Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Well, my mother wouldn't let me read comics, so it's just as well our tastes
aren't the same.
  

    

My parents read neither comics nor much science fiction. Though my mother
has surprised me lately by reading the Ender books and then telling me to
read The Sparrow, saying I would like it even more than Ender's Game. I
didn't, but at least she's reading stuff I like.
Of course, it didn't help the year that my mother got me Doll's House for
XMas, she flipped through it and of course happened to open to the Cereal
Convention. She had a warped view of Sandman for a while after that.
  

    
I got my dad to read most of Snow Crash; my mom's a Pinkwater fan, but
that's cause of me.

On the other hand, I inherited much of my taste in movies from my
folks... we've been watching The Lion in Winter together for years (and
isn't that twisted?)
  

    
e-mail from Mary Roane

Martha--My dad got me into sci-fi and fantasy--he read me "Hobbit', "Lord
of the Rings", Narnia and Lloyd Alexander as a child, then I borrowed his
Clarke, Asimov, Boucher, Leiber, etc. when I got a little older.  One of
my "friends" got me into comics.  ;-p
 
Neil--hoping St. Brendan oversees your trip, and you get to 100% soon.
 
Amanda--LOVE the declaration. 
 
Read Pinkwater as an adult & wasn't as charmed as I might have been had I
been younger.  I'll go reread him & reconsider......
 
                                                                           
Mary
 
 
P.S. Taking most of next week off, so I'll say this early--Happy
Thanksgiving!  This forum is definitely something for which to be
thankful.  May you get along with everyone at the feast, and be safe if
you're traveling!
  

    
Neil - Too bad about American Gods, but I can definitely see the
difficulty in that. Will hope for stories though! ^_- And have a nice,
pleasant, non-illness-inducing flight... 

Books and Parental influence - I remember that my parents kept giving
me the 'Goodness, you're not a kid any more, quit reading that!' line
when they see me with comic books (Japanese manga, actually) in high
school, and the 'You don't have space for all that!' line when they
actually see how many comics/books I have. They've given up by now... I
did get the chinese literature gene from my dad though. Not sure if
there are any good translations of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms
(*not* a love story :P) floating around, or I'd recommend that. As for
sci fi/fantasy, it was my English teacher in 5/6th grade who read The
Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at us... and I didn't wait for her to
be finished, I ran out and bought and read it myself. ^_- Didn't
discover English/American comics till senior year of high school, and
of course the first thing that hit was Sandman (Doll's House,
actually!). ^_- 

-- Mimi

 
  

    
-If I may interject about the boxers, how about the glow-in-the-dark
ones like Michelle suggested but with little "yes" words all over them
when you turn of the lights, and "no" when you turn the lights on! 
I've always liked those. . .
  

    
I never read Pinkwater as a kid, so my admiration of him is entirely
grownup, I guess.  As for parents and science fiction: my mother disallowed
me from reading that, too, when I was in junior high.  That meant I had to
smuggle books and read at the library, is what it meant.
  

    
Happy Thanksgiving Mary!

I'm about to go "winter camping" with some friends, a trip about which
I am highly dubious.  So I appreciate your wishes for safe traveling.
  

    
My Mum actively discouraged my reading anything that wasn't school
related - she had this vision of my grandiose career as a violinist and
any time I was reading could be spent practicing. She still doesn't
know that all those times she dropped me of at the church hall to
practice I always had a book tucked away in the case. I think that
explains why I never became a virtuoso :P
  

    
My favorite Aunt Marge worked for Woolworth's - every month, when they
tore the covers off the old comics and threw them away to make room
for the new, she would bring every freakin one of them home to my
brother and I. We had them literally stacked to the ceiling. I credit
large parts of my runaway imagination to those incredible books. We had
the funny ones - Little Audrey, Richie Rich, Casper, Dennis the
Menace, etc, and the action ones = Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, The
Hulk, Fantastic Four, Wonder Woman (Goddess! I wanted to be her!) The
books were no good for collecting. because the covers were torn, but
they were sooooo good for us. Then one day mom got tired of the stacks
and stacks and she pitched them all in the garbage, along with our Davy
Crocket record. (claimed one more chorus of King of the Wild Frontier
would send her to a padded cell.) It was all good while it lasted.
  

