Winner

The winner of the Gaiman giveaway is Krystal :)

Congrats, I'll get these shipped to you A.S.A.P.
And hopefully I'll be able to do literature giveaways pretty frequently here.

Happy Mother's day.

My writer hero and a small giveaway

(I love that fact that he popped up on Arthur of all things. My son and daughter loved and recognized the Instructions book.)



Everyone has people who inspire them. Well, everyone who ever dreamed of accomplishing something (especially something difficult). My husband has a few physicists (he's a bit of a physics nerd), as well as several people in real life in his career field that he looks up to. For my father, it's anyone who stood up to anything and several racers (Dale Earnhardt). For my mom, it's religious figures that inspire her to be more pious. For my best friend, it's fitness gurus that are humane in their teachings and are trying to genuinely help people (also her career track).

Me? I was sort of absent from idols for a long time. Which is sad. I had people I found fascinating (Julia Childs, Hayao Miyazaki, Crazy Horse), but nobody in my area of "talent" that spoke to me personally or moved me.

One evening, when I was just a junior in high school, my father said "I saved some things from the newspaper for you. Do you know who this guy is?"

He put down a picture on the table of a haunting black and white face with hair in the eyes and a sharp nose.

"No," I said

He sort of sighed and said, "You should."

And then he told me his name. Neil Gaiman. The art on the cover was in the style of the Sandman graphic novels.

You see, my dad believed in me. He thought I had talent. He thought I could draw and write well enough that I should pursue that (my mom did, too, she was just less into the scene of it than my father). I fought that. Hard. I loved art and story-telling (but not the classes, as I've mentioned previously on this blog-studying art wasn't even close to fun until college), but I knew so many who'd pursued a degree or a job in it and struggled for the rest of their lives. I told myself that would not be me. I'd get a fucking sensible job. One that probably did not pay me enough, but was sensible and allowed me to care for myself on my own-which is particularly important for a young woman. My dad, a former race car driver, knew better. He knew that things that you love, things that drive you, you can never escape those. And it's just damned best to follow them. And, if you can not find a job doing something you love, that you had better make it your hobby.

All it took was dad showing me some of Gaiman's art and writing for me to feel that inner flame, the one that excites and compels you to do something new. I daydreamed about being able to have my sensible job be something to do with story-telling and creating. At that point, I no longer cared what it paid. I was slowly becoming aware that I couldn't do anything else and be fulfilled. That little fire would always be burning in me, even if I wasn't "feeding" it.

And I was right. Or, rather, my parents were. Which is often the case.

American Gods, Neverwhere, The Sandman Chronicles, whatever I could get my hands on that had been a project of his was something I liked. Which had never happened before.  I made it a point to collect his children's books for my own kids as well.

I  look up to him as a person. He is nice. Witty. And, most of all, encouraging. Writers don't always have a lot of people to look up to-which sounds off, but it's true. Chances are you have a particular style and the industry is narrow in who it offers the limelight to in certain genres. Gaiman was "weird" and "dark". Things I could whole-heartedly identify with. And he was famous. It's unlikely any of us will ever achieve what he did. But, that doesn't matter, does it? He inspires us to keep going, to keep creating. He is one who helped make "weird" and "dark" okay things to be for writers and artists. And I really needed those things.



On that note->to the giveaway, boys and girls...

It's nearly free comic book day (may 5th). To celebrate, I'll give you a comic book (Eternals issue no. 2 by Neil Gaiman and John Romita JR.) and a children's book (The Dangerous Alphabet, by Neil Gaiman), both new from my local comic shop.

