"Chanson de l'Horizon en Champagne" by Guillaume Apollinaire Deep into the writing of a novel haunted by Jacques Rigaut, who himself was forever haunted by his experience in The Great War, a war that claimed his close boyhood friend, Maxime François-Poncet, "Tué à l'ennemi," I'm posting by way of a Veteran's Day/Armistice Day/Day of Remembrance…
It’s Cold: Time to Blog Again
The extended summer we've been enjoying in southwest PeeYay finally seems to have burned itself out. Just two weeks ago the sun shone and we basked in lovely, sweaty, ninety-degree afternoons. But the shortening evenings laid bare our delusions of endless summer, and yesterday I froze my ass for five hours trying to play tournament…
East Somerville – Excerpt from Housebreaking the Muse
The following is an excerpt from my novel in progress, Housebreaking the Muse. Here, Ubu takes the narrative in a chapter that begins to flesh out the book's protagonist, Ray Burke. Burke wandered down Mass Ave. to Central Square, there catching a 91 bus heading north on Prospect out of Cambridge. Lights out on another…
Rigaut – Excerpt from Housebreaking the Muse (in progress)
Throughout my novel Housebreaking the Muse, numerous short chapters provide a glimpse into the mind of Jacques Rigaut on the night of his suicide, November 5-6, 1929. The following fragment is from an early draft of one such chapter. Rigaut I have long been favored by visitations from oblivion, enveloped in its seductive lack, which…
Père Ubu in Housebreaking the Muse (excerpt)
In my novel (in progress), Housebreaking the Muse, a reformed, erudite, and chatty Père Ubu plays a central role and handles the lion's share of the narrative. The following excerpt is from the second chapter, in which Ubu introduces himself and explains his role. The entire chapter appears in the 2009 issue of Stolen Island…
Ed Desautels' Maximum Fiction 