    
Streak - Great idea for a glass globe.  Perhaps one for each of the
Endless?  Mine would be Despair sitting on a granite rock, elbows on
her knees, holding her face in her hands with very shiny spangly black
snow all around. 

Randi - Love the Wednesdays..and we Thingies are so flexible about
Tuesdays. But please..no mention of VD yet...way too early. It's bad
enough that I have to keep trying not to turn homicidal every time I
walk by my neighbor's house. He's got the ultimate Xmas megawatt winter
wonderland lighting up and running already. Grrrr...

Shira -  I sympathize with you on the subject of math.  Was never
really good at it, and just my luck, I took the NYC Real Estate
Broker's exam the other day and for the first time in decades they had
math. Arrrgh!  [I passed. *grin*]

Neil - DC shouldn't be too worried about Dream's nudity, after all,
doesn't Swampie run around in the buff?  O.K., so maybe he has a few
strategically placed mushrooms..so couldn't DC consider some discretely
placed draping for Dream?  Maybe Burgess left his cape in the room? 
Hmm..I can't see Dream in boxers..got a feeling nothing gets between
him and those black Levis. Do demi-gods even *need* underware?  And
statistically speaking about VD, break-ups might be the norm
considering the enormous pressure put on both parties. All the best
wishes for a safe trip!

Books & Comics - Loved Ancient Egyptian and Greek mythology which led
to a love of heroes and legends which eventually got me into science
fiction/fantasy and comics. I think my first scifi book was "A Wrinkle 
in Time" by Madeline L'Engle. Anyway, I got tired of the whole "macho
hero" type except Batman and stopped reading comics for a long time. 
One day back in late '82, for some reason I was in a comic book shop
and some guy hands me THE SANDMAN.  He rants and raves about it. Tells
me he'll see me back in the shop the next day for the rest.  No
kidding!  Since then I've been an avid reader and collector. One day
I'm going to find him and kick his butt for getting me addicted! ;p

Len - Have a safe trip sweetie!  Camping eh?  Did it once..Mother
Nature and I didn't see eye-to-eye. How about a Motel 6 near the
forest?  Now that's what I call 'roughing it'.  *grin*






 
  

    
        I'm not sure one could do glass-globe sculptures of the other
Endless, since Dream is the only one who's spent much time in a glass
globe.  Unless, of course, that happens to them a lot and they just
don't admit it.  "This is interesting... historical records indicating
that for 40 years nothing much happened.  Seems Destiny was in a
globe."
        As to the nudity, I just sort of assumed the sculpture would be in a
pose where his crotch was at least partly obscured, and then just leave
off his naughty bits.  Sitting cross-legged, hands in lap, bending
forward and staring balefully, for example.
  

    

One might think that the Endless only have naughty bits when they want to.
  

    

There was no Pinkwater when I was a child and oh how I wish there had
been. But I started reading him in my early thirties and have loved him
ever since, particularly the two Snarkout Boys books and Young Adult (or
Young Adult Novel, if that's the title of the alternate version). 
  

    
        I read both Snarkout Boys books as a kid, and Avocado Of Death
probably close to 10 times.  I've been meaning to read more Pinkwater
for years and years, but never remember at the right times.
  

    
Email from Jouni Koponen:

Hi there

Len - Thanks. I wouldn't have called that dry. INFORMATIVE was the term
that sprang into my mind. Just what I needed.

Have a nice weekend everybody.

Jouni
  

    
I just finished reading Lizard Music and Yobgorgle:Mystery Monster of Lake
Ontario.

Fine, funny stuff.
  

    
Email from Mary Roane:

Rocky--Congratulations!  That rocks!
 
