Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    

I was afraid of that.
  

    
It's currently very popular in Kentucky, so I am assured.

Trying hard to sort out the last leg =-- Los Angeles and San Diego --
of the signing tour, then Jack Womack will send it to me and I shall
post it here.

You know, it occurs to me that I am finally old enough to study
Caballah.
  

    
Neil - yes, good words as always. I'd probably fret more about the
originality of my stories if I was better about finishing them. *sigh* 
The only thing more terrifying than an empty page is a half-full page.
That's part of why I like theatre. There's a schedule, and lots of
people involved so that you HAVE to get things done on time.

Michelle - I had to go down to Hayward this morning and avoided
traffic by taking Hesperian... right past your store. I considered
going in to see if you were there and say "hello", but we're all
supposed to be stalking Neil, not each other, so I just waved as I
drove past.

Neil - Old enough to study....?? As one who is only vaguely associated
with the subject, but knows people who are in their early 30's that
have been studying it for years (and can discuss it unintelligably at
great length), I'm confused as to your meaning.
Is there a Jewish regulation regarding the age at which one can study
Kaballah?
  

    

<stagewalker> asks the question of Neil that I was going to ask.
  

    
I can't believe a man could rise to the highest office in Kentucky without
ever having heard that joke before.
  

    
(in answer to a question waaaay back a ways) Neil, Mike's doing pretty well,
and the docs have cleared him for travel now. And yes, the steak&kidney pie
was a powerful bit of magic, besides amusing him mightily; he told the story
of it to a nurse yesterday when he visited me.  As for getting him on the
phone, it's probably a good idea to say something distinctive besides hello,
just so he doesn't think one is a telemarketer or something; if one thinks
of it as an opportunity to say something amusingly outrageous to Mike, it's
sometimes more fun, too, but a simple "Hi, this is Neil" ought to work.

Me, I'm back after a short hiatus, and as my mother-out-law said, I'm doing
quite well for someone who got 'er throat cut yesterday. <grin> (Thyroid
surgery; please send a few good thoughts for the full return of my
ability to speak and sing. Looks promising so far.)
  

    
Dan -- I remember being assured by my extremely orthodox barmitzvah
teacher that Kaballah was restricted to men over 40, and to married
men, and preferably to married men over 40, who would not be tempted to
abuse their knowledge.

Elise -- thanks for the info -- I'll call him when I'm home. And get
well soon...
  

    
Neil-Well, it seems like we're way past this subject now...but I just
got home. I know that Aladdin didn't get three wishes in the real
texts...so I'm thinking that someone combined the Fisherman story with
the Aladdin story. I know that Disney is never a good example, but, I
beleive they did the three wish thing and the Fairy tale theater
series, my friends claim to have read children's books where the genie
gives him three wishes, and whenever there is a parody of it , same
thing. I don't know. Maybe I'm crazy. It doesn't really matter too much
to my story anyway. All I know is that A genie comes out of a wine
bottle...I'll figure out the rest later.
You're always name dropping lots of interesting books that I want to
read. I wish I had more money for books. I'll find a way.
As for the Kabalah, I started half-ass studying it  few years back.
Very strange stuff. Can't think of too many books that would be better
than the ones mentioned. There's always Crowley, but he's kind of a
jack-ass...but then there's...nope. sorry. I'm intellectualized under
the table, here. So I should stay out of this discussion. And Neil: you
are the GOd of research. But why should that surprise me.

Okay, don't laugh, but I've never heard the nun leprechuan joke.
Anyone care to tell me? Neil? Martha? Anyone?

Dan- Of course I'm no pro but what I've learned to do (finishing
stories) is set a strict schedule for myself. Most of the time I get up
early before work and write, come home, check e-mail, write and so on.
It's about self-discipline. The one's that I can't seem to finish are
the ones that I have too many doubts about and probably shouldn't be
written. You have to make yourself do it. Everyday. Even if you think
you have writers block.
  

    
Erynn - Your words on writing to Dan sound more like a diet schedule.
;)

Len - :-D <-- is that better? 

Dan - Um, just 'cause we're stalking Neil doesn't mean we can't
confuse the heck out of my co-workers by having friends I've never
actually met before stop by to distract me from doing my work. Besides,
considering I worked 8 1/2 hours today with no break, and have to go
back for another 2 hours in a bit, the distraction would have been
welcome. But enough guilt for now (sorry, the Jewish relatives send it
down in their genes). :)

Neil - Yeah, the Harper Collins website was a bit confusing re: DC in
Berkeley. I'll send out a note to someone on the sfgoth list to make
sure the people there are spreading the *right* rumours for a change. 

