Our Research Notes series invites authors to describe their process for a recent book, with “research” defined as broadly as they like. This week, Barrett Bowlin writes about Ghosts Caught on Film, winner of the Bridge Eight Press fiction prize.
+
Liner Notes for Ghosts Caught on Film
“New Careers in Science” (26’12”) — Written in upstate New York. Lipoma structures. ELISA test mechanisms. Maps of coastal Maryland. Ball lightning phenomena. The Rule of 9s (Skin Burn Assessment). Mixed & engineered by Kevin Allardice.
I spent several years working in healthcare, for both a psychiatric hospital and, later, an oncology/hematology group. I wanted to know what it was like to keep a hospital functioning in a post-apocalyptic world, and this was the result.
+
“You Must Give of Yourself” (25’38”) — Written in upstate New York and Zhenjiang, China. Modena balsamic vinegar production. Common bistro kitchen layouts. Beef cut varieties. Mixed & edited by Vicki Lawrence.
I also used to work in a couple of restaurants, but I never manned the grill. Years later, I sliced open a finger while pulling a steak from its wrapper, and I spent the next few days wondering if the wound would become infected. This track was originally titled “Bloodletting.”
+
“But I Can Only Do It Once” (38’19”) — Written in central Kansas and upstate New York. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Cartoon Archives. Trendelenberg bed mechanics. Accelerants vs. flammables. Kansas City traffic patterns. The Konza Prairie. Edited by Janell Watson.
My father-in-law was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer when we were living in Kansas. He spent the next two years trying to get experimental treatments approved by his insurance company. One night, I heard him whispering from the guest room in his own home, “I’m fucked, I’m fucked, I’m fucked,” as though it was the opposite of a prayer. This story is my terrible stab at a tribute.
+
“Hands Like Birds on Strings” (22’57”) — Written in upstate New York. American Sign Language. CD-R memory limits. Early 2000s university bandwidth capabilities. Common tattoo parlor layouts. Mixed & edited by Barb Johnson. Engineered by David James Poissant.
When I was in college, each student was given a designated .edu website to upload computing projects, blogs, and the like. One friend hosted porn ads on her site and made some decent revenue via click-throughs. “Hands” feels like a natural extension of what she did.
+
“Snuff Film” (Shanghai Remix) (25’32”) — Written in central Massachusetts. Layout of Arkansas Nuclear One energy plant. Lake Dardanelle topographic map. Radiation dosimeter functionality. Photo archives of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster and radiation scrub efforts. Mixed, edited & engineered by Juli Min.
When a tsunami flooded the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, I read article after article on the types of rovers and drones they were using to contain the outpouring of radiation, and about the elderly volunteers who sacrificed their lives to help shut down the plant. I looked at photosets of the abandoned Futaba district nearby. I set a similar disaster at the nuclear plant in my home state of Arkansas.
+
“Heavy Petting” (26’15”) — Written at the South Shore of Massachusetts. Ring-billed gulls. Fire extinguisher mounting hardware. Cowrie shell necklaces. Foxtrot and box-step dance patterns. Mixed & edited by Nicholas Gilmore.
Honestly, I just wanted a story with the phrase “heavy petting” in the title. I had no idea what it meant when our Health teacher in junior high tried to explain it, as part of our sex-ed curriculum.
+
“Pictures from the Coast of France” (16’22”) — Written in a move between houses in upstate New York. Differences between ISO speeds. TeleFrancais programming. TGV high-speed rail timetables. The French word for ‘whore.’ Mixed, recorded & edited by Roxane Gay.
When my brother and I were young, we found some old Polaroids in the shed next to our house. They were of my father, back from when he was in the Army. There were other people in the photos. Most of them were naked.
+
“Origin Story” (3’19”) — Written in upstate New York. Chemical restraints. Blast radius of C4. Properties of syrah vs. malbec varietals. Mixed & edited by Abigail Cloud.
I think I just really like the ridiculousness of how heroes and villains are made and not born.
+
“Replay” (23’21”) — Written in central Massachusetts. London underground maps. Strawberry melba recipes. Brogue boot decorations. Ad Astra calibers. Mixed & edited by David Lazar.
This is my one and only video game story. I’d like to think there are realities that we don’t see when our protagonists die. The princess is never rescued. Evil spreads across the land. The world ends horribly because some villain got lucky with a headshot. Things like that.
+
“Embryology” (23’41”) — Written in upstate New York. Chemical composition of Haribo brand Gummi Bears. Stem cell apheresis. Spina bifida. Birthing complications. Mixed & edited by Angela Leroux-Lindsey.
Five friends and I got bored listening to lectures in Organic Chemistry one summer, and I decided to try and dissolve Gummi Bears in soda while we sat and listened. This is what happens when you let that image soak for a few years.
+
“Caltrops” (4’06”) — Written in upstate New York. Pig iron welding techniques. Maps of Interstate 90 (Massachusetts). Boston hotels. Military technology of feudal Japan. Logan (BOS) airport layout. Johnny Appleseed. Mixed & edited by Shane Oshetski & M.E. Parker.
I’d like to believe there’s a rogue driver tooling up and down I-90 who’s just throwing sharp pieces of metal out the window so he can cause chaos. This just makes me really happy.
+
“The View from Pittsburgh” (39’25”) — Cabinet piano weights and dimensions. History of the word ‘reduction.’ Pennsylvania metro region maps. Landscape architecture. Payload capacities of trucks. Previously unreleased recording.
Pianos are incredibly heavy to move by yourself, if not damn near impossible.
+
“The Echoless” (38’52”) — Written in upstate New York and Zhenjiang, China. Parabolic microphone logistics. Oscilloscopes. Soundproofing techniques. Maps of New Mexico highways. Anechoic chamber construction. Sleepwalking histories. Mixed & edited by Heather Bartlett.
I don’t sleepwalk, but I do sleeptalk and hold conversations with imaginary people sometimes at night. It scared the hell out of my girlfriend (now wife) when she first saw me doing this.
+
“Ghosts Caught on Film” (17’09”) — Written in central Kansas. X-ray ballast dimensions. Cleaning products used to disinfect tanning booths. Forearm strengthening techniques. PET scan scatter radiation. Radiographic ‘shading.’ Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen. Mixed & edited by Aimee Pokwatka.
My first published short story. I spent two years in that oncology center shooting people with x-rays. The patients and I were always quiet between those times when they finished dressing afterward and when their physicians would read their films. The future was never certain.
All songs & lyrics by Barrett Bowlin, © 2022 (Bridge Eight Press)
+++