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Stray Dog Strut

Number Two in my series of microfiction stories inspired by Cowboy Bebop episode titles, this is Stray Dog Strut. Some influence comes from the same source as the poem I posted. It’s also set in the same universe as the other story in this series, Asteroid Blues, and my earlier piece, Trans-Planetary Express. Reading any of the other stories is non-critical to understanding, but you will see further references to them as time goes by.

Stray Dog Strut

My name is Dog. Well, it is now. It’s not a real name, I suppose, but it’s one that I go by out here. I’ve gone by a lot of names in my life, so Dog is as good as any.

I used to work for the Express back in the day. That was right after things really calmed down in the colonies on Deimos. With half of the other moon blown to hell, tourism dropped off big time. The layoffs hit everyone hard, but people in my line of work usually found something to do, whether it’s private security or public military service. But not me.

Things just never seemed to go my way after I lost my job with the Express. Without the cash for a ride home, I was stuck on Mars. They’d built the planet into an ecumenopolis after the terraforming, and they called the city Valentine, like it would have any connotation for the illiterate masses flooding in from Earth and Luna, or the few surviving Phobian refugees. I don’t like it here, but I don’t have a lot of options at the moment. I’m keeping my head up, though. I knew a guy who let it get to him. Last I heard, he was on Phobos at the time of the blast, and might’ve even been involved. No thanks. Not my bag, not anymore. I got out of that lifestyle years ago, and the Express hired me.

The new transports are faster and nicer than the Express was, even in her glory days, but they lack the sentimental quality she had. Now it’s all surgical steel, emotionless smooth bulkheads, spartan quarters. They’re more expensive and not as nice. The TPE, now she had everything. She was a spaceliner, though, built for affordable luxury travel from Earth to Mars. I’m sure that I could find work on one, if I really tried, but I need to get myself cleaned up before I try.

Out here, I’m what they call a stray, so going by this name is all the better for me to fit in until I feel like the time is right. Maybe I will get back to Earth eventually, but here, I’m a person who can accomplish things for the rest of the strays. Valentine’s beautiful, but not without its flaws. There are others out here who depend on guys like me. We look after each other. Besides, it’s Earth. From what I’ve head, it’s almost back down to 2023 in terms of population, so that’s a good indicator that things are looking up, despite the exodus to the colonies. They’re talking about building Io up into a global city too, so I’ve got no desire to move further outward again.

My great-great grandpa owned a little piece of land back home. Should still be family around somewhere. Maybe I’ll try my hand at farming. It’d do me good to get out of the cities for a while. Anyway, I should get on my way. I’ve still got to find a place to bed down for the night. Good luck to ya, son. Thanks for listening.

 

“Dog”

 As April is National Poetry Month, I present to you an older piece, one that I did two years ago in a class on Poetry and Social Justice. I’ve mentioned it once or twice before. This poem, “Dog,” was published in Active For Justice back in 2010, and I’ve linked to it previously, but now I’ll present the poem in its unedited entirety. Enjoy.

“Dog”

My face is new to you today, but you say hello to me

Anyway. I’m tired as hell, feeling sick, and my feet are

Already sore. It’s not a big deal, though, not in comparison.

Anyway, we’re not even halfway through this walk.

I’m young. I can handle it.

You smiled honestly as we walked up to you, as if

You knew what we were going to say and what we

Were going to offer you. Yes, you say, it’s a byooo-

Tee-full day outside today, but it’s going to get chilly

Tonight, when the sun sets.

I don’t know what your real name is. Out here you’re

A nickname. It’s protection. No one can hurt you if

They don’t know who you are. That’s the idea, at

Any rate. But no one can help you if they don’t know

That you’re here.

It’s a little after noon. I shouldn’t be so tired, and it

Really shouldn’t be an issue, not when I’m seeing

How you and your friends live. Not when I’m seeing

How badly you might need medicine, or propane to keep

Warm, or even just a damn toothbrush.

You don’t say “fucking” in front of us. You try to maintain

Some sort of air of being a gentleman in front of the lady in

Our group. She’s touched by this, and the fact that you call
Her byooo-tee-full, Despite that you’re wearing an inside-out

Hoodie and a bandana, and rarely put down your beer.

You know why you’re here today. You know that you’ve made

Some mistakes. Trusted people you shouldn’t have. Not trusted

The ones who would’ve helped you. Doesn’t matter now. You’re

Here, among friends, fellows, living together in a canvas city

Beside the creek.