All you have to do is leave a comment about who inspires you, and I'll select one at random to be the winner on May 12th (one week from now). :)

Book Review: Kiss Me, Judas (Phineas Poe) by Will Christopher Baer

I don't often do book reviews here (okay, so I've NEVER done one here, but I betcha this won't be my last one...), but I'm compelled to mention this novel. I'm drawn to do it because so few people have even heard of it, and that's a damn shame.
Kiss Me, Judas starts off with a dazed anti-hero name Phineas Poe. He's tortured over his wife's death, has been kicked off of the police force, and is mentally unstable. A run in with the beautiful Jude leaves him with some nice memories of great sex and short a kidney and a gun. The plot takes off from there with slow events but nice, realistic pacing.
There are vivid descriptions of the mental and physical pain of the protagonist (and if you've ever been one to suffer from any sort of kidney trouble, this wording will certainly make you tremble a bit).
I'll confess that I didn't much care for Jude. She's a sociopath, sure. But, somehow, she could have been a better one. The main character is inherently good, great even sometimes. The mismatch between his motives and Jude's occasionally left a bad taste in my mouth, pretty similar to when you see such a pairing in real life. It's forgivable, however, because it's the driving point of the story. And there is a bit of the book drifting toward Jude having been a better person than previously thought. The characterization, however distasteful you might find one character or another-and that is a hallmark of noir-, is superb.
The dialogue is wonderful, but I should mention that, while this was an easy read and it fully sucked me into the written world, there are no quotation marks. I don't miss them now (I'm currently reading another book in the Poe series) but it took me some rereading and some time to get used to their absence. Go ahead and call it further proof that a great writer can break whatever rules he'd like and it will still work out.
This is a gritty title, noir fiction at its best. It's not for the faint of heart or the easily disturbed. But it's a great story. Go get it. No, really.

   

An Excerpt from "The Viral Load"- a flash fiction love story

~They brought him to this facility with great difficulty. Unlike everyone else quarantined here, only one of his eyes showed the black tainted shadow of infection. The other, his right eye, was pure green fire. My nurse said he'd be put into the trial group immediately. Someone with that little of the infection was a valuable opportunity.
      I was not allowed to be in any drug trial. I was not allowed outside. The shining black voids where my own eyes used to be no longer bothered me. My moon face, dark skin and golden hair- defining features given to me by my parents- were still there. I still felt like me. But this virus had darkened the windows to my soul and started to eat me away from the inside. I was no longer allowed to wander without a black protective mask over my mouth and nose.
      I made it a point to visit the room of the spirited young man who'd been quarantined today.
      But it was dark and empty. I thought myself a fool and turned to leave.
      Then I felt someone yank my hair with such force my head flipped back. Something cold and stinging was pressed against my neck.
      "What the fuck are you here for?" he said. It was the first time I'd heard his voice up close. It was deep and dark. I shivered.
      He moved into my field of sight again and showed me the scalpel he held. I tried to speak.
      "Get this fucking thing off of your face." He sliced the straps of my mask even as I shook my head. He accidentally cut the skin on my right cheek.
      "I could get you sick," I said.
      "I'm sick already." He pointed the scalpel to his left eye where the faint ebony shadow sat.
      "They think I can make people worse."
      "They don't know what to think anymore. They think this virus kills people, but I saw old men who'd lived with it forever! They are just so frightened they can't see straight. And that is why we are all put away as soon as it leaves us marked. I'm not afraid of you." he said. He got face to face with me. I could feel his breath. I could smell it, faintly sweet like nectar. I leaned in, I wanted to kiss him.
      He cut my other cheek. I didn't withdraw from him, I couldn't stand to. I simply could not pull myself from him.
      "Fearless?"
      "What should I be afraid of?" I said.
      "I could maim you. Bleed you dry. Maybe leave you a beautiful corpse on the floor?"
      "Beautiful?" I said. He moved closer to me. Our lips barely touched. He was so warm.
      (...)

In which I have an appearance in something that is not this

I talk from time to time here about Health At Every Size and body positive thinking. If you want some proof that I can walk the walk of being fat and beautiful and a good HAES-y talk, I'm featured (in most of my plus size glory) here http://www.notblueatall.com/archives/tank-top-tuesday-29/ .

Tune in next time, I'll be featuring one of my short stories here. Enjoy your holiday. 

