Returning to Work on Red Room Auditions Pt. 2

 2-20-20

          Robert sent me a few more links dealing with the American Air Force presence in Taiwan in the early 60’s. I wrote back to him:

It is so appreciated your sending background for my characters in Red Room Auditions. I am saving it all for the day I go back to finish the novel. I am still in the "who gives a damn" mode in my writing career. I have not aspirations to be a professional writer as I did until recently but I am coming back around to the space I was at in late 2018 when I discovered KDP free publishing and put out two books within months, the second became my downfall as it was rush-edited so I'd have copies available to pick up on my visit to Pittsburgh in late October. Slowly I have been editing that disaster for second edition. Meanwhile the first edition mess remains available for purchase on Amazon. I have no fear of it ruining a writer reputation I never had. My first two self-published books require a yearly action to keep the author's page up but it ain't worth the $35 a year; the ISBN are mine and I'll add the titles to my KDP profile one day, as your son has done for your works; I wish I had a son who'd do it for lazy old me, and for free no less. My sharing on Facebook has come to an end. The bastards that inflated my viewership before Oct. 2018 to lure me into purchasing updates have now limited the number of groups I can share my work with; they called it spam and punished me a few times by docking me a few days. Recently they deleted a ten minute live video I made at the riverside reciting a cluster of poems. Unlike that Chinese writer who made a best seller sharing serialized chapters on Facebook, that flash in the pan won't be happening to mine. Robert, continue to motivate me and you won't be sorry. As for writing for my own pleasure, there are still occasional blog pieces and a poem or two a month in addition to my regular private daily journal. All the background in the world about Taiwan air force police won't bring my novel back to life until I find a new audience to share it with, at least believe I have an audience. You, on the other, with a domestic audience of fluent English readers, can be going to that book club and visiting bookstores to present your novels at, your topics not incendiary as mine; mine would have no market in an English speaking country, either. Yours can and will sell if you promote them. Thanks again for thinking of me; I'm so fortunate to have such a good friend as you.

          I don’t give a damn anymore who reads my writings, thanks in part to the Facebook wake-up call. Persistence, however, succeeds, and I shouldn’t give up, but not publishing and promoting myself; I need a publisher that will accept my work and promote it. If I publish it myself, no matter how good it is, it will never sell. That being said, I have plenty of time to edit and finish all the manuscripts I have amassed the past seven years and send them out.

Summer 2020?

          I wrote my first text for Red Room Auditions in months yesterday. A new character, Richard Holmes, a Vietnam vet that returns to Taiwan and followed in Nate Fisher's footsteps back to the states by the time Nate returns to investigate the serial murders. They were buddies when AFARTS morphed into ICRT and the troops left Taiwan in 1979. Nate and Richard timelines correspond. Holmes will be a good way to inject the Taiwan experience for GI's in the 60's, before Nate arrived on the cusp of U.S. official troop withdrawal. I even have a character named Julian, a friend of Nate, who was a gigolo for a Taiwanese general to inject into the book Taiwan/U.S. military madness back to Quemoy in the mid 50's. The book may be a detective story but I want an indictment of U.S. interference in Taiwan's destiny to be the undercurrent stand out

Preface to George with the Man in the Hat

 

Preface

The original series of Curious George was written by the team of Hans Augusto Rey and Margret Rey. The Jewish couple fled Paris in June 1940, on self-made bicycles, carrying the Curious George manuscript with them. At first, only H. A. Rey was credited for the work in order to distinguish the Reys' books from the large number of children's books written by female authors.

George was brought from his home in Africa by "The Man with The Yellow Hat". They are best friends and they live together in "the city" and "the country". The names of these areas have not been declared yet. Curious George appeared in 1941. This book begins with George living in Africa and tells the story of his capture by the Man with the Yellow Hat, who takes him on a ship to "the big city" where he will live in a zoo. The second book, Curious George Takes a Job (1947), begins with George living in the zoo, from which he escapes and has several adventures before the Man with the Yellow Hat finds him and takes George to live at his house.

Aside from George himself, the only recurring character in the original adventures is the unnamed Man with the Yellow Hat who is George’s best friend. The Man often facilitates George's adventures by taking him somewhere, and even more often resolves the tension by intervening just in time to get George out of a tight spot.

In The Further Adventures of George, the Man has a deeper role with George that takes him beyond what the Zookeeper has in mind and joins George in his adventures, not only to intervene. These adventures would be frowned upon by the Zookeeper and could cost the Man his main job: training George and learning George’s language. 

In the plot of my allegorical tale, or "magic realism", the Man in the Hat has time on his hands because his long-time relationship with Phoenix had taken a hit after her illness; lack of motivation to experience the world. The Man has gotten bored of exchanges with Vincent Snail and jumps at the chance to become George's language enrichment partner at the Great Zookeeper's request. He would like to become her trainer, too, but there is somebody assigned to her first that she can’t break away from.

“Desiged” is not a word

          “Desiged” is not a word but it’s printed on the spine of Jerome Keating Ph.D’s ‘masterpiece The Mapping of Taiwan, the book that excludes Mr. Seldon’s Map of China in its scope. I realized the error this morning. Should the typo be “Designed” or should it, as the subtitle on the cover reads, be “Desired Economies, Converted Geographies”? It looks like the ‘g’ should be an ‘r’, but the error also appears on the spine of the book cover, too. Either way, how full-of-hot-air Dr. Keating’s book is as I browsed through the infantile text of a complex history; Dr. Keating has his paradigm down pat, but he’s not any fuller of shit, but more connived than I am compiling Taiwan Blog Tranmission (sic.)  The left out ‘s’ error is only on the inside title page, not on the cover at all. There is hope for us, yet, in a second edition. I actually looked at my manuscript the other day and may be on the verge of finally doing that second edition.

