tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59507306898266661212024-03-08T05:17:21.135+01:00Henderson's The Literary ManWriting | Reviews | OpinionAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055622554886316064noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5950730689826666121.post-81629734275424769412013-03-02T21:48:00.001+01:002013-03-02T21:51:49.729+01:00Book Review: The Misremembered Man, by Christina McKenna<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004ZMWUCU/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004ZMWUCU&linkCode=as2&tag=theveniexpe-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B004ZMWUCU&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=theveniexpe-20" ></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theveniexpe-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B004ZMWUCU" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">If you want to know how to write a novel, read this book and pay attention. There are moments of brilliant writing, and the story itself is a well-crafted and tightly woven work masterfully done.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">The story takes place in Ireland, and revolves around Jamie McCloone, a farmer who had been raised in an orphanage until the age of ten, and Lydia Devine, a school teacher who, even at forty-one, is subject to her demanding mother. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">In the orphanage Jamie was abused and tortured by the nuns. The children under their “care” were systematically beaten, starved, hired out as slaves, denied decent food, clothing, and warmth, and were otherwise abused. The sections of the story dealing with this are quite disturbing, and based on true events. The end result is that Jamie was deprived of that part of his childhood, suffers from depression, and on occasion entertains suicide. He has been left to live on his own by the death of his uncle.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Lydia had been raised by a Protestant pastor and his wife, with the result that she is sexually and socially repressed. She longs to be free of her mother and to have a husband.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Lydia and Jamie are both searching for a partner of the opposite sex. Lydia’s friend convinces her to place a personal ad in the paper (the story takes place in 1974, before the internet or cell phones). Jamie’s friends convince him to look in the paper for such an ad. He finds Lydia’s and writes to her. That’s all I’ll tell you about the plot. The story is told in three parallel threads. The present-day story of Jamie and Lydia, and occasional flashbacks to the orphanage.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">More than the plot, though, the book is about the soul-crushing effect of organized religion, and the human spirit’s ability to overcome it if left free of it. It’s about how the horrors and repression that spring naturally from religion are thrust upon children with devastating effect.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">My only criticism is that it was written in the omniscient voice, and that the end was somewhat rushed. We often hopped from one person’s thoughts to another within the same paragraph. Although this is not normally done today, it was not offensive.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">It is a great read. Five stars.</span><br />
<div><br />
</div></div><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=theveniexpe-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B004ZMWUCU" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><br />
<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055622554886316064noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5950730689826666121.post-36187438592200479482013-02-04T16:24:00.001+01:002013-03-02T21:38:58.208+01:00Book Review: The Shining, by Stephen King<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001BANK32/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001BANK32&linkCode=as2&tag=theveniexpe-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B001BANK32&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=theveniexpe-20" ></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theveniexpe-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B001BANK32" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Although I wrote a novel that I call literary with elements of horror, I have never read a horror novel. So, I thought it high time. They say you should read in the genre in which you write, and it has been suggested to me that my novel, although horror by definition, had an issue with respect to the timing of the horror. I needed to find out how the master did it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">This book was first published in 1977, and made into a movie by Stanley Kubrik in 1980. The movie follows the plot pretty well, but the story varies substantially in many details. If you have to read this book for school, don’t rely on the movie to get you through.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I was surprised by the literary quality of the book. The writing here is excellent. There is subtlety, nuance, and metaphor. To a large extent it is a study of human nature and family life, exploring alcoholism and domestic violence, and the things that give rise to them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">For example, the main character, Jack Torrance, is an English teacher aspiring to be a writer, who has a problem with booze and anger. His father before him had a problem with booze and anger, and there is no doubt that such goes back innumerable generations. Jack has trouble keeping a job. In fact, the story opens with him at a job interview for a position as the winter caretaker of a large hotel in the Rockies. He has been fired from his job teaching at a private school, has little money, and a family to support.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Jack’s wife, Wendy, also had problems with her family. She and her mother don’t get a long, and her mother hates her husband. Actually, no one can blame her. As a protag, Jack is not all that likable.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Their son, Danny, whom they call “Doc,” has an imaginary friend he calls “Tony.” Tony tells Danny things. Such as where the trunk with his dad’s manuscripts are when it’s been misplaced, and that he should not go to the hotel for the winter. He shows Danny events of the future. This talent, we learn later, is “the shining.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Jack gets the job at the hotel, which will be isolated and snowed in all winter. This is a worry for the management, as one of the previous caretakers lost it and killed his family. This doesn’t worry Jack, though, as he is working on a play, and needs the isolation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">When they show up to the hotel, they meet the cook, Mr. Hallorann, who senses that Danny has “the shining.” He is able to tell the future and to read minds. He warns Danny never to go into room 217. He realizes that he and Danny can communicate through mental telepathy, and the tells Danny to send him a message if they need help.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Well, it doesn’t take anyone with the shining to know that the boy can’t keep away from room 217, and therein begin the problems.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">The hotel, which is full of spirits, slowly takes over Jack’s mind, and King slowly builds the tension. Wendy is actually seeing the things, such as the elevator running by itself, hearing music and voices, confetti in the elevator, and so on. Jack is convinced by the hotel spirits that he needs to punish his wife and child “most harshly.” This he ultimately endeavors to do with a mallet for a game similar to croquet called “roque.” </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">The book is masterfully written. The only thing that drags it down the hole of genre fiction is the fact that the evil is supernatural. If Jack had slowly gone insane without the aid of the evil forces occupying the hotel, even if the boy had some sort of ESP, the novel would have been literary. So, if only Jack could hear the music and see the confetti, or other apparitions, all of which Wendy sees as well, the story would have changed from one of ghosts to one of a man haunted by his own demons (to use a cliché). Demons such as his father’s drunkenness and brutality toward his mother, his own alcoholism, violent temper, and failure as a teacher and as a writer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">The point is that the writing is very good, and the structure and pace is literary. As mentioned above, it has metaphor. For example, in the course of repairing the roof, Jack finds a big wasp’s nest. The nest and its inhabitants becomes a metaphor for the hotel and the evil that occupies it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">One can also think of the isolation and the constantly howling wind to be a metaphor for Jack’s state of mind. As an alcoholic who has quit drinking, he is constantly hounded with the desire to have a drink, as well as the pressures of supporting a family and writing. He has isolated himself from his family due to his drinking and temper. The same things led him to be unable to keep a job. And he has a good case of writer’s block. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">At the beginning of this review I alluded to my own novel. Structurally, it is similar to The Shining. The horror is not thrown in your face early. It builds up over time, with hints of it coming now and then, intertwined with serious character development and back story. The real scary part does not come until well into the novel, over half way through. This is where the genre has been bent by King. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">If one looks for a definition of the horror genre, it is to the effect that it is designed primarily to scare the reader. Although The Shining has some frightening scenes, it clearly is not intended only to frighten. It is meant to explore character, and the relationships between people. How people are shaped by their parents. How people blame others for misfortunes brought on themselves by their own actions, although these action have predictable outcomes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Not until the last quarter of the book do we realize through Wendy that what is going on in the hotel is not purely in Jack’s mind. This is the point that it moves from being a work in the literary genre to one in the horror genre. This turning point is very frightening, but it didn’t seem to me that the point to the book was to scare.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">What I see is a talented writer who has been cast as a horror writer by ‘Salem’s Lot and Carrie, attempting to write something with literary merit, while at the same time sticking to the genre that made him famous. Consider how many of his books have been made into movies. He succeeded here in producing a work that should appeal to lovers of good literary novels, as well as to horror fans. Five stars.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">P.S. Although I like the book and felt that it was well-written, as writer, I did not find it inspiring. Many times when I read something by authors such as Nick Cave or Cormac McCarthy, I am inspired by the writing. I found The Shining to be informative, in that it is a good example of character development, introduction of little details to help us understand the people and to give a sense of place, and how to pepper in back story. But while there were wonderful moments so far as the writing is concerned, it did not inspire me to write.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br />
</span> </div><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=theveniexpe-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B001BANK32" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><br />
<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055622554886316064noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5950730689826666121.post-60887860571563697382013-01-12T21:04:00.001+01:002013-03-02T21:41:46.132+01:00Book Review: Lionel Asbo, State of England, by Martin Amis<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007EED4OY/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B007EED4OY&linkCode=as2&tag=theveniexpe-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B007EED4OY&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=theveniexpe-20" ></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theveniexpe-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B007EED4OY" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">This is the first, and so far only, book by Martin Amis I’ve read.<br />
<br />
Lionel Asbo is the story of a working-class Brit career criminal who wins 140 million pounds in the lottery, while in jail, off of a ticket he stole, and had his nephew fill out and mail in.<br />
<br />
ASBO is a Brit acronym for “Anti-social Behavior Order,” a fact that is alluded to very briefly in the book, and would be lost on Americans. You can learn more about it here. Essentially, it’s meant to be a court order against behavior that is not necessary illegal, but which is (you might guess) anti-social. Such as drinking too much. It’s similar, I suppose, to our restraining orders, but more broad. I suspect they would be unconstitutional in the US.<br />
<br />
The book is written from the point of view of Lionel, and his nephew Desmond (Des), who is half black (not scoring him any points in the social echelon into which he was born). The book opens with Des writing a letter to the Brit counterpart of Dear Abby, because he’s having sexual relations with his grandmother. His grandmother, though, had seven children by the time she was eighteen (starting when she was twelve, as did Desmond’s mom, now dead), so she is only thirty nine while this is going on. This age acceleration is a constant in the book, as Asbo himself is only twenty-one, and his mother (Des’s grandmother) ends up in a home with some mental disorder at the age of about forty-two. Lionel speaks about that age as though it were unbelievably ancient. This is all part of the irony or satire that Amis uses to poke fun at the cultural abyss that is working-class Brit (and US) society.<br />
<br />
One of the elements adding tension in the book is the fact that Lionel has done great violence to those having relations with his mother, and Des would prefer to keep it secret.<br />
<br />
The book is often funny, unless you’re like me, and consider the culture of the western world to be . . . I don’t know . . . shit. Here’s a guy who is trying (unsuccessfully) to make a career from stealing other people’s things. When we meet him, he’s in jail for receiving stolen goods. His cell mate is in for having a fat dog. The same man popped a ligament getting up from the couch after watching TV for eleven hours. Lionel tells him, “you’ve got to brush up on you ideas, mate.” (sic).<br />
<br />
Although certainly funny moments, I watched in horror as this completely psycho-socio-pathic monster is thrust into the world of men by virtue of the fact that he won a vast sum of money from a stolen ticket. He is thrown out of two very swanky hotels in London, and ends up in a hotel that caters to rock stars and other vermin. So they are used to the suddenly rich low-brow. At least the rock star (arguably) has a talent for which there is high demand, warranting the large sums of money they have. Lionel, on the other hand, has done nothing. He has actually done less than nothing, because by all rights, he should be in the penitentiary for a long time. Live, even. He is a murderer and a parasite on society. Nevertheless, through no efforts of his own, he becomes rich and famous. This itself is a comment on popular culture (if the word “culture” can rightly be used).<br />
<br />
In contrast, Des is very intelligent, goes to school, marries, gets a good job as a journalist, and starts a family. He is the only one who is not standing with his hand out to get some of his uncle Li’s money. In fact, all he wants from uncle Li is use of the room in their tiny flat, which Lionel uses to store stolen property, for their baby’s nursery. Uncle Li, of course, is so self-centered and sociopathic, that he refuses the request. He does pay the rent, but it has strings.<br />
<br />
Buried in the story is Lionel’s sexual deviancy. For one, he prefers porn to actual women. “You know where you are with porn.” But when he becomes rich he is pursued by women. He has his DILFs and MILFs (divorcees I’d like to fuck, and moms I’d like to fuck, respectively). But it seems that he can’t have relations with them without beating them up. Bad. This will be his undoing. This may well be the part of the book that requires the most in-depth examination and analysis, but I’m not able to do it.<br />
<br />
Amis is a Brit writer living in the US. The story and the language are very Brit. I don’t suppose he can help it. So, there are some Brit references (not the least of which is ASBO) that Americans will miss. You will generally understand the dialogue, but don’t expect to understand everything in the book.<br />
<br />
I found the book to be entertaining and funny. But it’s also disturbing and difficult. There were times when I had to go back to see if I missed something, and there were times when I had to read a paragraph two or three times to figure out what he’s saying. There are a couple paragraphs that I had to give up on and move along. Although humorous and ironic in places, it’s not an easy read.<br />
<br />
Did I like the book? Not really. I thought the premise was good, and that it had a lot of potential. I was hoping for an important literary work. And although it had moments that satisfied that, I found the language to be often uninteresting and nearly opaque. I never settled into a flow. I felt that reading it was uncomfortable. Not for its subject or message, which I'm in accordance with, but for the sometimes unclear way it was written.<br />
<br />
Should you read it? Yeah, you probably should, for the same reason I read <i>Atlas Shrugged</i>: So you can talk about it at dinner parties.<br />
<br />
