"You know what? The bastard blows me out of the water. This guy writes Maine like Ardai writes New York. If you're not reading him, you don't know what you're missing." --Chris F. Holm, author of "The Collector" series, The Killing Kind, and Red Right Hand.

"A refreshingly new voice in noir." --Ed Kurtz, author of Nothing You Can Do and The Rib From Which I Remake the World.

"A glorious boilermaker of noir and East Coast gothic. The action is taut as a sprung snare and Bagley tightens the screws with every page." -- Laird Barron, author of Swift to Chase and Blood Standard.




Tuesday, October 21, 2008

The Wild Man of Borneo, Disney Fatigue, Crime Poems and Short Fiction Mayhem

My eight days in solitary ended Sunday when Tonia and the girls came home from Florida. Sarah, who turns five next Saturday, slept from 3:30 Sunday afternoon until just after 8:00 Monday morning. Rowan was tired too, but spent the day doing the homework she had promised to do while she was gone. I think she was actually glad to head back to school this morning.

I got a call from my brother Rob yesterday. It was the first time I'd heard his voice since the middle of June. He's a lieutenant on a submarine, and they've been out on a cruise or mission or whatever it's called. Rob called from a hotel in Borneo. It was the first time he'd been above the surface of the ocean in 42 days. 42 days! I'd go nuts.

Rob's a golfer, and he played a round at the local course, which is surrounded by jungle. Golf balls are five bucks apiece in Borneo, but whenever he hit one into the jungle he said fuck it. He wasn't going to lost, stung, bitten or possibly eaten for a stupid little ball. A few monitor lizards hung out on the green, too. Rob and his buddies gave those monsters plenty of room. It was weird to hear Rob complain about the heat so close to the equator when our weather forecast for today calls for rain that might turn into snow this evening.

I read 81 pages of poetry submissions for the Lineup and sent my ratings to Gerald So. We got at least twice as many submissions this time around. That's a good sign. I think next spring's anthology will be even stronger than the first one.

I started work on a new short story--something I haven't had time to do since last spring. This one is about a gay gun-runner with serious anger issues. I have no idea where the story will go, though. All I have so far is a couple of pages.

Got confirmation yesterday that my story "Welcome to Wal-Mart, Motherfucker" will appear in Uncaged, editor Jen Jordan's sequel to Expletive Deleted. The new anthology comes out in the spring, courtesy of Bleak House Books.

5 comments:

pattinase (abbott) said...

Congrats, Patrick. Can't wait to read it.

Chris said...

Congrats on your spot in Uncaged! Less so for your chance of snow...

sandra seamans said...

Congrats on the story acceptance!! If the title's any indication, it'll be a great, fun read.

Did you ask your brother how many men they carry off that submarine in straight jackets at the end of voyage? Actually, a sub might be a great place to set a serial killer story, not just a crazy killer, but victims about ready to topple over the edge themselves.

Dawn Fortune said...

Ooooh! I like Sandra's idea! Only it could be the sub itself that is the killer - possessed by something that needs to feed on the souls of lonely sailors. Damn. Creepy stuff. Great idea, but I couldn't read it. Nightmares. Good luck, though.

Patrick Shawn Bagley said...

A haunted sub, eh? Get John Carpenter on the line right now...

Rob has promised us a tour when we visit him at Xmas. I'm already getting claustrophobic just thinking about it.