Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
worm and fuzzy? 

*sigh*

well, warm, worm, whatever....
  

    <scribbled by dfowlkes Tue 3 Jul 12 10:14>
  

    
Dan Wilson is my new best friend.
  

    
Mostly just wanted to pop in to add a belated Happy Hannukah to anyone
who wants one.

Rick: I loved your description of the actual experience of things so
fast and powerful.  Some things are just a rush!  My brother-in-law is
really into car racing.  He builds custom, high-performance steering
boxes for race cars.  He helped develop a prototype with Carrol Shelby
and has worked with the Newman team.  I was lucky enough, when I worked
in TV, to meet some cool people.  I confess to going a little fangirl
over Mario Andretti--at the time he was the only person ever to win
both the Indy 500 and the Formula 1, I believe.  Johnny Rutherford was
very nice and really funny, too.

But the best story I have about raw power goes back to that airshow. 
(Thanks for the correction re: Harriers' development, BTW.  I hate
propagating bad information.)  We saw the Harriers, then the Air Force
had their moment.  And then, in the middle of various flybys and
announcements about the awesome speed, firepower, etc., they announced
that the planes had to leave.  They took off, the Harriers cleared out,
everybody skeedaddled.  And the crowd collectively turned around to
watch in stunned fascination as the biggest, blackest, wildest wall of
clouds and wind and rain rolled straight at us.  It was awesome.  I've
honestly never seen anything like it.  When it hit, tents went flying,
camouflage took wing, lawn chairs rocketed across the field, hats left
heads forever, coats were ripped open, people were huddling together
and walking bent at angles into the wind and rain.

I just stood (huddling) with my friends and laughed and laughed and
laughed.

I figure Mother Nature had had enough of all that bragging, and had
decided to show us what *real* power was all about.  And all the pretty
toys ran away.
  

    
*purrrrrrrr*
  

    
Tara - I'm pretty sure that you meant "The Last Uni*corn*" back there,
though my knowledge of Beagle's work is less-than-encyclopedic.

Pamela - Yeah, Mother Nature has to let us all know who's boss every
now and again.

Mario Andretti was my favorite driver growing up, and one of my best
friends still goes all fangirl over him.  I have pictures of her
meeting him at a book signing, and I picked up a signed hardcover of
his new biography that just came out for her for Christmas.  We have a
good arrangement - we don't necessarily buy things for each other for
birthdays or Christmas, but if we see something the other person
absolutely MUST have, we get it.

BTW, Mario is the only American (technically, I guess he's
naturalized, since he was born in Italy) to win both the Indy 500 and
the Formula One World Championship.  Jim Clark and Graham Hill had done
it before him, and now Jacques Villeneuve has also done it.  Still,
very select company, and no driver has ever (or will ever, most likely)
match Mario's accomplishments in all forms of racing.

Racing tends to look all clinical most of the time on TV (except for
the crashes), when in person, it's this incredibly visceral thing.  The
cars sound and act like they are alive and *angry*.  I'm already
planning which races I want to attend next year - I'll probably go to
at least two in August and maybe a third, plus some historical stuff
that's more local.  Can't wait! 
  

    
Rick - Yay to new places, an abundance of cabinets, and room for cats
to go insane in!

Pam - decorate-your-own-gingerbread-man-party? The only one of those
I've ever been to turned hysterically obscene in the first 10 minutes
and went further into the gutter from there (we tried to re-make scenes
from Tarantino movies at one point). And Emma Bull very muchly does
exist, and can't be bribed with Tim Tams (shock!) or even a spare
kidney, but is otherwise extremely nice and all. (I took a picture of
Neil introducing Tree to Emma - funniest moment at Book Soup, second
only to Neil doing the Alan Moore impression and calling himself 'scary
trousers'.

Tree - Tikki tikki tembo... LOL! My 1st grade teacher actually *did*
run out of breathe reading that to us and started coughing - I still
remember it and laugh.

comfort books - Peter Pan (but only with illustrations by Trina Schart
Hyman - no relation), and The Princess Bride. Ooh, and any choral book
with any arrangement I've sung a part of. Tho' this last tends to only
apply when I'm actually singing in a choir.

btw, went singing all over the City on Sunday (not Saturday, like I
thought originally) - had so much fun! There are a few of us regulars
who all came from different UCB choirs but meet up each year carolling,
so this year we dubbed ourselves the '90s X-mas crew' and challenged
ourselves by constantly changing parts. Tenors were singing alto and
soprano, altos sang tenor, sopranos jumped down to alto and as no one
else could hit the notes, the basses just made up new bass lines. :)
The best stop was at the childrens' wing at UCSF Med Ctr. 

