Gloom

12 Responses to Gloom

1. cromercrox says:

   6 August 2011 at 08:41

   Looking at this picture I see that it absolutely cries out for a caption. Here’s one.
   ‘Where are you going to stick that pitchfork?’

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   • MGG says:

     6 August 2011 at 14:42

     How many people are they looking at?

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2. Steve Caplan says:

   6 August 2011 at 18:08

   When I see F & F, it brings up images of Alex Beach and Pickled Lily in that best-seller…

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   • cromercrox says:

     6 August 2011 at 18:17

     Entirely intentional. American Gothic is one of my favourite paintings. Though in By The Sea I got it all wrong. I assumed that the portrait is of a married couple – actually, I believe it’s a bachelor brother and spinster sister. It’s also high time I returned the compliment and bought your own lablit tome.

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     • Steve Caplan says:

       6 August 2011 at 20:05

       Didn’t look it up, but I believe it is bro & sis. They do look alike. Although I’m told that married couples start to look alike after years together. Fortunately for me esposa, that’s not the case.

       As for “Matter Over Mind,” while it won’t net me the Nobel prize for literature, and could use some editing, I’m satisfied for a first try. I’ve just finished #2 (“Welcome Home, Sir”–another LabLit style novel featuring a hypochondriac researcher with PTSD) and have begun the arduous process of looking for a publisher. I’m hoping that the learning experience from #1 will make it possible to avoid the self-pub route.

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       • Grant says:

         7 August 2011 at 02:03

         One day I shall fool myself into doing a similar mad venture, but for now I need to focus on more conventional things (like the textbook chapter I should be working on and new contracts to pay the bills). Good luck with finding a publisher.

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         • Steve Caplan says:

           7 August 2011 at 03:43

           Thanks! Mad venture is certainly an accurate description…
3. Grant says:

   7 August 2011 at 01:57

   A modified version of this picture appears on the front cover of Randall Hyde’s book p-Source: A Guide to the Apple Pascal System (1983), with the guy clutching an Apple ][ with his left hand. I can’t see any citation or details about the image in the book. (Yes, I still have my copy…)

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   • cromercrox says:

     7 August 2011 at 09:20

     If you google ‘American Gothic’ and toggle ‘Images’ you’ll see loads and loads of … er … ‘adaptations’ of this iconic picture. I suspect that the picture itself is in itself a nod to Renaissance pictures such as Van Eyck’s Arnolifini Marriage.

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4. cromercrox says:

   7 August 2011 at 09:24

   By the way, By The Sea is still for sale here, madly self-published, only £7.03 in dead tree, but a fabulous £1.99 as a download. Ideal summer beach reading, folks!!

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5. Jennifer Rohn says:

   8 August 2011 at 21:25

   It’s times like these I’m so relieved to be British. The whole thing has been so embarrassing.

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   • Girl, Interrupting says:

     10 August 2011 at 13:44

     Actually I think that is very American of you, I think many Americans are really embarrassed (and pissed off)!

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