          Robert called while I was resting at the pool after another twenty-five laps without rest and we talked about out writing styles and outputs. I told him I was considering putting the fourth novel, Red Room Auditions, on the back-burner and starting on a fifth D.H. Lawrence type novel of soul searching and family relations. My characters are not any deeper than his. Robert jumps from different writing projects. That means he hasn’t taken hold of one. I have an urge to add my short stories about Taiwan to RRA and fictionalize inter-personal text from my journal for the family pot-boiler. My characters can be Louisa for Leona, and keep the first letter of every one’s name in my family drama so I don’t confuse myself. I don’t know. Something has to give. Robert and I both need a writing project we can get into. 

Facebook 'Live' and You-Tube Video Presentations

     In January 2019, I did two “Live” Facebook transmissions this past weekend, one twelve minute from up the Han and one late afternoon yesterday from the patio. I read the poem samples from the free view of Unnatural Beauty on Amazon. Five people viewed the first and two the second transmission. I will also read some short stories, articles, or novel excerpts in future transmissions. I point the smart phone camera outwards at the scenery, the first transmission only showing my shadow on the ground. I want to develop some slide shows for my readings. I will try it with what washes up on Penghu shores that already has photos and perhaps Route 74 Extension but have to find a suitable poem. The Bobbie Kitten’s Recovery has plenty of Bobby photos I can cue up and show as I read the poem at the desk in front of the monitor. All this would be done because I have nothing better to do with the excuse of being a promotion for my works on my website. I don’t want to make the transmissions more than fifteen minutes long.

     IMovie is a feature on my Mac Pro. Perfect for making You-Tube videos. I experimented with one last evening, but I have to figure out how to upload background music, videos and photos. Because Facebook sabotaged my blog dissemination, I have to look for other outlets for my works. People like watching more than reading, so here I go. "I am flexible," I wrote. "The Han River Poem You-Tube Channel beckons. As a matter of fact, once I get the gist, I will make a few you-tube channels."

It is almost a year later. I have gone nowhere with a Han River Poem Channel. I have not been bold.  I have better things to do than try to make myself famous on You-Tube . My ego obviously doesn't need it 

"What Washes Up..." Read on Dear John Show from U.K.

9-16-18 

Nina Thilo and 2 others manage the membership, moderators, settings, and posts for “Poetry in the Blood” and “A Poet’s Diary.” I posted “What Washes Up on Penghu Shores” there a few days ago.  “A great piece enhanced by the photos,” she commented

“Thanks for your assessment; I appreciate it,” I replied. She wanted to connect and I accepted; a chat conversation was started by her.

“Hi David please could I have your permission to read your poem "What Washes up on Penghu Shores" on the Dear John show?

“Yes, of course. May I see and hear you read?”

“You most certainly may and thank you. I will send you a link to the show page.

The Dear John Show 5 · Literary Arts

“Thanks Nina. Let me know when you will read my poem.”

“It will be tomorrow evening.”

“Thanks. What time, what day GMT? I have never heard my poetry read by anyone else but me LOL”

“The show will start at 7:30 pm UK time. I will come on around an hour later probably. Hope I do it justice 🙈

“You'll be great, I'm sure. Just remember the "wind" in the typhoon line is a verb with a long "i"; like a wind-up doll. 7:30pm in the U.K. is 1930 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) which is 3:30am here in Taiwan. Hope I can stay up. LOL. Be good!”

“I’ll try!”       

I don’t know if I will be up at 3:30 this morning to hear it but it is nice to know that I have gotten so many views (682) and ‘likes’ and ‘loves’ including accolades like “wonderful” and “marvelous piece”.

Poetry for the poets

THE DEAR JOHN SHOW·SATURDAY, APRIL 28, 2018

 

Welcome to The Dear John Show page. This is a Facebook Live Show, airing once a week, which highlights poets and their writes from around the world. We have resident readers who will gladly recite poems for those who would prefer to stay off camera, but we also encourage viewers and members to take the plunge and step forward into the limelight to read their own works. All genres are included. We look forward to seeing you and working with you to create a community of poetical enjoyment.

9-17-18 

          I saw Nina Thilo read my poem on “The Dear John Show” a short while ago. I happened to wake up at 3:07am and remembered the airing. Nina read it so well, with a proper British accent. I was able to record a video of the introduction but the Facebook device stopped so I recorded a voice clip on Messenger of the last few verses. I could never read my poems so well thanks to my Brooklyn accent. I don’t even know how to make a YouTube video of myself well; I look so lame and can’t find the camera on the smart phone. Even though the Facebook Live Show was miniscule in outreach, even less miniscule than my blogs I share on Facebook, it still gave me a thrill. I IM’d Nina to say she read it well and thank her. Maybe I can get a voice clip of her whole reading.

Returning to Work on Red Room Auditions Pt. 1

7-28-19

     I am glad Malcolm is inspired to release some old fiction to show me and is working on a new project. Initially he planned a short story but another confidant and I convinced him to elongate it. There are indications I may be on the verge of returning to write my fourth novel or edit and publish the first three. I am sitting on it for now, writing poems and blog pieces, as I wish. But I don't think I'll be going to today’s Critique Meet in Taipei; I haven't looked at the others' writings in Dropbox. I lost the urgency to edit, publish, or find a publisher, for now, but I'm not deleting the work I've accomplished, either. 

7-30-19

   I did some work on Chapter 2 of RRA yesterday, making the present tense monologue of Nate Fisher more dynamic and fixing the investigation details of the first three murdered making background relevant. Initially, I dumped stories of three creeps I'd met in Taiwan without aligning them with the plot or even making them dead! I've been working on the novel inside out; dumping details, leaving the weaving till later. Later is now. Without having to wrap three days around silly bushiban classes, I have time to spread out and think. I even went up the river two mornings in a row last weekend; something I hadn't done in a while because of the rain and other factors.