</div><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=theveniexpe-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B007EED4OY" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055622554886316064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5950730689826666121.post-88499904266328379342013-01-05T09:09:00.000+01:002013-01-05T09:09:17.853+01:00What is Literary Fiction?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">When a person decides to become a writer, one of the things they have to do is decide what kind of writer they will be. That is, in what genre will they write. And pick you must. You must be able to tell a prospective agent what genre your novel is. (And whatever you do, don’t tell them that your great work defies genre. You will look like an amateur and a fool.) I’ve decided to write literary fiction. Why? Because that’s how I am and what I read. And as they say, always write what you know, and read widely in your chosen genre.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">As easy as it sounds, though, it is not all that simple to choose the right genre for your book. But you really must know before you start; each genre has its own structure. Certain things are supposed to happen at certain times in a story, depending on its genre. Oh, you’re an artist, you say. You are not bound by these rules. It stifles your creativity. Wrong. Ignore the genre and its structure, and you will never publish.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">There are two types of fiction: genre and literary. So, what makes a novel literary? There’re a lot of opinions about that, and a lot of disagreement. Some say that genre is plot-driven, and literary is character-driven. (Whatever that means) People who read genre expect an exciting plot, while literary fiction can explore character, and delve into philosophical questions. So, does literary fiction lack a plot? No.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Maybe literary fiction comes about with the use of fancy words and flowery language. No. Please. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The cynical will say that literary fiction is fiction that doesn’t sell. Well, if that were true, why are we talking about it? Why are there hundreds of agents who represent literary fiction? Sure, it sells less than genre, but that’s okay. Pop music sells more than classical, but that doesn’t mean that pop is better. Most of it is pure, unadulterated crap. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I believe that the only material difference between literary fiction and genre fiction is that in literary fiction there is a meaning under the surface. Maybe symbolism, metaphor, or irony. The story has subtlety and nuance. In horror, for example, the story is meant to scare you. What happens is what happens, and that’s it. There’s no hidden meaning. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Ever take a lit class? I still remember one of my favorite teachers in high school, Mr. Kent, who taught a series of such classes, saying, “Yes, but what does it mean?” When you read a horror novel, or a romance novel, you are not sitting around afterward asking yourself what it means. It’s right there. They may have decent characters, and they must have a driving plot, but there’s no nuance. No deep philosophical meaning.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">For example, when a guy is stuck to a door with a knife in a horror flick, it’s just a guy stuck to the door. In a literary work, it could represent the crucifixion of Christ.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Back to plot-driven and character-driven. Some people interpret this to mean that a literary novel has no plot. This is not true, and it cannot be true. A lot of new writers who fancy themselves to be literary authors, just write pretty words about things. They describe events in flowery language. “Purple prose.” But nothing is really happening in the story. It lacks plot. If nothing happens, then there is no story. So, even a literary novel must have a plot.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Consider the works of Cormac McCarthy. These are without a doubt literary works. I’ve read that he’s being considered for a Nobel Prize. It don’t get more literary than that. Yet his books are full of violence. They contain many horrible, bloody, and terrifying moments. But they are not genre. Why not? Why are they not “thrillers?” The reason is, there’s more to the novel than what you see on the surface. (By the way, if you want to know how to write, read his books. His prose is as lean as prose can be. You will learn from it.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">A literary fiction novel must have a plot. The main character must start at point A and go to point B, and be changed in some way. It must still have a story arc. A climax. Resolution. It doesn’t have to hit you in the face, and any decent writer will be able to do it without it being obvious, but it must be there. It’s not necessary for there to be violence, a shootout, or a chase, but there has to be conflict, even if within the character’s mind. Without conflict there is no story.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">One question that has haunted me is whether literary fiction can have supernatural elements. Can a vampire novel be a literary novel with vampires in it? Or does the presence of vampires mean that it is not literary, but horror by definition. Certainly the writing of a horror novel can be quite literary. That’s why I’ve seen the term “literary horror” being tossed around. But I’m not sure it’s a bona fide genre. I’ve been told by a professional in the industry that the mere presence of ghouls in my story means that it’s horror. By definition. (And since it doesn’t follow the structure of the genre, is unpublishable).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">After giving that question careful consideration, I’ve come to the conclusion that she’s right. Just as there’s no crying in baseball, there’re no ghouls in literary fiction.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Literary fiction can be violent, scary, funny, moving, just about anything you want, but not supernatural, unless it’s something imagined by the character.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">So, what is a literary novel? </span><br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">A character-driven story (meaning it has a plot) that has meaning greater than the action on the surface</span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Grounded in realism. </span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">No supernatural or paranormal.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Clean writing, not flowery, no exaggerated gestures of facial expressions (“His mouth slowly curled into a half smile”)</span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Can be funny or scary</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"> What do you think?</span><br />
<br />
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055622554886316064noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5950730689826666121.post-36956099608089306442012-12-18T09:38:00.001+01:002012-12-18T09:38:44.367+01:00The Next Big Thing : A Beast in Venice blog meme<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I’ve been asked by my friend <a href="http://author.bethbarany.com/" target="_blank">Beth Barnay</a> to take part in a blog meme called “The Next Big Thing.” I chose to do it on my finished novel <i>A Beast in Venice. </i>I've been killing myself working on the query letter with the hope of finding an agent. Here goes:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">What is the working title of your next book?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">A Beast in Venice</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I hope to get an agent and publish it through a traditional publisher.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Where did the idea come from for the book?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Part of the inspiration came from my own experiences as an expat living in Venice. But I thought that it should also include an element relating to Venice at night, which can be very spooky. Then I read an article about archaeologists finding a skull in an old cemetery near Venice with a brick in its mouth. This was done to stop the corpse from eating through its burial shroud and eating the other corpses, allowing it to rise from the dead as a vampire. My story is not about vampires, but I took the idea of the “shroud eater,” and bastardized it, if you will.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">What genre does your book fall under?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Literary, with elements of horror.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">How long does it take to write the first draft of your manuscript?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It usually takes several months to a year.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I don’t know any, it’s unique. I would like to be compared to a cross between Stephen King, Cormac McCarthy, and Nick Cave.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Brigham (protag) - Gary Oldman; Charles (antag) - Michael Caine; Rose (Brigham's wife) - Isabella Rossellini; Gloria (the temptress) -Valeria Golino; Lorenzo (a decent bad guy) - Danny Trejo.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Who or What inspired you to write this book?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I've always toyed with the idea of being a writer. Now I have the time, and hope to develop a vocation I can do sitting in a chair.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It talks a lot about art, and the state of modern art. Also, there's a lot of symbolism, if one cares about such things.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Brigham Stone’s dream of living in Venice as an artist turns into a bloody ruin when he is converted to a ghoul.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055622554886316064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5950730689826666121.post-27730231493799362922012-08-03T10:55:00.000+02:002012-08-03T10:55:35.867+02:00Book Review: The Secret History, by Donna Tartt<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400031702/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1400031702&linkCode=as2&tag=theveniexpe-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=1400031702&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=theveniexpe-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theveniexpe-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1400031702" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I had no idea. I knew there was a lot of drug use in the eighties. I was in the Navy, and a good number of my friends and acquaintances were druggies. Certainly a number of them were heavy drinkers. I never took illicit drugs, but I have been known to tip a few, and still do. But I had no idea that the focus of virtually every college student was the acquisition, use, and perhaps distribution of, illegal narcotics. Constantly. All the time. That is the impression one gets from reading<i> Infinite Jest</i>, and the subject of this review, <i>The Secret History</i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">As I mentioned in my review of that book, I hated Infinite Jest. But I enjoyed <i>The Secret History</i>. Both stories are about college kids in the pre-cellphone age. In both novels the characters and everyone they know are drug users to some extent. They drank (no problem) and they smoked (yuk). Incessantly. I find smoking disgusting and horrifying. The characters smoked so much that I feared getting lung cancer from reading <i>The Secret History</i>. But I liked it. Why? I think the answer is that the characters in <i>The Secret History</i> had the redeeming characteristic of being intellectual. Students of history, literature, and languages. The characters in Infinite Jest were stupid jocks (is that redundant?) I therefore was able to identify with the characters, at least at that level. We had two things in common: an interest in intellectual pursuits, and booze. That was enough to get me over the hump.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>The Secret History</i> is about a group of college students at some schmancy Vermont college who are in a special class where only a few students are accepted, where they have only one professor for all their subjects (except French) and where they are engaged in the ethereal task of learning ancient Greek and Latin, amongst other highfaluting subjects.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">They are all a little eccentric, as is the teacher, and most of them are rich, with the exception of our narrator. One night, when some members of the group are out on some sort of drug induced vision quest, they encounter something they believe to be a farmer, and scrap with it. They are so out of their minds that they don’t really know what happens. Actually, the author never does come out and tell you, but it can be inferred from a few clues. Read carefully. They form the opinion that they killed this farmer. One of those not involved in this murder becomes aware of it. They fear that he will rat them out, either by actually talking to the police, or by running his drunken mouth. So they decide to do away with him. The story deals with events leading up to that murder, and the aftermath of it, and how they deal with it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I enjoyed the book. I thought it was too long, but it was not the soul smashing burden to read that <i>Atlas Shrugged</i> and even <i>The Fountainhead</i> were, but it weighed in at over 500 pages of small print. Could have been shorter. But it was well done enough for that not to have been a big problem. The writing was smooth and clear.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">There were two things I didn’t like. One, there was a prologue. I have come to hate prologues. And from the get go, we know that these people kill one of their own. The author tells us right up front. And you know how. Might have been better if she left it up in the air until the deed is done. Two, there is a bit of a hole in the story. After the boy they murder is discovered missing, the FBI showed up, and appeared to be involved with the investigation of a small town disappearance and, and later (when the body is found) murder. The FBI would have no jurisdiction. In this type of matter. It’s a state law issue. Yet, none of these smarty pants even asked the question. Now, I know they were painted as some sort of geniuses who were above the mundane world relating to federal jurisdiction, but once the FBI got on the scene, one of them should have gone and checked what the heck the FBI did. That issue was touched on, and the agents themselves said they had no jurisdiction in the crime at hand (to the surprise of the protagonist and his compatriots), but none of our group of real smart friends questioned it. We are never really told why they were there. It seemed to me to be a thread that was dropped.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Outside of that, the story went quickly, was well written, and entertaining. I give it four stars. I dock it a star only because of the smoking. They all smoked all the time. I know that at the time there were few restrictions on smoking, but give it a rest. One or two guys constantly lighting up, blowing smoke, rubbing the horrible thing out in the ashtray is enough. But all of them? All the time and everywhere. In their rooms, in restaurants, during conversation, while out walking, while eating, while drinking, while studying, while doing anything or going anywhere. It got to be tiresome. I realize that part of it was to provide gestures for the characters during dialogue, but what’s wrong with rubbing an eye, or scratching a chin? There was less smoking in <i>Atlas Shrugged</i>, and that was written in the 40s.</span><br />
<br />
<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055622554886316064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5950730689826666121.post-32687604494530233552012-08-02T17:44:00.001+02:002012-08-03T13:55:44.325+02:00Writing a Novel is Hard<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Writing a novel, however, is the hardest thing I have ever done. I have been a reactor operator on a submarine, earned a master’s degree in business, earned a law degree, passed the bar, and practiced law. Nothing, however, has been as difficult as writing a novel.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The first novel I completed I self-published. I was curious to see what that experience would be like, and I didn’t want to fool with trying to get an agent. Sitting on my desk in front of me now, though, is the most recent draft of my next novel. I’ve struggled with it for over two years. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The first novel (which was really the second, as the one on my desk was started before it) I just sort of cranked out. I never intended to get a publisher, so it made me much less concerned with what they would be looking for. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">For the second novel, however, I intend to try to find an agent. For that reason, I’m much more concerned with story arc, character arc, structure, and proper form. Not only that, I always have in the back of my mind the question of what would an agent want to see, and serious doubts as to whether the novel is anything other than crap.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I hired an editor/mentor (at no small cost) which was a huge benefit. I learned a lot from her, and intend to still avail myself of her services. But she was a cruel master. I needed, valued, and took her advice (for the most part), and I needed her frank analysis. Every writer, new or experienced, needs that. But it is no way to build confidence and self-esteem.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The novel on my desk is the third draft. A few other drafts were abandoned in progress. The original version was 90,000 words. This version is 73,000 words. I wish it were more like 80,000 words, and it may yet be, but in the whole scheme of things, 73,000 is enough.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">What’s the book about? Don’t laugh. Vampires. In Venice. Italy. Not really vampires, but critters known as shroud eaters. Did I really start out to write a novel about vampires? I don’t know. I started out thinking I would write a book about my experiences as an expat in Italy. Then this shroud eater thing came up. There was actually one found in a graveyard in Venice. The skeleton of a woman with a brick in her mouth, buried during the plague of 1576. During that plague they would open mass graves and find that previously buried corpses had tried to eat through their death shrouds. They thought that they were also eating the corpses of the other inhabitants of the grave, so they put a brick in its mouth to stop it. If they ate enough, they would rise from the grave as vampires. That piqued my curiosity. They really had vampires here. And Venice is a spooky place, anyway. Hence . . . .</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Then I had second thoughts, based in no small part on comments from my editor. Maybe I should scrap the vampire thing. It’s beginning to be a little played. But then I wondered what the heck the story would be. I got 20,000 words into the new version, and then hit a wall. Now what? Maybe I should keep the vampires. So, back to work on the vamps. Then doubt crept in again. Back to no blood suckers. I was a deer in headlights.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I talked to my wife, who is a hell of a lot smarter than I am. Vamps or no? “If there are no vampires, then what’s your story?” she asked, cutting (as usual) right to the heart of the matter. Exactly! So, back to having vampires. And so it went, until I finally decided to keep them, finish the damn thing before I die of old age, and throw it up against the wall and see if it sticks. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">This brings me to what’s so hard about writing. First you’ve got to have a plot. Well, some idea of what the story is. All right, an idea as to how it starts, a vague notion of what happens in the middle, and some theories on how it might turn out. Then you have to have characters, know what they’re like, where they fit into the plan (to the extent that there is one) come up with some way of building conflict and tension, think of a climax, then have a way to tie it all together.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Then you start to write. They say that writing is a solitary act. It is. But you are not alone. There are demons. While you struggle to put this thing on paper, they torment you. “You can’t do it.” “No one will ever read that.” “You’re stupid.” “Your English is bad.” “They will laugh at you.” “Quit.” “Give up.” “Have you seen the videos from agents? They are all jaded and cynical, and snotty. You want to subject yourself to that?” “They will hate you.” “Your plot sucks.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">But you can’t listen to these devils. If you are going to write, it is hard enough to come up with a story line, and put it down in a coherent form in something resembling proper English. You can’t worry about what others think. You need to have a good story and good characters. You’ve got to have tension and structure, and all that (i.e., you’ve got to know the craft). But you can’t write for everyone. Just write your story. Don’t worry about what will sell, you can never figure it out. Don’t worry about what agents look for, you have no way of telling. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">So, just put your little caboose in the chair and go to work. Cast out the demons, and write what you like. Find your own voice, and your own style. As the late Gore Vidal said: “Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.” If you ever want to finish a novel, you can’t give a damn about what other people think.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055622554886316064noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5950730689826666121.post-32489828753839014022012-06-22T11:20:00.001+02:002012-06-22T11:29:22.121+02:00Book Review: The Crossing, by Cormac McCarthy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-indent: 21.6px;">
