Total Oblivion

"A fast-paced, suspenseful dystopian picaresque, part Huck Finn and part bizarro-world Swiss Family Robinson..."

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Skinny Dipping

Long-listed for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and finalist for the Crawford Award. Title short story listed for the 2000 O. Henry award.

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Futures, Options, and Swaps (the weblog of Alan DeNiro)

…is typing.

IMs in general make me nervous, because you can see when the other person is typing, and then the message is sent, and then you have to type. If you’re like me, you type something, then retype it, and so there are pauses in my “…is typing” line. And what could that possibly say, those gaps? It’s not an indicator, of any type. Stammers, the typewriter jamming I’ve found, especially in nonfiction, that I’ll write the “thesis” sentences and then let the sentences (try to) blossom before and after in the paragraphs. Well, “thesis” is not the right word. More like the quips and interesting bits.

It’s been a productive month but I haven’t been thinking of this web-log very much. I’ve switched jobs–a very, very rewarding move (although I was happy at my last place), and astoundingly busy. A poem, a short story (my first since the summer), a game (more on that later).

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Want to get my hands on the new Louis Macneice collected poems, the new Little Big Town CD. They are not joking when they say “sounds like Fleetwood Mac.” I picked up Stephen Stills/Manassas’ first album, but except for a few songs I think it’s pretty boring. There’s something about that sound that runs hollow. On a much brighter-sounding note, really delving into pre-Atlantic Crossing Rod Stewart, which has been a long time coming. Loving Never a Dull Moment, which is truth in advertising.

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I’d entered a game into the annual Interactive Fiction competition called Deadline Enchanter. I’d entered it anonymously, which was an…interesting experience. I’m hoping to put up some design notes on the work (I don’t know if I can call it a game) here soon. Programming, even in a natural language environment like Inform 7, is hard–it requires a rigor that goes against my strengths. Imagine a novel or novella that not only you have to outline, but if you don’t outline it, no one would be able to read it. I don’t know if that analogy makes sense. But the moral is, I’m not very good at outlines. At any rate, the anonymity was a kind of mimetic bow on the piece (the author of the game within the game was also anonymous, although certainly not meek!). Deadline Enchanter placed 12th, and did in fact win the Golden Banana of Discord–the work every year which receives the highest standard deviation in judging scores, the one that split the vote the most. I started an early draft of Deadline Enchanter about five years ago, and I’m really happy how it came to fruition. Still, a lot of work to do with it–I want to revise it based on commentary from the Comp, give it another coat of paint. But, anyway, more on that later.

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One of my favorite quotes of late:

By “tact” we understand a special sensitivty and sensitiveness to situations and how to behave in them, for which knowledge from general principles does not suffice. Hence an essential part of tact is that it is tacit and unformulable. One can say something tactfully, but that will always mean that one passes over something tactfully and leaves it unsaid, and it is tactless to express what one can only pass over. But to pass over something does not mean to avert one’s gaze from it, but to keep an eye on it in such a way that rather than knock into it, one slips by it.

(Hans-Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method)

Tue, November 20 2007 » Life Studies

2 Responses

  1. george oliver November 21 2007 @ 11:43 am

    Hi Alan, it was fantastic to discover your writing through your game for the IFComp, and by extension it’s led me to a lot more stuff (LCRW for example) that’s always been on the periphery of my awareness. I enjoyed DE — whether or not you release another version, design notes would be great. It’s rare that IF provokes such visceral reactions from people. I think the game stands on its own merits but it’s also a good thing to shake up the IF medium once in a while ;) .

  2. Fred Ollinger November 28 2007 @ 8:35 pm

    I just spent the last hour learning how to use this language and making a super simple “hello world”. It’s addictive.

    Fred

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