Speaking of choir stuff, if anyone remembers Shira, she just sent me a
download link for "Lo How A Rose", which she sang in a trio with her
choir. She's the 2nd Soprano. Sounds all pretty and stuff. 

http://www.geocities.com/s_hir_a/lo_how_a_rose.MP3 
  

    
Rick: Oops, again.  The only *American* is what I must have
remembered.  Have fun at the races!

JaNell: Congratulations on your two new endeavors in the Tennesse
literary world!  They sound like such wonderful opportunities to build
hope and community; I hope they go fabulously.  And I really hope you
get a mentor.  I don't think you should be disqualified; I think it
should be required.  As in, you need to be an "example," right?  I
mean, you're making up the rules, aren't you?  Just put some bylines in
to keep it from being misused by anybody and go for it!  Because you
definitely need someone to tell you that it *doesn't* stink.

DanW: I *do* need a prompter.  At most times and in most places. But
;p to you, just the same.

Kathy/Jinx/Rocky: The "romance" issue reminded me of my favorite genre
essay ever--"Dr. Doyle's SF Genre Rant."  (copywrite)  Dr. Debra Doyle
contends that the SF novel is truly a "romance--again in the
taxonomical, rather than sales-rack sense."  I tend to agree with her
wholeheartedly.  Especially when she says: "Richness of Invention...
will take precedence over Realism every time."

(Please note: I don't think she means that research should go out the
window by that.)

You can read the whole thing here, and you should (especially the
first two paragraphs):

http://www.sfwa.org/writing/genre2.htm

(Mousey slipped.  No, it was a very well-behaved gingerbread man
party.)
  

    
Uiskejack/Tara: have you got the second Mairelon book, MAGICIAN'S WARD, and
if so, did you like it?

Pamela: re Mother Nature having had enough of all that bragging, and
therefore saying, "Oh, you liked that?  Watch THIS!", there was a time at
the Winnipeg Folk Festival a bunch of years back, when they decided to
follow the mainstage evening show with a brief but lovely display of
fireworks. We all oohed and ahhed, and then walked back to the campground
where our tents were, to have a very late snack and then think about making
a little music around the campfire before bed. As we and a few hundred other
campers went about these little tasks, the night sky started to dance the
aurora borealis.

It was really cool. Curtains and writhing sheets of colored cold flame,
swirls and radiating lines of light that pulsed and shimmered.

Somebody in the campground started applauding, and we all gave Mother Nature
a standing ovation. And everybody had big goofy grins of delight, because
sometimes it's just such a pure joy to see a pro do her stuff and blow
everybody else off the stage.

Ooh, segueway: one of the people applauding was Emma Bull; she was one of
the founding members of our Winnipeg Folk Festival campsite, "The Village".
So was Steve Brust, but I can't remember if he was there the year of the
really cool aurora. Anyhow, they and the rest of Cats Laughing played at my
thirtieth birthday party dance, opening for Boiled In Lead.  It was big fun.
And the other day, I found the master tape of it, which I promptly mislaid
again; I really should make a better copy of that, for archival purposes. It
was a lovely show, and a good birthday, even if I did sprain my ankle
dancing to BoldNed and have to walk with a cane for the rest of the weekend.
(Neil, I wish you had been around this part of the world then, because I
long for you to have seen and heard Beth Meacham and Tappan King singing the
Fishheads song on helium in the consuite at o-dark-thirty. *snrch*) Going to
the track with Mike and winning wasn't a bad way to celebrate a birthday
weekend, either.
  

    
"Fish heads, fish heads,
Roly poly fish heads
Fish heads, fish heads,
Eat them up, yum!"
  

    
Pamela and Good Mistress Mousey Accost *both* slipt.

Oh, and PETER PAN is one of my comfort books too, but only with the Roy Best
illustrations, which came out a half-century or more ago, and which were the
pictures in the copy the library had, back in the days when I was a library
rat.

[Note to self: must find copy of that, somewhere out in the wide world.]
  

    
Somebody else slipt too, now! Up from under the post I was writing they came
in, just when the post I was ready to enter.
  

    
So, Neil, were you at one time in a band with a man named Geoffrey
Notkin?  A good friend of mine worked with him at Routledge Press and
insists he had a picture of you guys in a band together.  Are you a
musician?  Is someone (probably me) confused?
  

    
<lioness> That sounds like the best birthday ever.  Beth Meacham
singing the Fish Heads song?!?  On helium?!?

I've always, always wanted to see the Northern Lights.

I've seen the Midnight Sun, though, so that's cool.  (And actually I
saw it alot, because I couldn't sleep.)
  

