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"Dispatches from Tanganyika" is a reference to one of the incomprehensible editorial letters John Kennedy Toole received when he was trying to sell A Confederacy of Dunces (my favorite book of all time). "[W]hen someone like yourself is living off from the center of cultural-business activities, with only a thin lifeline to that center, through vague and solitary contacts, everything gets disproportionate, difficult to analyze, to give the proper weight to. It is like those odd people who turn up in New Zealand or Tanganyika or Finland, writing or painting masterpieces –- they have their own power, but they read or look as if the artist has had to discover the form for himself. They don’t have the assurance of worldliness and mutual interest and energy with others." I'm not sure the editor realized New Orleans was, in fact, part of the United States. (I'm not sure New Orleans is, in fact, part of the United States.) Ever since I read this, the word "Tanganyika" has been linked in my mind with the attempt to write fiction about the New Orleans that really exists, rather than perpetuating the fantasy.

While I don't allow comments on this journal, you are welcome to join one or all of the PZB LJ communities, prime_liquor (created to discuss the Liquor novels, but subject matter ranges far and wide), nextroundsonme (created at the same time as prime_liquor; not as active, but "foodier"), and therealpzb (created for non-fannish discussion of all my work). You can also check out my Amazon Connect page for an Amazon-linked bibliography, wish list, and more. I'm also on Twitter, and for the more visually oriented, I have a Flickr account.

Anyone is welcome to "friend" me. However, while I occasionally use LJ-cuts, I won't do so simply because an entry is long. If this bothers you, you may not want me on your friends list.

You can e-mail me at funkyegret (at) yahoo (dot) com, but please be advised that I hardly ever answer e-mail, not to be snobby, but simply because I am a lazy-assed slacker who can scarcely find time or energy to do even the things that keep body and soul together.

Aside from the quotes below and occasional ones from other writers in my entries (which you'll find credited as such), all contents of "Dispatches From Tanganyika" © 2009 by Poppy Z. Brite.

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"Personally, I never let myself get low," Patrolman Mancuso lied.

-- John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces

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"Pick out some stories with something to eat in them. I like that one a whole lot about them German kids going out in the forest and coming to this house made out of all different kinds of candy and the witch. I like a story with something to eat in it."

"I'll look for one," said Mick.

"But I'm getting kinda tired of candy," Bubber said. "See if you can't bring me a story with something like a barbecue sandwich in it."

-- Carson McCullers, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

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As I have earlier said, the thing I love about New Orleans is that it tends to be deserted, and there you may find peace. It is in the quietude, the deserted streets, the green and eccentric palms. Shortly after five o'clock the business district is deserted, and you won't find a person on the streets, except for one fellow in a seersucker suit. He will be walking slowly down Gravier Street, smoking a cigar. Tending his own garden.

-- Nancy Lemann, The Ritz of the Bayou

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I always believe in eating when I can.

-- Shirley Jackson, Come Along With Me

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It's very interesting sharing a house with a group of people who obviously see things, hear things, think about things in a vastly different way.

-- Edward Gorey, on living with cats

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An Ceiling Cat sayed, Beholdt, the Urfs, I has it, An I has not eated it.

-- Genesis 1:29, LOLCat Bible Translation Project

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You gotta know what your left hand's doing to your right hand, and your top foot, and your bottom foot, and everything.

-- Buddy Diliberto

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