.  What Glühwein actually is is red wine spiced with aniseed, cinnamon, allspice and the like.  It's a bit like punch, but then again, not really.  Again, the way the Glühwein is prepared differs greatly from place to place.  Glühwein also comes in bottles for you to enjoy at your own Christmas party.  Oh, and of course, it's always served hot (I kid you not.  Delicious!)

Apart from the ever-present Glühwein, I simply have to mention Feuerzangenbowle.  In literal translation, 'fire tongs punch' might come closest.  I'll elaborate.  Just like Glühwein, Feuerzangenbowle is served hot.  However, the preparation is slightly different.  You take a bowl and fill it with red wine, add spices and perhaps orange zest.  Then, you take a sugar cone, soak it in rum and place it atop that bowl (two parallel spoons will do, although there are contraptions available for this).  Now, you light the rum-soaked sugar cone on fire.  Watch as it melts and drips into the wine.  As soon as all the rum...and sugar cone is gone, you start drinking.  At parties, you stop drinking once the bowl is empty.  Then you fill it up again and repeat until Christmas is over.  Hell, that stuff can get you drunk fast (especially if you take it with an extra shot of rum like...ah...some people usually do) but there is nothing quite like it.  Personally, I could not celebrate Christmas without having had at least one mug of Feuerzangenbowle.  (Note also that this would help you were you to celebrate Christmas with unloved relatives.  Just sayin'.)

As far as food and drink is concerned, I could go on for ages.  It would do nobody any good.  Some things simply need to be experienced and explored first hand, believe you me!

I just had the fabulous idea to post a pic of our local Weihnachtsmarkt here as my own personal Advent calendar.  Hope it starts snowing soon.  Nothing looks quite as nice as fresh snow glazed with golden light.

Writing in November

I aim to do about two blog entries every month; time to post something for November.

May I just quickly note that I am not a big fan of the colder season? I don't really think that the cold is that much of a problem, it's more the bleakness of it all that I can't stand. I mean, you get up and it is already getting dark outside, or so it seems. And it is definitely dark out at 6 p.m.

The upside to the winter months is, however, that they are ideal for writing, and writing dark. At the moment I am doing some edits on older stories mostly (and there is that rewrite request that I need to finish), but as soon as I have more time on my hands--I am aiming for next weekend here--I'll be doing something creative. Something darkly creative.

For now, there have been some publications and some acceptances.

Okay, since my last post, one publication...

Enchanted Conversation's Hänsel & Gretel issue took one of my poems, About Roses. It is repetitive at times, but that's a thing I like about this poem. Leave my a comment and tell me what you think!

Then, another poem got accepted for the anthology 'Jack-o'-Spec: Tales of Halloween and Fantasy' to be published by Raven Electrick Ink. Again, so much great company there! I can't wait to get my copy.

Finally, I'm seeing some more prose pieces getting Out There as well. Forthcoming in March from Red Penny Papers is my somewhat darkish story The Job Interview.

I also got a very encouraging rejection to another story this morning...much better than a form rejection, I can tell you...although I still like acceptances most of course.

Things Published

'The world is waiting!  Hear my roar!'

Lately, there have been a handful of things published that happen to have my name on them.  To my utmost delight, even more are forthcoming:)

Thus, I felt it would be a good time to present some of those published items--all poems--here.

Sometime in September, a quintet of my (more literary) poems set out to travel distant lands.  They ended up in the poetry section of the Istanbul Literary Review.  At around the same time, another poem hitched a ride with Greensilk Journal.  This one, as well, is more of a literary nature.

And now, one to my speculative writing (which is pretty much most of my writing).  I still do much with and about fairy tales; I still work with Greek mythology too, but not as much as I used to.  Another display of my fairy-tale-ish writing can be found at the sparkly Cabinet des Fées, which in my mind is nothing short of a treasure chest of beautiful writing.

If I could add a link to a print publication, I would now be adding a link to my poem 'Curses' in Jabberwocky 5.  Since a computer is not a magic wand though, I will simply link to the ToC.  Mighty good company.

Oh, and then I rediscovered labyrinths for myself.  I have always liked them and I do have great childhood memories about one in the garden of an old castle, but so far, I have not written much about them.  Just a little.  Proof can be found in Labyrinth Inhabitant Magazine of course (where else?).  Note how there are still many fairy tale allusions in this one?

The last thing published so far (I hope I didn't forget anything) is more fairy tale poetry, this one another Red Riding Hood inspired poem.  It found a home in the second issue of Basement Stories, a mag that I'm sure is going places.

Okay, so that's all for now.  There is more coming, and soon.  I so love to see my writing get Out There, and on the way, meeting all those sweet and helpful people (yes, Editors, that does include you!) who offer comments or thoughts or often even better, critique.

Thinking about lions...

To China And Back

A painted rafter in White Cloud Daoist Temple (and look! She's riding a tiger!). I loved it here.

So, I am back from China...

Right. This means I'd have to have gone there first. When I mentioned earlier in this little post here that I would be Broadening My Horizon, that's what I meant.

And do not get me wrong. It was not a vacation. At all.

First and foremost, I went to China (and when I say China I mean Beijing, China) to improve my gongfu. That sound familiar? Yeah, that's where the word kung fu comes from. However, it really means one's degree of skill in some field of expertise. That does not necessarily have to be a martial art.

In my case however, it was. I was eating bitter as the Chinese say to improve my Taiji skills. (Eating bitter means that the training was real hard. My feet are still sore...)

Of course when one goes to China, one has to experience the culture and the people, go look at the sights. Between that and about seven hours of training a day, there was hardly time for such mundane things as sleep, let alone writing. Much catching up to do there.

One amazing thing I realized when I got there was that I kinda missed Twitter and Facebook. Before the trip, I would have sworn that to be impossible but there you go. I actually missed Facebook. I'm feeling quite ashamed.

The Great Wall, shrouded in mist. Gee, what a climb that was!

I also found myself getting rather attached to smog. You see, Beijing is constantly covered in smog or, for those of a more romantic disposition, dew-soft mist. You cannot see blue sky. The sun is always just a big roundish smudge and looks just gorgeous when it sets as a burning red ball. It was so weird but I also loved it.

This is one of these sunsets, but my camera did a poor job of capturing it.

Come to think about it, I loved the entire Chinese Experience. I loved the people and hated that I couldn't really talk with them because I speak only very little Chinese. I loved the food. I loved the grayish dreamy look the city has and how it always seems to be buzzing with life. I guess I'll be posting more about everything here, but not now. I remember haggling for some calligraphies and I think I'd like to look at them now to think back to the noise and the smell and the heat...I already miss Beijing.

Did you really think there was no night life in China? At night, Beijing is almost more alive than during the day.