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003XT60JU/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&tag=theveniexpe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B003XT60JU" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B003XT60JU&MarketPlace=US&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&tag=theveniexpe-20&ServiceVersion=20070822" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theveniexpe-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B003XT60JU" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large; text-indent: 21.6px;">If you want to be a writer, read the works of Cormac McCarthy. They are crisp and clean, with no extra words. As one of the review snippets on the back of the book said, “He writes prose as clean as a bullet cutting through the air . . .” </span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 21.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 21.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">As is true with all of his books, the story is of an actual journey, and of the things that happen along the way. The story takes place in the years just before and just after the beginning of World War II, and follows the adventures of 16 year old Billy Parham as he travels back and forth between his home in New Mexico, and various places in Mexico to accomplish various deeds. I don’t think it’s spoiling the plot to say that they end in calamity.</span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 21.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 21.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The writing is unbelievable. “The thin horned moon lay on its back in the west like a grail and the bright shape of Venus hung above it like a star falling into a boat.” Near the end of the book he describes an old crippled broken dog in such a way that you actually feel its pain. “[The dog] stood there inside the door with the rain falling in the weeds and gravel behind it and it was wet and wretched and so scarred and broken that it might have been patched up out of parts of dogs by demented vivisectionists.”</span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 21.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 21.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">This is literature for a man. There is no romance, no sex. It is violent and bloody with suffering and pain for man and beast throughout. McCarthy follows rigidly the rule of never giving the protagonist what he wants. Billy finds himself in a world where there is plenty of good. Plenty of people help him along the way. But the myriad evil in the world is more powerful. The good can only huddle and quake in its shadow. In the end he is left with nothing. All is taken from him by evil men with vile and bloody ways. That is, the ending is not all sunshine and happiness. But is filled with philosophy and insight as to the nature of man and the hard and deadly world he has created for himself.</span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 21.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 21.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">This is the second novel in “The Border Trilogy.” I have yet to read the others, but will. One of the best books I have read. The story is thoughtful and compelling. Read it. </span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 21.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 21.6px;">
<br /></div>
<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055622554886316064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5950730689826666121.post-79279171453905427242012-06-18T11:03:00.000+02:002012-06-18T11:03:55.032+02:00Another Way to Improve your Writing: Kill the Cute<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I have always considered myself a good writer. That is, I felt that I had a command of the language, a reasonable idea of how to use commas (although there is still a mysterious element to them), and a way with words, as they say. The way with words part is what I intend to talk about here.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">In our studies to become writers, we are often told “kill your darlings.” This is great advice. Usually, the part of a story that you think is the best thing ever written is horrible, and ruins the story. Take it out. I have received other advice, as well. For example, “go on a which hunt.” Go through your work, take out all the “whichs” and replace them with “that.” Then go through and take out all the “thats.” I would like to add one more: Take out the cute.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">As a novice writer who thought he had a way with words, I would often write something that I felt to be witty and humorous, demonstrating my clever use of words. I was wrong. This often manifested itself in the form of witty banter amongst the characters. The result was to turn a scene that I intended to be scary, into one that was funny or, more accurately, one that not scary or funny, but rather stupid. Consider the following:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Original: </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">(Rose’s husband has been kidnapped, and put into a tomb somewhere in Venice. Rose and their friend Mauro have determined that the tomb may be located under a church in the crypt. They set off to find him. Is this a time for humor? There are other obvious problems with the writing that I also correct in the revised version)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“Let’s go,” Mauro said, taking out his flashlight, and stepping off the bricks into water, and heading for the hidden places of the crypt.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Rose took out her flashlight, and they headed back into the heart of the crypt.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“Won’t the little man guarding the door wonder where we went?” she asked.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“No, it’s taken care of.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“What do you mean, ‘it’s taken care of?’”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“I told him we wanted to go on an extended tour.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“So?”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“That’s code. We’ve known each other since we were boys. We used to bring girls back here to impress them, and such.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“And such?”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“Yes, they were usually quite impressed when they left.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“So he thinks–”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“Yep.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“You bastard.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">He grinned.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“I’m not going to kill you now,” she said, “I need you. But when we get out, you die.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">He laughed out loud.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“Fine, but keep it down,” he said. “We need to be quiet.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">They turned the corner and shined their lights off into the crypt. It was surprisingly vast, and clearly covered a span of territory greater than the footprint of the church. Walking slowly through water that was about six inches below their knees, they moved through the pitch dark of the crypt. The darkness seemed to devour the light from their flashlights. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Shelves cut into stone and heaped with skulls and other bones lined the corridor, below which ran a row of sepulchers decorated with elaborate carvings and odd figures, such as lions with bat’s wings, screaming skulls, and creatures half man and half snake.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Revised:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“Let’s go,” Mauro said, stepping into the water, shining his flashlight into the darkness, which seemed to devour the beam. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Rose followed with her flashlight. They moved into the damp gloom of the crypt, sloshing slowly through ankle-deep water. Skulls peered at them from shelves cut into the stone. Below these bones ran a row of sepulchers decorated with elaborate carvings of fantastic figures. Lions with bat’s wings, screaming skulls, and creatures half man and half snake.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Even if you simply take out the silly dialogue, the scene changes from one of comedy to one more serious and (hopefully) more frightening. Dress it up further, and you begin to get the feeling I was shooting for. I realized that the cute and witty banter ruined the feeling of dread I hoped to achieve. This passage was actually a darling, as well. Better that it’s gone. What do you think?</span><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055622554886316064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5950730689826666121.post-16293566347310950072012-04-18T19:03:00.000+02:002012-06-18T11:04:18.393+02:00Book Review: The Comfort of Strangers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679749845/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&tag=theveniexpe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0679749845"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0679749845&MarketPlace=US&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&tag=theveniexpe-20&ServiceVersion=20070822" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theveniexpe-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0679749845" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<br />
I became interested in this book by watching the movie of the same name, starring Christopher Walken and Natasha Richardson. The film is beautifully shot in Venice and is worth watching.<br />
<br />
The book hardly qualifies as a novel at one hundred pages in paperback, which I recon to be about 35,000 words, but in the world of overly large novels, that’s probably a plus.<br />
<br />
The story takes place in Venice around 1980, I suppose, as the book was published in 1981. A divorced woman (Mary) and her lover (Colin) visit Venice for vacation. The book opens with them pissed at each other for some unknown reason. Mary has kids and misses them, while Colin has no kids, and shows no real interest in hers. We get the impression that the relationship has gone stale.<br />
<br />
No age is given for Colin or Mary, but with Mary being divorced with two children, one ten, the other about eight, that would put her at at least thirty, but probably older. We have way to gauge Colin’s age. He is always described in feminine terms, such as “beautiful,” “like and angel,” with his body being hairless, and the hair on his head being long and curly. He is physically weak. The name “Colin” means “pup” or “whelp.” It’s fair to conclude that Colin is substantially younger than Mary. In fact, Robert, the antagonist, takes much more of a shine to Colin, essentially ignoring Mary.<br />
<br />
For some reason (and in spite of not sharing the same bed) these two cannot get themselves out of their hotel in time to get dinner, and they wander the streets (apparently without a map) trying to find (of all things) a hotdog stand they remember passing. They become lost and ran into Robert, a man who lives in Venice. He befriends them, and they start on their journey, the outcome of which I will not spoil. Suffice it to say that it is a dark story with a surprising twist at the end.<br />
<br />
I like the story. One difficulty I had with the book, however, is that it gives no meaningful description of Venice. To the extent it gives any description, they are vague and frankly unpleasant. They show that either the author or the characters have no appreciation for Venice, and don’t know anything about it. No place names are given, and some of the information is simply wrong. For example, the author refers to the bell tower at St. Mark’s square as the clock tower. I had the impression that McKewan had been in Venice long enough to get a taste of it, but not long enough to know it, or to care to give actual names of places. This may have been a literary trick to keep the focus away from Venice, and maybe I’m biased because I live in Venice, but I think if you are going to set a story here, you might as well spend a little time giving meaningful descriptions of some of the places. As it is, the story could have taken place anywhere.<br />
<br />
Though only a hundred pages long, some interesting themes are dealt with. A May-September relationship, male domination of women, women resisting and then acquiescing in their role as subservient, perhaps as a way to gain power over their situation. Sexual violence. The love-hate relationship between men and women. Even the relative helplessness of a traveler who must rely on others for help. Maybe a failure or refusal to take control of your own life, or any situation.<br />
<br />
For example, it’s clear that Mary and Colin are having difficulty figuring out where their relationship is, or what it should be. Neither is willing to make a hard decision. In the pivotal scene, Mary and Colin are at Robert’s house. While Mary is out of the room with Caroline (Robert’s wife) Robert strikes Colin in the gut with his fist, sending him to the floor gasping for air. What does Colin do? Nothing. I might have called it a night and decided that this man was possibly not the right sort of friend for me. But he does nothing, in keeping with the theme of women (in this case the effeminate Colin) being subject to the brutality of men and, to a large extent, giving in to it voluntarily. Perhaps this was a test by Robert to see whether Colin really was a man. A man would have fought back. Or he would have left, not accepting the treatment. But Colin just took it.<br />
<br />
While at Robert’s house Mary notices photographs, which she later realized are pictures of Colin taken after they arrived in Venice. In spite of being aware of that, and in spite of Colin being struck by Robert, the two return to visit Robert and Caroline. This I found strange. It seems more logical to avoid Robert. Maybe just go on back to England. But they go back. Why? The answer lies perhaps in the man-as-abuser theme. The abused often cannot free themselves mentally or emotionally from their abuser, although they have the power. Caroline is such a person. She is horribly abused, yet thinks she likes it or deserves it. Very typical victim mentality. Needless to say, Caroline would be better off without Robert, and Colin and Mary would have done well to stay away from Robert.<br />
<br />
A compelling and interesting story, and quick read. I recommend it.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<br />
The Movie:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000244ENS/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&tag=theveniexpe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000244ENS"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B000244ENS&MarketPlace=US&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&tag=theveniexpe-20&ServiceVersion=20070822" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theveniexpe-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000244ENS" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055622554886316064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5950730689826666121.post-33150847810244245632012-03-15T09:40:00.000+01:002012-03-15T09:40:23.501+01:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">If you are writer, it has been beat into your head since you were in elementary school to “show, don’t tell.” But what does that mean? One area I have learned to show, rather than tell, is describing emotions of people in dialogue. I’ve discovered a great tool to help.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">For example, you could write:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“Yes,” she said excitedly. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">But this is telling, not showing. So, how would you describe a person saying something excitedly? What does the face of a person saying something excitedly look like? How does their voice sound? How do you describe it?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">It would be helpful to look at a person expressing the emotion. I’ve discovered that through a Google search you can get a large number of images of people showing certain emotions. Do a search in “Images” for “facial expressions of emotions,” and you will find images showing an array of emotions. Do a search for a specific emotion, and you will get millions of images showing that emotion. I did a search of “facial expressions of excitement,” and got almost six million. You can’t look through six million images, but you’ll find that after about three pages the relevance starts to diminish.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">You can see that they have some things in common. Brow raised, eyes wide, smiling or mouth open. Some are gesturing, such as arms in the air, on the face, and so forth. You don’t necessarily need or want to use them all. It depends on the character and the situation.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">So, instead of</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“Yes,” she said excitedly, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">You could write: </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“Yes,” she said, her eyes wide, smiling.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Her eyes grew large and she smiled. “Yes.” Or,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">She flung her arms out and smiled. “Yes.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">You could use an exclamation point (use sparingly):</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Her eyes grew large and she smiled. “Yes!”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Another way to add emphasis to it is by using italics:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> “Yes,” she said, her eyes wide.