Je ne te quitterais jamais

Je ne te quitterais jamais
By Alex Ness
August 18, 2023

TODAY IS A NEW DAY

I realize that by now that you've likely felt when is this meathead ever going to ever stop talking about himself and all his plans and troubles. But no life is ever going to end up with anyone escaping alive at the end. My health is never going to return to be that of a 20 year dork I used to be. I'm never going to escape the maze of obstacles that life offered. But I'm not worried about that. 

Why do I mention it then? What I learned was that I am not alone in my world. My writing and art is not going on in a vacuum of human achievement or consumption. Everyone creating art, is likely to feel like it is being done in a vacuum, without interconnection with others. But my recent year long health crisis allowed me to see that who I am, and what I am, is not anonymous, I have people who appreciate who and what I am. And I want to live, as opposed to most of my life, whenever I faced lethal crises my first instinct was to assume, it would be easier to simply die. But I've learned, some people if not all, would have a response, and sadness should that be the case. I want to survive more than ever.

I'm going to keep writing. I'm also going to never stop wanting to create works in poetry, non fiction, and other aspects of creative life. Right now my focus is upon chapbooks, and a weird fascination with creating my own oil and watercolor paintings. Am I talented enough to create such projects? I did get invited to contribute a watercolor painting to art show when I was 19. It wasn't beautiful, but it did offer an unusual and new look at an event. There is an important point to be made. That art show happened 40 years ago and I didn't win or get notice. My lack of constant practice probably has led to a loss of whatever talent and level of craft efforts that my former self achieved. Let me just say, perhaps I will do it, and it will be crap, or it will surprise folks and not be complete crap. We'll see.

I HAVE GOALS

I do have plans to release many books over the next two years. I've also completed most of my work on the 10 CDs that Aaron Kerr and I created. I will need a way to fund the projects.  I will have 4 larger than normal books of poetry and prose, and some as anthologies with others, and maybe I'll find a way to pay for them otherwise.

SOME RECENT MOVIES I'VE WATCHED OF AN UNUSUAL NATURE

Now, don't hate me for mentioning this, but The Most Dangerous Game was said to be the motivation for the Zodiac Killer. A millionaire owns an island and he hunts people who crash upon the shore, or accept invites to visit. It was a book read by many in high school of the 40s-60s. I am not a fan of that, but I did think the movie was fine, if also rather disturbing for how it inspired an evil spate of killings.

A Kiss of Death is a multiple Oscar nominated film, that features an ex con, and several demented acts.  There is a suicide of a woman, a woman cast down stairs, and even more horrendous violent actions.  It was written by Eleazar Lipsky.  The work inspired numerous comparisons to Batman or other popular media due to the villains and their symbiotic type relations to the lead good guy.  It was an unusual choice for me, but it was rather good.

RE: The Face of Another. I LOVED Woman of the Dunes by Hiroshi Teshigahara, so tried this. In this film, a beautiful woman is disfigured by an industrial accident. She is given a prosthetic face, in an experimental attempt to return her to feeling human. But what is really being told and referred to, is the scars left by Hiroshima, Nagasaki and all of the scarred from the recent war.  How can a person recover their wounds, that are permanent, due to things they can never forget, no matter how one looks. It was thought by some critics internationally to be hyper self introspective.  I disagree. It asked vital questions and offered answers.

SOME ART BOOKS I'VE ENJOYED

Brom's work moves me.
I spoke to MWKaluta for 20 minutes at SDCC 2003.
And Jeffrey Jones was a good friend who sadly passed away far too early in life.

SOME LOVELY AND FUN SCIENCE FICTION RPG GAMES

GURPS offers a game system that works beautifully with all settings. And this game and setting is one that works perfectly. Gurps works well on numerous fronts, but in this case, it isn't far from the world in which we face in a few decades for real.

I am a fan of the ocean and planets in sci fi based upon them.  This game has mechanics that are a wee bit clunky, but offers adventures and ideas of development that are inspiring.

Star Frontiers is about 40 years old I think. It is more space adventure than science fiction, and more rpg friendly than many of the more hard science fiction based settings.  But for my money, to stay in TSR's realm, give me early Gamma World.

COMICS ARE AWESOME

 Works by Mike Grell, Timothy Truman, Mike Baron and Steven Grant kick much ass.

MY FINAL COMMENTS

I offer thanks to all of the readers of my work.  I ask, humbly, if you might support my work, through book sales, or by whatever other means you can imagine. And also, please seek the works I mention, that are not offered for any simple reason of compensation for me.  I greatly appreciate them, and offer them to support the creators of them.

FINALLY...  I can be found on Facebook, Twitter or through email Alexanderness63@gmail.com. I accept hard copies, so when you inquire at any of these places, I'll follow through by telling you my street address.If you send hard copies for review I will try to always review them, but if you prefer to send pdf or ebooks to my email, I will review these at my discretion. I don't share my pdf/ebooks, so you can avoid worry that I'd dispense them for free to others.

My Creative Blogs:

5k poem blog         AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com

Published works   AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html

All images are copyright © their respective owners, use is simply as fair use and no ownership rights asserted.