Thursday, December 9, 2021

Hate Mail

Dear Sir,

I am writing regarding your recent publications, or lack thereof, and your mismanagement of missives pertaining to such. You are remiss, Sir, in your submissions and—dare I say?—phlegmatically under-emotive in your overly-omittive emissions.

If you were a math problem, you would require division by zero, Sir. If you were a painting, you would be a Van Gone. Forsooth, methinks I shall compare thee to a grand play performed by an invisible mime who may or may not be stuck in a box, but if he was, how would we know? And honestly, any imaginary creature capable of incarcerating itself in an invisible box has earned the solitude. Methinks you, Sir, have become just such a creature! A pox on your invisible box—a pox I say!

I believe I speak for all your one-time readers when I say, “shave that hideous hobo beard and finish a book!”

Yours In Aggressive Waiting and Judgment,

EJ Patten


Yes, I am in fact writing hate mail to myself. I haven't finished my next book. I haven't blogged for...wow, like five years? That can't be right. 

My last surgery was a year ago (neck fusion and disc replacement). I've been feeling pretty good since then. I've been writing, but I'm a bit stuck. For now, until I actually manage to finish a book, here are some snippets from my freeform writing (i.e., things I write to challenge myself and/or reengage my mind). 

With the first one ("Ode to an Office Printer") I felt like my writing had gone flat, so I picked one of the most boring things I could think of (an office printer) and tried to make it interesting. 

The second one ("Night Falls Dark") is a poem I wrote after a surgery. Be warned, it's a bit grim.


Ode to an Office Printer

The printer smelled of death and ozone. It had taken the life of many young office assistants. Bright lights. A too hot laser. Ink accidents. The power supply had a short in it that would cause the unit to hum incessantly, driving normal people mad and mad people murderous. The body was an eggshell turned beige with time. Some believed the unit predated the wooly mammoth, but carbon testing proved inconclusive. Paper jams weren’t uncommon. New assistants often made the mistake of printing on envelopes, which would jam endlessly like the lead guitarist in a heavy metal band who really wanted to get out of his day job, and would, if not for his inability to play the guitar.


Night Falls Dark
I saw a creature dark and true,
buried in a midnight bog.
There was nothing I could do.
It climbed afoot to rend anew,
the life that I forgot.
 
I could not run though I raced
round the purpled bend.
I could not fight, though I thought,
to flee the creature
and ascend.
 
Stippled feet and burning cross,
it rises to a stop,
and kills,
the piper and the lamb;
screams dying to descend
and rot,
never rise again.
 
I saw it yesterday,
falling through the jasmine sky,
star-kissed madness,
AN-NA-MUL,
drawing near me where I lie.
 
Until it land upon me there,
climbing from within,
a withered husk,
a corpse undone,
a monster, not a man.
 
A monster that was once a man—that is what I am.
Long roads lead to empty ends.
No matter how far I walk, knife in hand
—the ticking clock—
night falls dark in every man.


 

14 comments:

Unknown said...

Thank god your back. I will wait however long it takes. I love your books

Eltonious said...

As with everything, in its own time.

Pseudonym said...

Awesome to hear from you! Hope your recovery is going well. I'm glad you're able to return to your passion.

Emily said...

Just had to reach out and say how glad I am that you got past my ruthless editing of the early version of Return To Exile, and got it published, and wrote a second, and began a third.
My firstborn, (now 21 —gasp!) was just reading chapter 25 to me. He had to pause part way through to absorb all the delight he was gleaning, and once he finished the chapter he went right back and read it again.
We hope that life is being gentler with you and that you have what you need to share your voice with the world.
Be well, friend.

Anonymous said...

I definitely commented something years ago when I was 11 or so, I’m happy there’s been a somewhat recent post. I’m now leaving on a mission and am hoping against hope that I’ll be able to come back with a new book of yours to read. Who knows maybe if it comes out in time I’ll be able to get my hands on it whilst on my mission. There’s still a lot of people supporting you, I’ve been looking for new news every year from you. I also love writing and have plans to try to get published when I get back. New blog news would be much appreciated, we’re rooting for you and stand by your side!
Kyle (Elder Davies)

Sarah said...

Looking forward to your return!
Sarah

Bennett said...

Every time I think of your books I check this blog. Glad to hear you are still alive and excited for whatever you publish next.

Harrison said...

I've loved your books since the first time I read them back in middle school. I'll always be rooting for your success in publishing more. I hope you're doing well!

Fablelore said...

Happy October!! It's Hunter Chronicles Season! Time once again to reread. Cheers!

Anonymous said...

I guess I’m writing this a whole year after your post but I’m so glad to see a post. I was really fearing the worst for you well past you writing and I’m so glad you ok. You really need to update this blog more 😭. I’m hitting my reread of your books. Next to Brandon Sanderson and Percy Jackson they are by far my favorite books I read when I was younger and I will always be here if you decide to write book three. I believe in you and Imma pray you for!! Good luck!!

Anonymous said...

Hello. Been waiting forever for a new book. Got hooked into the series last year when I was in 6th grade, and I'm pretty happy to know that your working on the book. I thought you gave up on writing for a second there. Welp, best of luck to you! Hopw the book comes out soon!

Anonymous said...

Hope you are well, cant wait to read the next book in this amazing series!

Anonymous said...

Hello! Anonymous user here. I feel awkward posting short comments, so I'm going to ramble on some of my thoughts instead. It'll end up fairly long and anecdotal. I hope you don't mind.

I woke up in the middle of the night a bit ago, and couldn't fall back asleep. So I sat at my laptop and finished watching a playthrough of a short game called "Little Misfortune." It's a depressingly dark (albeit comedic) little game, but it's wonderful. Its protagonist, the little lady Misfortune, remains such a precious child throughout it despite everything. I teared up a bit towards the end, but felt much better and prepared to go back to bed.

As I closed down my laptop, I listened to some music from a game I have yet to play - Weight of the World (Nouveau-FR), from Nier Automata. I don't honestly know what Nouveau-FR means; I know the FR stands for French and I'm fairly sure nouveau means "new," but I'm not familiar enough with French to know if there's a "new" version like how there's an "old" English. Maybe it's a style of music. In any case, I was thinking about these words, and how it's silly nouveau has all these vowels at the end just for them to make an "o" sort of sound. Which reminded me of my first experience with that type of French pronunciation, Sheriff Beau (whose name I originally said something like "bee-ah-oo"). Which brought my mind to the ending of The Legend Thief, Beau's character and relationships with others, and the mysteries I still have yet to uncover from Return to Exile and its sequel.

My point is, your books left such an impression on me that, even so many years since I first read them (and since I last reread them), I still think about them. There aren't many books that I remember in this level of detail after so long, especially out of those I read in my middle school days. I'm well accustomed to waiting long periods for news or creative updates from both authors and artists alike. You're not alone in this struggle, and all I can do from here is hope for the best for you all. Even fantasy greats like Brandon Sanderson have creative struggles from time to time - I've been waiting for the sequel to The Rithmatist for just as long. I myself have barely written more than a paragraph since 8th grade, despite creative storytelling being just about my favorite thing in life. Even so, I know I'll get there one day.

(1/2)

Anonymous said...

One day, I will get to read the third book in the series. I will, that day, be pretty happy. I reread the first 2 in 3 days. There too much lore that I never got to see. Thank you for your books. That's all :)