Dave's Anatomy: My History As a Writer, #113: Songs and Self-Identity: "Out of Time"

I wrote the story "Out of Time" about my ongoing character, Sossity Chandler, a musician; and the story, like many stories about her, took the title of a song. The song was by the Rolling Stones, a band Sossity likes and frequently does their songs as covers. The character's love of their music  derives from mine. The Rolling Stones were the #2 band of the sixties, always in the shadow of the Beatles, but now that I have more musical perspective, I can see that they deserved to be recognized for their own accomplishment. The Beatles were a more creative group, but the Stones were better musicians and their blues-based approach is appealing to me, since I play the blues and perform them now and then in local venues. I, like Sossity, am a die-hard Rolling Stones fan. 

The story takes place right after her divorce. If you know Sossity's character biography, she marries, is happily married for six years, has two children, and then finds out her husband is having an affair—and not with just anyone, with Kathy Farisi, Sossity's old suite mate from college and a trusted. In another story, she explains, speaking of her husband, I find out he’s having an affair with my best friend. My best friend—my roommate from college and someone I loved like a sister. She taught where he taught. I helped her get a job there because she couldn’t find anything after she finished her graduate degree. So after all of that, the judge pretty much gives him our children half the time. She is in a sad state of mind over this and over talking to her son on the phone the previous day. Today, she is performing with her band on a talk show; the talk-show host will interview her afterwards. She is not in the mood to perform. 

While waiting for her band to join her in the lounge, she hears the talk show host and a guest discuss about how authors are often terrible readers. When they read their own books, they don't do a very good job of it. The guest points out that authors express themselves through their writing; this is the reason they are not good as readers or speakers. As she watches, Sossity realizes this is true about her—that she expresses herself through her music and, when she goes outside of those limits, finds herself at a loss. 

Her split with her husband has been devastating. She fell into binge drinking and almost died one time from alcohol poisoning; kicked the habit but then got back on the bottle, was arrested for drunk driving, spent a night in jail, and had her license suspended. Her melt-down has been trumpeted all over the internet. Stand-up comics make fun of her. She wants to lash out at her husband but her lawyers warn her that if she attacks him publicly, he might sue. She has refrained from criticizing him.  

Now, however, the dialogue on the talk show has given her an idea. She asks her band if they could do a last-minute change and rehearse a cover they had worked on yesterday. They agree, and she and her band perform the Rolling Stones number "Out of Time." The lyrics are appropriate to how she feels:

You thought I’d be your little girl
And fit into your social whirl
But you can't come back and be the first in line, oh no
You’re obsolete my baby
My poor old-fashioned baby
I said baby, baby, baby you're out of time

The song is directed at her ex-husband. When Sossity sits down with the show's host and asks her to whom the song she sang is aimed, she is evasive. "Wouldn't you like to know," she says. The woman asks if it might be to a man, whom she had known for six years. Sossity only smiles and tells her to draw her own conclusions. Sossity knows she has found a way to attack her ex-husband without fear of liability. She can do it through music. She will sing songs and never mention him by name, but, when questioned, will indirectly make it clear she is singing about him. Musicians express themselves through music. Music will be the means for her to express the hurt and pain her former husband has caused her. And she need never mention his name. 

The story appeared in Intellectual Refuge. Read it here.

Two new novellas of mine will soon be published:  Sinfonia: A Painted Lady, and The Court of the Sovereign King. More information soon.

For additional titles, see my Writer's Page.

Happy reading.

Dave's Anatomy: My History As a Writer, #112: Cinderella Revised: "Sunniva."

Disney Cinderella

Many people are surprised when the read the original versions of fairy tales. We get cleaned-up versions of them:  Walt Disney has made many old fairy-tales squeaky-clean; and we revise them so our children won't be upset or traumatized by these old stories. But reading the originals will shock and upset some people. In the original version of the "The Sleeping Beauty," the Prince finds the Princess asleep, enjoys the "first fruits of love" with the sleeping girl, and gets her pregnant. She gives birth to twins and wakes up when they begin to nurse at her breasts. Her father orders her killed, but the Prince shows up at the last moment to marry her. In "Cinderella," one of the stepsisters cuts off her toes so the slipper can fit; when the treachery of the sisters is revealed, doves peck out their eyes, leaving them blind. And most of the original tales of the Brothers Grimm … well, let's not talk about those. 

