Dru, Steinbeck and the Book of Deer

Dear Juliet I understand you're home from Monsterpalooza, doubtless with aching feet and creaking back... I'm sorry. I hope you're getting some sleep, but noticed you'd reread Coda , Sarah's Hill , some of the rest... It was originally called Welcome, welcome to L.A...  I remember writing it in front of staff and customers at Juicy's. I meant every bloody word of it. You can't cross the desert on a horse with no name and not have all the nonsense peeled away until the only thing left to say is: “There were reasons and motives and rationales, more than I can say; but once I was on the road and crossing, all that meant anything was she and I, and getting there.” It was true, all of it. All true. You read the words like captains' logs singing down the wire . I wrote them out there for you. Part of me always will be somewhere out there, looking for that strange and savage city on the edge of forever. But all of it was for you. Welcome to L.A., Juliet. Sodom...

Dear Juliet 🤗 Love, James

Dear Juliet I was just considering things in the run-up to the Monsterpalooza Q&A. And really, it's so simple. I explained things in One Man in All the World , there's no need to burn your big toe off , ( please don't! ) and it's all just waiting for you. Timshel is absolute, of course; but Dear Miss Landau is forever . Immortal, eternal and immutable. I've also slowly realised it's even accidentally been updated, though what you do about that is of course up to you. As for me, I'm going to have my morning mocha and watch The Big Bang Theory . Here's that fun clip from the time Penny went to the Van Nuys comic-con! Yeah, I think Somebody Up There really does like you , and He keeps trying to help... I'll probably book for Seattle shortly, sorry I can't come to L.A... Okay, try and have a good day. Love, James

Dear Juliet Probably the best thing in the circumstances. Glad you got through Friday okay, just tomorrow and another day to go. I don't really expect you to provide a live video link 9.00 pm my time tomorrow, and I will be finishing off a shift, but I'll keep an eye on my phone at about nine anyway. There's a couple of things about Son of Monsterpalooza on YouTube (merchandise stands, mainly), but little on Facebook. Anyway, just take it day by day. And remember to pack that extra hand! Love, James 🌹🤗🤗

Dear Juliet Thought you might need a hug. 🤗🌹 Love, James P.S. Photo from Albrighton

Dear Juliet Well, it ain't necessarily High Noon , but I'll not forsake you, oh my darling. Timshel, up to you. On shift, worrying about you like I always do. All those lonely miles through the American West. All for you. I think the story should be told, that's all I'll say. Have a good day. Love, James

Dear Juliet I am worried about you, so I'll keep it simple and sweet. No sweat and pain for your soul's wine. No rejection of your plaintive heart... You are not captive to Baudelaire's Vampire . Neither was Dru, she broke away at the beach. Remember: Dru, old girl, she thought , how else are you going to try and get yourself killed today? Find a nutty Christian cult, tell them you’re the essence of evil, hand them all stakes and suggest they have a poke? She had laughed until she hiccupped, but that sweet little voice had strengthened. The young girl’s high voice merged with the older, deeper cadence of the demon, and in a husky contralto, they had whispered to her that they were one. I am Drusilla, she thought, human and vampire, little girl and wizened whore, young novice and old killer. I am myself again . The sun had set and Dru had dived into the sea, letting the salt water help her vampire physiology heal her wounds. Then, after an hour or two underwater, sh...

