Occasional Beasts: Tales, Story Notes #1: "The Glove"

*I realized as I read this first entry, I’m just letting the impressions flow, some character descriptions, some story details, some essential elements, but not all, of course. Enough, perhaps, to pique your interest! Yes, you, the person reading these words. 

Shall we get started?

I enjoy story notes. I enjoy reading about what inspired a tale, the birth, the details, info—whatever. I remember reading Harlan Ellison some forty years ago and how I almost enjoyed his story notes as much as his tales, or the tales within Dangerous Visions. So, story notes work for me.

I figure a few readers or prospective readers (buy mybooks!) might also be interested. Hence, the new collection, Occasional Beasts: Tales, out September 17, which gives me a little over 6 weeks to dig into what inspired the fourteen tales, post them on this here blog, and have some fun remembering where each tale came from. Well, besides the obvious: my warped mindset.

I’ll go in sequence, of course, so the first tale I will touch on is the opener, “The Glove.”

“The Glove” deals with two psychics, one or both who may or may not be legit, a missing child, who may or may not be what she seems, and a glove, something taken from the child, to be utilized by the psychics as they work with the police to find her. This is the bare bones description of what’s going on in the longest tale from the collection, clocking in at around 16,100 words.

As you will notice as I write these blogs, a few of these tales were born in Italy. My girlfriend, Alessandra, lives there, so until we get everything worked out properly, I spend my summers there; and, yes, we are working toward a goal of being together, either in Italy, the states, Mexico, Mars…it really doesn’t matter to me. She inspires me, and Italy does, as well.

We were on vacation near Siena—one of my favorite places in the world; yes, perhaps we’ll end up there! —a place where Alessandra rented an apartment in San Rocco a Pilli. When we take our rare vacations, we have to make accommodations for her Dalmatian, Ghibli. Adjacent to the apartment was a large field where we could walk him, so he could do his business. During one of our walks, I spotted a single glove on the ground.

Really, that’s all it takes sometimes. It may seem nothing special, but the writers know how the littlest thing can trigger the imagination. I remember immediately speculating about its origin—where it came from, why it was there--and went through some potential options out loud at first, so Alessandra could shake her head and think, "here goes my crazy boyfriend the writer again," and later in my head…and one of those possibilities had teeth; still needed fleshing out and direction, but it was too intriguing to ignore. I cannot say what it was, because you need to read the tale to see where it ultimately leads, but I knew I was on to something.

But, as usual, there’s never just one idea forming the foundation and/or within the constructs of any tale I write. I’ve noted before and will note again, it’s the layers being peeled back to reveal the true intent, the true reason a tale has come to me that makes writing fun. It also serves as a form of self-discovery as I learn more about myself through the tales.

As "The Glove" developed, it came to me to focus on an element from Lovecraft’s work that always fascinated me: his absurdly described creatures, gods and what-not. Another element rose to the top as well, that being the opening of doors to other worlds in the work of Clark Ashton Smith.

Why did my mind go to these places, I don’t know, but whatever it takes to shape a tale, tell it as it needs to be told, I’m open to anything.

With CAS in particular, there’s a nod to his tale, “The City of the Singing Flame.”  You may or may not pick up on this, but I know it was in my head as I wrote some sections; perhaps from a different angle, but it was there.  As much as “The Glove” may not seem outwardly related to Smith’s gem, there IS a connection.

Then there’s Piper Laurie in The Hustler.

What?

The main character in “The Glove” is a psychic of sorts (is she legit? Is it all a scam?) named Allie Cahler. Of note, her origin is of mixed race, and this is rather key to the heart of the tale. She’s got Mexican heritage, while her father is perceived as simply white, with no details besides having left when she was young; she’s only left with slivers of impressions, and her name. She was raised by her mother in an environment rife with drugs, drink, and sex, until she ran away at fifteen. Cahler has never felt at home within either race. No trait strongly distinguishes her being, her DNA…at least as far as is obvious. She’s been a grifter with her partner, Jesse, for years, wearing different names, accents, whatever was necessary, in the quest for a few dollars more. Survival.

I wanted her to be damaged in a way—hell, most of my characters are damaged—but wanted something I could at least envision, when I ended up recalling Piper Laurie in the excellent movie based on Walter Tevis’s book, The Hustler. There’s a calmness to Laurie’s Sarah Packard’s acceptance of her failings and/or the meager life she’s managed to piece together. She's resigned to it, but still hopeful, at least when Paul Newman's "Fast" Eddie Felson enters her life. Cahler is less resigned, stronger than Packard, but there's a seed of something similar there they both water...with alcohol. When things go sideways, alcohol is what they lean on, and hard. It may only be a loose thread that connects them in the final product, but Laurie's Sarah Packard was there in the formative stages.

Then there’s Loren St. Clair. She’s devious, self-centered, and avaricious to the nth. Ego is her best friend. She’s also a psychic of sorts (is she legit? Is her whole reputation a scam?), whose intentions veer toward doing whatever it takes to keep her in the lap of luxury. That’s all I’m telling you about her, but you’re going to like her. Or love to hate her, probably. She’s lethal.

One more thought as I wrap this one up. I borrowed the name for the family of the missing child—Telfer—from my Spanish teacher in high school, junior year. 😉 [waves to Miss Telfer, wherever she may be]

I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief overview of “The Glove,” which is ultimately a Weird tale exploration of the "Other," something that's become one of my main interests as my fiction evolves.  Keeping it loose and rather free-flowing, yeah, that seems the right path for these story notes.

Here's the pre-order info. By all means, order away!  
;-)

Occasional Beasts: Tales…Print

Occasional Beasts: Tales…Digital 

Until next time—just a few days away—here’s some weird glove art courtesy of Claire Watson. 

Next up: "The Wounded Table."