Monthly Archives for October 2009

another Wilde Wednesday

April 1891
To Arthur Conan Doyle

Between me and life there is a mist of words always. I throw probability out of the window for the sake of a phrase, and the chance of an epigram makes me desert truth. Still I do aim at making a work of art, and I am really delighted that you think my treatment subtle and artistically good. The newspapers seem to me to be written by the prurient for the Philistine. I cannot understand how they can treat Dorian Gray as immoral. My difficulty was to keep the inherent moral subordinate to the artistic and dramatic effect, and it still seems to me that the moral is too obvious.
Oscar Wilde

From this book.

prep and landing

So I just saw this trailer on ABC (in the middle of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! for those of you who are interested).  And I am kind of ridiculously excited, all things considered. All things being that it’s an ABC Christmas special and I’m an adult.

houston, we have a problem

So I was born with a superpower.

I never get lost.

That’s right. You have no idea how awesome this is. I always know which way is north (although sometimes I have a few moments of frightening disorientation when I come out of a subway) and even if I don’t know what streets are doing I can point and say, “we want to be going that way.” Distances I’m not great with, but direction I got down.

And maps. I can look at a map once, figure out how to get from Point A to Point B, and get there no matter what. Even if I have to take a detour for some reason, I get there there 1-2-3 easy.

However.

My superpower appears to be horribly broken.

A couple of weeks ago it took me 30 minutes to walk to someone’s house 5 minutes from mine. I knew where I was going, I had looked at a map and received directions from my roommate, and seriously it was like 2 turns. 5 minutes. Took me 30. I do not know what happened. The streets just—weren’t doing the right thing. I’d find the right street and then lose it, even though I was on it. It was seriously like being in the twilight zone.

And then today.

I was on Boylston. And then I wasn’t. And then there was a train track in the way when I tried to circle back. It took me almost 45 minutes, again to go about two blocks. (I turned the wrong way at an intersection. If I had turned the correct way I would have been there in 5.)

So, seriously. WTF, world. You can’t just give a girl a superpower and then take it away without warning!! I am not used to being lost I don’t know how to handle it. HELP ME OBI-WAN KENOBI.

boston book fest part II

(scroll down about 3 posts for the book giveaway!)

So I kind of adore Orhan Pamuk. He’s last year’s Nobel Literature Prize winner and the author of Snow and Museum of Innocence, among other books, none of which I have read. But I’d heard that he gives good talks, and I like listening to authors talk even when I haven’t read them, so I toddled along.

And—I say this with love, Mr. Pamuk—he is an argumentative, crotchety old bastard. Maybe that’s a little harsh. But he obviously didn’t like his interviewer or the questions he was being asked. The man kept asking about how East meets West in Pamuk’s novels, but Pamuk kept being like, “That’s not the point.” But the guy kept talking about it. And Pamuk finally said, “YES. East meets West in Istanbul in my novels, because I write about Istanbul and that is what I see when I look out the window.“

Please note that these quotes are not exact. And speaking of…

During the question-and-answer session a crazy old guy stood up and said (paraphrase): “You’ve been accused of plagiarism in the past. You’ve never responded to this, at least not according to your wikipedia page when I checked it this morning, so do you have any response you want to give now?”

Pamuk (and this is exact): “No I do not. Next question?”

And in a good example of why you should never believe wikipedia, his entry now says this:

A group of writers claim that some parts of Orhan Pamuk’s works are exceedingly influenced by other works that belong to other writers[...] Orhan Pamuk responded to these accusations at the Boston Book Festival saying, “They are not true.”

Dear person who updated the page within the past few hours: THIS IS NOT WHAT HE SAID. Instead, he said what I wrote above, in a way indicating that he thought the question not even worthy of response.

Anyway.

He is absolutely a genius and I loved listening to him talk. I’m going to try to find the lecture series he just did at Harvard, I have heard rumors they’re online.

So overall I was thrilled with the Boston Book Festival.

boston book fest

(Scroll down for book giveaway!)

Hello! Today Gracetopia is blogging at you LIVE from the Boston Book Festival. It’s the first one, which is kind of shocking; you’d think Boston’s Book Fest would be old and established since the city always goes on about how old and historical and established it is. Oh well.

It’s fantastic, even if it is a little grayer and damper and pouring rainier than one might desire. They seem to have gotten a good turnout, though I can’t really judge. The session I went to at 12:30 was overflowing. On a related note, I would like to say that John Hodgman is the shit.

hodgman

The session was in a beautiful old church, and like I said packed to the rafters, and the first thing he says is, “I’ve always wanted my own megachurch!”

He said many other interesting, witty, and even useful things, as well, on writing and on life. He talked about rooting for your writing friends to do well and then wanting to punch them in the gut when they do. He talked about how the internet has changed the concept of being a writer. He talked about hobos. Truly a fabulous show. Tom Perrotta was his interviewer/companion/interlocutor. Also quite funny.

And now I am in the beautiful courtyard of the Boston Public Library, sheltered under some arches and gratefully using their free internet, writing until it’s time for Orhan Pamuk at 5.

Which brings me toooooo…

Writing Update: 10,257 words since Sunday!

lit drift: 21st-century storytelling

Because they asked nicely and because their site is legit awesome, I’d like to point you all over to a new blog/community for young writers, Lit Drift. They give away free books every Friday! So I approve. And when they’re not doing that, “Lit Drift is a blog, resource, and community dedicated to the art & craft of storytelling in the 21st century.” Check it out!

edit: also, when I went to the site the first words I saw were “zombie romeo,” which started everything off on the right foot. :)

free book! Soulless by Gail Carriger

So sometimes I do this thing where I don’t pay attention and accidentally buy two of the same book from amazon. Like, I click it twice or something. And if I were paying attention when I hit “Submit Order” I would notice the 2 next to the book, but yeah, I don’t.

So anyway, now I have two copies of Gail Carriger’s Soulless. I could just return it, but I decided to give it away instead. Because hey. Why not?

soooo FREE BOOK FREE BOOK DO YOU WANT IT????

soulless

Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she’s a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.

Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire — and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.

With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London’s high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?

SOULLESS is a comedy of manners set in Victorian London: full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.

Feel free to judge me for thinking this book sounds like the shit. I make no apologies.

So, hm, what should the question be this time? AH! A simple one:

Werewolves or Vampires?

Post your answer in the comments to enter the drawing!

I will randomly choose a name* sometime next week. I pay shipping!

*I mean it’s not totally random. If your name is something like Cillian Murphy or David Tennant, you will probably win.

oh hi it’s thursday

I didn’t do a Wilde Wednesday post yesterday. So shoot me. I was trying not to throw up.

Anyway. First post from the new netbook! omg I love this thing so. It weighs about an ounce. Like a shot. It’s a shot of internet. I am so happy.

So yeah. I feel like shit because I’m pretty sure someone split open my head with an axe when I wasn’t looking, but before I crawl back into the darkness from whence I came I need to share with you the following brilliance, which a coworker shared with me earlier this week.

I give you… Klenginem.

Possibly the greatest thing to ever happen to the internet.