Tales of the Trickster

Neil and the Pandas

Thanks to Cute Overload once again for putting a smile on my face when I'm feeling a bit on the blue side.  Super duper treat for me, since CO had some fun teasing my most favoritest author ever, Neil Gaiman, and point out some exceptionally cute pics on his website.  Seriously folks, how cute is he?  Pretty damn adorable, I think.  And how jealous am I?  I want to hug a panda too!  *pout*

In any case, his website has a little countdown clock thingie that says his new book will be out here in the States in 13 weeks and 5 days.  Yippie!

Fairies on the Brain

Not sure what it is, but I've had fairies on the brain for months.  Yeah, the comic has a lot to do with it, but now that I'm taking a break from the comic to write myself a little entertaining story, I go right back to writing about fairies.  Maybe it's a phase, like when I was in high school and I couldn't stop writing about vampires.  Of course, didn't we all have that phase in high school?  Heh.  In any case, it's a subject that always fascinated me because it's so delightfully deceptive.  Most Americans have this view of cute little Tinkerbell pixies like in Disney (never mind the fact that in the book, even Tinkerbell was kind of a bitch), but I've always loved the old school idea of fairies.  You know.  The fair folk that you really shouldn't fuck around with.  The "others" that don't abide by our rules, but have their own standards of how to live.  I love to dive into the psychology behind them.  Any yahoo who's read an Anne Rice novel can talk about vampires and sex, but fairies are a little more elusive.  They're wild, alien, almost sociopathic in a way. 

In any case, fairies and fairy tales are tons of fun to write.  I've always joked about how if you scratch the surface of some of our favorite children's stories, fairies or no fairies, you get seriously macabre tales.  (Okay, hello?  Willy Wonka?  There's just something not right about that man, I don't care what book or movie you're reading/watching.)  Some of the Grimm stories are just plain wrong.  You know what's even more twisted?  Some of the stories that the Grimm brothers based their stories on.  I'm serious.  Read this article on Snow White from the Endicott website and tell me some of that stuff isn't well and truly fucked up, I dare you.  Dead body in a glass coffin, and the prince falls in love with it?  Ewwwwww.  Bedtime stories as told by Anaïs Nin, maybe.  Put that in your psychology textbook and smoke it. 

Oh, and to bring the discussion around full circle, if you ever want to read an amazing story based on the Snow White tale, I highly recommend Tanith Lee's Red as Blood. You can find it in her anthology Red as Blood, or Tales from he Sisters Grimmer, or like I did, in a cheesy paperback collection of stories that's probably out of print by now called Vamps.  It's been my favorite version of the story since I read it in junior high school (you know, the start of my vampire phase), and it actually does have a vampire in it. Bonus.

Mission: Somewhat Difficult

Okay, okay, so the mission wasn't exactly "impossible," but it was still kind of a pain.  It seems that I'm down to the last chapter in book 3 of The Dresden Files, Grave Peril.  Since I work late tonight, this was probably the only day of the week where I could stop by the local bookstore and get books 4 & 5.  Sadly, I was already running late, so I had to grab a quickie lunch, call the bookstore to put the books on hold for me (after my cell phone died the first time), run to the mall while stuffing my face, dodge idiot mall traffic, grab the next two books in the series, and run out again with enough time to make it to work.  But in the end, I was victorious!  YAY!  Let this be a lesson kiddies.  Addictions of all kinds, even book addictions, can be hazardous to your health.  Dodging mall traffic is no joke, peoples.

In any case, if you haven't read any of the Dresden Files, you should.  They are really fun popcorn books.  I'm a little grumpy after reading them though, because there's a "fairy godmother" in the third book, and I have a fairy godmother in my comic, and now I'm afraid that people will think I ripped it off (even though the two stories and characters are worlds apart, I think.)  Insult to injury, apparently there is a new Dresden comic book.  Doh!  (Double doh, now I have to read that too!)  Oh well,the dangers of being a reader in similar genres, I guess.  As I understand it, Tori Amos refused to listen to Kate Bush for the longest time because everyone kept comparing the two of them and she didn't want to be influenced.  I'm not as strong willed or as talented as Tori, and I'm no Jim Butcher, so I'll just keep reading Dresden until he stops writing the series.  (Or until I get frustrated with him the way I did Laurell Hamilton.  Honestly Laur, we get it.  Anita Blake likes sex.  Can we get back to the plot please?)  In the meantime, you can get a taste of Harry through a couple of short stories that I just now discovered on Jim Butcher's website.  Apparently, he's letting us read them for free.  Wasn't that nice of him?  (Guess what I'll be doing next break I get?) 

