What do you see on the ceiling when you wake up in the middle of the night? Is it an angel? Is it death? Is it Uncle Albert having a tea party with Julie Andrews?
Join the Mikes while they read Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem's The Man on the Ceiling. Mike S. commits all kinds of logical fallacies and Mike M. does not get the conceit of "let's talk about it as if it is horror." But they both agree this genre-busting book is one of devastating beauty. Seriously, go out and read it.
You bet - it is COCKTAIL TIME!
The Man on the Floor Cocktail
2 shots Bacardi 150 proof rum
and Coke over ice. Drop in a lime wedge.
Drink and hug the floor.
End music: Boston -- More Than a Feeling.
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Post Script from Mike M: I was curious so I wrote to the authors and asked them about the forms they use when setting out to write and here is the reply from Melanie Tem:
Thanks so much Mike! We're pleased that your book group read The Man on the Ceiling and delighted that is touched you.
Your question is a good one. I don't think either of us very often sets out to write a horror story or science fiction, or Western, or crime/detective, or mainstream or literary or magical realism, all of which we also write. We really try to write whatever genre and using whatever techniques will tell the story best.
We both also write poetry ( Steve more than me) and plays ( me more than Steve), and I do some oral storytelling--again, I don't set out to "write a play" or "come up with something to tell orally," and I don't think Steve sets out to "write a poem"; the form is chosen to best tell the story. And we often find ourselves crossing genres ( I guess that's a genre itself now - slipstream), because the story requires it. That happened with The Man on the Ceiling. We're not even entirely sure what form it is-- hence the "a novel(maybe)" our publisher put on the cover.
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