"Gannets and Ghouls," a short story published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine in September/October 2024, uses gannet-hunting in the Faroe Islands and myths of dreygurs to explore the ties that bind.
A blog published by Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine: "The Anthropologist and the Mystery Writer: The Structure of Secrets," https://somethingisgoingtohappen.net/2024/08/22/the-anthropologist-and-the-mystery-writer-the-structure-of-secrets-by-sue-parman/ describes the importance of secrets in maintaining the boundaries of a closely knit crofting community in the Scottish Outer Hebrides even when the secrets include murder.
I'm entering into the phase of life when it's easy to do too much of something (too much standing/walking/eating/sleeping), which triggers a problem, which has a solution (less standing/not too much walking/moderate eating/moderate sleeping) that has to be delicately calibrated. The end of life is like the narrowing of a ridge. I am a Ridge Walker negotiating an increasingly thinning edge.
DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL
In August I disappear
so my birthday can't find me.
It will rub its nose in the scent of my years
and howl on my trail
but I've learned a few tricks.
I shoot out all the lights,
forcefeed the cat with cloves,
sneak garlic to the fanged canaries.
I eat all the cherries.
I erase my reflection in the mirror,
pound iron stakes into the dresser,
throw out the French lingerie.
And most of all I block my ears
against the birthday song, against all songs
that remind me that as I grow older, so do you.
You walk closer to the edge than I do.
I hadn't realized how steep the trail is,
how far up we've come.
The ledge narrows as I speak
and I hear the sound of drums.
I play to rearrange the furniture of my mind. My latest efforts to stir the pot: juxtapose art and words in "Daily Quote."
While wandering through Umberto Eco's book on Ugliness I came across his reference to the "Hisperic Aesthetic." How did I never hear about this before? It explains so much—from James Joyce to British linguistic snobbery. And how ironic: "Hisperic" (medieval Latin variety of Hespericus, western/Latin or urbane, also possible wordplay on Hibernia and Hesperides from which we get Hebrides) implies opposites of central and outlier, center and margin. The Book of Kells: word play and visual play. To be Celtic, nonclassical and irregularly knotted. Leave the Romans to their sunlit symmetry. English was born in a swamp. Metaphors be with you.
After being told "You can't get there from here," I made my way by bread van and human kindness from the island of Lewis and Harris in the Scottish Outer Hebrides to the island of Berneray, a tale just declared the Grand Prize winner and gold award in Travelers' Tales Eighteenth Annual Solas Awards. Thanks to my friends and family, here and in Scotland, and to Travelers' Tales for their celebration of travel, which to me is the best form of education available in this complex world.
https://travelerstales.com/you-cant-get-there-from-here/
Sir Ravenmore hopped into my consciousness a few days ago and has been colonizing my thoughts. I'm waiting to see what he does next.
Twice a year I meet with a group of artists at a retreat. We feed each other food, art, music, and stories. This retreat featured a ghost story, "Dreygurs," which in 2023 was accepted for publication by Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine under the title "Gannets and Ghouls."
On September 30, 2021, I received an email from "Beregond," who had seen a message posted by a member of the Tolkien Society on Facebook regarding my memoir piece, "A Song for J.R.R. Tolkien," published in The Antioch Review in 2015 (Winter 2015, Volume 73, Number 1). He inquired whether I still had the letter from Tolkien that I refer to in the essay, and if I would be willing to share it with the group. I am very happy to do this; but being constrained by my inability to navigate Facebook, I'm posting it here, with my greetings and regards to all those who have been enchanted by the world of Middle Earth that Tolkien created.