Elise - Speaking as a singer, my most sincere and abundant wishes for
a speedy and complete recovery. 

squeaks, who, having a miserable day, would also love to hear the
joke.
  

    
::looks around::  Waitaminute, I'm anyone!  :-)  Here is the version I
heard of the penguin joke.  I heard it for the first time yesterday on
the radio and this version involved the seven dwarves.

Okay, so one day the seven dwarves go and see the pope.  Dopey asks
the pope "are there any dwarf nuns in Rome?"  The pope is a little
surprised by this question, thinks about it and says "no."  The other
dwarves giggle and Dopey glares at them until they stop.  Dopey then
asks the pope "are there any dwarf nuns in Europe?" to which the pope
again replies "no."  The other dwarves laugh louder and Dopey once
again silences them with a glare.  He then asks the pope "are there any
dwarf nuns in the entire world?"  For the third time the pope answers
"no."  At this point the other dwarves laugh hysterically and start
shouting "Dopey screwed a penguin!  Dopey screwed a penguin!"

Elise - I hope you have a speedy and complete recovery and are
showered with gifts.  Well, not literally showered.  Most gifts come in
boxes and pointy edges hurt.

Jen.
  

    
Well, I just spent the last two hours finally finishing the goddamn
play. This thing has been over two years from concept to first draft to
completion of second draft (which meant rewriting the whole third act
from scratch).

One of the things I've learned about me is that I need to feel like
someone, anyone, is expecting me to finish something or else it never
gets done. Part of my reason for whining about not finishing things in
this forum was to get myself to get off my ass and just do it.

Which I did.

Now I need to start submitting it to theatre companies... 

Michelle - Our storage space is in that neck of the woods and I need
to return the files I picked up today. Maybe I'll swing by Thursday and
confuse your coworkers (and probably spend some money I really don't
have).

Jen - Oh, THAT joke!!

Dan 
  

    
Dan - Congrats on finishing your play! I have a couple stories right
now that are refusing to be finished for various reasons, so finishing
something is indeed a big deal.  

I had a wonderful day today (which was nice after my car accident last
week on my 4 year anniversary with my boyfriend) I'm currently in my
last quarter at the University of Washington, and we just started new
classes this week. (Keep reading, Neil comes up)  Anyhow, I had my
first class meeting for Contemporary Native American Lit and my teacher
is very very cool.  

Note: While UW is a wonderful school and I've learned a million
things, none of the professors seem to think fantasy, sci-fi, horror,
etc are anything much more than genre. Genre here is taboo, the enemy
of literature, and seems to be defined as anything that people actually
read.  I am envious of those of you who mentioned taking sci-fi
classes in school. 

Anyhow, my teacher is a sci-fi fan AND she is also REQUIRING us to
read 2 comic books for class (ones that contain depictions of Native
Americans).  Even more astonishingly, when someone said they like Sting
(musician, not wrestler) she told us that he was the inspiration for
the character John Constantine and then mentioned Sandman.  I can't
believe I have a teacher who has read Sandman, etc.  I just had to
share my joy here that there are literate professors who read and enjoy
comic books. 

BTW--had anyone else (Neil?) heard about Sting being the inspiration
for J. C. ?  I hadn't heard that, and I'm a huge Sting fan, so that's
pretty cool if its true.
  

    
Elise, thanks for the word about Mike, and do heal up yourself!
  

    
(And the seven-dwarves variant is pretty much the same joke, though I like
it better when it's two leprechauns, maybe just because the punchline sounds
so good in a fake Irish brogue.)
  

    
        Oh yeah, early Constantine is, visually at least, a direct lift of
Sting, down to the haircut.  He's had a lot of incarnations under a lot
of writers since then, of course.
        And personally, my favorite leprechaun sex joke is the one set in a
men's room.
        "Tell me, boyo, how old are ye?"
        "Thirty-six."
        "And ye still believe in leprechauns, do ye?"
  

    
Blythe -- Contantine started because John Totleben wanted to draw
Sting (particularly the Sting from the film Brimstone and Treacle) --
everything else was Alan Moore wanting to create his own Jerry
Cornelius.

