"Hi, my name is Clio and I <3 books."
"As long as I don't have to read them lol."
In addition to thinking about #gods, I've been taking pictures of cats and plants; for some of these pictures, such as the above, I've used this new 'micro lens' attachment I bought for $9.99. It's not the most aMaZINg thing in the world, but it's fun in a very mild, low-key way, which (low-key fun) is something I find I miss a lot in the internet age, when everyone's going on FB and Twitter and describing everything in life-altering terms. If you're like me, a micro lens might be the antidote you're looking for: really small investment, seriously low-key fun, definitely not anything that's going to change my life or anyone else's, but still enjoyable for a few minutes.
This one was not taken with the micro lens, however.
Nor was this one.
The garden is starting to leaf out: here's one of our Japanese maples (Acer palmatum 'Elizabeth'), which I'm happy to report is looking better this year than it has in a long time.
The star of the early-spring garden is definitely the cold-hardy camellia, whose flowers are like pink clouds.
"We like pink clouds demand respect." -- the cold-hardy camellia
Spring arrived early this year, on account of global warming.
Here's a micro-shot of a hyacinth flower. The most difficult part of taking micro shots is keeping your hands steady, which is probably why serious photographers use tripods.
"Why are you shooting me without a tripod?" -- the azalea
It's hard to believe that something this intricate would just grow.
Sometimes I hear people say 'it's just a plant' and I want to say 'you might not be so dismissive if you looked at it through a micro lens, which btw you might find mildly amusing.' Or maybe: 'if it's just a plant, why don't you build one yourself.'
I couldn't stop taking pictures of the camellias. I realized that I was slightly more than mildly entertained.
Our pink one has done so well that we bought a few more, including this red one, which is already flowering. One thing I've learned about gardening is that when you discover a plant that seems to like you, you should definitely not be shy about reciprocating that affection.
Here's Zephyr, looking very pantheresque.
And here's one of our new hellebores, which was the star of the late-winter garden. (The hellebores were blooming in February.)
Clio is still young enough to be amazed by things like air and dirt and ants. Things will change once she graduates from college and faces forty years in a cube, but for now, she can enjoy life.
Dante is now retired, which offers another kind of pleasure.
"I'll be fighting flying snakes until the day I die." -- Elektra
The small world is filled with miracles.
And blemishes.
Flowers are blooming everywhere, even inside.
Lighting up the night.
The dusk is an especially magical time, filled with things we can only see when the dying light reaches a certain angle and we see a silhouette of something -- or someone.
Until you take a closer look and realize it's been there all along.
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04/03/2016
ORDER HERE
A RADICAL NEW MYTH ABOUT SEX, FAITH, AND THOSE OF US WHO WILL NEVER DIE
A young boy wanders into the woods of Harlem and witnesses the abduction of his sister by a glowing creature. Forty years later, now working as a New York City homicide detective, Gus is assigned to a case in which he unexpectedly succumbs to a vision that Helen is still alive. To find her, he embarks on an uorthodox investigation that leads to an ancient civilization of gods and the people determined to bring them back.
In this colossal new novel from the author of The Metropolis Case, the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice collides with a new religion founded by three corporate office workers, creating something beautiful, illogical, and overwhelming. Part sex manifesto, part religious text, part Manhattan noir—with a dose of deadly serious, internet inspired satire—#gods is a sprawling inquest into the nature of faith and resistance in the modern world. With each turn of the page, #gods will leave you increasingly reborn.
Praise for #gods
“#gods is a mystery, an excavation of myths, an index of modern life, a gay coming-of-age story, an office satire, a lyrical fever dream, a conspiracy. One of the most ambitious novels in recent memory—and a wild, possibly transformative addition to the canon of gay literature—it contains multitudes, and seethes with brilliance.” —Mark Doten, author of The Infernal
“Matthew Gallaway’s #gods is a novel so brilliant, so funny, so full of strange and marvelous things, I couldn’t stop writing OMG WTF I <3 THIS SO MUCH in its margins. It’s rare to find a novel that so dazzlingly reinvigorates age-old meditations on faith and f&!*ing, art and eros. Luminous, enterprising, and sublimely cheeky, #gods tells the story, the myth, the dream of the human soul in all its glorious complexity.” —Suzanne Morrison, author of Yoga Bitch
“Matthew Gallaway’s storytelling manages to be both dreamy and serious; lean and luxurious. His words carry an incantatory power of mythic storytelling where beauty and savagery wrap around each other like bright threads in a gorgeous tapestry.” —Natasha Vargas-Cooper, author of Mad Men Unbuttoned: A Romp Through 1960s America
“If the ancient gods were just like us, only more so, then the same could be said for this strange, wonderful book, in which the mundane sorrows and small triumphs of very ordinary lives glow ever so slightly around the edges, sometimes quite literally. At once an oddly romantic send-up of dead-end office culture and an offbeat supernatural procedural, #gods is terrifically weird, melancholy, sexy, and charming.” —Jacob Bacharach, author of The Bend of the World
'It’s to the credit of Matthew Gallaway’s enchanting, often funny first novel that it doesn’t require a corresponding degree of obsession from readers, but may leave them similarly transported: the book is so well written — there’s hardly a lazy sentence here — and filled with such memorable lead and supporting players that it quickly absorbs you into its worlds.'
-- The New York Times
Music: Death Culture at Sea and Saturnine
Listen or download songs and records from my indie-rock past with Saturnine here and Death Culture at Sea here.
Music Video: Remembrance of Things Past
Watch the rock opera Remembrance of Things Past written and performed by Saturnine and Frances Gibson, starring Bennett Madison and Sheila McClear.
Video: The Chaos Detective
The Chaos Detective is a series about a man searching for 'identity' as he completes assignments from a mysterious organization. Watch the first episode (five parts) on YouTube.