Art Imitating ... Art

Here is a disappointing article about how art imitates art, instead of life.  It's worse in Africa.  Cities look like cities.  A lot of people wear the same kinds of clothes as people anywhere else in the world.  There are no giraffes on Main Street.  And that's not what people expect to see in Africa.  The results of trying to splice expectation over reality can be ghastly.

This?  This is why I use current events as inspiration, look up images from places where my characters live, if I'm writing in this world or a close analog of it.  Sure there are divergence points; I try to highlight those when I spot them.  But mostly I want to give a real sense of what it's like a in particular place.  Jamaica Plain.  Omaha.  Waxahachie.  London.  It matters where people live.

The Butthead Fish

Mammoth Cave in Indiana has cave fish with an anus in their forehead.  I don't think it matters what name anyone tries to hang on these things.  They are going to be called buttheads. 

Now a cave scientist really needs to write a children's book about them.  That would sell like hotcakes in the gift shop.  A lot of kids love gross or weird things.

Poetry Fishbowl on Tuesday, May 19

The Poetry Fishbowl has made its $250 goal three times, so that earns a bonus fishbowl on Tuesday, May 19. This time I'm doing something different: choosing a well-developed series with an eye toward plot progression. The featured series is Path of the Paladins. I'm going to list some poem concepts, then invite you to pick one you'd like to see and expand on it a little more. Take a look at these now, go back and reread the series if you want to, and mull over ideas for the fishbowl on Tuesday.

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Warm-blooded Fish

 zeeth_kyrah tipped me to this article about a warm-blooded fish.