Len--I shall think about you specially as I eat my way across Chicago
(sometimes living far from the family pays off--*everyone* invites you for
the holidays ;-p )
 
I sort of thought the Dream snow globe would be that splash page of him I
vaguely remember, face down on the floor, sort of curled up.  That way no
Dream-y naughty bits make an appearance......and Destiny's could have
little book pages floating around.....but I really want Delirium's.  Oh,
let's face it, I'd get them all.
 
Amanda--your mom encouraged you to be a musician?  That's cool.  Many
parents run in terror.
 
Maryan--you had the coolest aunt ever.  Goes off singing "kilt him a bar
when he was only 3...."
 
                                                  Mary (who's reading
"Nevermore", a mystery starring Edgar Allen Poe&....Davy Crockett)
  

    
I'm suddenly reminded of a young English Lit teacher I had at Oregon
(oooh, and he was cute too!) who decided that during his "Epic Stories"
quarter, he'd start off with Genesis and Exodus (from the bible) and
then continue with a couple of issues of Silver Surfer. 

Rocky - congrats! And I'd hate to think why you'd need to know math...

And going back to a post to afn-g from years ago, I'd like my Dream
glass globe with accessories consisting of pouch, helm and ruby, just
out of reach of the Sandman. :)

-squeaks, who updated her webpage recently - and there are photos of
the Leeloo outfit on both the 'me' page and 'fogphoto3'
<shameless plug> http://www.snafu.org/michelle/ </plug>
  

    
Madman - One would think..wouldn't one? [Personally, I don't think
Destiny has any naughty bits..at least I hope not!]  

Mary - Thanks!   ;)

Michelle - Gotta figure out percentages for mortages, loan to value
reations, commissions and even maintenance/carrying charges on co-ops. 
Numbers my life!  *ack!*
  

    

Miss-Mousey- I have to ask. Which issues?
  

    
Email from Jen:

I do share some book tastes with my dad, though not as much as in junior
high/high school.  He got me on Poe and Verne in elementary school and
back in junior high I borrowed all of his Stephen King, Michael Chrichton
and Sherlock Holmes stuff.  Also borrowed all of his mad magazines, b.c.
books and mythology books when I was little.  I really credit him and my
older brother with getting me hooked on reading, there was always plenty
of stuff lying around to pick up.  I bought him Good Omens a year ago but
he promptly got stuck on page 11.  Couldn't get him to read Small Gods
either.  Found a great old copy of The Man Who Was Thursday for him last
year, have to remember to make sure he read that at least.  My mom on the
other hand just complains that I read too much and should spend money on
other things.  Not quite sure what those things are though.

Was in Half Price yesterday and saw a collection of Daniel Pinkwater
stuff;  decided to trust ya'll and bought it.  Wish I would have come
across this when I was younger but I guess then it wouldn't be something
new for me to enjoy now.

Dream in silk boxers... hmmmmm

Michelle - great Leeloo outfit.  :-)

Jen.  (who also had the davy crockett record when she was little and who
is _this close_ to being out of debt and can subscribe to the well after
christmas)
  

    
Neil, what is the book "Breakthrough" about? I did a search for
"Gaiman, Neil" on the internet card catalog for the high school I'm
applying to (!!!!) and that's what came up. Any info. you can give me?

-shira
  

    
Um...apparently I was drunk on Tazo tea during my last post. That
should be "loan to value ratios" and "numbers are my life!"  Jeeze. 
  

    
Shira -- it's a book about, or celebrating, the fall of the Berlin
Wall. Dave mcKean and I have two pages in there -- it's just a little
ponder about walls, really. Nothing more.

***

Spent today mostly getting smoke squrted at me for hour after hour
while my photo was taken. Probably the book jacket will use the one
roll from the end of a four hour shoot where they didn't bother with
the smoke machine. Cough. Cough.

Also had a meeting at which (nextnovel).com was planned. It should
have a lot of fun things on it.

***

Physically am not 100% yet, but am resting and writing with a fountain
pen and not using the computer much (except for this once) and that is
a good thing.  It's nice to be doing the scenes that the book needed
to be pulled together...