Raging in a cage with the God of Sex

Talking with David Selby last night it was reasuring that I am not the only author who works multiple projects at the same time...I actually find it therapeutic to do so, as focusing on one project locks me into a specific space, where I actually can begin to resent the material I am working with and also become too involved with the theme and mood of the works.

As I am actively working on two books at once (101 GREAT EROTIC POEMS and RONIN IN THE TEMPLE OF APHRODITE) with different worldviews, I can adapt my shedule to work on whichever volume best suits me and my mood. The former is sexual, aggressive and definitely a monster from my id, albeit a playful one. It indulges the Valmont in me, the Valentino, a subtler aspect of me that Brigit once referred to as the God of Sex. The latter is moody, Byronic, from the dark and wounded recesses of the soul, a lamentation instead of a celebration. A Jeremiad. Resolve tinged with self-rage and even bitterness (Psyche once predicted my eventual descent into bitterness...she was wrong, both as to what would wound me in time and whether I would fall into that crevasse. I am fine, but I have my wounds to cleanse),

It is good to be working on a schedule that begs 101GEP first, as the upbeat side of that (do I need to do research? Oh, I wish I was in LA again, the research I could be up to!) will keep me out of the pits. I will need the helium and Helios of the former to sustain me as a I work the moodier aspects of the latter. Tag says he thinks RONIN... will be as large as THE COMPLEAT PANTHER CYCLES and a masterpiece. He's probably right, but the man is not looking forward to the shapes he will have to bend himself into to produce a worthy collection.

TCPC damn near killed me. It was an historical document, in some manner. RONIN... will be more an examination of disillusionment and duty in the present and future tenses. As such, this is going to be a great year for me, creatively, in some ways even better than last year, which is already one for the legends.

Just not an easy or gentle one.