Designing the Cover

As stated, the first book in the series, Traitor Comet, will be coming out soon. I just wanted to give an update: copyediting is done, the book is being designed, and I have to choose my cover style. Written from the point of view of a fictional friend, Traitor Comet compresses events from 1924-1927 intoContinue reading “Designing the Cover”

Coming Out this Year!

For technical reasons, the first book to come out this year(!) will indeed be Traitor Comet, set from May 1926 – June 1926. I had considered combining it with book two, L’Etoile de Mer (The Starfish), set from September 1926 – May 1927, but the publisher could not bind a paperback that thick. (Be awareContinue reading “Coming Out this Year!”

Progress!

I have decided to combine Book One: Traitor Comet and Book Two: L’Etoile de Mer, into one novel for the sake of continuity, and self-publish the whole shebang. Thanks to all my readers for sticking with me and waiting for the story of Antonin Artaud and Robert Desnos to be told! This book will coverContinue reading “Progress!”

From Book 2: Dadesque Dating

“Do you remember when we took a month off and camped out along the Rhein?” I asked Franz suddenly. “That summer before the War. We walked from town to town, slept under the stars—”             “I remember.” Franz laughed suddenly. “And you built that raft and tried to float out to the Mäuseturm. You didn’tContinue reading “From Book 2: Dadesque Dating”

From Book 2: Baudelaire and Artaud

What a curious relationship the reader has with a writer, I thought one day as I sat in my office reading Charles Baudelaire. When a writer’s work was broken off as Baudelaire’s was due to his drinking and carousing, the reader resented what Baudelaire had not written, what he could have written. But what man,Continue reading “From Book 2: Baudelaire and Artaud”

From Book 2: Kraut!

I had a job. Catherine’s father had been eager to hire me. Working for D’Arcy was nothing complicated which was exactly what I wanted, and required only my presence at the hotel desk where I handed out keys and called people down to take telephone calls on the party line. Louis lived there now; tightContinue reading “From Book 2: Kraut!”

From Book 2: Kiki and Man Ray

            An adolescent boy’s voice piped up somewhere in the restaurant, answering a woman’s warning tone. The voice sounded familiar, but I could not place it. I turned from the window but I only recognized Kiki standing at the counter. She did not speak, and she did not look at me. The air was tangledContinue reading “From Book 2: Kiki and Man Ray”

From Book 2: But We’re Not Gay

Desnos surprised me by asking if my father-in-law could find him a job. “I heard you and Artaud talking earlier. Writing is a hard life,” he confided sadly over the hum of conversation. “And I don’t get on with the other reporters.” That surprised me, but as he told me about his columns being severelyContinue reading “From Book 2: But We’re Not Gay”

From Book 2: I Love You, Part Two

            The cold wood of the table felt good against my cheek, and I let my arms dangle as the walls bent themselves around me in crazy angles. Suddenly Artaud’s face was level with mine, and his face showed so much concern that I immediately forgave him for being such a cold fish sometimes. “WhatContinue reading “From Book 2: I Love You, Part Two”

From Book 2: I Love You, Part One

            The great Desnos, scrawler of surreal graffiti. One thing for sure, that man was drinking too much lately. It worried me. When he drank his mood-swings became even worse. He would stay drunk for days. Yvonne George, herself drowning in the laudanum bottle, was now ignoring him completely while Breton yelled in the man’sContinue reading “From Book 2: I Love You, Part One”