You’re glad to see us walking the trail today. My tiredness and

Physical weakness is forgotten as you shake my hand and I feel

Your strength. Strength that you long to put to use for the benefit

Of a society that has shunned you because you don’t conform to

Its standards.

I wish that I could stay to chat with you longer, but we’ve still got

A lot of trail to cover. You’ve got places to be too, now that your

Natty Light and your hand-rolled smokes are done with. Lunch time’s
Over. It’s time for you to grab your bike and move on for a few hours,

But you’ve inspired me more than you’ll ever know.

I hope I see you again, under better circumstances.

                                    -Philip Krogmeier

                                January, 2010

One Bright April Day

I wanted to lie down

There, on the grass

On the edge of green.

Blue skies hid between

The clouds and the

Branches of cherry blossoms.

I wanted to rest there,

If only for a moment.

Just to see how it feels.

I wouldn’t have minded

The stares from passers-by.

Very few people could spy

Me there between the rows

Of white marble.

Asteroid Blues

One of my fellow wordpress bloggers recently “liked” one of my posts on here, and so I decided to look at her blog to see what she had to say. I was fascinated when her blog contained this. You see, Joanna is a fan of my favorite anime series of all time, Cowboy Bebop. She also happens to be a writing blogger, and she has given me great inspiration. She’s working on a series of short fiction pieces based on the titles of the episodes that make up the series. Please note that this series will not attempt to directly reference Bebop or its universe in anything other than the titles. This isn’t supposed to turn into fan-fic. This is #1 in what will hopefully be a 25-26 piece series of original microfiction. Here I present “Asteroid Blues” for your reading pleasure.

Asteroid Blues:

You don’t expect the depression. It sneaks up on you in a place like this. You can do whatever you want to try to find a way around it, or a way to fight it. Doesn’t do you a damn bit of good. I’ve seen it a lot, so much so, in fact, that I didn’t recognize the symptoms in myself until after I’d seen to half of the crew being sent off. I just dismissed the signs, telling myself that it couldn’t happen to me. I was the strong one. I was in denial.

The Kuiper Belt is no place to make a living. The corporations set up the mining facilities and a few of the basic necessities, then they left. Now we’re here, sucking out ice to transport back to Earth. I’m sick of it. I’m tired of having nothing better to do when I’m done with work than going out and drinking. I’m tired of being so far away from my wife.

I know that I can get better. I just can’t shake the feeling that something big is about to go down. Something. My last memory of Earth was walking to my car, getting ready to leave for this job. It was the first real week of spring, and she was standing on the porch in a cotton dress, waving goodbye to me and whispering “I love you” in the breeze.

Why does that sit in the front of my mind, six months later? Because she’s gone…I got word today. The accident took her. Now there’s no reason to go back. Her funeral was a week ago, and I just found out. Guess I should leave the damn bar and go home, but I don’t really know what I’d be going back to. Maybe just one more beer…

Freshly Pressed Versus Sharply Dressed

Time to break out the ironing board, ladies and gents, it’s my second job interview in the course of a week.

Under normal circumstances, this would be my first of two days off, but instead, I’m going to be going to interview for a forty hour a week job, that holy grail that we’re taught as children that we must achieve in order to be a real adult. This is a big deal, not because it would give me that immense psychological validation and approval from my parents (though it would do both of those things, I suppose), but because it would be something more than the part-time jobs I’ve been working for the last couple of years.

Now I’m in the process of preparing for one of the biggest job interviews of my career to date, and I’ve been given some really good advice. It’s not always quite enough to “just be yourself” in a job interview, because you still have to be the person that the company wants to hire. You have to stand out, especially when you don’t know how many people have already been interviewed before you and how many more are to come. To help me out, my girlfriend‘s mother sent me a list of the fifteen toughest interview questions that I might encounter. I’ve run into a lot of these before, and it’s really great to see some advice on handling the situations where you’re forced to think of something to say in response to “What’s your biggest weakness?” Worst question ever, by the way, aside from “How are you doing today?” Where’s my article telling me how to handle small talk? Ugh.