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">There are certainly better or different ways to write it. The point is that through a Google search you can get hundreds of useful images from which you can write a description showing the emotion, rather than telling.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055622554886316064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5950730689826666121.post-82741283831856941672012-02-07T00:28:00.000+01:002012-02-07T00:28:14.316+01:00Review of Grammar Check Anywhere and Whitesmoke<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">As an indie author, I struggle to put out error-free work. I hate typos, misspellings, and format errors. While most misspellings are corrected by the word processor, many typos and grammatical errors are not, and neither are words used out of context. As I noted in a recent blog (as recent as today, as a matter of fact. I’m catching up) indie authors should use an editor, at least until the get a feeling for grammar and punctuation, and are able to construct a story without a lot of help. But that still leaves proofreading. I mentioned in that blog the typos that I missed, even after having read the thing a couple of times. Even my wife missed them.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">It occurred to me that there may be some decent software that will help me. So, I searched for software that would check grammar. Many word processors have something that purports to do it, but mine (Atlantis) does not. There is not even a plug-in. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I discovered a number of programs that might work, so I downloaded a few to see what they would do. My verdict is that although they may be useful for students, people learning the language, or people who fancy themselves writers, but who are not properly schooled in English, they are of little use to a professional writer. Although they certainly make some suggestions that improved any writing, they are so imperfect that one still needs a human proofreader to go through it word by word.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Some of the most popular programs, such as Ginger, worked only with Microsoft products that I don’t have. I downloaded StyleWriter4, but found the interface to be so horrible that it was unusable. I ended up trying Whitesmoke and Grammar Check Anywhere. Neither is perfect, but of the two, Whitesmoke (WS) is better. Both run in the background, and are activated by a hot key, which you can assign. They both have reasonably decent interfaces, and are easy to use. But there are major differences between them, and major problems with both.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">For example, neither one (nor any others I tested online) found any problems with the sentence: “We are going to place in the country.” It should be “We are going to a place in the country.” A clear limitation of all grammar checking programs, illustrating that no matter what you do, you still need a set of human eyes to read the thing. And better that the eyes are not yours.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">But why should they miss this? The word “place” is one of those words that can be a noun or a verb. “I have a place in the country,” or “Please place the jar on the table.” As noun, it needs an article – “the” or “a.” As a verb it does not. So, why not flag it? They flag other stuff. They flag common words that are confused, as I discuss below. I know that in the context I used it that there should be an “a” in front of it. But I type fast and miss letters, sometimes. When I read it, my brain skips right over it. Just mark it and say “you might be missing an article.” </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Both of these programs have a trial version to download for free. (Note to those selling software: I will never download a program for which I have to pay first, with the right to cancel. I don’t trust you that far. I insist on a free trial download, no strings attached.)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Warning: Both programs affected formatting. Never use them on a final version of a document on which you have struggled on the formatting. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Grammar Check Anywhere.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I found this program to be nearly useless for my purposes. Most of the suggestions for corrections it made were meaningless or wrong, and it does not look at punctuation.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Unlike many programs, including WS, this program does not require an internet connection to work.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">In contrast to WS, which allows only 10,000 characters at a time, Grammar Check will check your entire document at one time, one issue at a time. I used it on a 56,000 word novel. The document comes up in an editing window with the first issue (potential problem) highlighted. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The first issue it had was with the sentence “If this stick breaks, you are gonna die.” It highlighted “this stick breaks,” and suggested “this stick break,” “these stick breaks,” and “the stick breaks.” The only one of the suggestions that is grammatically correct in this context is the last one. The sentence as it is is correct, so why bother? If you are going to bother, then make a suggestion that has the result of producing proper grammar in the context of the sentence. I suppose you could say “Did this stick break?” I cannot, however, think of a context where “these stick breaks” would be correct. In my limited understanding of English, the noun “stick” would have to agree in number with the article in front of it. “These” is plural, so “stick” would have to be plural, and the verb would have to not have the “s.” That may be a rough way to put it, but if you can think of any context where the suggestion “these stick breaks” would be correct, feel free to comment.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Then it wanted to make sure that I did not mean “foreword” when I used the word “forward.” Fine, but from the context of the sentence, I used the right word. The program, then, mechanically looks for certain words and gives a warning, without regard to context. You can adjust the sensitivity to these things, and you can tell it not to look for them, but that feature does not seem to work. It did the same thing with “weather,” to be sure I didn’t mean “whether.” I am beyond this issue in my understanding of English, and found it quite annoying. (It also has an “Ignore All” button, which does not work).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">For the phrase “he no longer,” it suggested “he know longer.” Uh, no. This is clearly geared toward a person who does not know the difference between know and no. But under what context would the word “know” be correct here? None that I can think of, so it clearly simply looks for “no” and substitutes “know.” Not much use, and certainly a time waster.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">It did make some good suggestions. For example, “without,” instead of “in the absence of,” and “despite,” in place of “in spite of.” Good ideas, and the type of advice that everyone could use.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Then it started selecting letters in the middle of words at random and suggesting that they be capitalized, because it had determined that they were the first word of a sentence. I don’t know where this came from, but it got to be quite annoying.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">As you go through the program’s suggestions, you can edit your actual document (a feature missing in WS), or you can edit the document in the program’s window. You should know, though, that if you click “Finish,” you will have no option but to have the program make the changes to your document that you made in the editing window. There should be a way to exit without doing anything. If you don’t want to make the changes in your document that you have made on the editing window, you must hit the “Cancel” button. This is a major drawback or, more accurately, a flaw, in the program.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">It destroyed my formatting. The first time I tried it, I had it look at the entire document, including all the front matter. I had agonized for hours over the headers and footers, because I’m using different headers for odd and even pages, and the page numbering starts at chapter 1, not at the beginning of the document, which is the title page. When I told it to finish, it applied my changes, and killed my header and footer formatting. Fortunately, I had saved it when the format was right, and not saved it since. I experimented with this issue by taking only a portion of the text starting in the middle of the document (which is done by selecting it, then pressing F7), made some changes, then applied it. This time, it did not affect the headers and footers. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I liked that you could choose between editing the actual document, or editing in the program and having it applied to the document. The editor works at normal speed, which can be useful. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I found the program as a whole to be too basic. That is, it seems to believe that you don’t know the difference between “weather” and “whether,” which is a level or two below where any writer would be. So, it’s good for middle school students, but not professional writers.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">On the upside, It costs only about $60, so you won’t go without food and shelter if you spring for it, but for me it was too much of a time waster, with only minimal usefulness. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Whitesmoke (WS)</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Great interface, clean-looking editing window and meaningful suggestions.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The editor, though, is painfully, agonizingly, horribly slow. I’m talking two or three seconds per keystroke slow. You want to shoot yourself. And you can’t edit your document while this is running. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">It’s limited to looking at only 10,000 characters at a time. Maybe a chapter. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Requires internet connection. I read another review that determined the connection was not secure. So watch what you edit, it’s being sent over a non-secure connection.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Affected the format slightly, but did not touch my beloved headers and footers. For example, it eliminated italics. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">If you do a search for grammar checking programs, you will find that WS has marketed the garbage our of their product. Some of it is a little deceptive. You go to a site that looks like a different product, and it turns out to be a landing page for WS. I hate that. I also found “reviews” online that were clearly written by WS. I hate that, too. I have enough trouble figuring out what’s real in this world. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">WS is superior to Grammar Check Anywhere in several ways. It’s interface is much more professional looking. It comes up with a nice clean editor, and a side bar graphic that rates your writing overall, and with respect to certain categories, such as sentence structure.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">It highlights problems it finds by underlining the offending word or phrase, and then putting suggested changes above them. You make the change by clicking on the one you like, or you ignore them by doing nothing. The suggested changes are marked in different colors, depending whether it is a spelling error, an incomplete sentence, a word suggestion, and so forth.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">But it ain’t perfect. Here are some of its suggestions:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“I’m not” in place of “I ain’t.” No prob.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">It said that “That’s too bad” is not a complete sentence. I don’t know whether it is or it isn’t, but it’s typical conversational speech. But I’m not horrified by the fact that it made the recommendation.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“I ain’t no coward” should be “I’m not any coward.” Don’t sound right to me.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“Could” instead of “were able to.” Good suggestion.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">A comma after “us” in the sentence “If they find us they are going to hurt us.” Probably right.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">But there are some serious bugs in it. It suggested “Iprovided,” or “Itprovided,” instead of “provided” (as in “Provided we survive . . .”) The suggested corrections are missing spaces. i.e., the suggestions for correcting grammar and punctuation themselves have typos. Imagine if you were a foreigner trying to correct a document in English. You want to put your brains on the ceiling? Try to look up the meaning of “Iprovided.” Not good for a program that has been around for a while, and that is intended to do what this thing does, and for which you will lay out actual dough. And remember, you are supposed to click on the one you want, and it automatically makes that correction. I don’t need a grammar program that introduces more errors.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">There came a point in the document where it got one word off from the word with which it had a problem. For example, “. . . he did not hear come in.” It underlined “come” and suggested it be “here.” If you made the change, you end up with “hear here.” It meant to suggest that “hear” should be “here.” (Like in Grammar Checker, I’m at the point in my understanding of English that I know the difference. Would I type the wrong one? Not likely. More likely that I would leave off a letter, such as typing “hea” or “her.” You want to help me, flag a sentence where I used “her” instead of “here.” I’d pay for that.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">So, many of the suggestions it had were just plain wrong, whether considering the context or not. There are typos in some suggested corrections.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">On the other hand, there are some good things about it. The editing window is very easy to read, and they do not clutter it up with oodles of useless suggestions (only a few). So, I find myself reading every word very carefully, not only the words indicated for changes. This is important. When I proof read my own stuff, I tend to gloss over things because I know what it says (or what it should say). </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">They purport to have, and others have written that they do have, excellent customer service. I haven’t tested it, and I don’t know what happens after you buy the thing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">If you do install the trial version, to remove it you have to go to Windows Task Manager, and delete it from the Processes window. It does not show up in the Applications window. (if the thing in running. You can prevent this by not having it start automatically when you start your computer)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">So, will I buy it? No. It’s about $150 (105 Euros), although I know they will offer you a 30% discount if you uninstall their software. Is it worth a hundred bucks for what it does? Probably. But here’s my issue with it, and with Grammar Checker:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Conclusion</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Certainly, both programs will help you with your writing, particularly if English is not your native tongue, or you’re a student, even in college, or you are an indie writer who can’t afford a real live editor. If you are writing something that does not have to be immaculate, but you want help with some punctuation (WS only) and word usage, then these will help you.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">If you are a professional writer, however, they are virtually useless. Although they will make a few good suggestions, so would any editor. Since they are not a substitute for an editor, then you are wasting your time and money. You will spend the time going through with one of these programs, and still have to go through word-by-word to get the glitches that these won’t catch. Would you rely on your spell checker to make sure everything was okay? No. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I looked at these to address the problem that I miss typos when reading through a document. They are of little use for that. What helped me the most was listening to it being read out loud on my computer. Adobe pdf will do it, but I had a tremendous problem. In older versions, it worked very well. They have now rendered it nearly useless. The best program I’ve found so far is Natural Reader. You can get a free version with just Microsoft Annie’s voice, or you can pay (quite a bit, actually) for other voices. The other voices are cool, but I doubt they are worth the money. With Natural Reader, you can listen and edit your document at the same time. It has numerous bugs and flaws, but it works good enough for the free version. </span><br />