8-1-19

    A few days ago, I started to edit Chapter 2 of RRA. In all my “packing and unpacking junk” from manuscripts, there has been little fresh copy besides a few political taIWWan pieces and poetry. There are three photo blogs awaiting text in Taichung Journal and a few on music in Radio Free International and The Gershwin Summer, The Silver Pinball, the latter two blogs I may abandon and add contents to the former because I haven’t written enough articles to warrant its own blogs.

8-4-19 

     I changed the text of TBT to 12 pt. from 14. It reduced the length of the book thirty pages, even after I added five more stories; it's now 260 pages long. I haven't incorporated the textural edits I'd been making to the dummy book; indeed, I haven't finished making those edits and I just added more pages that haven't been scrutinized. 

     Robert sent me a name of a CIA spook, Mudd, to follow up on and educate the history of Nate Fisher. I want Nate involved in the U.S. Air Force on surveillance while on duty in Taiwan before leaving to become a SF detective. 

     Unlike Malcolm and Robert, I have no story board or plot map for RRA. It seemed to be no problem in AWM; the plot wrote itself as I discovered what I would do as the characters discovered. But I am lost in RRA because I haven’t decided on a climax yet. Right now, Nate will be discovering his estranged daughter is a high-priced call girl. She will be based on Simone's friend, Victoria that had some notoriety in Taiwan for her big boobs in the early millennium before her career deflated. The mother of Nate's child sold her up as a model when she was young and that was her demise. Nate finds her in a high class call girl and they realize they are father and daughter. He ends the novel with her at his side on the plane back to SF, AIT issuing her a replacement passport for the one her mother stole. I have to write about what I know. I'm going to have to write some new text instead of borrowing from myself.

8-7-19

     I did more work on RRA the past few days adding nuance to Chapter 2, The First Three Murders; I may re-title the chapter "The First Three Auditions" in keeping the sardonic feel of the undercurrent. I don't know how I will incorporate Malcolm's Jade Menagerie obstructions but I want to; I haven't done it yet. Maybe I'll have the character "Malcolm" spit them out when he's there or let Nate or Chen talk about it in the third person. It would be cool if after all the ways are introduced, there is a flurry of revelation in the last few chapters. I have to create a timeline for Nate so I don't get mixed up. 

     Robert was helpful in brainstorming it with me by LINE last week. 

1.     Born 1955 Brooklyn. Moves to SF with family at aged 7. 

2.     Enlisted 1975. Sent to Taiwan after boot camp; 20 years old

3.     1976-1979 Air Force police in Taiwan; 21-25 years old 

4.     1980-1982- Monterrey Language school and CIA; 26-28 years old 

5.     1983-1989 Return to Taiwan as Air Force surveillance; 29-35 years old 

6.     1990- 2002 Joins SFPD as detective specializing in Chinese community; 35-47 years old

7.     2002-2004 Sent back to Taiwan to solve serial murder cases. 47-50 years old 

8.     2005-2009 Returns to U.S. to SFPD; 50-55 years old

9.     Retires; 55 years old. 

     Something like that. I also typed up a few more dates in Taiwan Teacher's Journal to be included in the E-E-O book. I looked over Smoke No Fire and Life's Progressive Movement that starts at Chapter 22 of SNF. Once I reduce the type size to 12, I might want to rejoin the manuscripts into one. 

8-8-19

 I finished editing Chapter 2 of RRA and tackled my desire to add Malcolm's Jade Menagerie subterfuge, but I did it as a power point presentation at a meeting of white CIA agents on Roosevelt Road. No Taiwanese agents were invited, not even Chen who is on the serial murder investigation team. Nate Fisher is disgusted by the racist stereotyping but is glad the room is darkened so no one can see the expression on his face. I say Malcolm's handbook is true but it doesn't only pertain to Taiwanese. In RRA, there will be instances of obstruction from the white boys more than the Taiwanese. In fact, they try to pin the murders on an innocent, but ignorant, victim: Darrow Shaw's character. It is gas-lighting, I think it's called. I'll work it out. But for now, the first two chapters are what I want; present infinitive tense is used for most of Nate's internal dialogue. I sent a draft to Malcolm who says he's confused by it. It has to be consistent for the reader to get readers' confidence.

     I was asked, after sharing Ch.2 in Messenger by Malcolm, "Why in the present?" I wrote:

He's living in the infinitive; everything hits him in the face. Only passive voice (something done by an other) and past perfect tenses (something that happened before something else in the past happened) are exceptions. Let me know if I miss (LOL) any. He is also running from the past and Sees no future.

I explained that In Brooklyn, we often use this infinitive tense to dramatize. It is most prominent in our reported speech which is not reported speech rules at all. For example, instead of saying. "He said he had lived in Little Falls before he moved to Taiwan" we would say: "He goes he lived in Little Falls before he goes to Taiwan." Nate Fisher, a displaced Brooklynite, carries that syntax with him through the air police, CIA, and detective career, only in his internal dialogue and to his homies. I hope the reader is flattered being welcomed into his world

The other characters, and Nate himself, do not use the infinite in conversation with each other; he only uses it when he is reporting to the reader.

He's Got to be Keating Me

        On June 2, 2018, I wrote to Jerome Keating Ph. D  when I noticed he liked a poem I posted on Facebook. Jerome is an elderly teacher living in Taiwan since 1988. 

“Hi Jerome. We met and you autographed Mapping of Taiwan at the International Book Expo in Taipei. Thank you for liking my poem. Be well,” I wrote.

