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Story Starters: Shadows on a Wall
A number of things I’ve come across in the last week have reminded me — at a time (yes) when I really should be concerned with ending a story — just how little it takes to start one. In particular, they’ve reminded me of the way in which implied story lines radiate forwards and backwards, [...]
Writer’s Bane: Alan Nelson’s “Lafayette”
A 1948 science-fiction story by Alan Nelson is called “Narapoia.” (And no, smarty — whoever you are — I did not read it when it originally came out.) It’s an entertaining enough premise: a man visits a psychotherapist, showing signs of an unusual disorder: “I don’t know exactly how to explain it to you, Doctor,” [...]
Review: Dean Koontz’s ODD HOURS
No, no, no — not here. On The Book Book. You will note, in the guidelines for reviewers over on the right side of that site’s various pages, the word-count specs: minimum one word; maximum 60,000 words. I believe these were meant humorously, meaning “Nobody’s gonna go through your review and count the freaking words, [...]
Writing about Reading — and Not Blogging
I may — may — be posting a real entry later today. At the moment, though, I’m focused on preparing my first contribution to the BookBook blog: a review of Dean Koontz’s Odd Hours. Until then, I offer you a YouTube “Thriller” extravaganza: First, we have the original video (embedding this video has been disabled [...]
The First Blank Page
For reasons which I’m not sure I could articulate, I love this drawing without reservation. (Click the image for a larger version.) It’s from a page in 2007′s Edward Gorey “Page-a-Day” calendar and I’ve kept it around on various computers, trying without success to make it work as a desktop wallpaper. (Icons are inconsistently legible [...]
“About suffering, they were never wrong…”
Last weekend, The Missus and I visited the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. By the time you’ve seen (say) your 500th painting in one day, it’s tempting to claim they all look pretty much alike. Tempting, and wrong. Many of them sort of blend together, true. (In the Renaissance galleries, I lost count [...]
Wallowing in Unhappiness
Per whiskey river: As incredible as it sounds, an unhappy man does not realize that happiness is better than unhappiness. Knowing only his own concealed anguish, he worships it, which is the same as self-worship. – Vernon Howard Sound familiar? It will if you listen in on enough writerly conversation: it’s the sound of writers [...]
Department of Neighborhood Security
The Missus and I live in a smallish subdivision some distance away from downtown. Nonetheless, the area around the development is all within City limits — except for the development itself, which for whatever mysterious reason has never agreed to annexation. We (TM and I) refer to it, privately, as The Principality — because it’s [...]
On Writing Long: Edith Wharton
Back in May — the 26th, to be exact — Steve King’s invaluable and always entertaining Today in Literature newsletter informed us that on that day in 1891, Edith Wharton’s first story was accepted for publication, by Scribner’s Magazine. The story was called “Mrs. Manstey’s View.” (Yes, by the way: that’s accepted for publication — [...]
These Eyes…
Just got back from Chris & Jess’s wedding weekend… The Missus and I stayed at a lovely hotel in DC, the Sofitel on Lafayette Square. The bathroom was especially well appointed, and among its attractions was the mirror over the sink — which, as I understand it [cough], had obviously been designed by someone who [...]
