Re: Ex Occidente Press
 

Thank you very much. I read the story "The Tableaux", since the others available seemed to be pastiches.

It definitely has something, and I'd like to read more.

At times, the narrator tries a bit too hard, and a bit too obvious to create ambivalence, e.g. here:

Four lines later:

There seems to a pleonasm, possibly two, here, and a sense of a narrator being slightly too keen on telling that this is quite ambivalent.

Then we have this:
I believe the odd statement had been somehat odder, hadn't the narrator told us it was odd, and that the antiques dealer couldn't decide.


Indeed.

This too, could've been written somewhat more elegantly:

And, after the antiques dealer has imagined the things below, we get them summarized:
There are more examples. I think the narrator is trying too hard, instead of letting the ambiguities unfold in the reader - the story's got some interesting imagery, and when the narrator does let the story unfold itself, as in the following quote:
it's much more disconcerting (since the alcohol obviously can't have been there for so long - it would've vaporized a long time ago).

It works, and is of interest, mainly due to the imagery, but I think it could've worked better, had the narrator cut down on pointing out the ambiguities to the reader.

Still, "The Tableaux" is from 2002, and I think there's enough talent and enigmatic imagery in the story to have quite high hopes for the collection, provided Mr. Barker has evolved since - it seems, judging from the bibliography on the website, that this was only his second (published) story, and that's a pretty impressive start for a second story. There is something quite Jamesian-updated to this. Looking forward to the collection.

Re: Ex Occidente Press
 

Ah, there you've got me. Flowers have never really been my strong point.

As to 'trying too hard', well, I freely confess to endlessly rewriting (all of the stories in the book have been rewritten, for example), but the term is usually applied to those who while seeking to impress, fail. It is thus something of a veiled criticism, rather like damning someone with faint praise.

To be honest, I fully expected to receive more than my fair share of negative criticism for having been so outspoken about others within the genre in the past, but I must confess to being somewhat surprised at it starting before the book has even appeared, and in such finite, picky detail. It reminds me of the hundreds of messages that were posted in another forum condemning Reggie Oliver's first book before that too had appeared.

[I can now reveal that a quote praising Reggie's first book was deliberately included in his second book specifically because of the irony in the critic having originally refused to even read it because I had published it. It was only after Reggie's work started garnering praise elsewhere that the critic performed a sudden u-turn.]

For the record, I have little interest in impressing others. I write short horror stories for myself, by way of exorcism. And one of my little stylistic quirks is - like those of dear old Mr Bloom, or Lord Marchmain on his deathbed - to repeat and to savour, perhaps by way of comfort or ponderance - certain words and phrases, much as happens in dreams, or songs or childish chants.

As to the pleonasms though, I would respectfully refer you to a good gardening site, since I have managed to kill every plant I have ever tried to nurture.

TTFN,

JK

Re: Ex Occidente Press
 

As far as I can see no one is criticising your stories on this thread beacuse of arguements with other parties.

People seem very set on this Reggie Oliver fellow - does he have a website?

Re: Ex Occidente Press
 

Evans> He has a page here:
http://www.blackcathedral.co.uk/index.html
It doesn't seem to have been updated for quite some time though.

I've only read Madder Mysteries from Ex Occidente Press. It contain only six actual stories, but they're all brilliant, as is the other contents of the book. I own Masques of Satan to, but haven't had time to read it yet. The first two are quite expensive.
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Julian, I'm sorry if I have offended you or hurt your feelings in any way. That wasn't my intention. I merely wrote the post as a distraction from my exams, my head being filled with Purple Clouds, images of the North Pole and burning cities.

I know it must be very annoying to put your heart and soul into your art, then have someone pointing out it's flaws. English is only my second language, and some of the things I wrote may come out harder than intended, especially since this is in written form.

One of the things about being writer is, still, that other people may have an opinion on one's writing, and that said opinion isn't always favourable (though mine on the one tale of yours I've read is)

Some general thoughts on the subject of criticising writers who are present here:

This should probably be a subject on it's own - I've often thought about it - but still: there are so many writers here on this forum, writers which are all (all of them I've read) of interest, and writers whose work we will inevitably discuss. Mostly, what is being said is positive. I have said some negative things about Glyphotech by Mark Samuels, and felt kind of bad afterwards, since I thought it may have sounded harder than intended, since I like Samuels' work very much, and since it isn't very polite.

I'm wondering if I (or anyone else, for that matter) shouldn't be writing anything when I dislike aspects of a writer's - a writer being present here - work. However, I still think evaluation is important, vital even. If ever I cross anybody's line, do let me know, either in the thread where it happens, or in a private message. One of the things I appreciate most about TLO is that it's virtually free of all arguments with which the internet is so abundant. I have no intention of insulting anyone - whenever I write anything here, I try to do it with the best possible intentions (the subject "Stephen King" being a possible exception) and I try to be honest and profound. However, I realise I should sometimes refrain from saying anything at all.

However, this should maybe be it's own thread.
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As for "trying too hard", I didn't mean it as a "veiled" criticism, I meant it as a criticism. I think that the narrator does try too hard, telling the reader "this is ambivalent" instead of letting the ambivalence unfurl in the reader's mind. However, I think the story has many other qualities (one example I have read, the scenes in the house being another example - brilliant work there). This makes it, in my opinion, uneven but still effective and interesting story.