         “I remember that,” he replied. “Hope that you also liked the Map book and how  economies often lead to coveted geographies." 

       “I do like the whole jist of your project. I have some questions. You don't refer to Mr. Seldon's Map of China. Why?”

        “Not sure which map you are referring to?” he replied.

       The author [Timothy Brook] rediscovered a map brought to Oxford library in the 17th century, I said. The map shows that China was the first to know about, trade through, and map the South China Sea. Being an apologist for U.S. hegemonic Asian policy and a detractor of Chinese sea rights in building up navel outposts there, perhaps Dr. Keating was playing dumb. "I think that book must have been published too late for you to reference in yours,” I said leaving him a way out.

          Instead of admitting he wasn’t aware of the book or map, or worse, denying and covering up what the map told the world, he must have Googled it, thought fast and came back with an educated response.

          “Yes on a couple of counts. 1) The book came out after my book was first published and 2) the map is a composite and it is unsure who put it together and when &. 3) while it definitely talks of trade routes etc. my book focuses more on how Taiwan got on the map; so though I was aware of it by the time the bi-lingual version came out; there was not enough there to specifically relate to my focus. That said, the map does show the awareness and importance of trade in the early 17th century.”

          “But you will refer to it in the second edition, won't you?” I chided. “The map doesn't look composite.”

          “The map seems to be as I say a composite, where someone who was into trade, put together a couple of existing maps.” He was bullish now. I scanned and sent him a copy of the map to see for himself that it was not a composite and did, indeed, include Taiwan on its radar. 

         On July 1, 2018, I was bored and texted Keating Ph.D. while sitting up the river. “What are the politics looking like in Taichung?” he had texted me once. I threw back to the question  about Taipei. 

“I have a piece that will be in the Taipei Times this week--it says Ko-P is going down,” he replied.

“I don't read any English news from Taiwan. I look to socialist and worker union perspectives on the topic," I wrote.

“I don't read Chinese," he replied, "but I belong to many groups. I listen to friends whose opinions I trust, and I constantly look at the difference between what politicians say and do. That said, Ko-p's biggest disadvantage here is that he has no party and has depended more on swing vote. Will send the op-ed when it is out.”  Keating Ph. D probably supports the DPP and the U.S. CIA for not liking  Mayor Ko going to Shanghai to show friendship and make peace for Taiwan; something he abhors. Mayor Ko's "swing vote" implies he is a KMT supporter. 
“An aside, when I was in the US, I had one friend who if he told me he liked a movie, I figured I would not like it, and another friend who said if he liked it, I figured I would too.”

“My op-ed would never be printed by any English newspaper in Taiwan,” I simply replied. 

“You need to see my book on Paradigms,” he replied like a salesman.

“Thank you. And you can read my writings at www.readingsandridings.jimdo.com. All gratuities go to Kiva,” I shot back.

He didn’t know about Kiva so I sent him a link to the site that forwards investment loans to poor people around the world.

“Suggested donation $2.00 a story or article, $10 a book,” I said.
He replied with two gratuitous thumbs-up and sent me the link to his book instead. It had become a stand-off over his book and mine.

Then I laid it on the line: “If I buy Paradigms will you donate to the cause of my choice, Kiva, for example?”

“I have to examine Kiva more; I seldom donate to causes unless I have been involved in them and know the people; too often burned,” he responded trying to weasel out.

“Suit yourself. You already owe me one for buying Taiwan Maps at a premium price LOL.” I wasn’t really laughing out loud; I felt offended. He winked back like it was an inside joke but I still wasn’t laughing.

So he was saying I should buy a book he wrote but he doesn't have to look at my website or donate a penny to read mine because he doesn’t trust a cause I would donate the profit to? That’s some paradigm!

I wrote this piece in “Readings and Ridings” blog about J. Keating Ph. D.'s certainty and disregard for my experience and knowledge because I disagree with his American government viewpoint. It doesn’t impress me the title he attaches to his name. But Jerome is my elder and a great writer; I do respect him, but he was condescending; I deserve more respect than that. I have, after all, been teaching longer than he has, here and New York City, written as much, and have more teaching experience including college teaching experience; two years in Taiwan from '84-86, but I’m not in competition with him for pretension. I had lived in Taiwan a full ten years before he came onto the scene, and I can speak and read Mandarin, a skill he admits not acquiring despite his Taiwanese spouse and longevity here. 
 Chinese detractors have the sway in the English media, Facebook groups, and academics in Taiwan, except for the old stalwart China Times. Expats seeking the truth about Taiwan and China must be on their guard. Few here will give you the right direction.

Donald Hall's and My Obituary

     
Donald Hall's NY Times Obituary

"Donald Hall, a Poet Laureate of the Rural Life, is dead at 89,” said the New York Times. I wouldn’t have realized it if my friend hadn’t sent me an obituary about the guitarist made famous to him and me in Blues Brothers, Matt Murphy. I guess I was, like Hall, influenced by Auden, unknowingly. A death of a poet is the opportunity to read the work you missed while he was being recognized by critics that took him seriously. As a non-compromiser, I will never have that chance to be commercially heard, but you can read my poems anyway, for free; I don't need a New York Times obituary. I could imagine my obituary, though not printed anywhere but here in my journal:

