Ron Dakron

Reading, boredom and reverie

2008-05-15T12:36:00.000-07:00

When I take time out from my busy TV schedule and actually read a book, I'm either bored or in a reverie. Often I'm bored because so much "modern" fiction is a 19th-century throwback to pre-cinematic realism. Plot and more plot! "And then the puppy died of heartbroken worms. And then the cat emigrated to Bosnia, leaving behind her suitcase and a substantial VISA debt." But if it's good 21st century writing (or sometimes even better late 20th century), I fall into reveries as I read. Read a few paragraphs, then catch on some detail, then compare the detail to my own memory, then realize I was reading. I think it's this ability to connect to memory that makes reading far different from TV, film, youtube and other hot media. I rarely compare my experiences in memory or otherwise to Ginger or Mrs. Howell.

Emily Dickinson High School

2008-05-12T13:41:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the "lit life" seems a retread of high school--there are various cliques (the stoners, geeks, jocks, criminals and prisses) and a spectrum of experiences varying from hormonal ecstasy to shuddering boredom. Sometimes your readings are like the prom, and sometimes like a bad night at the AV club. Everyone wants an "A" on their project and we're all avoiding that weird gym teacher with the crooked smile.

Dead Metaphor Prize

2008-05-10T16:18:00.000-07:00

An award with no schedule. Hah--today's DMP goes to an unnamed DNC party official quoted on wsj.com, speaking about Hillary Clinton's recent racy comments: "She has unleashed the gates of hell," which is a cool image, little gates yapping on leashes. Ruff!

Pre Order Mantids and Chapter 5 link

2008-04-30T16:59:00.000-07:00

Both Mantids (hardcover) and the new paperback of Hammers are available for preorder on both the Target and Amazon sites, among others.

I've posted a PDF of Chapter 5 of my upcoming novel Mantids at www.rondakron.com. The specific URL is http://blackheron.mav.net/dakron/c5.pdf.

Great Spokane Reading

2008-04-21T11:04:00.000-07:00

Laurie, Jerry, Judith and I read at the GetLit! Spokane festival. It's probably now the biggest literary festival in Washington State--hear that Seattle? What happened to Bumbershoot?

Spokane itself is a strange city, a mix of nice folks, bumpkin boosterism and spare change artists. They have some amazing architecture, including the biggest Masonic Temple I've ever seen, complete with pharaoh busts and carved hieroglyphics. We read at the Spokane Club, a hodgepodge of health club, opera singers (for real!) and dowdy couches. But more people showed up to listen than to read, which is always a great sign. Later Saturday there was a lit get-together with chilled asparagus and pricey liquor. We drank and didn't talk to anyone.

Spokane Reading Update

2008-03-18T15:56:00.000-07:00

Laurie Blauner, Ron Dakron, Jerome Gold and Judith Roche will read at the GetLit! Spokane Festival on Saturday, April 19, 2008 at 1-2:30 p.m. at the Spokane Club, 1002 W Riverside Ave., Rm TBA

Rhyme and Surprise

2008-03-18T13:47:00.000-07:00

Any language is formed in the heat of experience--myriad minds churning into being. A language finds grip in experience through its usefulness, and if we take Sartre's dictum of experience preceding essence, then one mark of a useful language is how it not only expresses already-formed sense, but how it tricks sense out of forming essence. Which brings me to creative drinking. Originally the phrase I mused about in a reverie yesterday were something about creative "thinking," and then that "drinking" rhyme just slipped in like a scalper in a Hannah Montana ticket line. Which naturally brought on comic thoughts about writers dissolved in bourbon, etc. I've had similar rhyme experience when writing poetry--the original thought being dislodged by the appearance of a close rhyme with different meaning. English is chocked with pitfalls like this--puns, rhyme, homonyms--that trick the mind into caves it's never peeked or peaked in before.

Mantids publication date and Spokane reading

2008-01-27T23:39:00.000-08:00

Two updates:

1) My new novel Mantids--about Viagra overdosing, female praying mantids and male paranoia--should be out in August 2008. I'll be using this blog as a (hopefully) weekly update on publication details, readings, and the whole newbie book shebang.

2) Me and some other Black Heron Press writers--Jerome Gold, Judith Roche and Laurie Blauner--will be reading at the GetLit! festival in Spokane. Washington on April 19, 2008. Stay tuned for exact time and other details.

Here's a new poem

2007-12-12T17:00:00.000-08:00

sunlight like gravy
slides from her hips
a mutual entropy
squirms in her hand
she talks with voices
and says with lips
I’ll be the tragedy
you be the man

A few notes on satire

2007-12-11T14:03:00.001-08:00

Satire's tricky--the readers must feel superior to the narrator, yet the narrator must reveal his own flaws. If the narrator seems more intelligent, then it's irony. The usual satirical device is some form of "fatal blindness" to an obvious character flaw. I'd say by these standards that Huck Finn is ironical and the Bible is satirical.

New Novel!

2007-12-05T16:20:00.000-08:00

Ron Dakron's long-awaited (by him, anyway) new novel Mantids will be coming out in late Spring. Stay tuned for more details.

mp3 reading of Hammers available

2007-12-04T16:28:00.000-08:00

In case you've never heard me read, a chapter from my novel Hammers can be heard at www.rondakron.com