Books

On notebooks

General Geekiness, The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

I’m a sucker for notebooks. Not the spiral bound, 70 pagers that you pick up at Shaws or Wal-Mart in your frantic back-to-school shopping, but a real, archival quality paper, beautifully bound notebook.

These, unfortunately sometimes with the word “Journal” sprawled across the cover, are my favorite things to write on. Yes, I know a cheap spiral bound college ruled notebook would do just fine, and they have. There’s something special about writing on good quality paper.

When I was in Italy in April 2007 (has it really been that long?), the first thing I bought while I was there was a leather bound notebook. That was the only souvenier that I knew I needed to have. I’ve filled it, but writing on its pages brought me back to Florence and Rome.

My current notebook was a gift from my grandma. It’s red with faux gold foil on the cover. The paper is thick so the ink from my pen doesn’t run through (except when I accidentally fell asleep while writing. There’s a big ink spot going through four pages. Oh well, that adds character.

At Christmas, my parents gave me a beautiful notebook, also from Italy, that’s yellow with pink and blue flowers with gold vines all over it. I’m looking at it right now and smiling.

The thing about these notebooks is they hold specific memories of when I received them. Those spiral bound notebooks do not. They are boring, identical in every way. Plus, those spirals get caught in everything.

What’s On the Bookshelf? Vol. 3

What's On the Bookshelf?

Today kiddies is a nice treat. This book doesn’t have too many pages. Heck, it doesn’t have too many words.

It’s a comic book.

Not just any comic book, mind you. It’s Michael Chabon Presents The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist (Volume 3). Like it’s predeceeding volumes, this is a collection of stories based on the character The Escapist, from Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.

This slim volume, published by Dark Horse, is very entertaining. Each story is written by a different member of the comics community, like the late great Will Eisner (The Spirit makes a cameo). Also, each story has a different artist drawing it, so the look varies greatly.

One of my favorite parts of the book (apart from the art) are the pseudo-historical essays about The Escapist and his importance in comic book history. They’re a lot of fun, especially if you know a bit about that subject (I don’t know too much, but I did write an essay on the history of Marvel Comics that got me into college. True story).

Blogger’s block vanquished.

On Fan Fiction

General Geekiness

My feelings about fan fiction are wavery at best. I enjoy reading it; you could say that it’s a guilty pleasure of mine. My first long form story was a Lord of the Rings fan fiction. I was very proud of the fact that I had hand written well over 50 pages.

Yet fan fiction often is crap. For every good story, you get thirty seven that fail miserably. My first fic? Well, let’s just say that it was one of the thirty seven. These days, I find myself writing fan fiction (and reading it) when my own stories grind to a halt. I worked on a Highlander fic last month because my own characters were being uncooperative. Don’t expect to read it, though.

What can I say? It’s fun to try on other characters, to imagine how their writers crafted them. Trying out different situations with preestablished characters is a good way to work on maintaining characterization. I can see why people like reading and writing it (because I certainly do). But just the same…I really don’t want to read the dross.

On writer’s block

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

O fiend, o devil, o cursed beastie!

Writer’s block was the bane of my existence, until I learned how to engage the wild beast. Not tame it, as it still gets the better of me, but I find that I can best it often enough.

What do I do to stave it off? Well, when the beast attacks, I try talking to it. I just put pen to paper and write. Sometimes it isn’t fiction or a part of my story. Sometimes I just write words on paper, in order to trick the little devil.

Other times I just yell, listen to music, read a book, watch TV or have a cup of tea. Miraculously, the nasty little beastie goes away. Behold the power of a good cup of tea.

There’s a very physical side to writing that I find needs to be dealt with. If you find you can’t write on your computer, back away from the keyboard and pull out a pen and paper. Writing is more akin to art this way (in the visual sense), and using the different muscles just feels better.

What do you, dear readers, do to destroy Writer’s Block?

Together we can vanquish this beast.

On vampires

General Geekiness, The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

Vampires have intrigued me since I was in third grade. One of my favorite books at that age was the Great Illustrated Classics edition of Dracula. I remember reading that over and over again, especially during a visit to my grandparents on Nantucket. I can’t say that I’ve finished the actual version of the book, but Dracula holds a spot near and dear to my heart.

But more on vampires and less on my emotional attachments to a book I haven’t finished.

Vampire myths are some of my favorite things because they are so strange and varied. Disease, desire, death. If you watch the History Channel as often as I do, you’re bound to have come across some of the interesting hour long specials about vampires in history (Countess Bathory, Vlad the Impaler, the New England vampires). The methods for killing them are so different. Shoving a brick down their throats. Decapitation. Stabbing them with a stake. Sunlight (damn you Twilight with your sparkly, fangless non fiends).

My favorite portrayel of vampires in pop culture is probably in the show Supernatural. The vampires there look like normal folks, they drink, etc, and even if they don’t drink human blood, its for blending in and survival, not because they have a moral code. Oh, and their fangs descend from their gums. How awesome is that?

So, dear readers, any favorite vampire myths?

On Webcomics

General Geekiness

I love webcomics. I like looking at other people’s artwork and reading stories that they’ve come up with. There’s a certain thrill that comes when realizing that, yes, today is Wednesday and that means there’s a new xkcd (and also LOST, but not this week alas).

There’s something special about webcomics. They don’t exist in the tangible realm, and yet they are so vibrant. Growing up, I didn’t have access to comic books. Batman wasn’t a part of my Saturday morning cartoons. I discovered comics in high school, devouring old school Marvel, the Alan Moore DC comics, Sandman, and so forth.

Then I figured out that there were people writing these for the web, and that was was the end.

Some of the first comics I discovered were xkcd and Fey Winds. They still endure as ones I go back to again and again.

But my favorite is probably Skin Deep. It’s got everything I could want–fantasy, adventure, mythological beings. I’ve been reading it almost since the day it debuted.

And the newest one I’ve found? Dead Heaven. This one is only in the prologue, but I really like the art.