          Mr. Temple was an applicant for no awards and received no recognition outside of a few jealous-less peers and Facebook poetry fans, though he was a participant in the 32 World Congress of Poets; a vanity gathering in Tainan in 2016. His unwillingness to compromise or hobnob with bourgeois sorts left him peacefully in his pursuits and self-entertainment, fancying himself a blues singer. For the record, Mr. Temple wrote four unpublished novels, a children's book, The Castle on Waterview Street, a pet 'autobiography', The Cats Journey to Taiwan, and hundreds of articles on politics and teaching English to speakers of other languages, as well as life as an expat in Taiwan. He was the creator and editor of Wobbly City for the NYC IWW and wrote many of its bylines under assumed names. His forty-thousand views on Trip Adviser put him in the top 3% of Taiwan writers about restaurant and scenic spots. His photo blog articles, shared on Facebook, were collected in two volumes, Forgotten People of Taiwan and Taiwan Blog Transmissions A prolific poet, he wrote hundreds of verse and self-published a chapbook in the late 1970’s (Temple End) and in 2015 (Han River; Poems of Taichung), and 2018 (Unnatural Beauty) with time in between spent for earning a living and raising a family of four. He is survived by a daughter from his wife of 27 years, and two daughters and a son from a previous marriage. 
www.readingsandridings.jimdo.com
 Copyright © 2018 by David Barry Temple. All rights reserved.

Taipei Writers' Group's New Publication

4-12-18 

I see that Taipei Writers Group published another anthology of the participating writers’ short stories, that the book was reviewed in the Taipei Times and has 650 views on-line. The stories are tame, non-political, and designed to offend no one; I haven’t read them but I know from the reviewer and a few stores from a previous collection of theirs. Their collections sell better than mine; they pay to promote them and they have a following of pretentious, urbane彬彬有禮 bin1bin1you1li1  Taipei expat comrades. Their stories are about the same locale and its inhabitants as mine. The Taipei Times review puts them in their minuscule place in literature and would not even bothered with reviewing my collection Forgotten People of Taiwan or even the new collection of non-fiction articles I am preparing to publish, Taiwan Blog Transmissions. I wouldn’t bother asking them to review it; I regret asking Camphor Press to even consider publishing mine; I am not a commercial writer and will not modify my ideals to become one. My writing will always remain obscure no matter how good it is.

      It is up to me to edit, proofread, publish, and promote my writings; no one will do it for me without paying the price. I have the free Amazon Direct Publishing service, the same one TWG uses, and I can do it on my own. What hung me up from doing it already is not-knowing how to format the cover photo for Amazon’s requirement. That being said, there are plenty of errors that I must proofread and edit before publishing

Seeds of "Red Room Auditions"

3-25-18 

     I wrote the first two pages of my fourth novel yesterday; a murder mystery, tentatively titled Red Room Murders. I have some trepidation about doing it though. Murder is a negative energy that one doesn't want to create from thin air. Writing a murder mystery must be some cathartic undertaking to remove negative energy. What I was thinking of doing, killing ex-pats that have obstructed my goals in Taiwan, is not a good idea. In fact, my life is better because I have gotten past them to have a nice life with no stress from competition. Why would I want to stick my fingers down my throat and vomit them up? I have already shitted them out; from Deadend Street to Dufus Davis, all flushed down the toilet. But a part of me wants to base a novel on a serial killing of a conspiracy of CIA operatives tying English dialogue in Taiwan to the United States, obstructing independence and re-unification. Maybe I should make the narrator the murderer instead of the detective sent to find him.

     Part of my idea is to use some short stories I've already completed, and modify them to kick-start the novel the same way I used “Tuane Gorgonsen” and “The Camping Trip” to kick-start A Western Metempsychosis. Deadend Street can be the test case for this murderer; an inconsequential foreigner who I can practiced my character's murder technique on. It could sound like Catcher in the Rye with the protagonist trying to save Taiwanese from bad influences. A serial killing from a first person point of view; let's see if the detectives can find him. 

      Nikki French, a husband-wife team, have written dozens of murder mysteries together, one of them is called The Red Room but there is no title Red Room Murders. I base my title on the venue in Taipei, sponsored by a beauty salon that has of its goals making Taiwan palatable for western emigration. The protagonist realizes that his dream of a Chinese-influenced Taiwan is in jeopardy as the United States continues to stuff the island with homesteaders to dilute its Chinese character. I can base the protagonist on G, the neurotic Taiwanese 32-year-old whose goal is immigrating to The United States to better his material prospects. He is privy to the deep secret goal of CIA Americanization of Taiwan, even the avocation of making it a 51^st State. He turns against his dream of having an American wife when he is spurned by American women again and again.

      I know people that are perfect vehicles for a sociopath who can kill and maim. In the end, when they find him, to put the blame on the one who inadvertently motivated him to do so, even send him to prison on sedition charges fighting extradition to the United States as the Chinese try to liberate him. My character can be the innocent victim who tells the story blindly in the first person; the reader will know the twist in the plot when the police come after him and the CIA thinks he's a spy because the victims have all been undercover operatives. They’ll think he's working for the Chinese but it's just mistaken identity and coincidence that the schmucks that obstruct the retired teacher happen to be American spies. But the killer is the nerdy neurotic Taiwanese.

There are a couple of plots that I am considering and Robert  has another: Brooklyn born, Mandarin, Taiwanese, Russian and Yiddish speaker and martial arts trained in the deadly art of Tai Chi Chuan and a special FBI agent, Asher Katz, is ordered to Taiwan by Special Counsel Mueller to investigate Joshua Bolton’s attempt to provoke the USA into war with China, so that Putin’s Russia can pick up the pieces and control Eurasia if not the world. When Katz’s contact with the Russian speaking émigré community, Rabbi Horowitz is assassinated at his side at the Shr Lin night market, he has to go deep undercover. He first contacts his old Kung fu teacher and a Keelung fisher smuggler he knows from the old days. Asher Katz must now turn into assassin to kill Bolton’s man in Taiwan whose soon to provoke the incident that will throw the world in a new holocaust. Just an idea. Be the good guy who offs the bad guy. When I wrote the novel about Vietnam and the guys girl friend getting raped, same problem. Too evil, but that’s what war is. Evil and it’s murder too. Keep me posted.