Dear Juliet I think these may be your steps to climb. Divert any difficult questions, give the fans a yellow brick road to follow, open up a possibility they didn't even know existed. Up to you, though. Timshel. But I lit another candle, both for you and for Seattle. Your beauty lasts and the devil does not hold your strings. I defy him. Follow the Yellow Brick Road to the Carmelite monastery, your steps of Mount Seleya. Stand in cloistered silence. Imperfect, immortal, invulnerable. My dear Miss Landau. Now and forever. I will stay with you. You can rest. Love, James

Dear Juliet Bet you know that phrase... Well, I just asked AI about Dear Miss Landau 's copyright status and (assuming I can trust the answer) yeah, it's the only independent Buffy -related product in the world with which Disney cannot interfere. That actually seems to be it. The one and only. It's protected non-fiction, the brief references to Dru are also protected on the basis of nominal fair use, and Dear Miss Landau (published March 2012) is well past the limits of the Statute of Limitations. I never like to worry you, but this you must know. In creative terms, this is the way out. The Alpha and Omega, campeón del mundo etc. You have the power. You always did. You can chat openly and without censure about this independent copyrighted work that's got your name on it any time you darn well like; and if anyone wants to blow their top about it, let 'em! And yeah, I'll give it all up for you and a pastrami and rye sandwich at Point Lobos in a second. No wor...

Dear Juliet Photos from the forest glade... I hope these pictures will provide a moment of solace and keep your mind off matters. I might have mentioned St. Bartholomew's Church at Tong before, but I dropped in there after fuelling up this afternoon (the Batmobile needs a lot of juice) at the Bell. It seems Shakespeare wrote two epitaphs to Sir Thomas Stanley and they can be seen on the family tomb. Here's one: Ask who lies here, but do not weep.  He is not dead; he doth but sleep. This stony register is for his bones; His fame is more perpetual than these stones, And his own goodness, with himself being gone, Shall live when earthly monument is none. And it seems that while he was up the tree, Charles II could hear St. Bartholomew's bells ringing... So, ask not for whom the bell tolls. You haven't aged. You won't wilt. You'll be okay. Love, James

Dear Juliet I know Monsterpalooza'a next week and so, I guess, do you. So after some thought I'm just going to write a kind and thoughtful "puff-piece." Actually, an idea... Avalon became part of the Drusillaverse by accident and instinct. Dru was on the plane to London with Xander in Redemption , terrified of flying, so he tried to comfort her: Her eyes were still uncertain but he looked steadily into them. “But I worry, love,” she said.   “I’m not human.   I can never be human, and you might find someone else one day.   Someone who can give you children and walk with you in the light.” He knew the tears would be coming soon, but he could feel her hand warming in  his as that lovely calm connection built up between them.   He didn’t want to be anywhere else. He folded down the bunk opposite and lay on it so they could see each other. “Never,” he said firmly.   “Never.” “Will we meet in Avalon, love?” “Yes.” That last line just "rolled off the ...

Dear Juliet This quote from Leon Uris' Battle Cry just occurred to me, and I'm not quite sure why: Home is the sailor, home from the sea, And the hunter, home from the hill... I'm not suggesting you join the Marines, I'm thinking about Monsterpalooza. I realise I've already suggested exactly what to do and the rest, with my love, is up to you. I could go off into endless pretentious literary analogies, build this into some fearful ordeal and make a mountain out of a molehill, but I think the truth is that it's all actually quite simple. Always was, too. If there is a God, I think He still loves you and wants to make it easy for you. So just have a brief word with James, hope he enjoys the Quartet and see if wackiness ensues. I have a great faith in him, and in you. And in general, what's difficult or problematic about mentioning or discussing a fourteen year old book with your name on the cover? Nothing, absolutely nothing! My copyright, too. Free and cle...

Dear Juliet That title's perhaps the most important thing you need to hear. I know Monsterpalooza's getting closer. I've felt a bit like Matt Damon's Martian myself over the past six months, trekking across a metaphorical desert (admittedly by way of Covent Garden and Leicester Square) but internally a bit like this , all to stay in contact with you. Lucky you got the one guy who was quite used to being like this, as long as you were singing down the wire. And making contact, setting it up, it was a bit like this . Using AI instead of hexadecimals, adapting the blog to try and get through to hypervigilant you and no one else . So we did. By decreasing the number of keywords so no one else (probably) would look . In a way, we hacked the Mars Rover. Then I wrote the absolution. One draft. Perfect. I asked AI what might happen when I sent it out, but Blogger has no GPS. I've never known where the statistical responses are coming from. So we sent it out. And waited. As...

