“So, I read the new Trace story.”
“And?”
“It was interesting. Experimental and surreal, very creative.”
“Do you think it works as a stand-alone piece? I mean, a village burns down and Trace kills people and nothing is explained.”
“Trace allegedly kills people. You never came right out and said he killed anyone.”
“True. But there is a whole back story to that Trace story. I wrote what I did in one fast, manic blast and then sat on the story for three days, trying to figure out how to write the rest of it. Finally, I just said ‘Fuck it’ and published it as is. I like it.”
“What’s the back story?”
“Well — ” Rodger lit a cigarette and took a sip of his beer. “Trace goes on a dare issued by Amy, sort of a scavenger hunt.”
“Amy being your married writer friend.”
“Trace’s married writer friend. You know that full well. Why did you feel the need to interject that?”
“Just to keep your readers up to speed.”
“Oh. Okay. So, she’s out of town for two weeks doing a rewrite on a movie.”
“Amy is out of town.”
“Correct. And before she leaves she issues Trace a challenge: find a poetess and fall in love or, at least, fall in lust. So Trace starts haunting all these funky book shops and poetry readings in Silver Lake and Echo Park and he’s really quite nauseated by all the pretense going on and all.”
“Trace among pretentious poets,” Shirley said with a hearty laugh. “That’s a good one.”
“Before I go too far, I should mention that the original title was ‘A Million Dollar Sunset’; that’s important to know as it factors into the ending with the burning village and all.”
Shirley curled one slender leg under her hip on the sofa in Rodger’s hotel room.
“Anyway, he finds this poetess at a reading in Silver Lake. To cut to the chase, they fall in love but she has some shadowy shit going on, namely a husband in Mexico who is a small time drug dealer and local thug in this small village called New Colombia.”
“Does New Colombia actually exist?”
“No, totally fiction. She ends up going back to New Colombia and Trace follows her and a confrontation ensues between Trace and the husband. The poetess has fallen in love with Trace and wants to return to L.A. with him but the husband, Jorge, will hear nothing of it. Jorge offers Trace one million dollars to return his wife to him and Trace says, ‘I can’t make your wife love you again for a million dollars. You can’t have her back.’ And then a gunfight ensues and that’s where the story that I wrote picks up, after the gunfight.”
“So the poetess is killed?”
“Murdered by the husband. In this little wedding chapel he built for them in the middle of the town. Trace finds her notebook of original poetry on the chapel altar and that’s when he freaks out, grabs a gun and — awwww, you see how complicated it got? There’s no wonder I didn’t feel like writing the whole damn thing.”
“Any other reasons?”
“Yeah, I wrote it during a manic episode. I didn’t think I was supposed to get those while on psych meds.”
Oh very nice, RJ – mostly because it’s good to see you updating Wonderland, but also you’ve greatly helped those of us who just NEEDED the backstory for your surreal Trace story, you know, for your challenged readers. Like me. LOL
(Getting in line to be smacked by the cane)
I’m also in line to be smacked for my poor English. Lordy.
If you get any more post-modern we’ll find out who’s writing Rodger’s life.
Yikes! There’s a scary thought, John. The ultimate post modern tale.
Or is it postmodern? There’s a third alternative.
Hmmm. Metafiction, huh? Ruined the Dark Tower, but it could work.
I wanna read this Trace story! I wanna I wanna!
As in, the full version.
No, it’s best this way.
You have always been the master of fewer words. No need to end your streak now.
“Shirley curled one slender leg under her hip on the sofa in Rodger’s hotel room.”
At least you didn’t describe her legs as abondoned tree limbs this time.
Hyper-Meta-postmodernism? Fractal literature? I think we should start a new literary movement.
I’m all for it, Stephen. Wait a minute. Oops. I already did it.
[...] simply took on an odd, almost psychotropic turn; to me this is truly the end of the Trace canon but Return to New Colombia on July 10, 2006, attempted to play Paul Auster-inspired games, as if mocking my [...]