     I think I will still be the detective sent from San Francisco, “the good guy who offs the bad guy,” as Yenney says, with G and the retired teacher as antagonists.

3-31-18

     While up the river, I wrote two more pages towards chapter one of Red Room Auditions. I borrowed a few paragraphs from "Hung Well's Arcade" describing Chung-Shan North Road in 1978  to add background . While the novel is a murder mystery, I want to use the tactics of Tony Hillerman, using Navajo and Hopi traditions, in exposing the undercurrent of culture of Taiwan. For example, Chapter 2 is tentatively titled "444" meaning the fourth murder on April 4th or some other connection to the superstition of like sounding ‘sze’ for 'die' as well. I will go back and rethink the title of chapter one to reflect the superstitions from China and convoluted loans from infatuation with America that pollute the Taiwanese minds and create monsters like G. I want to show how America and China fucked Taiwan up. Only Japan comes out smelling like a cherry blossom. 

4-1-18

   Also while up the river, I wrote two more pages towards chapter one of Red Room Auditions. I borrowed a few paragraphs from my "Hung Well's Arcade" describing Chung-Shan North Road in 1978 to add color. While the novel is a murder mystery, I want to use for  Taiwan the tactics of Tony Hillerman who, using Navajo and Hopi traditions, exposes the undercurrent of culture. For example, Chapter 2 is tentatively titled "444" meaning the fourth murder on April 4th or some other connection to the superstition of like sounding ‘sze’ for 'die' as well. I will go back and rethink the title of chapter one to reflect the superstitions from China and convoluted loans from infatuation with America that pollute the Taiwanese minds and create monsters. 
4-5-18

     I'm sort of floating with Red Room Auditions though I added another page I wrote a few days ago. I am playing with the idea of multiple narrators and even un-narrated internet dialogue. I use different tenses; present when Nate Fisher is narrating, and past when Martin Freiger is narrating. I plan to add short stories, journal, and articles about Deadend Street, Michael Turd, Dufus Davis, and other expats Martin complains about to Darrow. I can even have Darrow tell what Martin told him in reported speech; post confessionals since he is the murderer convicted and imprisoned at the end. The tie in to Red Room is that all the victims and murderer have been to the venue to participate. 

4-6-18

     I am collecting data for Red Room Auditions and adding them to the broad manuscript to modify and associate into a plot. I've settled on the murder of six expats based on schmucks I've run across in Taiwan. I may change the setting period to modern times from 2000. That would make Nate Fisher 60+ years old if his first contact with Taiwan was as a soldier stationed here in 1978. In that case he would be called out of retirement from the SFPD to solve one more case overseas. I'm also thinking of bringing Nate in after the second murder instead of the third and having the third soon after he gets on the scene; three more before books climax. I added a cool cover picture to the manuscript of velvet red theater curtains dripping blood. I want the Red Room to act as a grotesque cabaret of not-so-talented expat entertainers, singers, comedians, magicians, and poets; each murder following a show the murderer attends or performs at; "For my next trick, Dufus Davis will have vapes shoved down his throat and up his ass." Stuff like that.  Darrow will do Martin's requested bidding as if to win his admiration and to take revenge on Americans for spurning him. 

      I spent a good three hours working on the mystery novel modifying previously written material to get a “head start” on the text. I have twenty pages in chapters one and two seemingly done and another twenty pages of journal and blog material I think I can use in the manuscript I also have pages of text messaging between Darrow and me that I want to modify and incorporate into the novel; the plot being a neurotic Taiwanese youngster that takes it on his own to avenge his older American Facebook friend. I also copied a few news articles about the Taiwanese 18-year-old who was found with an arsenal at the Pennsylvania parochial school his well-intentioned parents dumped him in. This background could be Darrow’s past, part of his resentment and indicative of his state of mind. I also copied the two blog entries about Red Room. I sent the title page, index and first two chapters in a PDF to Robert  just now to see what he thinks. 

4-9-18 

     In Red Room Auditions, I use three different points of view and tenses; Nate Fisher's (present), Martin Freiger’s [*-first mention of Martin’s new last name] (past), and Darrow Kuo's (future). The text dialog between Darrow and Martin varies in tenses. I'm taking Robert's advice to make Nate more hard-boiled in his last hurrah. I'm giving him an estranged girlfriend with daughter in Taiwan and  The surprise in the plot is that while Nate, Malcolm, and Tim think they have their man, Darrow Kuo[*first mention Darrow’s new last name], but he is just a crackpot, a cover for  Chinese killing CIA spooks in Taiwan? It turns out all the victims have secret dossiers. Nate is not made privy to because of confidentiality. The CIA hopes to lead him to Darrow to close the case and hide the victims’ true identities. Meanwhile, Limit Hong and Corny Donovan are in on the secret to keep American influence in Taiwan stifling unification and independence. I will add a meeting with Limit and the “Sunflower” sideshow later in the novel.

Submitted and Rejected by Camphor Press

 3-13-18 

      Camphor Press has seven samples of my creative writing. I sent three after texting someone asking if I could, and was asked to send a few more. Camphor Press is the Taipei-U.K. based publisher that put out The Lord of Taiwan, the new novel about Koxinga, the book yesterday I contacted the author and publisher to inquire about getting. I didn’t know about them before yesterday. Since their focus is East Asian literature, I am on the right track. 