Dalin

My revision of the story of Cinderella, titled "Sunniva" takes the story in new directions. It is told from the point of view of the Prince. Here is another thing about several familiar fairy tales. The male protagonist in such stories doesn't even have a name, so he has become "Prince Charming." He comes out of nowhere, has no backstory, we know nothing about him, and yet he saves the day. I focus on his story, name him Dalin, and give his character a little bit of substance. Sunniva is quite different from the Cinderella of later versions.

Sunniva as a child

The story begins as Dalin, back from fighting in the crusader kingdom of Jerusalem, leads a campaign to put down a revolt. He is a capable fighter and overcomes the rebels, capturing their leader. As he is ready to execute the leader, his wife, Lissette, shows up and pleads for his life. Lissette was Dalin's mistress when he was a teenager and went on to marry the rebel. She says she knows where Sunniva is and will tell him if he spares her husband. He agrees. 

Dalin remembers how he met Sunniva. The kingdom in dire circumstances, suffering famine, plague, and impending invasion, the King, Dalin's father, summons Amalina, a sorceress, to help. She brings her daughter, Sunniva (her husband is in exile). She and the King make an arrangement. Her magic restores the health, prosperity, and military strength of the kingdom. Amalina and her daughter reside at the palace. The King makes Sunniva his ward. Dalin grows up with her and falls in love with her. Eventually, however, as Christianity gains more of a foothold in the kingdom, the King violates his word and dismisses Amalina. Because he made himself godfather to Sunniva, however, she stays on in the castle. Dalin's father tells him he will soon be married off to a local princess to cement an alliance with a neighboring kingdom. He despairs, wanting to marry Sunniva. She gives him an idea on how to avoid the marriage. 

Dalin announces his intention to take a vow obligating him to fight in the holy land for five years. His father wants to oppose him but can't go against religion; and Dalin is popular with the people, who are thrilled at his piety and willingness to fight for the cause. He departs.

The next five years hone him for the role of a ruler. By this time there is peace between the Crusaders and Muslims. Dalin fights as a mercenary, often serving Muslim leaders in their mini-wars with other Muslims. He learns to speak Arabic, to lead, fight well, and negotiate. Mysterious things happen that suggest Sunniva's magic is protecting him even at a distance of a thousand miles. After five years, he goes home but can find no trace of Sunniva until Lissette informs him that she is living with a family in a remote part of the kingdom. 

Dalin's father has boarded her with a cruel woman who has two not-very-bright daughters (sound familiar?). Sunniva tells Dalin she put up with their pernicious behavior for three years but of late has used her magic to get them in line. The mother has died. The two daughters, Anastasia and Drizella (their names in the original story) live in terror of her magic. Dalin is reunited with Sunniva. She tells him that king sent her to Arbritta's house hoping that the cruelty of the mother and sisters would break her spirit: “Someone told him the story of Cinderella, I guess...When I came here Arbritta, the mother, who has died, beat me and told me I would live as a slave and eat with the pigs. The first week I slept in the barn. They finally gave me a tiny, chilly room in the house to sleep in. I did all the housework while they lolled.” When Dalin asks why she put up with such treatment for three years she replies that suffering is good for the soul. 

Sunniva as an adult

He and Sunniva are married. He is reunited with Amalina and meets her husband, who has been released from exile. His brother treacherously tries to kill him, but he is rendered helpless by Sunniva's magic. In a few years, the King dies and Dalin ascend to the throne. His suffering through exile and separation from the woman he loves make him a fair, good, and just ruler. 

And, I guess, they all lived happily ever after.

The story appeared in Sorcerous Signals, which has ceased publication. This might be a story to resubmit.

I have two new books in production:  Sinfonia:  A Painted Lady, A Vampire Chronicle, Part 2, coming from Dream Big Books; and The Court of the Sovereign King, from Blue Swan Publications. Stay tuned for news of their releases.

For more titles, see my Writer's Page.

I would love to hear your comments.

Happy reading.

Dave's Anatomy: My History As a Writer, #111: Music and horror: "The Ghost's CD."