Anyway, as my longer-term readers are aware, I’ve been job hunting for effectively the entire time that I’ve been keeping this blog. I started The Swords of the Ancients while I was recovering from my first holiday season in corporate retail. Since then, I’ve interviewed for a LOT of different jobs, as I am always looking to expand my horizons and gain new skills and knowledge. Life gets kind of boring if you’re not learning something new, after all. I’m pretty well set in my current job, having worked here for over a year now, but it’s still only part-time. No offense to anyone, but it’s damn hard to live on a single part-time job, no matter where you are. Never mind the fact that I get a little crazy if I have too much free time. It’s a tricky balancing act. Something full-time would help me by forcing me to greater utilization of my time, and make me focus more on my writing during said free time, because it would be more precioussss. Gollum, gollum!

Ayah. See? This is what happens. I mean, yes, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, but some work and too much play makes Philip go crazy. I need to go put on a nice shirt and tie and go pretend to be professional for an hour. Hopefully I’ll have good news soon.

Freshly Pressed Versus Depressed

Can blogging help you overcome your depression?

I feel that the answer is, at least in my case, a resounding yes.

See, depression can be genetic. I was terrified when I learned this, because I knew that my father had, at least in his past, dealt with some pretty severe issues of depression. We even discussed it briefly during our recent trip together. Well, this week, I’ve been dealing with it a lot myself, and I’m not entirely sure why. It’s more than a little disconcerting to see symptoms and trends in behavior and mood and know exactly what it’s building up to, so I decided that I needed to talk things out a little bit.

I like to do one of two things when I’m feeling low. Thing one, naturally, is reading. Escapism at its best, I know, right? Google it. There’s tons of articles and actual research papers about people using fantasy to avoid the stresses of the real world. Alternatively, I play video games or watch movies, but the end goal is still the same. I get into a world that’s not the normal one I’m stuck in, and I feel a little better for a while. The second thing that I do when the depression hits is attempt to write. It might be a page or two on one of the numerous short stories or novels that are floating around in my head. It might be a shitty poem (or even the occasional good one!). Over the last year, I’ve been sharing my writing with more people than I ever really expected to, thanks to this blog. My wordpress page has helped me get in touch with numerous people who do what I want to do: write. I’m incredibly grateful, because nothing breaks me out of a really low day like hearing from someone who has gone through the same things that I’m going through. Maybe it’s not the blogging itself, but the social aspect that makes this all feel so therapeutic.

I may only have twenty-some-odd viewers each day (if I’m lucky), but you know something? You folks help me more than you could ever guess. Thank you, dear readers. Thank you very much.

I Think I May Have Touched a Nerve

So, being the desperate writer that I am, I’m frequently scouring the web for potential work that could help me to better myself and boost my career. That is unfortunately easier said than done, as it has become very difficult to sort out the few truly legitimate opportunities that lurk amidst the scammer lures. When a chance comes along that seems too good to be true, that’s usually the case, and so I have grown very tentative about anything that I find. Case in point: Amnet Systems.

Amnet contacted me when I responded to a craigslist post that claimed to be seeking freelance editors. They sent me an email asking that I complete two editing tests which would prove my proficiency as an editor. As I worked my way through the two pieces they had emailed me for editing, I couldn’t shake a feeling that something wasn’t quite right, so I began to do a little research into the company. Most of what I found was quite promising as far as legitimacy of the company itself, though the fact was undeniable that Amnet focuses on enabling the outsourcing and/or offshoring of many jobs, and promotes this practice to its clients. I find it a little bit difficult to support a company that outsources jobs when it’s become so difficult to find a good job in today’s economy. There was also this little gem of a review of their editing test process that made me even more concerned. I make no claims as to the value of such a review, but it certainly piqued my interest. To that end, I decided there was nothing else for it but to contact Amnet Systems directly, via an address they had provided.

The exchange is as follows:

“To Whom it May Concern,

I recently was contacted regarding an editing test with Amnet Systems. Now, I am eager for a job as an editor, I truly am. However, when I did a little bit of research on the company, I was surprised to discover that you seem to specialize in outsourcing to India. This, naturally, piqued my curiosity. Why, I thought, would a company that specializes in outsourcing have need of freelance editors, particularly editors from all over the US when they’re actively sending potential American jobs overseas? This puzzled me to no end, and raised further concerns over the legitimacy of this position. Then, I found this. http://www.ripoffreport.com/book-publishers/amnet-systems/amnet-systems-amnet-publishing-20078.htm

Now, I think that it is more than fair for me to question the nature of the freelance editor position you claim to have available. If you would like to respond, please feel free to email me. Thank you, and have a wonderful day.

