Thursday, August 18, 2016

WHY I WRITE RANDOM REVIEWS


When I started writing weekly movie reviews for The Indie in 2002, there was a theater near me almost always playing something new. Here and now, there isn't anything new at all. We used to have Garberville Theater running fairly new movies pretty regularly. For a couple years now though, this hasn't been the case, and the nearest theater is in Fortuna. Consequently, for the last year-plus, I've expanded my movie reviews to suit the real world by including the online world. Freely available on YouTube are words I often write because it's true, and we should avail ourselves of the knowledge at our fingertips. My job is to write an interesting read, informing with detail. In these instances wherein my fascination prompts, everybody wins. From post-WWII cargo cults in the South Pacific to the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, from the etchings of M.C. Escher to the professional boxing championship rivalry between Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran, the array of astounding documentaries I've reviewed for The Independent abounds. Indeed, extending even back into the earliest years, once in a while there wouldn't be a new movie at the theater, and in these cases I usually wrote music reviews. So once in a while I still like pursuing that, as well. And because I've been writing published articles every week for the last fourteen and a half years, I'm looking into syndicating.

Got a publication? Looking to pay a reliable contributor who will rock--yes ROCK--your world? 
Drop a message for me here. Or Google+, or Twitter, all so easy. Pick the message method of your choice (hey, comin' around full-circle here)...at random.





In addition to my weekly column, I work for the paper in other ways, too. Part of the deal includes that I get this juicy ad space most of the time, and so I go through spells of making the most of it to various purposes.



I used to have a band. I was given one, and named us CrowMag, after a guy heard me at a library book reading, bought my book, and read it. Having never had anything to do with music in my life, I wrote and sang a bunch of songs, even getting us a couple songs on the radio.


One of my favorite accomplishments: getting paid for the serialization of a story!







I've hosted quite a bit of radio, usually reading stories by Edgar Allan Poe, Roald Dahl, or Lewis Carroll. On several occasions, I've pre-recorded my movie reviews and KMUD has played those. So far, my crowning achievement in radio is LOST COASTER, the 7-part half-hour radio show of the same novella partially serialized.



These and other experiences helped me teach Creative Writing for College of the Redwoods multiple times.





First of the three print books.

I created a genre, Redwoodpunk.

Weird tales set in Northern California's Humbaba County.


My favorite of the three print books so far is this one, THE MESMERIZER.






Thanks for checkin' in. Stroll around the blog and peruse the stories and articles much as you like.





Wednesday, August 10, 2016

A FISTFUL OF SHORT STORIES

Six twisted tales set in the weird redwood world of Humbaba County. Click the dim, faded link below each title to read the short story. 






GRAVEN IMAGE
http://stewartkirby.blogspot.com/2014/07/graven-image.html













STARKERS
http://stewartkirby.blogspot.com/2015/12/starkers.html













BIG FARM
http://stewartkirby.blogspot.com/2014/08/big-farm.html














FASCIST HEADS
http://stewartkirby.blogspot.com/2013/10/fascist-heads-part-1.html











THE CLOWN PEOPLE
http://stewartkirby.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-clown-people-revised-and-expanded.html












HACK
http://stewartkirby.blogspot.com/2015/09/hack.html




















































OPENING PARAGRAPHS
and
STORY
DETAILS
SOON




MUCH
OBLIGED








A SIXER OF REDWOODPUNK


The color to the link below is dim, but it'll work.

Check out Chapter One
http://stewartkirby.blogspot.com/2015/03/avenue-of-giants-chapter-1.html

AVENUE OF THE GIANTS








Mummified bog-man returns to life!


http://stewartkirby.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-bog-part-one.html
Get down with
THE BOG










http://stewartkirby.blogspot.com/2016/06/dreem.html

Clink the link and read the whole thing!











http://stewartkirby.blogspot.com/2016/07/drifting-room.html

Trapped in a parallel universe!












http://stewartkirby.blogspot.com/2016/04/hidden-springs-now-bigger.html

Giant flea, gnarly powers, Bigfeet run amok!









The Goth Hick classic!


http://stewartkirby.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-mesmerizer.html


Reanimated corpse Will Todd wanders the tunnels below the Victorian town of Fernden and plots revenge against his murderer, with the unwitting aid of a college-age hippy hanging out in the redwoods waiting to see the Dead.



















Opening paragraphs to each of these twisted tales in the Humbaba County cycle of stories, with additional comments, to be included soon.