The Shortest Story I Ever Wrote

Once after midnight I was out walking when a man with the face and features of an owl came up to me unexpectedly out of the dark. He was clad in black from head to toe. He would not let me pass, but stared at me silently.

“What do you want of me?” said I.

“Who?” he said.

“I get that you’re an owl. But you haven’t answered my question.”

“Nor will I. Walk beside me a while.”

I stepped around him, and went on down the empty block.

“I’m beside you,” he said. “If you know it or not.”

I was alone in the street. There were no lights ahead, and none shone from the blocky black slabs of buildings on either side of the pavement, only a dim white bulb depending from the streetlamp at the corner I had just left. Still the road ahead grew brighter, though without any further detail becoming visible.

I raised my hands before my eyes. They had aged visibly since I had last seen them. 

The sleeves of my coat had turned to grey feathers.

--Thorn.

Let It Be.

Here we go.

The new animated BATMAN features much race-swapping and now The Penguin is a woman. Or something. In a way, I don't blame them. BATMAN has been done, and done, and done, and done, and done, and done, and done, and done, and done until he's been Done to Death and there's LITERALLY Nothing Else they can do to make it "fresh."

I love Batman, but his day is OVER. If I ever want more BATMAN, all I have to do is dig into my collection. When it comes to "new" Batman, I want them to Just Stop It. This holds true for Star Wars, All of Marvel, the Universal Monsters, and any other of the creative "franchises" (to use an oxymoron) that you can name.

Do not read anything into those words. All that I'm saying is STOP REMAKING all the Same Old Stuff, but in DRAG and BLACKFACE. And doing it BADLY.

MAKE SOMETHING NEW. Make something that is AUTHENTICALLY YOURS, not just a Politically Correct Revision of something that belongs to another generation.

Oh, and tell a story that actually makes sense and holds water about characters that we can care about. Can contemporary creators do that much? I'm beginning to think Not.

--------

There are going to be some jackasses out there who attach "laffy faces" to this post, despite the fact I have not said anything funny. They have been raised on such a diet of Bland Sameness and Brand Affiliation that they literally cannot understand the concept of Originality, or Telling a Story that compels on its own merits. So Be It. Humans are often Willfully Ignorant.

-- Thorn.

"The Midnight Cinema" is New at YouTube!

 

The latest Duck Soup Production has emerged from the Amuseum & Industrial Complex, is now live at YouTube!

"The Midnight Cinema" explores some movies that you may not have heard of, but which are worth remembering, and deserve to be revisited by contemporary audiences. Episode One covers three features, a serial and a cartoon. Episode Two will be an October Halloween Special, and it's coming soon. Click here or visit https://youtu.be/-3IlTsCY9To

We hope you like the show!

-- Thorn.

www.ducksoup.me

www.tarotbyducksoup.com

Millennial Audiences

--Thorn

www.ducksoup.me

THE PRUNES OF IRE starts TODAY!

 "THE PRUNES OF IRE," The new QUIRK story by Special Guest Writer BRUCE CANWELL, starts today! Part One is online now, with more to come on a weekly basis at 

https://quirk-the-comic.blogspot.com/

Please give it a look! And thank you!

--Thorn.

www,tarotbyducksoup.com

www.ducksoup.me

QUIRK: The PRUNES of IRE prelude is LIVE!

 The NEW Quirk story by

Special Guest Writer BRUCE CANWELL starts on July 2, 2023!

Until then, you can read the special PRELUDE,

which is now LIVE at the QUIRK mini-site!

You Can't Keep a Good Magician in the Trunk

Abracadabra! Alakazam!

Speak the Magic Words: MYSTIC TAROT has arrived in both Standard Tarot and Collector’s large sizes.

Standard Tarot size is limited to 1,000 copies. Jumbo Collector’s size is limited to 500 copies.

See them both at my website www.tarotbyducksoup.com - along with more than 30 other original, unusual and eccentric tarot, Lenormand & oracle packs, created for the adventurous practitioner and the curious beginner alike.

--Thorn.

 

Someone Had to Do It

 

I’m going to do something that I rarely do here, and push my second novel at you.

The few people who’ve read PERSEPHONE’S TORCH all seemed to like it. Even people who don’t know me and have no reason to SAY that they like it. For example, Kara L. Wolf said “I give this book a standing 5-star ovation.” And she said some other nice things, too. Shanna Biondine said “A wonderful and thought-provoking story to the very end,” and ditto about the other nice things. An actual Amazon customer unknown to me says, “It’s a reminder that magic, or the perception and creation thereof, is primarily a way of seeing the world.”

I particularly appreciate that last comment; they “got” what I was trying to do.

I suspect that the reason it’s failed to find any significant audience is simply that it doesn’t neatly conform to any of the accepted standard genres or tropes that people expect — and if you know me, why should that surprise you?

Is it a Mystery? Well, yes, but not in the conventional sense. Is it a Fantasy? Well, yes, but not in the conventional sense. Is it a Romance? Well, yes, but not in the conventional sense. Are you starting to sense a pattern?

It’s a Drama About Drama.

And I immodestly assert that whatever ever else it is, it’s better WRITTEN than 98 percent of everything else out there. I think you should get it and read it. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

There, I said it. It can be found at Amazon and other online outfits, and it can be found (in both paper and ebook versions) in the book section of my own online emporium, www.tarotbyducksoup.com .

Thanks for checking it out!

-- Thorn.

www.tarotbyducksoup.com

www.ducksoup.me