STILL KICKING

 

I haven't published on my Google presence in a long while, and I don't understand how to wrap text around a photo yet, but it's nearing midnight so I'm publishing it as is. I hope I'll do better next time. 

Last year was really something. Three short stories published in three literary magazines, and poetry accepted by six other literary magazines. Southern Poetry Review  just published two of my poems, but they accepted in 2024. Southern Poetry Review is a long time well established magazine of poetry only. I feel happy to be published here. To be honest, I am happy to find my work published anywhere at my age of 87. The prostate cancer is also well in check, and the doubling rate is a mere 3 1/2 years. 

Hi Anybody Listening, 

Long time since my last entry. I'm still kicking and submitting at 86 years old, and publication still continues to happen. Two stories so far this year. One already out in Flora Fiction and another due soon in Chiron Review. I'm also turning out some science fiction or fantasy or what-ever-they-call-it now.

....https://florafiction.com/slingshot-by-george-thomas/

FINDING HAPPINESS WITH PHILIP ROTH

 Hello. It's been more than a year since last I made an entry here. The  supposedly aggressive prostate cancer is still under control it seems. I'm still alive, entering my 7th year with it. Working at rewriting the short stories I wrote several years back. They entered my room all in a rush and needed haircuts. They are experiencing homelessness, and that means they are homeless however you slice it. My poems are better at finding homes than my stories, and that's a shame, but young editors aren't looking for older writers with the sensibilities of white European writers. They crave work by those who have been shut out for centuries. Not fair, but since when has any literary period been fair to those whose style isn't sought for? I fear I'm truly out of date, but that makes it harder on my old homeless stories. Old stories don't do well on the streets. 

 

Hey, I just stood up to stretch my legs and found a biography of Philip Roth by Blake Bailey. One of my all time favorite authors. If you haven't read American Pastoral, you've missed one of the best books about the 60s ever written. I hope his bio's not too definitive. I like a smooth read.

NORTH DAKOTA QUARTERLY SHOWS GREAT TASTE

There I was yesterday, pretty discouraged about having the energy to keep rewriting Ghoul World, and I go home to discover that North Dakota State (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About) has found one of my poems, IN A MODERN LIBRARY, entertaining enough to put in their literary magazine. Good for them. I've always liked that poem myself. Seventeen rejections before it found a home. You know? If you don't have a big name reputation, then you experience a lot of rejection before something hits. It's just the way it is. I keep joking with Mertie that Ghoul World will hit and movie royalties come pouring in after I'm dead.

I mean, the novel includes a future Earth, a plague, a mystery, a private investigator, corporate greed, a poison vagina (my wife giggles at the thought of it), automatons, Neanderthals (what?), necessary and acceptable cannibalism (can't be helped), good aliens, space travel, global travel and a perfectly designed planet for a great environment (Alteregoia). What's not to like? It's well written too with a minimum of misspellings and grammatical errors. It just takes an agent with a large enough imagination to take it in.

MAILER AND ME AT AGE 84

Still working on the rewrite of Ghoul World. But I'm not
making much headway. Too many days, I get this sort of headache from sinus problems that blocks any clarity, and nearing the end of my life, I need clarity to go on. I don't really know what mentality it is that holds me back now or won't supply an adequate motivation to continue. I recall a visit to Mailer that someone made near the end of his life. The caller asked if he was working on anything. Mailer halfheartedly replied, "Yeah," but I didn't believe him. 

This photo is of Mailer at age 84, the same age I am as I write this. He's got more hair than me and more best sellers too, but I think I'm still handsomer and looking more fit than he does. Of course, I don't think he stopped drinking. I'm not sure of that, but not boozing can works wonders on your health.

GHOUL WORLD, GHOUL WORLD, GHOUL WORLD

Me behind reflections on my glasses with crooked smile as I begin the unknown number of another rewrite of my science fiction novel Ghoul World. You know? I believe in this novel. I knew it was a good idea when it first struck me in the head a decade or so back. Agents are dumb things, looking for I don't know what, but they are sure missing a good book with a potential to be turned into a sci-fi movie.
 

TOO MUCH TOO LATE

When I look at authors who seem to have some sense of themselves in the world, I realize that a blog is not enough. They have web presences that appear very professional. They list all the work they have done and all the honors, and they work hard at making themselves look very professional. I have some of those and I could push a few to make them more important than they are. I could see my way to doing it, but at my age with the prostate cancer dogging me, I tell myself, "It's a little too late, isn't it?" Now I'm feeling a bit sad for myself.