|k| clippings: 2016-04-07 — bless your heart and hope you...

WORK

“And then there are always clever people about to promise you that everything will be all right if only you put yourself out a bit… And you get carried away, you suffer so much from the things that exist that you ask for what can’t ever exist. Now look at me, I was well away dreaming like a fool and seeing visions of a nice friendly life on good terms with everybody, and off I went, up into the clouds. And when you fall back into the mud it hurts a lot. No! None of it was true, none of those things we thought we could see existed at all. All that was really there was still more misery—oh yes! as much of that as you like—and bullets into the bargain!”

—Émile Zola
—from Germinal

WORD(S)

cantle /KAN-təl/. noun. A corner, edge or slice. Also, the raised rear of a saddle, opposite the pommel. In Scots dialect, the crown of the head. Also, in verb form, to cut into quarters or otherwise divide. From Old French, diminutive of cant (edge, corner).

“Limbs like so many whip lengths, and then he’s settled between cantle and horn.” (Alyssa York)

“‘If I shot that Brodell toad may this saddle mold up and rot and stink and get maggots, so help me God.’ She turned to pat the cantle and back to me. ‘Is that good enough?’” (Rex Stout)

“Methinks my moiety, north from Burton here,
In quantity equals not one of yours:
See how this river comes me cranking in,
And cuts me from the best of all my land
A huge half-moon, a monstrous cantle out.”
(William Shakespeare)

“My cantle will stand a clour wad bring a stot down.” (Scott F. Nigel)

WEB

1. “It’s precisely the vagueness of ‘they’ that makes it a not-so-ideal pronoun replacement.” → Who’s ‘They’? (consciously couple with this long list of nonbinary identities)

2. “Musical experiences are inherently social, scientists tell us, even when they happen in private.” → When You Listen to Music, You’re Never Alone

3. Books cooked – literally – in punning recipes based on writers’ names

4. 17 images of famous writers and/or their workspaces

5. Today in 1827, John Walker documents the first recorded sale of his newly invented “Sulphurata Hyper-Oxygenata Frict” (AKA friction) matches, replacing the extremely combustible—even explosive—chemical combinations used in matches until then. Those early matches were responsible for so many fires that they were banned in many cities and even some entire countries. Walker, who was already wealthy, refused to patent his invention thus receiving no real profit from it. In fact, he wasn’t even given significant credit for his soon ubiquitous invention until after his death. Incidentally, matchbook (and related paraphernalia) collectors—all Walker’s children in some way—are called phillumenists and have an interesting vocabulary of their own to describe their obsessions, including innerboxes, outerboxes and the ultra-collectible skillets.

WATCH/WITNESS

This made me think of Reader M., but all of us non-Southerners can benefit: ► “Bless your Heart” (decoded). So maybe I wasn’t being complimented as often as I thought when I was last in Georgia?

REPRISES/RESPONSES/REJOINDERS/RIPOSTES

• Reader D.: “Patrick Kindig’s prose poem [last issue’s WORK] was sinuous & slithery, creepy & comforting. So good.”

• Reader L.: “Loved the chart of Supernatural Collective Nouns and shared them with my online SFF writer friends, who also did. Also shared that publisher’s Genre Fiction Generator—even better!”

I welcome comments, suggestions, thoughts, feedback and all manner of what-have-you. Just press ‘Reply’ or email to: clippings@katexic.com.

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