I’ve fallen way way behind in my New Zealand reading. I haven’t read Craig Marriner, the last two Chad Taylors, Lloyd Jones, maybe three Elizabeth Knoxes now, one Emily Perkins, any of the last three years worth of Landfalls or Sports.
Truth to tell I’ve virtually stopped reading, taking months to get through James Ellroy’s Cold Six Thousand. I stopped writing about four years ago.
Anyway, I was in Unity Books yesterday looking through the latest offerings and couldn’t help but be struck by the vitality of the local literary landscape. Sure it’s a small scene but the quality and quantity, I think, is high. Landfall has come on tremendously since its revival five years ago and looks and reads a treat. I also had a look through a Sport that was lying around, number 26 I think. Again terrific stuff, with a great photo portrait of seamy Wellington.
Both seem to have embraced art to a greater degree than in the past - to their benefit.
I’d heard the noise emanating from the Chad Taylor publishing machine even before I came back this week. As a fan from the days of his first published stories in Other Voices and Sport 5 (The wonderfully simple “Rusty Blades”), I went out on the net to see what all the fuss was about.
Imagine my shock when I found there’s a whole tribe of Chad Taylors out there, vying for fame in their own spheres. Lucky our Chad reserved his URL before we got into some serious cybersquatting.
One is another writer, author of A Cry of Harvest: “Chad Taylor is a burning fiery lamp in the wilderness of today’s religious systems. He’s a prophetic voice, awakening the hearts of men and women into passion and zeal for the lost.”
Indeed.
Or there’s Mad Chad Taylor, the chainsaw juggler:
“It’s amazing how many people want to watch you do something stupid,” says comedian Mad Chad as he juggles three running chainsaws, lights his finger on fire and catches a 15 pound anvil with his head.
There’s Chad the guitarist of Live, Chad the water polo player, Chad the drummer, and Chad the bit movie star from Kiss And Tell and The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh who now has a TV show I can’t even begin to understand.
And that’s just page one of a Google search!
Maybe someone should organise a Chad Taylor convention, or better take them all on tour. You’d have to buy a ticket with a lineup like that.