I can't seem to remember my blogspot password, and I don't necessarily feel the need to renew it at this time.

I'll merely rant about my art, or this hodge-podge of words strung together that I dare call art, here, and keep my private life for the blogspot.

I have noticed a recent influx of activity drawn by an older, ghastly piece called "Television." It's a work of mine, I still plan on rewriting, and even more so now that it's somehow drawing attention again.

The piece itself, is awful. I've been rereading it, and grimacing at how terrible it is. The main character is a brat, and wishy-washy at that. However, the basic concept of the novel still fascinates me.

I'm very drawn to urban decay, fascinated by it. I love old, worn-down buildings, nasty apartment complexes, and grimy, sleazy hotels. It's a motif that show's up in my current project, "Butterfly Dead", that was first present in "Television."

I am a fan of the video game Silent Hill, and of its presentation of the macabre. The macabre has always held a supernatural beauty for me. In its grotesque, and horrendous nature, it is godlike.

These are the things which inspired the dreamlike world of Middleburg, and its dark secrets. My favorite book, Alice In Wonderland, also comes to mind, in the way that Johnny "tumbles down a rabbit hole", walking down a long hallway, seeing the tortured and the damned.

Then of course, there is a favorite song of mine, "the Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel, whose apocalyptic lyrics inspired the drizzling, rain-drenched parallel city. The phrase, "nothing, nothing, nothing," and the three villains, "See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil." Neon lights. The walking dead. "Words of the prophets written on the subway walls and tenement halls."

All collapsing into silence. Nothingness. The writing of the work is horrible. But the story is still inside me, needing to be told again in a better way. Its an amalgamation of my obsessions all pouring into one thing.

So for those of you who have just stumbled onto my writing because of this older piece, don't be too harsh. I'm still learning. Still improving. I'm far better now than I was then, and tomorrow I will improve even more. With each novella I churn out, I improve.

I've still got a long way to go.

-SS