What is Chomu?
Is it a town in the Indian state of Jaipur with a literacy rate slightly higher than the national average? Is it "a person who lives for the singular purpose of trying to ruin the best parts of life for others by subintellectual activities"? Or is it a literary blogzine of dadaoist writing founded by Justin Isis and myself as a forum for the kind of writing we really want to see out there in the world, but which everyone else is too determinedly boring to publish? It is all of these things, and more.
In its incarnation as a blogzine, however, Chomu is now one year and four days old. Not only that, Justin has just posted there a new story, which I shall read after writing this, called, 'I Attain to the Level of Fucking Your Basic Hairdresser'.
Let us celebrate the wonder of Chomu… by reading it.
For the beginner, here is the zine's manifesto, which may guide you in the understanding of the works.
And for beginners and veterans alike, I now nominate some of my favourite pieces from Chomu:
The Lambs in the Trenches are Lambent and Trenchant
The Ends II: of Phoenix Flower itself, metamorphical
Looking through to choose these pieces just now, from different contributors, I realised afresh just how much great stuff there is waiting to be discovered and rediscovered there in Chomu. I'm not going to link to each piece individually – that would be silly.
Anyway, perhaps there will be other forms of celebration on this occasion, and perhaps you will be invited, or perhaps not. We shall see.
Before I go, I'd just like to say that, although there are very few things in life of which I am proud, my involvement with Chomu is one. Can I explain? Should I explain? I think it is enough for me to say that I am proud, and the causes of that pride are such that explanation might not be in keeping with their spirit. I can perhaps say this much, however: Chomu is free, in all six senses of the word. Like the Dao itself, it is simply there whether or not you notice, whether or not you care.
Justin Isis writes:
Happy Birthday, Chomu. In the list of recommended stories, I would include your own “Thomas Ligotti Is My Favorite Flavour of Ice Cream.” I think that’s been one of the best stories there to date.
Thanks.I’ll put the link here, too, then:http://sleeping-butterfly.blogspot.com/2008/05/thomas-ligotti-is-my-favourite-flavour.htmlDo you think I should hotlink a Dare Wright picture to illustrate it?
Michael Peterson writes:
Happy birthday to Chomu! This year I plan on being a more active contributor!I’m flattered, Quentin, that you included “Wild Dogs…” in your list of favorites. It’s actually the shortened version of the story. The full version has a second plot thread entirely and additional themes.http://patchworkearth.net/?p=6That version is up on my own site, along with other material. I hope you find it as strong. I’m in the beginning stages of a story right now that I’m intending to serialize on Chomu. I hope to push ahead with it soon.
Hello Michael.Thanks for posting. I’ll have a look at the full version soon. I’ll look forward to seeing more of your material on Chomu. It will be good to get a bit more of a balance of other people’s stuff on it, too. I think Justin has ideas of other things to post, and so do I, so, although there are delays sometimes, it looks like there’s still plenty of good stuff in the pipeline for Chomu.