<br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055622554886316064noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5950730689826666121.post-85003109209788203812012-02-06T15:42:00.000+01:002012-02-06T15:48:45.576+01:00What I Have Learned as an Indie Author – Part 2: The Cover<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">All books need a cover, as that is how they are judged. Even e-books. But this is a very difficult business, and as contentious with critics of indie authors as is the often piss-poor nature of the writing and editing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I fancy myself the artistic type. I even sell paintings online. But I am not a graphic designer, and I am certainly not a book cover designer. I struggled for hours and days working on a cover. Looking for fonts, images, looking at professional covers, trying to figure the whole thing out. What color? What font? What color font? What image? How do I put it together? After two days of doing that, instead of writing, I realized how hard it is. I concluded that just as in the editing, you need a professional. I threw my hands up. But I could not bring myself to hire anyone, at least yet.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">In looking at professionally done covers, I looked for patterns. What kind of font did they use? Was there a secret color for the font. How about the cover? I found no consistency or pattern, with two exceptions. I noticed that about a third of all books use a white type face on a dark background. About 20% of the rest had white or very light backgrounds with dark letters. So, the answer is contrast. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">A large fraction of the fonts were sans serif, but there were also a huge percentage of serif fonts. Depends on what you’re doing. What I did notice, though, is that very few used any gimmicky fonts. No bleeding letters, or fancy script. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">There are certain other consistencies, such as the nature of the cover of romance novels (big strapping guy, usually without a shirt and rippled with muscles, with a beautiful woman, hair blowing in the wind). Books selling to women tend to have softer colors, more pastel. But otherwise, there was little in common, except that they were simple, and had only one image relating to the content of the book. They seemed to try to convey the nature of the book, but not give a representation of the story. At most, they would provide a scene.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">One problem I found was trying to study books in this genre, which is horror, or maybe YA horror. Most of the famous writers of horror, such as Stephen King or Dean Koonz, have their names in huge letters at the top, with the title at the bottom. That doesn’t work for indie authors, as the important information on those books is the name of the author. Not all that important for me, yet.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NtILQFEv17M/Ty_jfZWjwqI/AAAAAAAAAkk/FnKEWChrrgU/s1600/Caroline+Wald+cover+with+text+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NtILQFEv17M/Ty_jfZWjwqI/AAAAAAAAAkk/FnKEWChrrgU/s320/Caroline+Wald+cover+with+text+3.jpg" width="222" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First Version</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">So, I tried my hand at it. I think I did pretty well (but don’t we indies always think we did pretty well?) I came up with a strong image with red letters that conveyed, to some extent, the fact that this was a horror novel. You could probably describe it as being very masculine. </span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GJjgkS_PTN8/Ty_jhDnJ3NI/AAAAAAAAAks/3Q-IVYV7k8k/s1600/Caroline+Wald+pictureit+cover+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GJjgkS_PTN8/Ty_jhDnJ3NI/AAAAAAAAAks/3Q-IVYV7k8k/s320/Caroline+Wald+pictureit+cover+2.jpg" width="198" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Variation</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Then I thought about it. I realized that many of my readers, if not most of them, would be female. So, I thought a more feminine cover would be in order. So, I chose a picture of a house on a river (actually, a castle on the Danube I took this past November), soft and misty, with a nice reflection. Part of the story takes place at a river. Then I added, faintly, an image of a skull, superimposed over the river scene. This also conveys an idea of the nature of the book. Evil in contrast to good, and not always able to tell which is which.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Be-FUcTdll0/Ty_j1zwp4vI/AAAAAAAAAk0/F_jlfAkKMsA/s1600/Caroline+Wald+pictureit+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Be-FUcTdll0/Ty_j1zwp4vI/AAAAAAAAAk0/F_jlfAkKMsA/s320/Caroline+Wald+pictureit+cover.jpg" width="204" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another Variation.<br />
See the difference the font makes?<br />
I like this one better than the other two.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-30PBacNlmHs/Ty_j6EGJxKI/AAAAAAAAAk8/0FkamzkXPcE/s1600/girlie+cover+with+title+wide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-30PBacNlmHs/Ty_j6EGJxKI/AAAAAAAAAk8/0FkamzkXPcE/s320/girlie+cover+with+title+wide.jpg" width="277" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Current Version<br />
Note that it's more square than the others. This cover<br />
works well on Kindle, but it won't fly on<br />
CreateSpace. But it give you a little more room<br />
on Kindle than the size they recommend.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">That is where I am now. The more feminine cover is the one in use as of the writing of this blog. </span><br />
<br /><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Lessons Learned</b> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Keep it simple. You don’t need a bunch of images. I also noticed that few books have a photograph of a person on the cover. If there is a person, it is a painting. They have either purely graphic designs, or scenery of some kind.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Use a strong font, but not a gimmicky one. A good sans serif, such as League Gothic, or a good serif, such as Trajan. It has to do with the type of book. You would not use the same font on a book about football as you would on one about a girl coming of age.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The font has to look good (i.e., be readable) in a small image online. When you have the font in place, shrink the image to see what it looks like.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Make sure there is a lot of contrast, such as white letters on a dark background. But make sure the colors don’t vibrate when next to each other.</span><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055622554886316064noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5950730689826666121.post-56869242027819278672012-02-06T14:18:00.002+01:002012-02-06T15:52:47.039+01:00What I Have Learned as an Indie Author – Part 1: Editing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">A writer trying to do his own editing, or make his own book cover, is like a person trying represent themselves <i>(pro se</i>) in court. I practiced law for ten years, and there are very few things lawyers and judges hate more than a <i>pro se</i> litigant. They don’t know the rules of court, they don’t know procedure, and they sure as hell don’t know the law. Their filings are garbage, and they often don’t understand the real issues in their own cases. They think they do, but they don’t. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The same is true of an indie writer trying to do it all himself. Indie authors are on the horns of a dilemma. On the one hand, if you are not schooled in writing, then your work is (believe me) of poor quality, unless you hire an editor. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">You also need a good book cover. It’s cliché, but people judge a book by its cover. You need one that will grab the attention of your target audience, and get those people to look at your book. It’s got to be easy to see online in a small image. These things all cost money. A lot of money.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">If you want to be successful as an indie author, the content of your book needs to be perfect. Not the best darn work you can do (that might have been good enough for your mother) but no typos, proper grammar, spelling and punctuation, and proper usage. This can only be accomplished with professional help. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">There are two levels of this: one is a very detailed analysis of your story. Whether it makes sense, where the holes are, and whether it has the elements of a story. The other is a line edit/proofread where, if you have command of the story, typos, grammar, and improper usage will be corrected.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Being able to put together a story, particularly of novel length, is very difficult. That even comes in two parts. You need to be able to construct the story with a beginning, middle and end, and you need to be able to write it so it is interesting and makes sense. For the structure, I recommend a book called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/193290736X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=theveniexpe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=193290736X">The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, 3rd Edition</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theveniexpe-20&l=as2&o=1&a=193290736X" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, by Christopher Volger. There is also a nice set of videos on <a href="http://youtu.be/ny68V2PgULw" target="_blank">YouTube</a> that give it to you in a nutshell. But nothing beats reading the book.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">As to the writing part, I suggest <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0806111917/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=theveniexpe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0806111917">Techniques of the Selling Writer</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theveniexpe-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0806111917" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, by Dwight Swain. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Even if you consider yourself to be well-versed in the use of the language, you need to have an editor in order to achieve the quality you need. I have a master’s degree in business and a law degree, and think that I have a decent command of grammar, punctuation, style, and usage (I can’t spell, and I know it). But what I produce is riddled with errors. Even what I published had errors. That’s how I know what I’m talking about.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Even if you have a perfect understanding of the elements of writing, you will never, ever, in a million years, catch all the typos and other errors in your own work. You at least need a proofreader.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">For example, I had a sentence that was supposed to be “Then Roland got out of the car.” I typed “the” instead of “then.” I can’t tell you how many times I read that and missed it. My wife caught it. (I later realized that I didn’t need the “then,” so I deleted it, anyway). As an experiment, I tried some of the big fancy grammar checkers on the market, to see whether they would catch that. None of them did. None.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">When I uploaded the file for CreateSpace, I had read through it, and my wife had read through it. I thought it was in pretty darn good shape. Then I got the proof of the book. We read it again. There were a myriad of errors. Little errors, generally, but still errors. Then I did something different. I listened to the whole book as the computer read it through, following along, making edits as it went. Again, numerous little errors. A missing letter, here–a period where there should have been a comma there. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The astute reader will say “but you didn’t use an editor.” No, I didn’t. And I probably won’t, and here’s why: I used an editor for another novel, and learned a lot from that. My problem is not grammar and punctuation, so much, as it is being able to spot small typos. So, it must be proofread by more than one person, and it is very helpful to listen to it and follow along.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I paid three grand to have an editor review my first novel (and continue to work with me, and it ain’t done, yet) for not only grammar and punctuation, but for story arc, believability, and such. Tons and tons of work. And that editor took me to school. No kid gloves, no gratuitous praise, just plain hard “I don’t buy it,” or “this isn’t funny,” or big red Xs through page after page, or saying that my main character was a sociopath and an alcoholic, and she didn’t like him (which gave me pause, because I patterned him after myself. All right, good to know.) </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I learned a lot from her, to the extent that I feel I can put together the story, and write it cleanly. But proofreading is still a problem. An it is very difficult to get anyone to do it for the mere joy of reading my masterpiece.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">So, I think it’s important to lay out the cash at least once for a good, thorough crash course on English and writing. There are millions of people online who do that. <a href="http://www.maloneeditorial.com/index.html" target="_blank">My editor is here</a>. And if you intend to write more than one book, the payback (i.e., the length of time it takes you to get the money back on your investment) is then spread over several books.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">So, do yourself and your readers a favor. Learn the craft, and get a professional to help you edit and proofread your book. Then all you'll need to do is put your ass in a chair and type words on paper. All there is to it.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055622554886316064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5950730689826666121.post-73176807106485541222012-01-17T01:12:00.002+01:002012-01-17T01:14:18.554+01:00Book Review: The Pale King, by David Foster Wallace<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316074233/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&tag=theveniexpe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0316074233"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&Format=_SL110_&ASIN=0316074233&MarketPlace=US&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&tag=theveniexpe-20&ServiceVersion=20070822" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theveniexpe-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0316074233" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><span style="font-size: large;"> I have been cultivating this finish-the-book vibe after years of starting books and never finishing them. I have been very successful. But I had to pull the plug on this 547 page book at about page 275. Reading this book was like reading the “begats” </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: large;">in the Bible. My life is too short to suffer through this when so many other vastly superior books are calling my name.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">David Foster Wallace, author of several works, most notably “Infinite Jest” (1996) committed suicide in 2008. His editor discovered hundreds of pages of unfinished work, which he compiled into this book. A tremendously difficult task because Wallace left no outline or notes on how the novel should be put together, and left only scattered bits of unfinished writing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">But this “novel,” never should have been published. I understand the editor’s grief at the loss of a dear friend through suicide. It has happened to me, and you never get over it. I understand his desire to show the world what Wallace was working on at the time. But maybe that’s what should have been published. Just say “here it is, just like he left it.” Sort of a historical document. Or maybe it should have been put in a library where it could be looked at, and made available online. But it never should have been published as a novel.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">It is not a novel, based on my understanding of what a novel should be. The main problem is that it is crushingly tedious and boring, and does not have a coherent story. To the extent the novel is about anything, it is about some guys who go to work for the IRS in Peoria Illinois in or around 1985 (there was some confusion as to dates in the story). It describes in excruciating detail their arrival at their assignment, and indoctrination.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I know the book is supposed to be about the oppressively boring and mundane existence of everyday people in America. The real heroes, as they are described. Sitting at their desks plowing through whatever mind-numbing task they are being paid to perform, day in and day out, for ever and ever. Suffering through traffic, heat, bad parking, offensive others, and their own maladies and shortcomings. One guy sweats profusely all the time. One guy has horrible skin problems, described as “disfuguring.” Another guy has some sort of ESP that provides only very mundane information. These are all interesting characters, or would have been if Wallace had finished the book.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Was it Wallace’s goal to make a book about our soul crushing boring society, itself a soul crushing bore? If so, he succeeded. Or, more accurately, his editor succeeded.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The book is not totally without redemption. The characters were on their way to being interesting and developed. The premise is interesting. The best part of the book is probably the very beginning where Wallace is describing a field. Wonderful writing. As a matter of fact, this is what convinced me to buy the book. The introduction of the character Sylvanshine is interesting. But things start to go dry after that. Mirage-seeing, dying of thirst in hell, dry. Here and there are glimmers of hope, but they are dashed by the unfinished and unpolished writing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I hand it to the editor for wanting to honor his friend, and a great writer. I have great respect for David Foster Wallace. I have no doubt that the book, from the standpoint of the editor, was a labor of love for his friend. But as to the publisher, I see it as a last-ditch effort to make a buck. It’s a con. Read something else.</span><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055622554886316064noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5950730689826666121.post-22185331565303879912012-01-14T23:11:00.000+01:002012-01-15T08:45:24.745+01:00Why do we do Anything?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HBoeeLqMlug/TxH9XXO0POI/AAAAAAAAAb8/z2zZSEGyRo8/s1600/screaming+head.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HBoeeLqMlug/TxH9XXO0POI/AAAAAAAAAb8/z2zZSEGyRo8/s200/screaming+head.jpg" width="153" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Have you ever thought about why you do anything? By that, I mean why you do <i>something</i> instead of <i>nothing</i>. For myself, if ever given the option, I will always do nothing instead of something. The answer is, you do things solely to shut people up.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Sounds harsh. But think about it. With very few exceptions, your actions day-to-day, minute-by-minute, are dedicated to getting other people off your back. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">You go to work. But who gets the money? The mortgage company or landlord, the insurance companies, the oil companies, the utility </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">companies, and Uncle Sam. What's left for you? Nothing. So why do you do it? To shut those people up.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">But you need the house for shelter. You need the the car to go to work to earn the money to pay for the car so you can go to work to earn the money . . . You get it. Both the car and the house, and everything in it normally require a payment to a bank and to an insurance company. You need health insurance, so you pay <i>them</i>. See? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Why do you clean the house? To shut the old man up. Why do you have sex? Because the old man is begging for it. Why is he begging for it? Because his balls demand it, and his mom, or Jesus, or somebody, told him it was wrong to spill his seed through artificial means, as it were. Why do you cook dinner? Because the brats and the wife are demanding it. Why do you do anything at work? To shut somebody up. What specific thing do you do at work? The thing that will cause you the most trouble if it ain't done, or the thing that someone is hounding you for. You do it to shut them up.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">But this can work in your favor. Ever hear the phrase "the squeaky wheel gets the grease?" That's what it means. If you make enough noise, someone will give you what you want to shut you up.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">If you stop and look at it, nearly everything you do is done as a reaction to external demands (a polite way of saying it's done to shut someone up). Very little is done to satisfy yourself. What other people do is done to shut you (or someone else) up. So be the squeaky wheel. Demand the grease. You'll get it.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055622554886316064noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5950730689826666121.post-52804738466267622152012-01-13T11:25:00.002+01:002012-01-13T11:25:57.435+01:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