    
My two comfort books are Frank Herbert's "God Emperor of Dune" and
"The God in Flight" by Laura Argiri. Right now I'm frantically
re-reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  I *will* remember all those
characters whose names the years have worn away.  [Yeah, right.]
  

    
neil,  I was updating my wishlist at Amazon (which is a godsend - no
more Very Interesting Items for Xmas from my relatives) and I saw Anne
Bobby listed as a reader for the soon-to-be-published Murder Mysteries
audiobook. Is she the same Anne Bobby as was in Nightbreed? You
mentioned the name at one of your talks at MadCon. I had meant to ask
you about her at the time, but didn't. I like very much what little I
know of her as an actress. She kind of disappeared from film, although
I think she was in Law and Order one episode. 

Oh, also, it lists the audiobook for MM as being abridged. Will there
also be a complete version? 
  

    
85 new messages? (blinks.) I may miss a few...

working backwards... 

Maure, same Anne Bobby. She was in many other things -- from Happiness
to Cop Rock, and has just had her first book published (LOVE ME OR
LEASH ME).

The audio version of Murder Mysteries is A) *not* abridged and B) not
coming out. Letters from Lawyers to the would-be publisher pointed out
that buying the master tape from a bankrupt company, and buying the
right to make a book of something, are two different things.

The audio of Murder Mysteries and Snow Glass Apples will come out from
Harper Collins in the second half of 2002.

Adriana -- you can see a photo of me and Geoff in a band in 1976 or 77
in the back of The Kindly Ones.

Rocky -- Diana certainly did give me a blurb for AG. Bless her.

Kathy -- hurrah! Cabell is plentiful and cheap, so you should find
Figures of Earth without too much trouble. It's so much fun.

Pamela -- we made it graceful because we cheated.  And I don't know
who kissed me on the cheek, but if she had dark hair and was tall and
thin, it was probably Emma, yes. (If not, it could have been anybody.)

Tree -- You know, Holly got all the Tim Tams.

Ninave -- the Midnight Rose books... I got dragooned in by some
friends, having invented Temps a few years earlier, and then during the
pitch meeting I made up The Weerde. And when the third book
evaporated, I suggested Villains. 

Other people (Roz, Mary Gentle, Alec Stewart) did the real work -- all
the editing and heavy lifting. I did a story with Roz Kaveney in The
Weerde (book 1) -- I think I did the first draft and Roz did the second
and then I polished it, and I wrote a chunk of the interstitial
material in the first TEMPS.

mary, Tara, Maure  -- I think that Chris really IS that embarrassed in
front of an audience. But he relaxed over dinner.
  

    
Jo - I like romance, too.  Actually, if I ever become a teacher, I'll
send people off to study how Jude Deveraux writes dialogue...in fact, a
bit of what I know about dialogue and characterization comes from her.
 She's really quite good....I considered writing romance, because, on
occasion, I really enjoy it, but any attempts I make at it bores me to
tears.  I can't tell you why....I'll sit there, typing away, and I go,
"You know?  It's be really, really cool if when the heroine turns the
corner she finds a dead body....or a dragon...a dragon hovering over a
dead body.  Yeah, that's the ticket."  And you know, that's not part of
that genre's set of conventions.

The point?  Oh yeah!  There was one!!!  I like them too, and there
should be no shame in admitting it.  My recent soap box has been all
about how we allow collegiate snobbery to ruin a good time, but I think
I won't go into that now.

<hears sighs of relief, and sticks her tounge out in the sighs general
direction>

Phantom Toll Booth?  you know, that's the fourth?  times someone has
mentioned that book to me in a month!  It must be a sign that I should
excavate my copy.  I'm vaguely surprised and pleased, because so many
people...like, usually, when a big group of people mention a book I
sort of nod and go, "Should read that." and feel very behind the times.
 But I read it, too, as a kid (and as a very little kid the cover
scared me, for some reason....) and so, for once, I feel like I'm with
it.  It's a surprisingly nice feeling.

Woah.  Dude.  Totally misread that post.  "Phantom of the Opera" Scuse
me while I go wash my glasses.   

Comfort books!  "Dragonsbane", by Barbara Hambly...actually, maybe I
have comfort authors, not books....I used to find Sylvia Plath very
comforting.  And "A Knight in Shining Armor" by Jude Deveraux.  Which I
never thought I'd confess to in public...and, honestly, the Sandman
series, because I always thought it must be nice, to be like Dream, and
to be able to take care of everything so easily, then you realize he
made a muck of it just like everyone else.  


Bill!  That is SO cool! I've never heard of doing it, and I shall list
it on my things to do.  How long is this pie good for?  Do you have to
keep it warm to make it smell nice?

