The unexpected virtue of linkage

So there's this local literary magazine called Newtown Literary. It's still relatively new, but it's already built a bit of a rep for attracting Queens writers for short stories and poetry. The theme for their next issue is sci-fi/fantasy.

Guess who's gonna be in it.

Yep! I had had my eye on getting in the mag before, possibly by submitting a piece from WSW, but they only take original, unpublished work (a post on a blog counts as being published), so what I did was, I crafted a short story loosely inspired by a post - in this case, the one on the movie The Terminal. It's a story set in the "near future," in which teleportation technology replaces airplane travel. I didn't have a whole lot of time to write it, and I wasn't entirely sure it ranked among the best stuff I've ever written, but I just wanted to give it a try and see what happens. Lo and behold, they liked it more than I expected they would!

Don't know when exactly the next issue will come out yet, but it should be sometime this fall. I'll let you all know as soon as I do.

In other news: I've decided - and this is probably something I should've done long ago - that not every post about a new movie has to be a long essay. For whatever reason, sometimes I find I can't go deep on a movie at the time I'm ready to write about it, so from now on, whenever this happens, I'll simply write shorter posts. You've no doubt already noticed this by now in my posts for Life Itself and Love is Strange. This only applies to new movies; if I have this problem with an older movie, chances are I'll end up not writing about it at all.

And speaking of writing: at this point, I don't think I'll participate in National Novel Writing Month again this year. I took part in it last year mostly to see if I could do it. I never had a burning desire to write a novel, but recently, in looking at my NaNoWriMo draft from last year, I've found a new way to approach the revision process, and I'd much rather continue doing that than to start a brand new draft which may or may not even become anything. From what I saw of other people involved in NaNo, a number of them seem to enjoy the process of writing a first draft under these unusual conditions more than taking the time to work on revising what they have into a presentable, finished manuscript. I could be wrong, but that's what it seemed like to me. I'd rather polish my draft instead.

Also, on my WSW Tumblr page, you can see pics from the Jackson Heights street named, in a ceremony last Saturday, for Manny Balestrero, the "Wrong Man" of the Alfred Hitchcock film of the same name.

Your links for this month:

Will really, really, REALLY likes pre-code movies.

Le watches Birth of a Nation so you don't have to (and raises some points about the film that I never knew before). Google Translate required, as usual.

Ivan writes about a Gordon Parks Jr. movie featuring Irene Cara in her film debut.

Pam looks fabulous as an extra in the Denzel Washington movie The Equalizer.

Jennifer talks about the real-life Civil War-era train that inspired two classic movies - and where you can see it today.

The Museum of Modern Art has discovered an early silent film with a black cast.

WB/DC looks like they're gonna resist the urge to tie their superhero movies and TV shows into a single shared universe.

Vivien Leigh & Clark Gable may have been the stars of Gone With the Wind, but upon reflection of the film for its 75th anniversary, there's no question who embodies the movie's heart.

12 Years a Slave will be used in high school classrooms to teach students about slavery.

And finally, congratulations going out to my pal Joanne who's tying the knot with her longtime beau.