A few of my paintings</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PYqKldrFF6E/TxAFStkOBpI/AAAAAAAAAbY/imQTmtrOGsQ/s1600/Black+and+white+dog+72_boundless.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PYqKldrFF6E/TxAFStkOBpI/AAAAAAAAAbY/imQTmtrOGsQ/s320/Black+and+white+dog+72_boundless.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Black and White Dog</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6V64Qn00Kc4/TxAFUySBs2I/AAAAAAAAAbg/oNBsZdkRCZ4/s1600/untitled+with+blue+and+orange+72.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="237" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6V64Qn00Kc4/TxAFUySBs2I/AAAAAAAAAbg/oNBsZdkRCZ4/s320/untitled+with+blue+and+orange+72.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Women with Too Much Time on Their Hands</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xlfT3xLJR5A/TxAFW7RryEI/AAAAAAAAAbo/ZZ-8iUFy5E8/s1600/Woman+reading+a+book+72_boundless.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xlfT3xLJR5A/TxAFW7RryEI/AAAAAAAAAbo/ZZ-8iUFy5E8/s320/Woman+reading+a+book+72_boundless.JPG" width="255" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Woman Reading a Book</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055622554886316064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5950730689826666121.post-83300289696458309992011-12-28T01:04:00.000+01:002012-01-12T10:40:59.830+01:00Short Story: The Interview<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i>This story in a slightly different form is (presently) a chapter in a novel I'm working on. It works well as a stand-alone story.</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">***</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Brigham Stone stopped at the top of the Accademia Bridge in Venice and looked toward the dome of the Salute church. The white marble and lead-gray dome of the church glowed orange in the light of the rising sun, </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">and reflected in the Grand Canal like fire on blue-green glass.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Raising the collar of his thin sport coat a</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">gainst the chill March wind, he pushed his</span></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">too small artist hands, aching from the cold, into his pockets. Shivering as the wind penetrated his jacket, his breath blowing away behind him, carrying off precious body heat, he cursed himself for not wearing a scarf. He expected it to be warmer because he had read the weather report for Rome. The sun gave no comfort.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>St. Mark’s Square stood deserted, but for the street sweepers swinging old-fashioned “witches” brooms clearing the debris from the previous day’s crowd. The brooms, nothing more than a bundle of little sticks on the end of a big stick, looked like something Harry frickin’ Potter would ride while trying to whack that winged ball.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He craved a cup of coffee, but no cafés were open at this hour.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Gondolas bobbed and banged against each other in the waves caused by the wind and the wake of a passing boat. Briny water foamed and splashed onto the pavement, filling the air with the scent of salt water and fish–the smell of the sea–conjuring in him the desire for a martini and raw oysters. But only a drunkard would drink gin at this hour. He put his mind back to coffee.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The large revolving door of the Danieli hotel moved slowly out of his way (he hated this fucking door, but he didn’t know why), admitting him to the lofty atmosphere of one of the swankiest hotels in Venice. Medieval marble covered the walls, and an atrium with a roof of stained glass allowed light to fill the room. He was to be interviewed by a London newspaper regarding what a great artist he was. Hopefully the guy would pay for a coffee and a croissant at the obscene prices of the Danieli. Anyone who stayed here could spring for a stinking coffee and pastry.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The interviewer was not in the lobby, so Brigham strolled about, using the time to run his fingers through his unruly long graying hair to convince it to behave. One of the showcases in the lobby reflected back clear blue eyes set in a scraggly face, and an image of the wild uncontrollable mop of hair that looked white in the stark light. This was not his reflection. He was a neat and well groomed young man . . . distinguished . . . a gentleman . . . with dark hair. What tricks the mind could play. But such had not been true for years. Even while practicing law, his hair shorter and well-groomed, he looked disheveled. Now, he might go months without a haircut before his wife would remind him that he looked like a wild man, and he would remind her that he was indeed a wild man, which always caused her to laugh. That was tantamount to calling Mr. Rogers a maniac.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Just as he gave up trying to look like a civilized human being, the interviewer appeared.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Mr. Stone?” the interviewer asked.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Yes,” Brigham answered, “you must be Mr. Todd.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“That’s right. How are you?” Mr. Todd asked, looking directly into Brigham’s eyes.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>They shook hands. Mr. Todd, a man in his late thirties, stood several inches taller than Brigham, head intentionally made bald by shaving, wearing blue jeans and an ugly striped shirt. That is, he looked and dressed like a middle class Brit. Brigham liked middle class Brits. They made him feel comfortable.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Thin and fit, Mr. Todd’s handshake was firm, and he looked at Brigham with a kind face cracked by a half smile.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I’m well, thank you,” Brigham said. “And you?”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Mr. Todd’s smile widened, but not so as to expose any teeth, as though he found humor in Brigham’s way of speaking. This annoyed Brigham, as he was very self conscious about his American accent, particularly around Brits, whom he imagined to be snooty about their language, which Americans had ruined. On the other hand, anyone who would wear that shirt and walk around with an unnecessarily bald head could not possibly look down their nose at Brigham Stone, Esquire, Attorney at Law, now painter in Venice.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Good, thank you,” Mr. Todd responded in his working-class British accent. Brigham’s first impression had been wrong – he liked Mr. Todd. “Shall we?” Mr. Todd said, motioning for Brigham to sit down. They sat a low table surrounded by four upholstered chairs in the bar area. A waiter took their order.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Thanks for taking the time to see me,” Mr. Todd said, making eye contact.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Happy to,” Brigham said. “My pleasure.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Mind if I record our conversation?” Mr. Todd asked, pulling out a little tape recorder and placing it on the table.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Brigham hesitated, blinking at the device. He did not like having his conversations recorded, but thought he would look like a jerk if he refused. “No, I don’t mind, that’s fine,” he answered, lying.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I have seen some of your paintings, and they are quite colorful and energetic.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>This was like saying they were interesting, as though searching for something good to say about a thing one did not like or understand. “Yes,” Brigham said with his mouth filled with pastry, as the question came at the moment he took a bite. Crumbs of sugar fell on his jacket.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“How would you classify your paintings?”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Brigham put the pastry down, dusted himself off, leaned back with his coffee, and crossed his legs. He thought for a moment, putting his head back and looking beyond Mr. Todd to a huge painting on the back wall of the room, and sniffed. “I don’t like to classify my art,” he said finally. “I think that’s the work of critics and academics.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“But surely you must think it belongs in a category.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Brigham sipped his coffee, then looked at Todd, thinking, then said, “The only category I’ll put them into is abstract.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Would you say Abstract Expressionist?”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Brigham leaned forward, put his cup down, and went back to work on the pastry. “If you say so,” he said, dropping more sugar and bits of flaky crust on himself, some falling out of his mouth. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Yes, but do you say so?” Todd asked.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Brigham washed some pastry down with coffee, and looked at Mr. Todd, and frowned. “No, I don’t say so. The answer I would like you to tell the world is that I classified them as abstract, and refused to classify them further.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Mr. Todd looked at his notes written on a yellow legal pad, flipping a couple of pages. “What painters influenced you the most?” he asked finally.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Brigham leaned back and put his hands behind his head. And crossed his legs. “Picasso.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“What is it you like about Picasso?”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Did you know that Picasso, at the age of sixteen, could make a realistic painting as good as any old master?”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Yes.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Then why didn’t he continue to do that?”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Mr. Todd started to move his mouth as though to answer, but Brigham interrupted. “I’ll tell you why. Because realistic painting is not great art. It’s been done, there are museums all over the planet filled with such work, and it would not accomplish anything.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I see what you mean,” Mr. Todd said, still leafing through his notes, the light shining off his ugly bald head.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“He might as well have been a house painter if he stuck to realism,” Brigham continued. “But he tried to do something different . . . and succeeded. He changed art forever with Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. That painting had the effect on painting that Beethoven’s third symphony had on music.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Yes, quite,” Mr. Todd said. “Anyone else?”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“de Kooning.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Mr. Todd flipped a couple of pages on his notepad, then asked: “How would you describe the state of modern art?”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“It’s a fuckin’ mess . . . art is dead.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Mr. Todd raised his brow, wrinkling his bald head, a sight Brigham found disgusting, causing him to look away. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“What do you mean?” Mr. Todd asked.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“All we have to do is go look in the Dogana, or Palazzo Grassi. Have you seen the bullshit that passes for art in there?”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Mr. Todd scribbled something on his note pad.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“And I take it you’ve been to the Tate Modern.” Brigham said.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Yes.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Then you know what I’m talkin’ about.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Mr. Todd looked up from his pad. “Those are some of the best contemporary art museums in the world.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Brigham continued to sit back with his legs crossed, hands behind his head. “Sure, there’s interesting stuff in them. Even the Dogana has a few Cy Twomblys, but the rest is horse shit.” He sipped his coffee, and Mr. Todd was busy taking notes. “Painting is dead, and art is dying. Art is an old woman lying in the street in need of CPR, but nobody wants to get puke on themselves.” Mr. Todd stopped writing and looked up. “All artists care about anymore is making fucking installations, and drawing dicks. You ain’t shit in this business unless you paint a dick with hair, balls and all. The object, apparently, is to shock and disgust.” He sniffed and sipped coffee.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Mr. Todd raised his brow again, looking at Brigham for several seconds without speaking. “But these works have important social meaning,” he said.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Aw, bullshit,” Brigham said, closing his eyes in disgust. “Have you read any of the descriptions of these so-called works of art? It is all plain and utter gibberish. I know the shit’s written in English, but the words are totally meaningless . . . they conjure no images in the mind.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Oh, now,” Mr. Todd started.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“This ain’t a debate. You asked me my opinion and I’m giving it to you.” He reached for his coffee and saw his hands, appearing unnaturally small and bony. He always hated his hands.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Mr. Todd looked at his notes, bit his bottom lip, then looked to the ceiling as though thinking. It occurred to Brigham that he may have been a bit curt with the lad who, after all, is here to interview him and to spread his name and work through the art world. On the other hand, Brigham feared that Mr. Todd aimed to make the hillbilly American look foolish. That was silly, though. Hadn’t he been sent from London and put in one of the best hotels in Venice, purely for the reason of interviewing Brigham? This was an important matter and he was about to screw it up. He had to recover.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I’m sorry,” Brigham said, “I don’t mean to be a prick.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Mr. Todd waved off the apology and smiled a little, though not a happy smile, rather a wistful one.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I’m rather passionate about that subject. Please continue.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Mr. Todd looked at his notes, then moved his head to get the kinks out of his neck. “So, what do you think of artists like Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons?”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Brigham motioned to the waiter for more coffee for the two of them. “Wait till your boss sees the bar tab here.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Don’t worry about that, Mr. Stone, we can afford it.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I’m sure you can. Well, to answer your question, or more accurately, to dance around it, I congratulate them on their success. But I’m not a critic . . . you will have to ask a critic whether what they do is good or not.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Do you consider them part of the problem with modern art you so graphically described?”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Brigham moved his head from side to side like a dumb blonde, considering how to answer without sounding like an ass hole. “I won’t say that, but I will say that I don’t like their work. But who am I? They do their work, I do my work, and that’s that. I don’t know them personally–I’m sure they’re fine individuals.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The interview continued for another hour after Brigham had calmed down. Mr. Todd promised to send a copy of the article once it had been published, and asked for some images of Brigham’s paintings.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The weather was warmer by the time Brigham left, so he turned toward the large garden at the east end of Venice. At the edge of the garden stood a café with tables on the walkway along the water. The best seats in Venice. The waiters recognized him as he sat down and ordered an American coffee, and a small ham and egg sandwich.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He felt bad about the way the interview had started, but it ended on a very positive note. Hopefully, Mr. Todd would chalk it up to Brigham being a sensitive artist.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>This was his favorite spot in Venice. Large trees shaded the tables, and the brilliant sunlight of midmorning sparkled on the turquoise water. The only place in Venice he knew where one could sit in the shade of a tree and look out over the lagoon.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A hunched over old woman walked past him, moving with tiny steps. He could tell from her brown and green woolen outfit, olive skin, white hair, and the facial expression of someone with a stick up their ass, that she was a native Venetian. She had no doubt lived in Venice her whole life, as her family had done for centuries. Her decrepitude telegraphed the end of her life, and she probably would not see another year. This reminded Brigham of his own mortality.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He had turned fifty-five this year, and felt like an old man. Not physically, although he had developed some aches and pains, but because he knew he had already lived two-thirds of his life. The coming years were not going to be as kind as those past. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He watched the woman creep along and wondered what he would do if she collapsed onto the pavement. He thought he might run away. Maybe he would tell the waiter, but there was little chance that he would actually walk over to the creature and offer help. And if she died right then and there she would probably barf, and would certainly shit her pants. He wanted to pay and leave before she died. He was sure she would drop dead right there in front of him, causing the ruin of his morning.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A young woman came up and greeted the old woman as her grandmother, and started to walk with her. Thank God, he was relieved of any responsibility. These thoughts shamed him, but he could not help it. He was a dirt bag and he knew it.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>This all belied his true nature. He was not the dour, mean old man, but a fun guy, full of humor and goodness. People smiled when the saw him, and seemed happy for him to enter their establishments. But maybe that was only because he spent money. Yet they laughed at his jokes. For the same reason, perhaps.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He left the café and began the long walk back to San Marco. About a hundred feet ahead of him a young woman knelt over a heap on the pavement, shouting urgently for help. Brigham ran over. The heap was the old woman. Fuckin-A . . . for the love of God. One of his greatest fears now lay on the pavement in front of him: an ancient woman, disfigured and made horrible by age, in need of saving, the doing of which would require getting close and touching her, and certainly being soiled by hideous things issuing forth from her nasty little carcass. He called the ambulance, then knelt down beside her. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>She was not breathing. Holding back the urge to puke, he motioned for the younger woman to kneel at her head, and prepare to breathe into the woman’s mouth. Brigham had taken dynamic control of the situation, but this woman, probably the granddaughter, needed to take ownership of the nasty end of business. He had recently seen the new procedures for CPR, which called first for compressions of the chest, and then breathing into the mouth. He pumped on her chest several times, then indicated that the woman should breathe into the old woman’s mouth. He pumped the woman’s chest several more times, and they repeated the process until finally the ambulance boat arrived, and the paramedics took over. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Now hot, tired, covered in sweat and filled with horror and disgust, he returned to the bar and ordered a beer.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I saw what you did,” a voice said. At the next table sat Mr. Todd.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Brigham sipped the beer not knowing what to say, then said, “What else could I do?”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“You could have turned and gone in the other direction.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Don’t think it didn’t occur to me.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“But you didn’t.” Mr. Todd came over at sat at Brigham’s table. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“No,” Brigham said.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“You saved her. That’s amazing.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Nothing else to do. And not so amazing, I knew what to do.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“You saved her, and you saved my article.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Bits of sunlight filtered through the trees and danced on the table and on their drinks. Sparrows flitted about the table looking for crumbs.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“How did I save your article?”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I really didn’t know what to write about you. You are a very talented artist, but a cynical and jaded middle-aged man.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“So far I’m with you.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Not what we generally see in art.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“No, I don’t suppose so.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“An artist telling me that is art is dying.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Brigham threw one of the birds a potato chip. “You know, I hate these fucking birds.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“What?”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“These sparrows. They are worse than the fucking Gypsies. They don’t go away, and there are more of them than can be fed.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Never thought of that.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“One took the chip right out of my mouth once. Scared the shit out of me.” He popped a chip into his mouth and crunched with exaggerated movement of his jaws.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Yes, right. Well, back to the article. You saved it.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“You said that.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Here’s a guy who is disillusioned, cranky and mean. What can I write? Here’s an artist with great talent, but a real bastard?”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Would’ve been the truth,” Brigham said, smiling, still crunching a chip.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Quite, but not a good article.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Maybe not. I’m trying to get the world to love me.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“But now, not only are you not a bastard, that just being a front you put on, but a true human being.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“No, I wanted to run like hell when I saw that old woman. I’m still disgusted by the thought of it.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Of course, but you didn’t run. You did what you had to do.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Yeah, well.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“In spite of your horror and disgust.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“All right, so what does that get me?” He waved to the waiter for another beer. It was only ten o’clock, but he had a rough day already.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I intend to say that you think that art is dying, but that you have what it takes to revive it.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Brigham thought for a moment, looked out toward the glittering water, and sipped his new beer. “I like that. Nice ring to it.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Mr. Todd smiled, looking satisfied with himself and his idea.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“One thing you should know, though,” Brigham said. “You noticed that I didn’t give her mouth-to-mouth.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“So?”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I would’ve let her die first.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I would’ve let her die, anyway,” Mr. Todd said with a mouth full of pastry.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Then, Mr. Todd, we understand each other.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A large glob of white with pale green seagull shit landed violently in the middle of the tan tablecloth. “Look,” Brigham said, “a Jackson Pollock.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> </span></span></div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055622554886316064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5950730689826666121.post-73924174879979174902011-12-24T11:01:00.000+01:002012-01-12T11:17:00.477+01:00Book Review: Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N7lvfYbsWn8/TvWh-3pU40I/AAAAAAAAAbE/jEg1C1I-pqw/s1600/Atlas+Shrugged+Image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N7lvfYbsWn8/TvWh-3pU40I/AAAAAAAAAbE/jEg1C1I-pqw/s200/Atlas+Shrugged+Image.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0525948929/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=theveniexpe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0525948929" style="font-size: medium; text-align: left;">Buy Atlas Shrugged (Centennial Edition) here</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theveniexpe-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0525948929" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-color: initial !important; border-image: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-width: initial !important; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px !important; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; text-align: left;" width="1" />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">From the time I was in high school I heard how brilliant this book was. I remember seeing one of my friends reading this really fat paperback, which turned out to be <i>Atlas Shrugged</i>. I wondered what was so great about it, but it took me forty years to get around to read it. It seemed like another forty years to get through it. I saw an interview of William F. Buckley on <i>Charlie Rose</i> where he said he read it for pretty much the same reason I did, and that it was horrible. He had to flog </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: large;">himself to read it. That is the perfect description of what one has to do to get through this monster. And believe me, you really gotta wanna do it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I am not the sort of person who has to finish something they start. I am a great starter of things, but not a finisher. A quitter, you might say. So why did I beat myself into reading this thing? There were financial reasons. First, I generally buy books from Amazon because I live in Italy. There are a few places here in Venice where I can get English language books, but the selection is limited. Also, it is often cheaper to buy the book and have it shipped. So, I did that, or thought I did. On my first try I ended up with the SparkNotes. For about eighteen bucks. (Note to self: read the description of the book before you buy it.) Since I would rather cut my wrists and hang upside-down rather than deal with the people at the Italian post office, I kept it and ordered the paperback, this time paying attention to what the heck I was doing. So I got the thing for probably another fifteen bucks (I don’t recall, exactly). Problem was, the print was about the size of that on the little paper that come in a box of pills. The years have not been kind to my vision and I couldn’t read it, even with glasses. So, being committed to it, I bought the hardcover. Someone somewhere thought that this book is so important (and it is still one of the best selling books of all time) that it ought to be real expensive. So I was into the project for about another fifty-six bucks. (Don’t leave the receipts for things like that laying around for your wife to find.)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">It took me months to read the damn thing. I read several other books in between, just to support my opinion that Atlas Shrugged sucked. But what was I going to do? I had close to a C-note invested in it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">This book weighs in at close to 1,200 pages. I think it’s the longest book I have ever read. I have heard people say that it should not matter how long a book is. And it don’t. Unless it is a 400-page book that is made into a 1,200 page book. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Atlas Shrugged</i> is the companion book to <i>The Fountainhead, </i>which is a sort of prelude<i>.</i> The books together espouse Rand’s philosophy of objectivism which, in a nutshell, glorifies the individual, particularly the really smart and talented, over the masses. I have no problem with that. I think it’s true that there are a few great and brilliant thinkers and doers upon whose backs society is built and runs. Think about the relative handful of people who have made your world what it is today.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">In <i>Atlas Shrugged</i>, the world has moved toward a system of government that is clearly meant to resemble Soviet-style communism (Ayn Rand having come from commie Russia). In the U.S. the government takes over every aspect of life. For example, to deal with an economic “crisis,” the government declares that you can’t quit your job, and you can’t be fired. People are paid according to their need, rather than the value of their work, and businesses put their money into a common pot, the proceeds of which are distributed to companies that need it. So all the wealth is shifted from those who produce or are profitable, to those who are not. There is no more investment or research, and the existing infrastructure is let rot. Some of the elite of the country decide to go on strike and disappear from society. (The working title of the book was The Strike). In the end, the whole thing falls apart, with the help of a little sabotage, all production and transportation comes to a halt, and the country is utterly impoverished. That’s it. That’s the story. So, the story contrasts those who are smart and great achievers with those who are virtually useless. The book shows what happens when the useless get in control to take from the productive and profitable. It becomes a crime to be successful and profitable.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">My main beef with the book is that it belabors the point, and is sometimes preachy. The book, however, is not irrelevant, even today. In fact, I see a lot of what the book is about happening with this “Occupy” movement. The protesters, to the extent anyone can actually determine what they are protesting, are against corporations and banks. But what would they have done? Dismantle them? Shift the profits to them? Gee, I dunno, but it seems to me that the U.S. was built on that sort of thing. Maybe these people haven’t read the book. I digress.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">So, should you read the book? Here’s the irony of it all. The solution was dropped into my lap by providence, but I did not recognize it. When I got the SparkNotes, I should have stopped there. I could have read the plot, a description of the characters, what they mean, and a discussion of the philosophy. I would have been out of the whole thing for eighteen American, and got more out of it in one hell of a lot less time. Important book? You bet. But goddamn, it’s long.</span><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/mn/search/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=theveniexpe-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=atlas%20shrugged&url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&sprefix=Atlas%20shrugged" target="_blank">Buy Atlas Shrugged here</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theveniexpe-20&l=ur2&o=1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055622554886316064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5950730689826666121.post-2117269154226351472011-12-21T21:44:00.001+01:002012-01-21T15:57:59.519+01:00New Snippet of "Self Portrait of a Dying Man"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">Margold goes to sea on a sailboat to clear his head and maybe escape Death. They come across some rough weather and Margold breaks his arm. <a href="http://hendersonworksinprogress.blogspot.com/2011/12/margold-breaks-his-arm.html" target="_blank">Read the sample here</a></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055622554886316064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5950730689826666121.post-37950791993700978122011-11-01T18:45:00.008+01:002012-01-12T11:17:59.861+01:00Book Review: The Devil all the Time, by Donald Ray Pollock<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theliteraryman-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=038553504X&ref=tf_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=FFFFFF&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">This book is about the sorry state of man in the world, his struggle against evil, religion, and death, as well as the rigors of everyday life. It’s about the futility of prayer and the uselessness of religion and the non-existence of God. Man is turned loose to kill and be killed, to suffer and die, all the while pleading </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">with either a God that is deaf and dumb, or one that does not exist. The message I got from the book was that whether there is a God or not, man has been put on the Earth to suffer and wallow in filth and degradation, all without the intervention of God, no matter how we plead, and no matter what sacrifices we make, real or metaphorical.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The story takes place in small town in Ohio and in West Virginia from the end of WWII to the Vietnam war, but the time and place are irrelevant with respect to the message. The characters are primarily dirt poor uneducated hicks, some of whom are engaged in violent and murderous ways, the rest of whom are simply victims of their poor circumstance, or of the murderous characters. The story is a bloody fucking mess from one end to the other, but to a large extent void of specifics of the violence. We know that people are tortured, sexually brutalized, and killed, but there are no detailed graphic descriptions of these acts. They are not needed.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">There are many Biblical references, such as the sacrifice of a lamb, and crucifixion, but one of the most disturbing, and one that is easy to miss in the story, is when the main character's father is praying and sacrificing animals, and even sacrifices a human, to try to save his wife from death by cancer, he is prepared to sacrifice his son (Arvin) at the altar he has created in the woods, a la Abraham and Isaac. He (the father) thankfully draws the line and puts the knife away.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The most important lesson Arvin's father gives him is to not take any shit from no one, and to wait for the right time to exact revenge. He demonstrates this tenet by beating a man to a drooling idiot because he said he would like to fuck his wife. Arvin then becomes the avenger of evil, beating and killing people for transgressions great and small, some of which the law would punish the evildoer, others not. In his defense, everyone he punished had it coming, and he made sure it was just. Three of his murders were in self defense, and those murdered were themselves murderers. So, we like and sympathize with Arvin.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The book is filled with murder, suicide, sexual deviance, false preaching, and futile praying. It felt to me to be sanitized, perhaps by the editors. The book is much less violent or graphic than some of its predecessors, such as “Blood Meridian,” which over twenty years ago was much more graphic in its violence. One can also see the editor’s hand in toning down the language, although there is no shortage of “fucks” and “cocksuckers.” But these are the words I know and understand, and I know that the characters in the book would use them as verbs, adjectives, conjunctions and punctuation. There were many fewer occasions of their use than one would expect.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I do not summarize plot in my reviews, generally, because I don’t want to give anything away. This is a great novel, and I enjoyed reading it. There are at least three separate plot lines that finally intertwine and mix near the end of the book, the crafting of which was masterfully done. I congratulate Mr. Pollock for writing this and getting it published at his ripe old age. Brilliant work. Read this book.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055622554886316064noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5950730689826666121.post-12731988232076541422011-07-25T11:09:00.002+02:002012-01-12T11:18:16.759+01:00Book Review: Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theveniexpe-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B00310MRMU&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">This is the violent tale of a boy of fourteen, referred to in the story only as “the kid,” except toward the end, when his referred to as “the man,” who leaves home and gets involved with the Glanton gang, which ran around Mexico and the regions of the U.S. bordering on it, to collect Indian scalps. The story is at least loosely based on a real gang of such men.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">This is the most violent and brutal thing I have ever read. It makes “A Clockwork Orange” look like a </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Sunday School picnic. I saw videos of two separate literature professors who both said they tried twice to read it before they were actually able to get through it. So, unless you like a lot of killing, scalping, murder of innocents and otherwise extremely graphic violence, go read something else. In its defense, though, the nature of the acts contained in the story are pretty much what happened in that part of the world at that time (1849-50).