3-14-18 

      Each of those writings I thoroughly enjoyed writing and tweaking, though it behooves me to say I must tweak them some more. For example, the excerpt from Life’s Progressive Movement, “Welcome to Free China,” refers to the same woman Emerson saw on the street outside the youth hostel as Jeanette and Amy, in one paragraph. The recounting of the thinly veiled autobiographical incident, though some would say changes with time, is as close to the truth as a CTTV could produce because of the hindsight called ‘personal journal’ and repeating the story dozens of times to dozens of people over forty years.

      Each of those writings kept me entertained in the cleanest way with no repercussion, as this writing I now commit to pixel has, having awoken at 1am due to excessive sleep and a mosquito in the bedroom. Instead of panicking or taking drugs, or even reading to make me sleepy, writing in the wee hours clears my mind without wasting my time; not wasting time because I enjoy doing it. Though Tanuki meows and scratches at the study room window, I can ignore him and not let him detract from my writing just as a mosquito doesn’t ruin a night’s sleep but affords me an opportunity to have solitude. The trick I must perform now is to not eat during these interludes so that I can lose weight.

     Publishing or not publishing my creative writing doesn’t change the equation, even if others place a monetary value on it. When I read over what I have written, it pays me back because I realize the thousands of stories it took to get me here; I have such depth that exists whether it is appreciated with money or views on Facebook shares. All that a company publishing my work means to me is that I don’t have to pay to publish it myself. 

3-14-18

     John sent me a bad news e-mail from Camphor Press rejecting publication of my creative writing. He explained what he thought my writing deficits were but none was as critical as my political leanings (“quirkiness”) that would make my work un-sellable, according to their editorial parameters. I wrote back thanking him for looking but understood their stance. He looked into my two self-published works and their lack of following as part of their decision; that is unfair since I didn’t promote them or even pay extra for Amazon Kindle distribution that he used for an excuse. He did, however, like “Return of the Ami Native” the best of the seven samples I sent. A writer gets dozens of rejection letter before one acceptance and I am no different. I had no sales campaign and only sent a text message to Camphor press on a whim. It would have been nice if they liked my work but I feel no disappointment that they didn’t. An anarchist publisher would appreciate my asides better. I have to send my works to an open-minded publishing house if I seriously want to get published.

About "The Most Fun..without a BJ or Weed"

1-24-18 1:14am Wed. (5)

      My blog post about my trip to Oslob, “The Most Fun You Can Have without a BJ or Weed,” is so incendiary (and true) that Malcolm and most other readers are stunned by it; not only its risqué undertone but also its writing about an enviable holiday shied away from. I shared it on Bored Panda internationally in addition to Taichung Journal locally to Facebook groups and in e-mails to friends and family not using social media. Malcolm saw it early yesterday morning but didn’t comment after I texted some questions about details and reminded him I wouldn’t share it until he approved since it refers to him often. I take his no response as a ‘yes.’ Even Simone didn’t respond out of a haughty disgust not unlike Suzanne who was sent and won’t respond, I guarantee you. My writing often gets right to the soft white underbelly of life; see how the CIA guru wannabes in Taiwan responded to my articles about Hobo Happiness and Indigenous in Taichung Park; they were too arrogant to be speechless and tried to insult my writing because they knew it was what they’re not capable of. With this piece, I give little people like these an excuse not to like me. Arlen and Jim Drieu liked it as did Joshua Dent from the Kaohsiung Writing Workshop, probably the only one there who will admit it’s well written. I will send Mary and Tripadvisor a G rated version.
      I told Leona about the blog during lunch saying that I asked Simone if she wanted to read the R or G rated version; she chose the R. Leona asked what the R was and I told her the title. “Don’t worry,” I said, “I didn’t get a blowjob.” But she didn’t get the message either; that I wanted a blowjob from her before I actually go and get one.

T.E.A. Time at DJ House

Have a poem? Are you working on a story, novel, or a best practice as teacher? It’s T.E.A. Time at DJ House, the first Sunday each month, 4-6 pm. Share your works, get feedback and appreciation from Taichung Educators & Authors; bilingual, too. Post your creation or lesson plan on our Facebook group page beforehand, share and critique with others. Let your creativity seep through.

喜歡英文寫詩創作嗎？你們是正在著手寫文章，小說或是想多練習英文寫作的老師們嗎？每個月的第一個星期日下午4-6點，歡迎來好食分享你們的創作靈感，也歡迎喜歡寫作的人來這跟大家分享與指導大家。中英都可，也可以先把你們的文章或課程大綱先公佈在我們臉書群組喔，歡迎大家ㄧ同來來交流。

Stop the press: half of self-published authors earn less than $500

ps://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/may/24/self-published-author-earnings?CMP=share_btn_fb

March 2015

March 1, 2015

I didn’t ride the bicycle today, on dentist’s orders, but I did go against his recommendation and had a can of beer. I finished reading Anatomy of a Rose up the river yesterday and wrote a rare poem; I haven’t written too many poems since Han River Poems was published. I also haven’t written much towards Smoke No Fire recently; indeed, I have been raiding episodes from it for It Won’t Work. Reestablishing a friendship with Maureen, if it happens, brings up an awkward situation; her character is an antagonist. The same is true of Tony, but there is little chance of his becoming my friend again or reading my fiction in the semi-autobiographical novel. Maureen, however, might want to read it. 

3-10-17

Some of the creative writing I did in 1979 in San Francisco will be added to 

It Won’t Work in chapter four, “San Francisco Fairy Tale.” The ‘House Crew’ thread will be about Emerson’s work experience. It follows from his Hole in the Wall experience with the passport forgers, as yet unwritten. Only five pages of chapter four have been written. The ‘House Crew’ thread is fifteen pages long!