JaNell:  What a cool idea!  Now wish I lived closer to Knoxville.  ;) 
BTW, you don't need anyone to tell you your writing stinks.  If I
thought it was terrible, I wouldn't have said the nice things I did.  

Maure...if I may ask, why does that dictionary anger you?  And I feel
if you're going to buy a Webster's, go collegiate, because the other
version doesn't have hardly any of the words.  No reason to add that
in, just did....

Now, for an uncomforting book....I finished, actually read Richard
Bachman’s book (Stephen King’s name is also on the cover) The Long
Walk.  It was the most horrifying, terrible, amazing and tremendous
book I’ve ever read. I did not read it because I was enjoying myself, I
read it because I could not tear my eyes away from the page.   It was
also probably the best bit of social commentary Ala Shirley Jackson
that I’ve ever read.

So cool, let’s look at the other side of the coin....what books do you
all find uncomforting?  
  

    
Hey, neat!  Neil slipped.....thanks, kind sir.  :D  I was trying to
figure out where to put it on the homepage/Neil's books section....

Those books were one of the few things I failed to get on Interlibrary
Loan..  And I was the one who put everyone in awe because I managed to
ILL something from the Library of Congress. Oh, I miss that job.  
  

    

I boggle at the thought of finding Sylvia Plath comforting.
Granted, I've read The Bell Jar about a half dozen times... but one of those
times I had to put it down because I just couldn't cope.

I'm not sure I have any comfort books. Though the graphic novel of Stardust
is rapidly becoming one. Sometimes when I just need something light I'll
reread the Belgariad or, if a little deeper, Amber. Both I can almost quote
word for word so that helps.

The only book I read once a year is A Book of Five Rings. Though the Boomer
Bible is close.
  

    
Ninave~No, I *always* assume the worst; it's just safer that way.
  

    
Part of the post that disappeared last night was my list of comfort
books--I was too tired to recreate it later.  So here goes:

Mostly I have comfort music--particularly things I have sung--Miss
Mousey said it best.  Sometimes I just need a little Verdi's Requiem,
you know?  In books, it tends to be things I read when I was much
younger--Tolkien, McCaffrey, Narnia, and the Chronicles of Prydain by
Lloyd Alexander.  And Good Omens.  And anything by Andrew Greeley (talk
about romances!)  And Hamlet.  And Donne.  And Smoke and Mirrors.

OK, my Chanukah candles have almost burned out 'cause I'm yammering on
so long.  Enough!

Mary (who just finished The Last Hot Time and loved it.  A lot.)
  

    
Ninave--
The pies will last basically as long as you want them to, as when they
run out of scent they can be easily "refilled" by sprinkling a couple
of tablespoons of potpourri oil on them. The ones we've made are apple
pie scented.

The Long Walk is quite possibly my favorite King work ever, though the
Dark Tower series is right up there. The first time I read "Walk" was
in about 8th grade, and nearly jumped out of my skin when the phone
rang during a critical plot moment.

Comfort books: Clive Barker's Imajica, Weaveworld and Great and Secret
Show, King's Stand, Neverwhere, and all of the Hitchhikers books but
particularly Restaurant, because that is inexplicably where I started
reading,.
  

    
Neil,  Hmm. That must be a question you've answered multiple times
before. I'll look for the answer in previously published bits of
information next time. I usually do find the answers to any questions I
have very easily, but Amazon confuses me when they offer things as
available - like Harlequin Valentine. Sorry to hear about the copyright
infringement, but I'm glad to hear that MM is coming out eventually
with Snow, Glass, Apples.

Ninave,  You know, I don't really know why they frustrate me so much.
I haven't used one in a really long time. I just remember trying to
find certain words, and not finding them everytime. And also, I
remember noting that the words had strangely biased definitions, using
a lot of connotation in the definition rather than just the genus and
differential. It bothered me. I'm neurotic. Don't mind the girl behind
the curtain.

Comfort music! I have three albums that are essential comfort music
for me: Stan Getz (introducing Jimmy Rowles): the Peacocks, the score
of Edward Scissorhands, and Brad Meldau's Art of the Trio Vol. 3. 
  

    
I spelled Brad's last name wrong. It's Mehldau. He's an absolutely
magnificent pianist. I wrote a screenplay for a competition once based
on his music - the central character, the themes, and the rhythm of the
sp were inspired by him. I lost the competition, but it's one of the
top things of which I'm most proud, that I finished the damned thing.
Anyway, if any of you like jazz (not elevator jazz, mind you), I
suggest getting some of his albums. And if you don't like jazz, but
like piano, get his Elegiac Cycles. It's gorgeous.