Sincerely,

Philip Krogmeier”

“Mr. Krogmeier,

Our application review team flagged your email for my attention and I would like to personally respond to your note. First, thank you for flagging the website in question. I intend today to formally file a response to the false claims this individual made regarding our company.

Amnet Systems is an international company with headquarters based out of Chennai, India. We provide services to most of the major publishers you’ve heard of, and it is true that a great deal of typesetting, eBook conversion, and data related services work is performed by the team in India. The India division also provides editorial services but primarily not for markets outside the US.

The US division of Amnet is a standalone company based in mid-state Illinois. Our US team provides editorial services for a number of US clients, using US-based staff of several top-notch editors, and they in turn work with a pool of about 150 excellent US-based freelance editors. Our clients include a range of academic and trade publishers, as well as servicing several of the self-publishing companies here in the US.

It is true that our Chennai team helps our smaller US team in processing freelance applications. Many hundreds of applications are received monthly, far more than our staff in Illinois could process in an efficient manner. So we have a small team in Chennai which helps our US team in doing some pre-grading tasks for the tests, verifying accuracy of responses in the test against a number of metrics. Applicants who do not pass the pre-screening round are politely notified in a timely manner by Amnet staff that their application will not be moving forward. For those applicants who do pass the pre-screening round, their same completed tests are then forwarded on to our US office where that smaller subset gets an full intensive grading review by US staff editors.

You may be interested to learn that roughly 95% of editor applicants do not pass these editorial testing reviews. This may seem surprising but in fact it aligns with what we know from our experience in the publishing industry; there are simply a great number of people who think they have what it takes to be a copy editor but in reality do not possess the skill set.

I would encourage you to revisit the person’s post you referenced in your email and count the number of spelling errors alone in his brief post. I’ll leave it to you to determine if this individual would be up to caliber of a professional copy editor. We believe the poster must be a disgruntled failed applicant; you can draw your own conclusions. His claims regarding Amnet are false. We do not use live work from our clients ever for applicant testing: that would be unethical to say the least. The same tests (one fiction, one nonfiction) are administered to all applicants. We do not pay applicants to take the test, and this is also a standard practice in the publishing industry. Rest assured we are making no profit off our freelancer testing process…it is a cost to our company we accrue in order to arrive at a team of skilled copy editors appropriate to our clients’ needs.

You are most welcome to apply for freelance editorial position and take our testing; the address for this purpose isusapplications@amnet-systems.com. Most applicants find the tests take about 4-6 hours to complete, and if your work is of a level that is deemed acceptable for our editorial clients, we would connect with you to explore work opportunities.

Thanks for your interest, and for flagging this website’s incorrect claims about Amnet which I intend to respond to directly today. We wish you the best and look forward to hearing from you if you have interest in applying for editorial work.

Warm regards,

Ted Young

U.S. General Manager

Amnet Systems

tyoung@amnet-systems.com”

In short, Mr. Young defended the practices of his company and denied all claims of wrongdoing. Standard deny everything response? Maybe. Truth? Also maybe. Point being, I think I may have touched a nerve.

Has anyone else had dealings with similar issues? Does vehement denial really mean truth? The world may never know.

March Writing Challenge: What Price Happiness?

Well, another month has come and gone, and that means that it’s time to post another writing challenge entry for Sonia M’s monthly challenges. I missed last month’s, due to my travels and being cut off from the internet for a while, but I’m back. Our topic this time around was “Make a Wish.” With that in mind, I decided to write this for you. I hope you enjoy it. Here’s “What Price Happiness?”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Did it really count as a wish? Maybe so. I always thought of it as more of a foolish kid’s dream, but hey, what else do kids do? We dream, and we make wishes. We hope against hope that things will turn out better for us. We don’t think about consequences when we’re young, and some of us don’t think about them even when we get older. And if the joy we wanted turns out to only come at the cost of misery for those we love? If we’re lucky, maybe we stop depending on wishes, and start trying to make changes for ourselves. Sadly, all too frequently I have found that I have been scrambling to undo the damage that I felt I had caused.

Does trying to fix things count as learning a lesson? I don’t really know. I’m still trying to figure out when this went all “Monkey’s Paw” on me. I’ve lived my life trying to avoid regrets, ever since the day that I met her. Even now, years later, her words still echo in my head. “I said I knew that it was a mistake. I never said I was sorry I made it.”