3-13-17

 "The Work Crew" thread of It Won't Work is thirty-six years old but it fits in well with the novel to illustrate the San Francisco experience for Emerson Davinsky. That and the Hole in the Wall Chinese passport forgers and the bankrupt magical hippie notion of Gail, the misplaced militarism of the gay community are all short-circuits in the revolution and further evidence why It Won't Work although Emerson's life itself does have the "Progressive Movement" it needs to carry him to realization and the novel to conclusion. 

3-14-17

  There are another twenty pages in four manuscripts of text I wrote thirty-six years ago in San Francisco that I can incorporate into the novel, It Won't Work. I incorporated twelve pages called "The Work Crew" to the manuscript. I think it is really reflective of Emerson's education about the value of his labor and bosses. There are another three manuscripts of about forty pages that can be the basis of an independent story or, perhaps, be added to Smoke No Fire. There is one weird manuscript that, anticipating Cats Journey to Taiwan, is told from a cat's point of view! I would not alter the plots of my current work to use this old material, but if the semi-autobiographical text fits in, why not use it? 

3-21-17

 I took a week off from creative writing after a flurry of activity the week before, mostly adapting thirty-six year old manuscripts from San Francisco for It Won't Work. I would complete the chapter "San Francisco Fairy Tale" with the irrelevant gay activism Emerson found there, dysfunctional Americans, leading Emerson to the portal of Chinese culture and wisdom, through Taiwan. Two guiding quotes; first from Chak Chi-Tat: "Americans are like locusts; they fly in droves, eat everything in sight, and fly away." The second quote is from Emerson's mom when he returned to New York to say goodbye: "Crying at the airport, she hugged Emerson saying, "Please don't come home with a Chinese wife." 

3-23-15

    I wrote five pages of text directly into the It Won't Work manuscript last evening. I combined the Fingers take-over, the Disneyland derelict, street lamp shoot-out, and the strung-out chick rape into one thread. I want to add to that the passport forgers, domestic downstairs violence, Sunset triad, secret service flight trail, too. It is amazing how much happened in San Francisco in less than two years of the forty-year span of the novel; I could almost write a separate novel about San Francisco alone. I will remove the Gail thread and return it to Smoke No Fire as it has little to push the plot along. When Emerson goes back to study Mandarin at San Francisco State and spends the last year in San Francisco with Chak Chi-tat preparing for Taiwan, Asian culture comes to the rescue again and helps puts Emerson's life in order. If each chapter is around twenty-five pages long, "San Francisco Fairy Tale" is almost complete. I want to make it as 'Alice in Wonderland' as it actually was. 

3-27-15

I am on the verge of ‘rounding off’ one complete chapter in It Won’t Work; “San Francisco Fairy Tale.” It was a pivotal period for Emerson Davinsky that almost derailed his ambitions to do something for the union which included socialist Chinese markings.

The chapter “Training in Taiwan” will explain his detour from China to Taiwan which complicated his ambition with an obstructive wife. In the novel, the couple has no children over their twenty years of piss; I’m saving the children for another novel, one day, concerning the protagonist’s family life. Suffice it to say Xiao-Jiao merely obstructs, not destroys him. She represents the chicken-shit cowards created by the KMT white terror. She dies in an earthquake in 1999 and sets Emerson free.

3-29-15

     Since I added an element of homosexual comment to coincide with the Harvey Milk riots, the gay scene in San Francisco, and Emerson's proletarian heterosexual monogamy, I pinched a thread from Smoke No Fire again (the Arthur proposition) to inform the plot of It Won't Work. In the apartment on Ocean Avenue rented by Bill, the skittish Vietnam vet in cold sweat during the blackout riots of 1977, Mark Cohen, the self-centered law student who shunned Emerson in San Francisco, Arthur completes the group. I may add the haiku reading with James in the Botanic Garden and t'ai chi with Prof. Wade to show Emerson's Asian leanings and emphasize his emotional connection to China through Taiwan. 

     After lunch, I sat down and watched the "Weather Underground" documentary I borrowed from the Taichung library. I realized I had to inform the plot of It Won't Work, circa 1972, to explain the path Emerson took to unionism and not terrorism. One would wonder why he didn't become a SDS Weatherman himself or even a Yippie. But he also didn't become a gay activist, drug-abuser, or religious dropout; I may have to pinch the Hare Krishna Alan thread from Smoke No Fire, too! 

3-31-15 7:02 am Tues. (1)

     I read the 1001 Books to Read before You Die digest on the toilet almost every day. I've only read a small percentage of the books listed; I've never been a big reader. In my 'hands-on' life, I always appreciated going out to play, hang out, smoke weed, play in a band, listen to concerts or music more than a novel. I have written more poetry than I have read and can remember the words to none of them. I stopped writing prose when I left San Francisco in 1979 and only took it up again, haltingly, in Brooklyn when Leona and I lived there. I have written more prose since January 2013 than I have in all my life, a total of fifteen short stories a novel up to page 230 and a novella stuck at 60 pages. When I see authors in the 1001 Books digest who have written thousands of pages in dozens of novels, I am impressed. For example, Anthony Burgess, the man who wrote Clockwork Orange, wrote five novels in two years! Not that I am not slogging through It Won't Work; to write it every day would feel like a task; like work. I would rather take my time and enjoy doing it. However, there is a bit of urgency; I am, after all, sixty years old. I don't know how much time I have left to write all that is in my soul to get out on paper. I'll just let it flow. It is not urgent. If I am to write nothing that will become commercially successful, it is not the end of the world. I tell myself that all it takes is one successful work and the public will eat up everything else I've written. I am putting all I've got into It Won't Work; Life's Progressive Movement. Maybe Burgess had that motivation after Clockwork. One writer wrote four incomplete novels before his fifth was accepted for publishing and became a success. You have to write what you want. At some point, after I finish It Won't Work, I will shop it around and maybe even find an agent to help me find a buyer.