[On thinking the story over, the narrator comes out as very interesting. He has access to the antiques dealer's thoughts, feelings, childhood memories and so on. But we don't get the antiques dealer's name, he is only referred to by his job. The narrator seems to linger after the antiques dealer has been done away with. This strikes me as very odd, and I, on thinking the story over afterwards, think I think that the narrator may itself be a part of the haunting, which could explain it being sometimes vague, sometimes telling too much. Like it isn't constantly in synch; like a ghost. This gives it, in hindsight (I'll reread it when the book comes out) some dreamlike qualities.]

I'm not sure, until I've reread the story, I agree with myself here but I believe the key to the tale lies in the odd narration.

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As for the criticism being in "finite, picky detail": If I'd written "I think the story has some problems but overall it's good", then it wouldn't be worth much. When one criticises, the only fair thing to do is to point out which parts you dislike. In other words: one has to go into details.

As for you being outspoken towards others, and message boards at the time of Reggie Oliver's debut, I don't know anything about it. I don't know you from anywhere. If there has been labelled unfair criticism at you at an earlier time, I sympathise with you. I don't think my criticism was being unfair, and I didn't intend to, but if you, or other, have a different opinion, please let me know.

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I'm happy to hear you're pursuing your artistic goals regardless of what others think. That's the way to do it.
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As for the pleonasm, it may be due to English being only my second language - I'm sorry if it caused confusion. I thought it was the same in English as in Danish, and was readily translatable. What I meant was that there is a certain redundancy, but I think the word "redundancy" sounds so harsh.

I had, several times, a feeling that I was being told the same thing twice, like, for instance, when someone would say "free gifts", or someone says "he was smiling with his mouth". These examples are not precise with regards to your story, since the redundancies weren't, of course, that obvious or annoying. My knowledge of grammatical terms isn't very good, and I'm not sure there is a grammatical term for the problems I have with the story; suffice to say, that I felt like I was being told the same things twice.

I apologise if a pleonasm is a flower in English - I don't have a dictionary near me.
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All in all I apologise if I went too far. It was written with the best possible intentions, no harm in mind, and I didn't mean to sound overly critical or agressive.

Do let me know if and when I do.

If you, Julian or anyone else, feel uncomfortable about me writing anything about your stories, be it negative or positive, do let me know. If you want me to, I'll refrain from commenting upon further work by you.

Re: Ex Occidente Press
 

Thank you for the link. Some of the things I have read about Oliver sound quite interesting. I hear he actuely finished one of James fragments.

Edit: After a little gentle trawling it appears one of Oliver's stories is available on http://hitler-symphonies.co.uk/ Sadly it requires Yee evil one Microsoft Office to open so I can't look any further.

No you are perfectly correct in your use of the word "pleonasm". As far as I can tell from a quick scout about the net there is no flower with a similar name either.

Re: Ex Occidente Press
 

Oh, in that case Karswell was just being sarcastic I guess.

Re: Ex Occidente Press
 

I think there was bit of a case of mistaken identity to be honest.

Re: Ex Occidente Press
 

I've been reading Madder Mysteries. I've only read one Reggie Oliver story prior to this, which I thought was okay, but not outstanding. However, I've been very impressed with this collection so far (I've read as far as the end of 'The Devil's Number'). This won't be news to many here, but I believe that Mr. Oliver is a major talent. Not only that, but the volume is beautifully produced, the paper luxurious, the illustrations perfectly realised and well-judged.

On the question of whether posters here should criticise stories by writers who are members, I think there are probably no right answers to that, with this being the yet-untamed frontier of the Internet, where, in many cases, etiquette and ground rules are still to be established.

My own personal feelings are that I don't mind anyone criticising, well, say, All God's Angels, Beware! when it comes out from Ex Occidente, but, with the Internet being the interactive medium that it is, I might reply to criticism if I feel like it.

I'd hate posters to feel constrained to be merely polite, though.

Perhaps it doesn't apply so much here, where readers may largely be assumed not to be put off by the obscurity of writers being mentioned, but I think one frustration for small press writers is that Internet reviewers often do not know how to express enthusiasm, and end up making a book they might actually like sound dull and lifeless. Considering the immense competition for the attention of readers, if you have a review that vaguely mentions the book is good, but concentrates on its weaknesses, there is absolutely NO WAY that anyone is going to investigate that book. They will simply go for the more famous authors, who usually have professional reviewers who shovel on the superlatives like nobody's business: "If you only read one book in your lifetime, it has to be this one" etc., and usually for the most contemptible pabulum. So, I think a lot of small press authors get frustrated about this kind of thing.

I was very pleased, for once, not to suffer from the faint praise syndrome, here:

http://swiftywriting.blogspot.com/20...n-s-crisp.html

Particularly question 7.

Re: Ex Occidente Press
 

Those are good points, Quentin. You've put words to a feeling I've had for a while but couldn't explain.

Re: Ex Occidente Press
 

I confess that I posses that particular weakness in regards to reviewing anything be it book, film or meal.

Some of the more professional reviews make deeply, deeply suspicious when they praise something too heavily. In fact any extravagantly hubritical review for an unknown author is probably more likely to put me on guard encase its some kind of joke or the reviewer has a hidden agenda.

I'm probably still labouring under the dillusion that a critic exist's to point out floors in an object in a constructive and (if you pardon the repetition) critical manner.