Dear Juliet I fear I'm dancing in the dark. I'm not even quite sure if you're really out there. Pretty sure, but not quite. So I'm going to have faith. Faith that it's you, and that you're listening. I don't know if you went to Long Beach and saw the Queen Mary , although I hope you did, and while I think I understand your situation I also know I may be wrong. But I do know Monsterpalooza is soon, so I thought of three things: Yeah, I'd have a word with James Marsters behind the scenes, and take Aqaba . Then my subconscious decided to have its say, and this scene from The Martian popped into my head . Mark Watney's talking to a class after he escaped the virtual certainty of death on Mars, and that's what he says. That at some point, everything's going to go south and you're going to say: this is it. This is how I end . Now you can either accept that, or you can get to work. That's all it is. You just begin. You do the math. You solv...

Dear Juliet I just have to step out and save the Universe, or rather tend to a few old folk in Shifnal, but I'll come back and write to you tonight. Had a thought. Hope you're okay. Love, James

Dear Juliet It's late, and I've only got time/brain for a short one, but I hope you maybe had a good day at Long Beach with the Queen ? Love, James

Dear Juliet Found this church in Bridgnorth while I was trying to find a customer! Bits of St. Leonard's date from the 12th century , but most of it got blown up during the English Civil War because Roundhead troops used it as an ammunition store. A cannonball fired by Cavaliers scored a direct hit in 1646 and it wasn't fully restored until Victorian times. Although St. Leonard's wasn't directly involved, it also looks like purges of Puritans in and around Bridgnorth and elsewhere (mainly East Anglia and the West Country) forced many Dissenters and Nonconformists to flee to New England between ca. 1630-1680. So for all I know, Darla may have been a Salopian although it's far more likely she was from Suffolk or Devon... It seems there were only four Shropshire children on board the Mayflower  itself, but the reason why they were there derives from an obscure scandalous family feud involving a local squire. This Guardian article explains it in more depth than I ca...

Dear Juliet Okay, if I get the picture correctly, you're probably wavering between feelings of vulnerability, liberation and a probably quite considerable fear of rejection and abandonment. Well, I'm not going to reject you, I'm chuffed with you. You're free. So here's what I think you should do: Take the day off. Take the Metro to Long Beach, find the Lions Lighthouse at  ShoreLine Aquatic Park . It gives you a good view of the Queen Mary . Get through a carton of (what else?) Ben 'n Jerry's. Have a good day, watch the children play. The sky will not fall if you're away for a day! You could even take the night off as well and go see Avalon. See how you feel. Dru was scared, too, but she did it. In Arthur’s day, a princess would have found her way through glimmering waste and weald down to the lonely coast of Lyonesse.   But the sinful queen had to make her way alone to the bare coast, to face the steep cliff and coming wave. Drusilla found herself a ...

Dear Juliet "There's a point at 7,000 RPM where everything fades. The machine becomes weightless, just disappears. All that's left is a body moving through space and time. 7,000 RPM. That's where you meet it. You feel it coming, creeping up, closing in on your ear. It asks you the only question that matters: who are you?" (Matt Damon as Carroll Shelby) As you've probably guessed, I'm pretty chuffed with you. Didn't want to make too big a thing about it but I had a couple of analogies to hand when I got up from my seat. But then I happened to catch the ending of a movie I like . Le Mans '66 , sometimes called Ford v Ferrari . On the face of it, it might not sound like your favourite kind of film, but it's more a character study than a jokefest about boys and their big engines. It's worth a look. Anyway, I caught that last quote and it seemed to be suitable. Perhaps that someone balancing on a razor's edge can finally reach that moment wh...

Dear Juliet Just to mention I'm out this afternoon, but I'll be back later. Very pleased with you. Found some ambience from Pebble Beach you might like . Love, James