Sideland

Hello, faithful blog readers!  It is with great excitement that I introduce you to a new project of mine, something I am calling Sideland. 

Sideland is a separate blog from the Notes, and it’s a little more unique.  In Sideland I will be chronicling my life living here in Philadelphia, but it’s only kind of me, and it’s only kind of Philadelphia.  It’s a difficult project to describe; I suppose one could say it is a series of fictionalized memoirs.  The narrator is me, and the city is Philadelphia, and a lot of it will be true stories from my life as well as my own thoughts on the world.  However, some of it will be exaggerations of the truth, or even pure fiction.  It is an alternate universe, but one not far removed from our own.  In addition, sometimes I shall even employ “magical realism”, as in, things may occur in these blogs that appear to be set in reality, when suddenly the impossible may happen (for instance, I begin to fly under my own power, etc)

The writing style and tone will be similar to what you’re used to here at the Notes, however, it will not be identical.  The style I’ll be using with Sideland is more cynical, colloquial, and dense.  In short, this is not going to be down everyone’s alley.

Some entries will have a distinct narrative feel, while others may be entirely free-form prose.  The main thing you need to know as a reader is, if you stick with me through many entries, you’ll be rewarded. It may seem like I’m not going anywhere at first, but I do have a plan and a larger framework.  Keep reading! I promise that, even though I’m writing about a semi-fictional version of myself, I’m going to be talking about and exploring concepts much larger than my own life.  But…it’s not going to be simple and straight-forward.  Fair warning.

(and just to put it out there for you English/ grammar folks: tenses will be changing in these entries on purpose [ie past and present], which is often a novice writer’s error, but I assure you, instances of it on this blog are quite intentional)

I’ll post updates here in the Notes at first when a new Sideland is up, but if you dig them, I recommend subscribing to that blog, as eventually it will exist independently of this blog.  And worry not…Notes from the Fire isn’t going anywhere, as I’ll continue to post as usual in here when I have random thoughts/ rants/ poetry/ pictures.  Oh also, return to Sideland frequently, just to see the image at the top of the page change…it randomly displays one of about 20 possibilities (each a photo I have taken) each time you visit the site.

So without further ado, please click the link below…

Take me to Sideland.