2) “… Bloggers aren’t real writers…”
3) The Strange Sad Death of Alan MacDonald.
4) How to take surreptitious photos on the planet Belvedere.
5) The lonely life of a super-hero.
6) Casting call for Pirates of the Caribbean 4: No fake boobs.
interesting things
The world is full of story-fodder
StandardI was going to drop this into the latest random link compilation, but it’s too cool to be buried there. Check out this news report on a story from more than fifty years ago in Scotland.
Yes, hundreds of children hunting vampires in a graveyard after dark–a vampire “with iron teeth” no less.
The story ideas that little news piece prompts are undeniable. The two simplest ideas would be to tell it from the POV of one of the children, if only for the chance to write about kids high on adrenaline because they’re doing something forbidden and dangerous. Some other writer might be able to write it from the POV of the vampire as it’s being hunted, frightened by the attention being drawn to it and indignant at being threatened by children.
It’s the POV of the parents that I find most interesting, naturally. A village where every kid has to be home by dark, and no one will talk about the local undead nasty, but what happens when the little ones find out on their own, and decide to be heroes?
I wonder if I can steal this for my next project.
Randomness for 3/19
StandardCompleting the circuit
StandardFB users, this is an embed. Click through to watch it.
Randomness for 3/17
Standard1) My son’s latest Lego stop-motion movie. Actually, it’s part one of a longer story, and yeah, I provide voiceover work. (But just a little).
3) Did you know that Amazon.com sells cans of uranium ore? Here’s one of the customer reviews: “I purchased this product 4.47 Billion Years ago and when I opened it today, it was half empty.”
4) Teal and Orange – Hollywood, Please Stop the Madness!
5) Rob Liefeld’s Dreams Are One Step Closer To Reality “You know, I really like shooting this machine gun, but I really wish I could be shooting another gun at the same time,”
6) “Die Hard in a tattoo” Someone’s a little crazy for that movie.
7) Dan Savage talks to the young woman at the center of the “Lesbians made us cancel the prom!” scandal. Also, you can find ways to help at the end of the article.
This is damn clever
StandardStick with it to at least the midpoint for a nice twist. (Facebook people, this is an embedded video; you can watch it at the blog, if you want.)
Pushing the Envelope in Urban Fantasy
StandardThe book I’m reading right now (without much enthusiasm, I must say–it was published in 2008 and includes a glossary of Yiddish words at the front. Am I such a dumbass that I do no know what tuckus means? Or chutzpah? This book thinks I am) is very safe and uninteresting. The book next in queu just the opposite.
I’ve mentioned that I’m a slow reader–I often don’t get to a new book in time to help promote a new release with a positive review; yes, I’m useless that way. The next book on my tbr list is the first Amanda Feral novel, Happy Hour of the Damned, which author Mark Henry once described as “Undead bitches eat people.”
So… anti-hero! Also humor that pushes people’s buttons, risks offense, dares to be outrageous–Actually, let’s just say, as the subject header reads, “pushes the envelope.”
So I read with interest this writeup of the new book on the B&N forums. Is the book tasteless? Offensive?
The author himself talks about the difficult things he’s done, including working with the mentally ill and “medically fragile” populations, and how so much cynical and dark humor comes from a place of grief and self-protection.
It’s very interesting, especially in a genre like UF, which is becoming more formulaic all the time. What new things can writers try? How can they break through reader expectations to create something new?
I’m damn tempted to toss my current novel aside and jump to the next in line.
Best Day Job for Writers
StandardTwo cool videos my son found online
StandardBoth, of course, having to do with Legos
Cage matches
StandardSuvudu has been running “cage matches,” a sort of March Madness for sfnal heroes and villains (check the left sidebar). They’re all in fun, pitting Vlad Taltos against Dumbledore, or Harry Dresden against Conan, and many others in fights to the death. Several authors with characters in the fight have contributed here and there, explaining why their character would win (although I think it’s hilarious that Jim Butcher is all “Conan would kick Harry’s ass!”)
But you know what? I don’t like it.
Maybe it’s ridiculous (okay, no maybes about it) but depictions of Hermione Granger being stabbed to death are distressing. In fact, I find most literary depictions of violence distressing; they only “work” for me because of the context. The context for the cage matches–“Let’s you and him fight to the death for no reason”–makes me want to stamp my foot and shout “No fair!”
Yeah, it’s ridiculous, but this is my gut-level reaction.
It doesn’t help that the “tournament of fighting” bit is one of the most snooze-inducing structures around, and is one of the reasons I gave up on anime.
Weirdly, I don’t have this same reaction to visual portrayals of violence. I’ll laugh like a hyena at The Three Stooges, and I’m as happy to see Batman punch a gangster in the face as any self-respecting comics fan. But in text? Nah.
(BTW, Ray Lilly would probably be seeded just above Lyra Belacqua, but only barely :).)