As a bonus, please enjoy some art by a cool chick named Jennifer Rodgers, who did a great job at illustrating said fairy godmother (and more) for the Dresden RPG here.

A Restoration of Faith

Vignette

Junot Díaz Wins Pulitzer

Have y'all ever seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding?  I love that movie.  Replace "Greek" with "Dominican," and that movie can be about my own family.  You know how the dad in the movie is always bragging about the accomplishments of the Greeks and how the Greeks invented everything?  My own dad has a little bit of that, in that any Dominican who does well for himself or herself needs to be made known to everyone who will listen.  So I get a call from my dad today because he's all kinds of happy that a Dominican one the Pulitzer.  I mean, he's downright giddy about it.  For real.  Of course, me being a librarian, and a book nerd, and his daughter, I just absolutely had to know.  Sad to say, as much of a bookworm as I claim to be, I'm not bookwormy enough and I live under a rock.  Until today, I hadn't heard of Junot Díaz, but I'm glad that he won the prize because it's nice for my people to represent, yo.  I also promised my father, who I love dearly and consider one of my best friends, that I'd spread the word. 

Now I have to put this book on my very large stack of books that make up my "inbox" of reading material.  Because I'm a bookworm and because I don't read as fast or as much as I did as a young'un (there are only so many hours in the day, alas), my "inbox" larger than I may ever be able to read in a lifetime.  I'll really try to get to this one, though.  The last book I read by a Dominican author was Before We Were Free, by Julia Alvarez, and I can honestly say that it really changed the way I saw my family, and specifically my parents.  I understand a little better now why they act and say certain things, and why they are so paranoid about government power after living under Trujillo.  Hell, going through all that, I'd probably still be a little paranoid too.  Anyway, if any of you get the chance to read Junot Díaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao before I do, let me know how it is.  In the meantime, here are some articles about the man and the book.

Junot Díaz wins Pulitzer Prize  - Daily News Latino

Junot Díaz wins Pulitzer for 'Oscar Wao' - MIT News

2008 Pulitzer Prizes for Letters, Drama and Music  - New York Times

Done With Harry

So I finally finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  Finally.  Oi.  Have I ever taken so long to read a Potter book once I've started it?  The answer is no.  I love Potter, but this one was just tedious to get through.  I still don't think J.K. Rowling wrote it, by the way.  At least not all of it, and if she did, she phoned it in.  And where was her editor through all this by the way?  Because the first half of the book seemed a little pointless--like fan fiction that was just thrown in there for padding.  I know, I know.  Y'all are going to flay me for dissing the Potter, but really, I'm glad the series is over.  This last one was such a disappointment.

Still, it wrapped up nicely, so I can't complain about that.  The loose ends were tied up and everyone who survived got their little "happily ever after" moment.  Hogwarts was wrecked, but at least they ended up there.  One of my complaints was that there was hardly any Hogwarts involvement.  That's really what makes Potter so much fun for me.  Without the kids in Hogwarts, it's just another fantasy book that should have been shorter.

In other news, I'm taking a break from my happy fun place online, YABS.  I'll be keeping up with my online friends through their blogs and MySpace pages and such, but right now I've had it with YABS for awhile.  The place has become a nest of whiny, self-important babies that take that forum crap way too seriously.  I get enough of that with all the office politics seemed to have sprouted at my job overnight.  Besides, I need to focus on getting my act together, and one less distraction can only help.

More Banned Books Week 411

Banned Books Week isn't over yet.  Here's just some quickie info for all of you out there, in no particular order:

Amnesty International and Banned Books Week

ALA TechSource

Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Celebrates BBW

Amazon.com's Forbidden Library

Dixie State College List of Banned Books

Article from International Herald Tribune, November 14, 2006

The Book Standard Timeline of Banned Books

Still Kinda Early for Banned Books Week

What's wrong with these book thieves?  Come on people, help me out here.  Can't you save all of your raging dumassery until next week?  I mean, hel-lo?  Banned Books Week doesn't start until September 24!  Get your ignorant asses together!  If you use up all your stupidity now, I'll have nothing to talk about next week!