On Monsters and Talking Points...

I know of a few people who think that the use of classic monsters, (werewolf, vampire, zombie, ghoul, and so on and so forth) even with added innovations or twists, is a bit of a lack of imagination. To them I (lovingly) say "Shut the hell up." No, really. Nearly everything you encounter, even the things that are alien-like and new to you, is probably a re-imagining. This does apply to most things, but it certainly applies to the arts. Your favorite painting was probably inspired by the work of another painter. Your favorite sink design? Probably the same thing. Or, maybe it's an imitation of a flower. Idk. I've never seen your sink...but the point remains.
And you have to think, that if an idea, like a specific kind of monster, has carried through with us for centuries, it probably has a deeper meaning; it might fulfill a comparison as to how our society works, what our real fears are, or even creative ways to face those fears. I believe monsters like the vampire (who've become more and more sexy as our attitudes on sex have changed over the years), the zombie (which has become more and more plague-like as a fear of global disease increases), and the werewolf (which edged a bit on becoming a tribal or earth-defender metaphor in addition to being one of an uncontrollable desire or being an outcast) are important. (Idk what ghouls do anymore, few things address this, which is a pity b/c it's wide open...). These things are important, and raise important talking points about our lives. They are not purely innovative monsters, but that does not mean you can't use them in your art or writing. I bet that your imagining of an established creature is already different from the original definition, it doesn't take much to develop that into something very new.

For those of you who are horror fans: which monster is your favorite (classic or modern, derived from any source)? And why?

On Character Descriptions (or reason no. 1 why my editor probably wants to hit me upside the head)

Show, don't tell. Show, don't tell. They repeat it a great deal in writing classes and books on the subject. And, generally, it's an okay idea. For example...you could say your hero is lonely. Or you could have a major goal of his be to find a friend or family, you could have him dream isolating images, etc... Opportunities abound to paint something vivid rather than something flat. And that is what they really mean when they repeat this to you-be VIVID. Be LIVELY.
But, what about physical descriptions?
It's a tricky one for me. Some of that has to do with the fact that I wrote a book based on non-human creatures, but mostly it's just an area that a lot of people trip up on. Sometimes I caught myself with giant paragraphs detailing each character's appearance-which is awful. I had to cut it down to one or two traits for bit players and only one or two added ones for main characters. Had I been playing around with a smaller cast, that might have changed.
And then there is the issue of butting up against the reader. My husband and I often find that when reading a fact about a character we know nothing about (ex. "A woman sits down with her laptop at a coffee shop"...) we've already started to picture the person. And sometimes it actually clashes with the description the author offers up. For that reason, and for the sake of saving you an awful word count you will have to cut later, sticking to a few important details is a good idea. You invade your reader's head with a tale, but the images of the people doing the actions in said tale will be colored by his or her experiences-and the same goes for the world (though you can go more in depth, I think, with the world without going as feverishly overboard as if you were describing one player in the world). It's just a matter of balance, like most things. And if you are a good descriptive writer, in-depth descriptions can work for you rather than against you (the way they would with most of us), but if you are that breed of writer, you are probably already well aware of it and working that angle like there is no tomorrow.

Father Roderick, Xasand, and Arkady Jace

I tried to paint the men of the story as follows; Father Roderick is defined by his lack of power, his desire to "do the right thing", and his lack of certainty in his decisions and beliefs. Xasand is roughly the same age, but he is wilder. A werewolf pack leader, he is expected to be strong and stoic regardless of his personal tragedies. Arkady Jace is a military man with a strong sense of family and community, he's seen too much and makes it a point to retain some humor in it all. I found that sketching said characters brought them to life enough that I only had to list a few physical traits, and could focus on some of the personality traits over the course of the story easier. You could also do a full character sheet that fleshes out every little fact for each of your characters, then pick and choose what will be included (or revealed) in the storyline. Sketching is easier for me...but, you know...I'm kind of lazy.