Specimen #5

In honor of the release of my collection THIRTEEN SPECIMENS from Delirium Books (see my post of July 4), in oh-so-affordable trade paperback form, I am posting thirteen entries that will each feature an excerpt from one of the thirteen pieces in the book. In addition, each post offers an odd little specimen from my personal life. I’ll leave it to you to decide which, fact or fiction, is more compellingly disturbing. Here’s the next item on our tour… 

(1) From the story AMERICAN CCHINNAMASTA:

I saw a picture of the Hindu goddess Cchinnamasta in a book in the library, and I wish I had photocopied the drawing, or stolen the book, because now I can’t remember the book’s title or even the subject matter, and so I can not recall the drawing exactly…it’s like trying to remember a dream. But I do remember that Cchinnamasta had cut off her own head; maybe she had a sword or a long knife in one hand, maybe she had more than two arms. But I clearly remember two things. She was holding her decapitated head in one of her hands, and a stream of her own blood was arcing out of her neck stump, straight into her head’s mouth. Though she should be dead, drinking her own blood was keeping her alive, and beautiful. That’s the other thing I remember. Cchinnamasta was beautiful.

(2) The Reflections of Ghosts:

In my blog post of July 12 (Specimen #2) I related some spooky occurrences at my new apartment. There’s been another episode worth noting (if only as evidence of my deteriorating sanity). I was alone in my apartment, but it was bright afternoon, and I was sitting in front of my computer when I saw a silhouetted figure (head, shoulders, in profile) reflected in the glass, crossing from (if I recall correctly) right to left behind me. I instantly spun around, startled, thinking my son was home from school early and had come in silently, but I was alone. Immediately, I sprang from my chair and rushed to every window in the apartment, thinking maybe it had been a shadow cast from someone outside in the yard, but I saw no one (and the figure was too large for that, I think, large enough to be someone directly behind me). Brrr! Talk about gooseflesh. Well, my wife didn’t believe me on this one, despite her own experiences, claiming that ghosts can’t be seen as reflections in mirrors, etc. (maybe she’s thinking of vampires), and says — if I understand her correctly — that mirrors are even used to ward off ghosts in Vietnam. Well, I told her maybe American ghosts follow different rules.

Speaking of Hong, on Saturday I took the train to Brookline to bring her home for the weekend, but first cut over to Quincy by subway to have lunch with my mother and brother Craig. My mom used to live in the apartment above me until the sad decision to sell my house. After some great Mexican food, it was on to get Hong, as I say. We had a wonderful day here in Westborough on Sunday; I took her on a little shopping spree (some sexy short-shorts and a slinky dress…mm!) after we’d enjoyed some Korean food at one of our favorite hang outs, the Sapporo Restaurant (their “bulgogi” beef is awesome). It was a rather, um, amorous weekend, to make up for the rest of the week when we’re apart from each other. Sigh. Yes, it was quite pleasant. But bittersweet, today when I had to bring her back to Brookline. Making the best of it, though, after I left her with her friend Thea I decided to stop into a bookshop I had spotted across the street: The Brookline Booksmith. It might seem rather pathertic, or maybe all published authors do this, but of course I had to see if they carried any of my books. Yep, three copies of BLUE WAR in the SF section, and downstairs where they sell used books, an unread-looking copy of DEADSTOCK. The books I purchased, though, were THE NEW WEIRD (I have one contributor’s copy, because I’m in this anthology, but I always like to have a spare of a book I’m in), THE YEAR’S BEST SCIENCE FICTION (#25), because my short story “In His Sights” from The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction gets an honorable mention in the back, and Eric Brown’s novel KETHANI from Solaris, because it has ads for DEADSTOCK and BLUE WAR in the back (I have Solaris books with ads for the former, but none with BLUE WAR). Of course, these last two purchases look fascinating in themselves…heh! It may seem egotistical or even sad that I need to collect such things, but again, tell me other writers don’t do the same. I waited years to experience this kind of thing, so shut your bulgogi hole!

Speaking of THE NEW WEIRD (and my ego), I just found a great review of it at the blog for TTA Press, in which it says of my story therein, “Immolation”:

A strong opener is followed by one of the best stories in the collection, ‘Immolation’ by Jeffrey Thomas. The third person narration follows the life of a renegade clone named Magnesium Jones, who has escaped from his former masters at the Plant and is now in hiding. Set in Punktown, ‘Immolation’ deals with themes of prejudice, jealousy and betrayal in a society where clones are used as slave labour for the colony.

Jones is recruited by an employee of the Plant to assassinate a union leader, who has encouraged the beating and mutilation of clones by the workforce that they are slowly replacing. Stylistically akin to Philip K. Dick’s allegorical short fiction, with an injection of the rage found in Michael Marshall Smith’s more aggressive moments, it is simply superb.

Ah yes, my ego is satisfied…for today, anyway. Here’s the full review: http://ttapress.com/448/book-review-ann-jeff-vandermeer-eds-the-new-weird/

And check out the very cool Brookline Booksmith: http://www.brooklinebooksmith.com/

…not to mention the tasty Sapporo Restaurant: http://www.sapporobbq.com/

But mainly, don’t forget my collection THIRTEEN SPECIMENS: https://www.horror-mall.com/THIRTEEN-SPECIMENS-by-Jeffrey-Thomas-Trade-Paperback-p-18122.html