So who's on my shitlist today?  JoAn Karkos, of Lewiston, Maine.  Seems that sex education is pornography in her eyes, so she's taken it upon herself to steal It's Perfectly Normal by Robbie H. Harris off the shelves of the Lewiston Public Library and the Auburn Public Library.  Faaaaantastic.  You can read her letter to the editor here.  I love that line "library sophisticates."  That's good.  Like we're all drinking tea with our pinkies in the air while we twirl our waxed mustaches and plot the demise of America's youth.  "No no, I cannot be bothered making an informed decision as to what goes on the shelf.  A masters degree?  Good lord man, what on earth is that?  No, let's ignore years of collection development training and find the first thing that will warp the minds of our youngsters forever!  MWA HA HA HA HA!  Good show, now lets go feed the christians in the dungeon to some hungry lions."  I'm not sure I've ever been sophisticated a day in my life, so I'm perfectly fine with giving this twit the finger. 

Some people risk their jobs, reputations--even their very lives to save books from destruction by the Thought Police.  People much braver and nobler than I could ever hope to be. And yet here is this bonehead, taking her freedom to be a bonehead for granted.  What a flake.

Robert Jordan October 17, 1948 – September 16, 2007

Just got the news first thing this morning.  Paris, the guy who got me into reading the Wheel of Time series, is really broken up about it.  I have to say, I'm pretty bummed.  It's a blow to the fantasy lit community, that's for sure.  I mean, I read his books into many a late night, nights when I should have been sleeping, studying, or doing any number of sensible, responsible things.  Those books were like an addiction to me.  And seriously, how many geek girls wrestled with the question of which ajah they would be a part of, should they magically be transpoted into WOT world?  (Brown ajah for Trickster Sedai, thank you very much.  No surprise there.)  Shit, and now I'll never get to read the ending of that series.  Damn.

My sympathies go out to the family of Robert Jordan.  He gave us all a great gift with his writing.

Publisher's Weekly Article on Crooked Little Vein

Stumbled across this interview while looking for info on Warren Ellis' work-in-progress, Listener.  He has given me my new favorite quote:  "You know book people. They are all quite prodigious perverts."  I've read Crooked Little Vein, and I have to say, it's a dark, twisted, hysterically funny book.  Warren Ellis just isn't right, y'all.  It's awesome.

Publishers Weekly interview from April

A Little Early for Banned Books Week

  Look closely boys and girls.  This is what the next generation of complete bloody ignorance looks like.  Stupid git.  Seems fifteen-year-old Lysa Harding took it upon herself to steal a book (Sandpiper, by Ellen Wittlinger) from her school's library because it offended her delicate sensibilities.  Awww, poor baby.  Oh, and your grandmother agrees?  Well that's good.  That's a woman who obviously has her finger on the pulse of today's youth culture.  She knows exactly what's going on in the world today.  It's a good thing we have people like you and your grandmother to protect the rest of us from the evil in books.  I mean, god forbid other people should decide for themselves what they can or cannot read.  Even if they are high school students, because, as everyone knows, high school students can't think for themselves.  It's a good thing you're there with that sharp eye of yours.  Twit.

So let me tell you a little story, gentle readers.  Two years ago, I was working as a media assistant in a local high school.  It didn't last long.  My principal was a facist pig with delusions of grandeur, but that's beside the point.  The point is, during my time there, two freshmen girls were caught in the boys bathroom giving free blow jobs to a line of random boys.  I'm not making this up.  The going theory among the completely flabbergasted faculty and staff was that it was some kind of gang initiation.  I'll admit complete ignorance of anything gang related, I just know how it made me feel:  helpless, depressed, and sad for those girls.  It's enough to make you weep.  The point is, stuff like this really happens. It's not just smutty lit-porn for teens.  Maybe that's the point of books like Sandpiper, hmm?  I don't know, because I haven't read it yet.  Maybe I should check it out--if I can.

In other news, according to the cute little Google picture, today is the birthday of author Ronald Dahl, who gave us the charming-but-not-quite-right-in-the-head Willy Wonka.  Oh yeah, Ronald Dahl has two of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000, according to the American Library Association: The Witches (#27), and James and the Giant Peach (#56).  Because, you know, giant peaches are obviously evil.

Remember boys and girls, Banned Books Week is September 29 - October 6.