Am I happy now? Honestly? No, I’m not. I should’ve known I wasn’t going to be the one paying the price for a wish that I never even intended to make. I guess it’s too late now, the words are probably meaningless, but I can at least say that I’m sorry.

In the Queue

“Leave this to me. I’m British. I know how to queue.” 

One of the best things about my library is the fact that I can put things on hold, and they’ll be delivered promptly for pickup whenever they become available. It’s like Netflix for books. Even new releases can be placed on hold before they physically arrive in the library system. This means that I can track the upcoming books, order them, and get in a queue for things before they’re in stores. Now, granted, everyone in the library system has this ability, but few people utilize it to the fullest. I like to use it to keep up with some of my favorite new manga series. I’m also around fifth in line for a DVD copy of Game of Thrones, and I am thrilled. I didn’t watch any of the episodes when they aired, for two reasons. One, I’m too cheap to pay for HBO, and two, I wanted to finish reading all of the available books before I started the show. Now I can sit down and watch the whole thing.

Speaking of television, has anyone seen the BBC series Sherlock yet? It’s in my instant queue, and as soon as I can dedicate a few hours to it, I’m going to power through. It’s three episodes, each about an hour and a half long, and from all of the reviews I’ve heard/read, it’s absolutely genius. I’ll let you know my verdict, but I can only imagine the power of a show about a modern version of Sherlock Holmes starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. I absolutely love Sherlock Holmes anyway, and I’m quite happy to see that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s work is getting so much attention right now.

Since getting back from my trip, I have started a new schedule at work. This has several benefits, most notably the fact that I am now earning partial benefits. I have more hours each week, a slight pay raise, and the same awesome people to work with. Yet another advantage: I’ve got the same schedule every week, instead of my old alternating schedule. My girlfriend and I can carpool three out of my five work days, saving both of us a lot of wear and tear on cars, and money on gas. All in all, it’s a very good thing. Things are looking up. I’m still hunting for a second part-time job, but I’m also starting to be brave and send out emails to the big publishers and submitting short stories to various publications. Needless to say, there’s a lot to do in the near future. Good thing I have plenty of new TV and books to read, and things to write. Look forward to a new writing challenge entry, coming soon to a blog near you.

The Sun Also Rises

I’m rereading Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises today, and I blame Woody Allen. Actually, I blame Corey Stoll and his incredible performance as Ernest Hemingway in Allen’s latest film, which won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Stoll’s performance was only one of the many constant bright points in the film, but it was this moment that really won me over. I knew then that I was going to have to return to one of my favorite books of all time. It’s quite the change of pace from the other story that I’ve been reading lately, and it’s always good to return to familiar territory.

When I was in college, I read Hemingway for the first time. I had read his work before, when I was in high school, but that was before I truly read Hemingway. Now I feel as though I am reading some of my favorite works for the first time, and so it is that The Sun Also Rises has made its way back into my hands. It feels right to be reading classic literature. I’m not trying to be a book snob or anything, because I’ll read pretty much anything and give any author a chance at least once, but it’s good to come back to perennial favorites. There is something almost indescribable about Hemingway’s storytelling that pulls you in. If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend you do so. He’s really not that intimidating of an author. Personally, I feel that he’s the easiest of the Lost Generation to really understand.

On the other side of the reading coin, there is the Lovecraft collection that I’ve been borrowing from a friend. Now, I own a copy of the Necronomicon, quite possibly the most thorough (and best titled) collection of H.P. Lovecraft’s work ever published, but it’s sadly hidden away in a storage unit for now. Despite the presence of perhaps only a third of the more well-known titles that exist within the pages of the Necronomicon, this collection does a phenomenal job of presenting some of the best work (albeit the shorter pieces) that he ever wrote, including “The Call of Cthulhu” and “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” within its pages. I read the former story while on an airplane over the Pacific Ocean, and I think that the only better way to experience it would be to read it on a ship in the Atlantic. You can’t beat reading a story where it takes place. This reminds me, I’m working on a piece at the moment that is set in a building not unlike my hometown library, with a few creative twists. I’ve never been in a building that is more suited for a horror story. I’m drawing on influences of Poe, Lovecraft, and King, masters of the genre, and injecting just a little bit of truth. We’ll see how it turns out.