Friday, June 3, 2011

The Gooooduh, The Brad, And The Plug Ugly

The Gooooduh

As promised, here is the link to my second published short story called Red Stripe. The story itself is about a day in the life of a punk rock singer called Krystal. It clocks in just under 5K words and its one of the quirkier stories that I've written.

The inspirations for the story were from the following sources: Beer, a young lady dressed up for Halloween, punk music, speed metal music and a cassette sampler of classical guitar music.

Also, I managed to accomplish another rarity in my writing career: I wrote a clean story. Exactly one swear word is used in the entire story.

Enjoy!

The Brad

Much like everyone else in the corroded cyber world that is Google/Blogger, I have finally lost patience with a particular aspect of my blogging life. Namely, my Google Reader. While I was going through a serious amount of aggravation in trying to get a particular link to work (note, unless you're complaining about your blog to Google, customer service is notoriously spotty for their other features) in my recently involuntarily upgraded Google Reader, I decided after I got the problem fixed (note, it really wasn't the reader, but a glitch in my computer that the Norton service tech smartly pointed out early Wednesday morning) that I would never use that feature again.

I've spent the better part of Wednesday and Thursday recalibrating some 80 blogs that I read with some regularity. If you haven't seen me commenting lately, its because I've been busy setting up subscriptions to your blogs, either with your RSS/Atom feed, Hotmail, Yahoo (addy 1), Yahoo (addy 2), on Facebook's Networked Blog app or just simply when some of you are thoughtful enough to post a link to your blog via your wall feed on Facebook.

I still like certain things about Google, which is mostly their e-mail and their search engine. Beyond that though, the jury is now on the fence deliberating with great vigor on the remaining features.

psssst...if you click on the above link, you'll find out about one my favorite early 60's impersonators, of which I have two original copies of his album.

The Plug Ugly

I'm not really sure what to write for this particular part, simply because the only reason why I picked out this phrase was that it was an mid 19th century Baltimore street gang/political club. And if you click on the link, you'll find an interesting sub article in the listing that pretty much dismisses the book "The Gangs Of New York" of which was turned into a film by Martin Scorsese. Well, that plus I like the name.

So there you have it, my version of the wonderful spaghetti western, of which I have the soundtrack to (only soundtrack I actually own on CD). Hope your weekend is a goody for ya!

Oh and one more thing: I'm still looking for suggestions on what kind of music and/or books to get. If you need a refresher, please check out last Sunday's post.

10 comments:

  1. I liked the story. Krystal Methadone is a great stage name. I'm surprised someone hasn't used it. There is a metal band called Hellion, or there used to be. Kind of light metal. Wasp has a great song out called Hellion that reminds me of this. I didn't see a place to comment over there, though.

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  2. lol - I love how you managed to utilize the plug ugly, G!

    I'll look forward to reading your story this evening when I have proper time to enjoy.

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  3. Charles: Thanks for the compliment. I got one from a co-worker who thought it was pretty good as well. Sad thing is that I developed such a rep about my writing at work that I had to emphasize the fact that the story was clean.

    That is the unfortunate thing about that mag, in that you can't comment.

    I like the name Hellions, if for anything that a professional indoor soccer team in the 80's that was based in CT was called the Hellions. Also, Judas Priest's biggest commercial album "Screaming For Vengeance" opens with a brief instrumental called "The Hellion".

    Talon: Thanks. It was a fun thing to remember about (U.S. History was always one of my strong points in school).

    Hope you enjoy the story.

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  4. I already wrote you about this, but you do a really good job writing about extreme situations - and character development extraordinaire! Congrats again on getting published, my friend.

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  5. I think that is so cool that you are published! Like my friend Talon - I will read it when I have time to enjoy it. I am running on four burners lately and am off to south Georgia to look in on mom today - a five hour trip. :) Wish I could listen to blog material on the way...

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  6. R: Thankee again for the compliment. I'll keep on working on those traits to make them as strong as possible.

    Lynn: Thanks. Hope your trip to South Georgia is a pleasant one and that your mom is in good spirits.

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  7. G, was so looking forward to reading the story, but the link isn't working for me. It's getting late, so I'm going to try again in the morning. It might just be my computer is tired and cranky or something!

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  8. Talon: You might be right about your computer. I tested it again, just to make sure that I copied it right.

    If you still have problems, the general link is:

    http://www.cynicmag.com

    And you should see the story on the front page.

    Good luck.

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  9. I enjoyed the story, G. You have a knack for placing your characters in difficult situations. That's a good thing. Congrats on the 2nd published story. I'm quite proud BTAP was the first.

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  10. David: Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it.

    I never really thought about that paticular aspect of my writing, but I supposed it does make for an interesting story in seeing if the character can successfully extricate themselves from it.

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Go on, give me your best shot. I can take it. If I couldn't, I wouldn't have created this wonderful little blog that you decided to grace with your presence today.

About that comment moderation thingy: While yes, it does say up above I can take it, I only use it to prevent the occasional miscreant from leaving thoughtless and/or clueless comments.

So remember, all of your comments are greatly appreciated and all answers will be given that personal touch that you come to expect and enjoy.

G. B. Miller

The Legal Disclaimer

All the content that you see here, except for the posting of links that refer to other off-blog stories, is (c) 2008-17 by G.B. Miller. Nothing in whole or in part may be used without the express written permission of myself. If you wish to use any part of what you see here, please contact me at georgebjr2006@gmail.com