Erynn -- trying to think about three wishes here. I'd say that, as far
as I know, the three wishes tradition isn't an Arabian Nights
tradition -- it's normally a marchen thing where the first wish is
silly, the second actually damaging and the third undoes things (or
occasionally compounds them). It's been a while since I've seen the
film of Aladdin, but I don't believe even Disney made it three wishes
in there -- it does too much damage to the importance and significance
of the lamp if you can only have three wishes in that story. Otherwise,
after three wishes, the lamp would be useless.

Michelle -- the drop ins have all been taken down from the HC website.


Blythe -- having just come from IAFA (it's www.IAFA.org I think) I can
assure you that there are an awful lot of academics out there who know
an awful lot about genre, and love it deeply.

On the other hand, I remember sitting on a plane next to an English
professor from a minor ivy league school, who had read nothing but The
American Canon -- Hawthorne, Henry James, Hemingway, Faulkner etc, and
who wrote poems that were published in little magazine and who
published a little magazine that published the poems of other
professors at other universities, and being astonished at how little
the man knew.
  

    
Elise-- good luck and a speedy recovery!!

Michelle-- I am comforted.  Thank you.

Neil-- I'm not sure, but I think you have to be 40, married, AND have
a beard.  Which, if I'm right, means you could have studied Kab. before
IAFA, but not now.  And to think-- you squandered all that time
writing genre fiction :)

And I heard a great joke the other day about two Irish nuns and a
midget vampire... (but I digress...)
  

    
Jen,...that's the joke I know, it was told to me by a nun my mother
worked with at one time. However, Doc asked the Pope, cause Dopey
doesn't speak.

The first time I heard three wishes and a lamp was a Bugs Bunny
cartoon, and it is in Disney's Aladdin, and in several collected tales
I have, but the Red Fairy book doesn't have a set limit.

As for the smoking thing, I've found that the sicker you are the
easier it is to quit.
Is there anyone on this thread who uses an inhaler? I've had a bad
reaction and was looking for some other information then I've been able
to find on-line.

Jinx who is currently reading "Confessions of An Ugly Stepsister"
  

    

I also prefer the version with the leprechans... both for the accent and
because Dopey's a nice guy and doesn't deserve the abuse.

Today I tried to get to the post office to finally send Jen a copy of Season
of Mists, and they were closed- power out. Love California!

Disney's version was three wishes per person. Dunno about what archetypes
that stemmed from.
  

    
I wonder if the Three wishes is somehow transmuted from the Legend of
the Monkey's Paw??
  

    
Errr.   Well, considering that I am 19, female, and beardless, I
suppose I should steer away from the Kaballah.  

Dan--that sounds like a good posiblity to me.  All those wish stories
getting mixed up into one.

Michelle--If I am ever in your area, I will stop by the store.  You
will have your own psuedo-stalker from Cincinnati.
  

    

You know, Angelina, "psuedo-stalker from Cincinnati" would make a great
pseud...
  

    
Michelle- I didn't know writing had anything to do with dieting :) But
I guess it's the formula: Self discipline.

Dan- Congrats on the play! I would love to read it. I love plays. Used
to be in a lot of them...

Len- opps. I've read the kabalah...or at least, one of the versions.
Do they say what happens if you don't fit the criteria when you read
it?

Neil- Hmmm. I've posted too much on the topic already. However,my
roomate has something to say about it, though. He's been bothering me
to get on here and say hi anyway.
  

    
I've only heard the joke once and it was the dwarf version.  Which is
just well really, I can think in an Irish accent but I can't write or
talk in one.

Dan - Very cool about the play.  :-)

Len - Feel free to digress further.  :-)

Jinx - Have you read Wicked?  I don't think I'll be able to watch
Wizard of Oz ever again.  At least, not with other people.  I'd spend
the whole time talking about the book to them until they stuffed me in
a closet.

I just got the Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms for a
class and it mentions everything from Sandman to Watchmen to the
National Lampoon movies.  Just thought I'd share.

Jen.
  

    
Hello everybody. I'm Erynn's roommate. 

Neil  :  About the Genie thing. The three wishes architype is dominant
in our modern west. Every cartoon I've ever seen and every childrens
book adopts it. The 3 wishes was a purely European addition. I think
the change had to do with the culture shift. Djinn (Arabic form of
"Genie") is equivalent to "demon." Maybe the idea of unlimited power
from a supernatural force didn't jive well with the European mentality.
They had to add a catch. The idea of wishing is also a Euro.
alteration. In the arabic version the djinn is essentially a cosmic
force to be controlled and commanded by the master, while in the Euro.,
the genie dishes out small portions of infinity when asked correctly.
I'm sure you could analyze all this hoo-ha from here to forever. But I
won't.