04.24.09
Cloud 9
I’m on it.
Seriously.
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04.21.09
Discovering Details You Missed
I was discussing something last night with a couple of friends, and found that one of them made an interesting observation about books.
A good book has devious surprises in it you weren’t expecting. You might have figured it out if you looked at it a little more closely earlier on in the story, and you’re reasonably confident about where all the tell-tales you didn’t catch the first time around are located (and thus, have no reason/desire to reread it, even if you liked the book).
A great book has devious surprises in it you weren’t expecting. When you go back to reread it later (because, gosh darn it, it was just that good!), you discover details that point to what you missed that you only catch the second (or third, or fourth) time around that add up to why and how you missed the surprise.
Maybe it is just me, but I like the idea of having my socks blown off by a plot twist, and then going back to reread it later and saying, “OH MY GOD! What the hell?! If I’d looked a little closer at THIS, I might have figured out _________!”
An interesting example of this (I think) is Clive Barker’s THE THIEF OF ALWAYS. There are a hundred little details in what is on the outset a simple story that add up to myriad complex relationships and consequences for young Harvey Swick. Read it and I think you’ll see what I mean.
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04.15.09
LA Times Festival of Books – April 25-26, 2009
I think I literally squealed with joy when I heard about this. I mean, my God, just check out this author list.
Also, this just rocks my socks. The inner nerd in me is doing a victory dance.
JACKPOT!
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04.10.09
My First Piece of Fanmail!
Jeez, I can’t believe I forgot to post this too. I got my first piece of honest-to-God fanmail yesterday!
Score!
This is more than enough to counter my lack of sleep today. Now that I have more caffeine under my belt, anyway…
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Sleep – I Miss It
I used to have some every now and then.
I kind of miss it. I wonder if it misses me?
Seriously, though. Staying up until 2AM, and then trying to drag myself out of bed at 7:30AM this morning was not fun. It was due to an emergency I won’t describe here – it is handled, and everyone involved is okay now.
Except for lack of sleep.
Damn it.
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04.09.09
Reading Spotlight: Patricia Briggs
Retiring the Patricia Briggs spotlight on the main page for now so I can put up a new author. Here’s the data previously posted:
For those who are unfamiliar with her work, Patricia Briggs is a very talented author who has an uncanny ability to capture and hold the reader’s attention. Her worlds are rich with fascinating characters and depths of intrigue beyond what you normally see in today’s novels. I strongly recommend “When Demons Walk” and “Steal the Dragon” to start.
Visit her website at:
http://www.patriciabriggs.com/
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04.06.09
Movie Review: Slither
W-O-W.
Gross, yet entertaining. Methinks you have to like comedic horror to fully enjoy this movie. I love this sort of thing, but hadn’t gotten around to seeing this movie until Sunday Night Movie Madness (thanks Evi!).
I was startled to notice a resemblance of the aliens’ habits and means of taking over people to the whole whatever-they’re-called in the Animorphs book series. Am I the only one to have picked this up? Not that it’s bad, just the first thing I thought of when those purple slug things started running amuck.
Either way, the whole thing cracked me up. The scene with Officer Pardy (Nathan Fillion) getting the snot beat out of him by the deer was priceless.
I really liked the cast. Nathan Fillion was hilarious, as usual. Michael Rooker was great! I can’t recall having seen him in anything before, but I’ll watch for him in the future. Same with Elizabeth Banks. Also, the little girls were fantastically cute/creepy.
Some of the special effects were not so special. A lot of “groaner” lines, which I will be using as fodder in all conversations for the next month or two (hehehe). Slug-monsters, Thing-like aliens, body-snatcher-like aliens, zombies, and animals ripped to shreds would’ve been cheesy/frightening if not for the humorous digs (”Hey, look how far away this dog’s head landed!”). Awesomely done. There was enough gore to satisfy even the most discriminating connoisseur of horror flicks. The body count at the end was unbelievable.
All in all, I’d watch this again.
Oh, and as a side note, following this movie up with Phantom of the Opera may not have been one of the brighter things the Sunday Night Movie Madness posse has ever done.
-Jess
04.02.09
MSTs
Particularly Manos: Hands of Fate.
I think my brain is still dribbling out my ears from movie night Sunday before last.
-Jess
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A few random thoughts.
Figure it has been a bit since I’ve posted an update — so here one is!
I love the IWG (International Writers Guild), my writing/critique group. I know I don’t make it to every meeting (*cough*), but damn, are you guys awesome. For those of you who’ve been standing by me – you know who you are – thanks for supporting me and my writing efforts!
Lately I’ve been co-authoring some shorts with a friend. She’s working on her first novel too. Some of these bits will never see the light of day, but maybe we’ll come to some kind of arrangement and use them at some point. Seriously, who would’ve thought almost 50K words between us would come out of a sketch involving a vamp, a werewolf, and some ice cream?
Just in the past few days, we’ve been having fun with haikus (a form of Japanese poetry that we’ve been utterly mangling in our insouciance).
Haikus are very fun.
I have written many today.
I will continue.
-Jess