If you have read my blog with any consistency, you know I write about music quite a bit, so I won't elaborate on how and why. You can dip in past posts and won't get very far until you read about my stories that deal with music and musicians, so the one I will discuss today is one of many. It is a horror story and appeared in one of the finest horror journals on the web, The Horror Zine. In The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis talks about ghosts, spirits, and souls who cannot get into heaven and so lurk around the earth, their former home; one of the types he mentions are "library ghosts, who lurk in libraries to see if anyone is reading their books." If writer-ghosts are concerned about the writing they did while they were alive, do ghosts who were musicians show concern about the songs they did before they passed off the scene? My story "The Ghost's CD," suggests they indeed do.

"The Ghost's CD" is about a successful rock and roll singer name Alec McBride. Alec is the lead guitarists and, like Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, and many other successful guitarists, has studied and imitated the guitar styles of the old blues players who styles were foundational to rock and roll. They have hit it big with an updated recording of a song by a bluesman named River Coleman. They have ramped it up, rather like Clapton ramped up the Robert Johnson song, "Crossroads," doing it fast and with more contemporary cadences and rhythms. Alec objects to the major alterations to the song and wants to do it more traditionally, but the band overrules him. The recording goes on to be a major hit. Everything is going well for the band.

Well, almost everything. It seems like they have struck a streak of bad luck. One of the live-in girlfriends of a group member dies from an overdose. The stage collapses two weeks later, injuring Alec and some of the other band members. A couple of months after that, two groupie girls who have come home with the band members get the idea that stopping up the cold air returns in their rooms will keep them warmer. The house has an old-fashioned gravity furnace. When the cold air returns are blocked, carbon monoxide builds up and kills them. The band is exonerated of wrongdoing in the incident, but Alec is concerned at the series of misfortunes he and his colleagues are seeing unfold.

Grand Haven Pier in  winter

One night during a wild winter party in the Michigan beach town of Grand Haven, he walks out on the dock to clear his head and sees an older man there, playing blues guitar. It is cold, too cold to have a guitar outside let alone be playing it. It is dangerous to be on the pier in bad weather, but curiosity drives him on. He approaches the figure and stops to listen. They converse. Alec realizes it is River Coleman—his ghost. He congratulates him on how well he plays guitar and notes he is the only member of his band who has "respect" for the blues. Coleman tells Alec he does justice to his music; and adds, ominously, that whatever happens, justice will be done.

Alec does not understand about justice. He has no idea how to make his band render the song they did in a more traditional way. And it's too late to do that anyway. One night, Alec's girlfriend goes to bed. He goes to his studio to listen to some music by River Coleman. When he touches the button to CD, a jolt of electricity knocks him to the ground.

Alec realizes he has been hit hard. His right index finger is burned and he can barely breathe. But the CD by Coleman is playing. Then he hears Coleman's voice in his head, as he did on the pier at Grand Haven, saying he is coming for him. Though terrified, he can't get up. The jolt of electricity has immobilized him. He senses Coleman's ghost getting closer and soon sees him in the studio. Coleman appears and compliments him on how well he plays guitar and says he can tell Alec imitates his style. Alec asks if Coleman is going to kill him. The ghost of the blues players says he could have done that when the young man touched the CD controls. And he says he didn't come to kill him but to save him. He is worth saving because he has respect for the blues. The other members in the band, he says, don't. And when he says this he becomes scarier. Then he tells him, I think you’ll do fine on your own—doing your own stuff—maybe even throw in a little blues here and there.

Alex falls asleep and wakes up to find his parents, a police officer, and his girlfriend standing over him. They take him to ER and treat him for electrical shock. After he is released from the Emergency Room, they tell him the grim truth:  the other band members, whom he was supposed to join that night, were killed in plane crash on the way to Chicago.

The song they recorded by Coleman, already popular, becomes a mega-hit. His band joins the ranks of performers like Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, who are cut off in the prime of their careers. Alec takes a year off to decide what to do. But he knows he will become a solo artist. He publicly announces he will never do the Coleman song again. He tells his girlfriend he will become a solo performer and not organize a new band.

He has it from a reliable source that he will be fine on his own, doing his own stuff, and maybe throwing a little blues in here and there.

The story appeared in The Horror Zine.  Read it here.

For more titles, check out my Writer's Page.

I would love to hear your comments.