</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The Glanton gang has been hired to kill Indians, in particular Apaches, and bring back their scalps, for which they will paid by the scalp. Now, this was before DNA testing, and any old scalp with black hair will do, at least in the minds of the gang. So, they proceed to kill not only warring Apache, who in their own right were viciously and barbarously violent, but nice peaceful tribes, and even plain old Mexican villagers, whose hair looks a hell of a lot like that of an Indian, particularly when surgically removed. And old women and children will do, as well.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Most of the story, then, follows the gang through the wilderness doing their vile and horrific deeds. Most of the time, though, the kid is not heard from. We never hear any reaction he might have to these acts, and really get the impression that he is happy to go about the business.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">One of the central characters is Judge Holden, a huge, fat, and hairless albino who is seemingly able to speak any language, knows about nearly everything, and keeps a journal of sketches of what he sees, and a collection of animals and bones, à la Charles Darwin. He is inhumanly strong and knows everything; i.e., all powerful and all knowing; i.e., God.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">We rarely see the Judge engaged directly in any of the atrocities, but he looks upon everything with a benevolent eye. I will not spoil the ending of the book, but the kid and the Judge come into conflict to the detriment of the health of the kid. The kid has a couple of chances to kill the Judge, which would have been the prudent thing to do, but he is not able to pull the trigger.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I see this as a Bible story. The Bible is littered with acts just as heinous, and all instigated, or at least countenanced, by God. The Judge lectures that war will last for ever, as men love it. The war and the violence that takes place in the story is due to man’s very nature. There is no limit to the evil men do, particularly to other men (or women, or children, or animals).</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">In the end, the Judge is singing and dancing, saying that he never sleeps and can never die. Some people see him as Satan, but I see him as God, though the distinction is rather fine.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Cormac McCarthy is looked upon as one of, if not the single most important living writer in America. The language of the book is what carries it, as the plot is thin–a series of violent events, really, with some bits of philosophy tossed in. It is brilliantly written, almost poetic. This book is thought to be his masterpiece. I agree. I also agree that McCarthy is one of the two or three greatest American writers living, and probably one of the dozen greatest of all time. Read this book.</span><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055622554886316064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5950730689826666121.post-68415812488569142322011-03-20T14:34:00.001+01:002012-01-12T11:18:53.625+01:00Book Review: The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fountainhead-Ayn-Rand/dp/B000NVF4FW?ie=UTF8&tag=theveniexpe-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The Fountainhead" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B000NVF4FW&tag=theveniexpe-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theveniexpe-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B000NVF4FW" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large;">I begin by saying that I know <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fountainhead-Ayn-Rand/dp/B000NVF4FW?ie=UTF8&tag=theveniexpe-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">The Fountainhead</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theveniexpe-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B000NVF4FW" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> is some sort of holy icon to a lot of people. Even more than fifty years after its publication it is selling very well, and is quite popular. When I took my copy down to the shop here in Venice where I can trade in used books for credit toward other used books, the owner of the shop </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large;">was actually glad to see it. In spite of the reverence others have for the book, I did not like it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large;">For one thing, it is not Man Lit, as the book was written by a woman. It is close to Man Lit in its nature and style, but it is not Man Lit by definition. That, however, is not why I didn’t like the book. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large;">The story is about a young architect named Howard Roark, who bucks the system, and refuses to conform to the standards of the day. These standards involve taking classical and renaissance architectural forms and using them in all buildings, whether houses or skyscrapers. His rebellion first results in his being kicked out of architectural school, and then in a long struggle for recognition as he works as an architect, during which time he gets very few commissions. His condition for any commission is that the building must be built exactly as he designs it–the customer will not be able to make any changes. This is a problem, of course, when dealing with committees and boards of directors, each member of which wants to stick his finger in the stew. This is a very broad summary of the plot. Anyone interested in a very detailed description of the plot and the characters can <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fountainhead" style="color: blue;"><span style="color: blue;"><u></u></span><span style="color: blue;"><u>click here</u></span></a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large;">The book, then, is about how this uncompromising visionary and individualist struggles against those in the world who do not appreciate such qualities. The struggle is that of the individual against the collective mind. This is an expression of Ayn Rand’s philosophy of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objectivism_(Ayn_Rand)" style="color: blue;"><span style="color: blue;"><u></u></span><span style="color: blue;"><u>Objectivism</u></span></a>. The working title was <i>The Second-handers</i>, which referred to people who took from and benefited from people like Howard Roark. The most glaring example in the book was his former classmate Peter Keating, who was the exact opposite of Roark. Whereas Howard did not care what other people thought, Peter was bound, gagged and tied by it. He was an approval seeker, in contrast to Howard who neither sought nor asked for it. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large;">As I mentioned at the outset, I know that a lot of people love this book and have been greatly influenced by it. I even know a real estate title company named after it. I, however, did not find it so affecting. For one thing, although extremely well written, the language was not all that interesting. And I did not care about the characters. Most of the time I wanted to slap Howard Roark. I understand about having strict standards of quality in your work, and I understand that most people are idiots and have pedestrian tastes, and that there may be times when you have to dig in, but an absolute insistence on having your own way, particularly in a field like architecture, is self destructive. In architecture you are designing a space according the needs and desires of other people. You have to consider their tastes and opinions. You don’t want a horse designed by committee, but one can’t be absolutely rigid. Perhaps that’s why Rand chose that field for the hero of the book. It’s easy for a painter to paint a certain way and not take advice on it, and to say: “here it is, take it or leave it.” For the architect, however, that is monumentally difficult, and Roark nearly starved on account of it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large;">Another reason I didn’t like the book was that it was too long–well over seven hundred pages. It probably could have been done in three hundred. Most of us writing today do not have the luxury of writing things of that length, which forces us to keep to the story. Now, I know that this book is literary fiction, but it got bogged down in overly long and detailed descriptions and backgrounds of some of the other characters and events. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large;">The book was designed to be a platform from which Ayn Rand could expound on her philosophy of Objectivism. She did this not with subtlety, but with a sledgehammer, beating us over the head with it repeatedly. When I had finished the book there was no doubt what she was trying to say (which is good), but have you ever had a conversation with a person who kept repeating what they were saying? The book was not that bad, but she certainly belabored the point (leading to seven hundred pages).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large;">Yeah, yeah, yeah, everybody’s a critic, but it could have been tightened up. But hey, look at me, I haven’t published anything through a mainstream publisher, and she is the author of two of the most important books of the 20<sup>th</sup> century.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large;">So, here is the Literary Man’s dilemma: this is not the greatest book written, but it’s one of the most important. So, do we chug through its pages, see what it’s about, form our own opinion, and be able to say that we have read it? You bet. So, although I didn’t like it doesn’t mean that I regretted reading it, or that I am advising you not to read it. To the contrary. You <i>must</i> read it. It is not Man Lit, but it’s close enough. Anyone who wants to be called a Literary Man ought to read <i>The Fountainhead</i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fountainhead-Ayn-Rand/dp/B000NVF4FW?ie=UTF8&tag=theveniexpe-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Click here to purchase The Fountainhead from Amazon</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theveniexpe-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B000NVF4FW" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055622554886316064noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5950730689826666121.post-22429206584331113112011-03-13T23:02:00.000+01:002012-01-12T11:19:11.196+01:00Book Review: Ironweed, by William Kennedy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ironweed-Jack-Nicholson/dp/B001NFNFLC?ie=UTF8&tag=theveniexpe-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Ironweed" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B001NFNFLC&tag=theveniexpe-20" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 17px;"> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ironweed-novel-William-J-Kennedy/dp/0140070206?ie=UTF8&tag=theveniexpe-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Ironweed: A novel" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0140070206&tag=theveniexpe-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theveniexpe-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0140070206" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theveniexpe-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B001NFNFLC" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 17px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13pt;"><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ironweed-novel-William-J-Kennedy/dp/0140070206?ie=UTF8&tag=theveniexpe-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Ironweed</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theveniexpe-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0140070206" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></i>, by William Kennedy, is one of the Albany Novels, so called because they take place in Albany, New York. The book is about a bum named Francis Phelan, and his bum friends trying to survive as homeless bums in the winter in upstate New York, i.e., one cold goddamn place. I suggest wearing a sweater while you read this, even if you’re at the beach, because the writing is so good, and the description of the cold so biting, that you will feel it.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13pt;">Francis had a family, a wife and kids, but booze got the best of him, and he ended up on the streets starving and freezing his ass off. All of his bum friends are on the street for the same reason. His friend Helen, for example, is a talented singer, but she is a fucking drunk and could </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13pt;">not, apparently, hold a gig. There is a shelter at which they can stay, but they have to be sober. Ironic—they are out in the street in the first place because they are drunks, but the Christian shelter won’t take them because they are drunks. I wonder what part of the Bible that theory is based upon.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13pt;">In one scene he goes back to his house to see his wife and kids, and the woman asks him what he needs. He needs a shoelace. That’s all, just a shoelace. His socks are full of holes, his shoes are shot, he’s fucking starving, dressed in rags, sleeping in the streets, and the son of a bitch needs a shoelace. Good stuff.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13pt;">This is Man Lit at its best. The writing is brilliant and interesting, and the story compelling. It is a must read for The Literary Man.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13pt;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ironweed-novel-William-J-Kennedy/dp/0140070206?ie=UTF8&tag=theveniexpe-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Click here to purchase Ironweed from Amazon</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theveniexpe-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0140070206" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13pt;"><i>Ironweed</i> is also a movie staring Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ironweed-Jack-Nicholson/dp/B001NFNFLC?ie=UTF8&tag=theveniexpe-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Click here to buy</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theveniexpe-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B001NFNFLC" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055622554886316064noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5950730689826666121.post-60138408052483837152011-03-11T10:26:00.001+01:002012-01-12T11:19:26.876+01:00Book Review: Across the River and into the Trees, by Ernest Hemingway<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 19px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Across-River-Trees-Ernest-Hemingway/dp/0684844648?ie=UTF8&tag=theveniexpe-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Across the River and into the Trees" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0684844648&tag=theveniexpe-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theveniexpe-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0684844648" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 19px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14pt;"><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Across-River-Trees-Ernest-Hemingway/dp/0684844648?ie=UTF8&tag=theveniexpe-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Across the River and into the Trees</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theveniexpe-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0684844648" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></i>, by Hemingway, is a novel about a fifty year- old Colonel in the U.S. Army immediately after WWII, who comes to Venice to die. He as been there many times before, and it is where he wants to be. He falls in love with a young girl of about 17, and they have a bit of a relationship. In the end he dies while being driven out of town in his car.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14pt;">I know that Hemingway is revered as a great writer, and rightfully so. But I did not like this book— it’s not his best work.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14pt;">The title is a reference to the last words of Stonewall Jackson: “. . . let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees.” The colonel had been a general, but we are </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14pt;">never told why he was reduced in rank. He is beat up and has had many injuries from fighting too many wars. He’s had too many concussions and his ticker is bad. Real bad.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14pt;">The story starts with the colonel duck hunting outside Venice, then backtracks to a scene where he has to pass a physical. Problem is, he’s got a back ticker, and he will not pass if he doesn’t do something. So he takes a drug to get his heart rate normal so that he can pass the exam. In other words, he cheats. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14pt;">He spends a lot of time in Harry’s Bar in Venice eating and drinking. I don’t know how one person can drink that much and still be standing, but he did. Maybe he was imitating Hemingway.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14pt;">My problem with the book is that the story itself was boring, and the writing not all that interesting. One thing that drove me bat-shit was that the colonel kept calling the girl “daughter.” Now, it would not have bothered me even if she were his daughter— maybe that would have kicked the story up a bit. But she was not his daughter, and whatever point Hemingway was trying to make with that was lost on me.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14pt;">I’m sure that the more sophisticated and literature-educated among you will take exception with my analysis, but outside of an old man (who is not that old from where I sit) who knows he is going to die soon, who has risked his life for years fighting enemies of the state, and to whom the gods have given the gift of a young girl who has sex with him for free, in spite of his age, there is not much else to the story. And the quality of the writing does not make up for it.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14pt;">Now, I am not unfamiliar with some of the issues touched on in the book. For example a man in his 50’s contemplating his rapidly approaching death, looking in the mirror seeing a beat up old man where there used to be a young face, clinging to youth either by way of music, dress or, as in the case of the colonel, a girl that could have been his granddaughter. I do not take issue with these themes, or even with the premise of the story—it could have been an excellent story. I just didn’t like the way it was executed.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14pt;">It is not a long or difficult book, so reading it for yourself will not take for ever, but my advice is that if you want to read Hemingway, find a different story.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Across-River-Trees-Ernest-Hemingway/dp/0684844648?ie=UTF8&tag=theveniexpe-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Click here to purchase this book from Amazon</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theveniexpe-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0684844648" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14pt;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14pt;"><br />
</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055622554886316064noreply@blogger.com0