Jade Alyse Writes

COMING SOON | Specter: A Short Story by Jade Alyse

photo I had someone come up to me while visiting friends in Maryland this weekend and say, "I knew you wrote, but I didn't know you were an actual writer".  That was unbelievably flattering.  For the past year and a half, I have been patiently building a small empire of sorts.  I want to be a writer, I know where my future lies, I know what I want.  To hear someone say that they've read something I wrote and actually enjoyed it is music to my ears.

I've been doing a lot of writing lately. Blame it on the lovely weather we're having in North Carolina, my positive outlook on life, or all of the inspiration that surrounds me on a daily basis.

And I have something else very exciting to share with you all!  I've been developing this since the summertime, when I took a graduate poetry class at North Carolina State University (my alma mater).  I've been developing an entirely new way of looking at my writing, and I've investigated ways in which I could incorporate a new angle: magic realism and surrealism.   I've studied Chilean writers like Neruda and Allende for many years and wondered how their brains worked, how they cultivated these visions into words.

And do you remember that grungy rock band, Nirvana? While Kurt Cobain admittedly creeped me out as a kid in the '90s, I was always drawn to the song, "Where Did You Sleep Last?".  The macabre tonality of it mixed with Cobain's eerie, I-see-a-bright-tunnel-of-light-ahead-of-me voice, immediately made me think of decay, heat and death.  I did a little research to discover that it was actually a remake of a 1917 recording called "In the Pines" sung by a black musician named Lead Belly.  Being the history buff and research enthusiast that I am, I dug a little deeper to discover that the song dates back to the 1870s, believed to be of Southern Appalachian origin.

Cool, right?

Without further delay, I'm introducing yet another short story for my growing repertoire, appropriately entitled "Specter".  Without giving too much away, imagine an failed writer suffering from delusions and heartbreak, a old plantation reformed into a hotel, and a pretty, young stranger who doesn't remember who she is.  

Aren't sufficiently creeped out yet?  Check out these lyrics, and the accompanying music provided below.

I can't wait to share this with you guys! :)

"Black girl, black girl, don't lie to me Where did you stay last night? I stayed in the pines where the sun never shines And shivered when the cold wind blows"

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcXYz0gtJeM]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsfcUZBMSSg]

The National Book Foundation is Now Accepting Applications for the 2013 Innovations in Reading Prize!

Each year, the National Book Foundation awards a number of prizes of up to $2,500 each to individuals and institutions—or partnerships between the two—that have developed innovative means of creating and sustaining a lifelong love of reading. For more information on how to apply, check it out here! tumblr_mdnhyvx0nJ1rjkfh7o1_500_large

Why Should You Care About Jade Alyse?

   

Why Should You Care About Jade Alyse?

It's National Novel Writing Month, and every author (independent and traditional) is fighting for the spotlight.  Why should you care to read anything written by little ole me?

  • Everything I've written has a song associated with it.  I have a large music library.  I'm very passionate about music.  I cannot write without it.  I listen to a song, envision the scene in my head and write it from there.
  • Interracial dynamics fascinate me.  The casts in my stories will never all be one race.  I, myself, thrive in an eclectic, racially diverse environment.  This is 2012; the reality is, whites will date blacks, have sex with them, marry them, have kids by them.  The state of California is creating a whole new race by itself.  America exists in a shade of gray.
  • My sauciest, most intense scenes come from drinking wine.  I think that one pretty much speaks for itself.
  • My heroines are bitches.  But they are bitches who have the capacity to love and be loved.  All too often I've read heroines or other leading women, who submit to their men no matter how controlling or crazy they are.  Nope.  Absolutely not.  My women will never submit to a man so easily.  The book would be over very quickly, no?

A Girl Who Reads...

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are. Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.”

Robert Pattinson