I love to write, but blogging is hard work!
I realized it's been January since I've updated here, though I ramble on quite at length on Twitter and Facebook. Ah, the power of short-attention-span-social media! But I wanted to break radio silence for another reason, something I've been sitting on, waiting for all the dust to settle.
I've been accepted to the Clarion West 2010 Writers' Workshop in Seattle!
For those not in the know, Clarion West (along with its sister workshops Clarion* and Clarion South**) is an intensive six week "boot camp" for writers. The emphasis is on short stories, and has a strong bias towards writing in the speculative fiction genre -- i.e., fantasy and science and weird fiction. The instructors themselves are writers and editors with loads of experience, awards, and generosity who come and teach for a week at a time.
Attending Clarion has been a dream of mine for many years, but as a freelance artist, finding the time and money to do so has always been a sketchy propostion at best. This year I carved out the time to go and took a stab at it.
I got the call on a Friday night, and I think I must have repeated "I'm going to CLARION!" every five minutes to my patient (and very supportive!) wife all weekend long. In all honesty, I'm still in a little shock and disbelief that I was accepted.
I'll be posting more here about writing and Clarion West very soon. But for now, I'd like to congratulate all my fellow classmates -- I can't wait to meet you all! To the instructors, readers, and staff of Clarion West -- thank you!
And to those of you who applied and didn't get in this time -- keep trying!
* the original workshop that started them all!
** easier for aspiring Austrailian writers to get to...
Monday, March 22, 2010
Friday, January 1, 2010
2009: Five Books I Have Read
Happy 2010 Everyone!
The final chapter in Vandermeer's Ambergris series, Finch is a noir detective story set in the decaying city occupied by fungal overlords. If that isn't a hell of a hook, I don't know what is. While obviously connected to the previous stories set in Ambergris, Finch stands on its own just fine -- perfect for me since it's the first one I've read.
We have spent the day reflecting on the year that has passed and the year that is to come. And so I've been thinking a lot about writing and reading. One of my goals (I won't say "resolution") is to keep a log of what I've read so I can better remember. No doubt some of those entries will also appear here on my blog, so keep your eyes peeled.
My final entry on the "5 Things" theme is on books I read in 2009. I read a lot, so this list barely scratches the surface of the dozens of books I've enjoyed all or in part this year. I certainly recommend them all to you, though of course your mileage may vary. Each of these transported me to their respective worlds in a memorable way.
My final entry on the "5 Things" theme is on books I read in 2009. I read a lot, so this list barely scratches the surface of the dozens of books I've enjoyed all or in part this year. I certainly recommend them all to you, though of course your mileage may vary. Each of these transported me to their respective worlds in a memorable way.
The final chapter in Vandermeer's Ambergris series, Finch is a noir detective story set in the decaying city occupied by fungal overlords. If that isn't a hell of a hook, I don't know what is. While obviously connected to the previous stories set in Ambergris, Finch stands on its own just fine -- perfect for me since it's the first one I've read.
Detective John Finch works to unravel the mystery surrounding an unusual double murder on behalf of his mushroom masters. Finch and his city really come to life in Vandermeer's staccato, tactile prose. Finch is as fallible and anti-heroic as you expect any good noir detective to be. The mystery is weird, gets weirder, and ends with explosive consequences for Finch and his city.
I was fortunate enough to meet Jeff when I attended his "Booklife" seminar in Seattle in November. He talked about the challenges of adapting the detective genre to a fantasy novel. I think he managed it quite well. Thanks Jeff!
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
I've already done a couple of blog entries on this, but it definitely belongs on this list, too.
Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
Another great noir detective story, this time set in a far future where people store their minds on cortical stacks and "resleeve" them into cloned bodies whenever the old body wears out. With such serial immortality in the offing, you wouldn't think murder would be much of a problem -- just resleeve a backup stack into a new body and you're back in business (if you can afford it, that is). But former UN super-soldier Takeshi Kovacs is pulled out of deep storage to investigate why a prominent businessman was murdered. Kovacs' client? A resleeved backup of the murdered man.
Altered Carbon is an electrifying page turner, full of lurid sex and cyberpunk-style violence. It challenges fundamental assumptions of what it means to be mortal--what it means to be human--when the rich and powerful can wear whatever body they want. Protagonist Kovacs is even more of an anti-hero than Finch. Both are unwilling detectives with tortured pasts, but Kovacs is closer to his feral nature. He's a brutal, deadly opponent, wielding the memories of a thousand lifetimes like knives. He's sometimes hard to sympathize with, but that serves to make our peeks at Kovacs' vulnerable side more meaningful.
The sequels to Altered Carbon (Broken Angels and Woken Furies) are also quite good, but they didn't have quite the same impact on me as did Altered Carbon.
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
I was fortunate enough to meet Jeff when I attended his "Booklife" seminar in Seattle in November. He talked about the challenges of adapting the detective genre to a fantasy novel. I think he managed it quite well. Thanks Jeff!
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
I've already done a couple of blog entries on this, but it definitely belongs on this list, too.
Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
Another great noir detective story, this time set in a far future where people store their minds on cortical stacks and "resleeve" them into cloned bodies whenever the old body wears out. With such serial immortality in the offing, you wouldn't think murder would be much of a problem -- just resleeve a backup stack into a new body and you're back in business (if you can afford it, that is). But former UN super-soldier Takeshi Kovacs is pulled out of deep storage to investigate why a prominent businessman was murdered. Kovacs' client? A resleeved backup of the murdered man.
Altered Carbon is an electrifying page turner, full of lurid sex and cyberpunk-style violence. It challenges fundamental assumptions of what it means to be mortal--what it means to be human--when the rich and powerful can wear whatever body they want. Protagonist Kovacs is even more of an anti-hero than Finch. Both are unwilling detectives with tortured pasts, but Kovacs is closer to his feral nature. He's a brutal, deadly opponent, wielding the memories of a thousand lifetimes like knives. He's sometimes hard to sympathize with, but that serves to make our peeks at Kovacs' vulnerable side more meaningful.
The sequels to Altered Carbon (Broken Angels and Woken Furies) are also quite good, but they didn't have quite the same impact on me as did Altered Carbon.
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
My wife has been encouraging me to read this for years, and I'm so glad I finally did. It's a classic story of well-meaning white missionaries who go to Africa (in this case, the Congo) and manage to ruin their lives in the process. Told from the point of view of the Mother and the four daughters in alternating chapters, the family's disentegration under its inflexible patriarch and naivete is one of the most damning, haunting, true things I've read.
The Poisonwood Bible can at times be painful to read, but it's a tale well-worth savoring. The characterizations of the four daughters is especially memorable. My favorite was Adah.
Ghostwritten by David Mitchell
A book of ten short stories, each with a different main character, but linked to the other tales by overlapping events and characters. We start and end with misguided Quasar, a member of a Tokyo doomsday cult who helps perpetrate a sarin nerve-gas attack -- yet who is not entirely unsympathetic. Through the other stories, we experience themes of reincarnation, chance, artificial intelligence, and quantum physics.
Ghostwritten is definitely on my list to re-read.
Other Notables: Palimpsest by Catherynne Valente, Folktales of China edited by Wolfram Eberhard, Soul of a People: The WPA Writers’ Project Uncovers Depression America by David A. Taylor
Still Reading: Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Trial of Flowers by Jay Lake, and Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
What did you read in 2009?
The Poisonwood Bible can at times be painful to read, but it's a tale well-worth savoring. The characterizations of the four daughters is especially memorable. My favorite was Adah.
Ghostwritten by David Mitchell
A book of ten short stories, each with a different main character, but linked to the other tales by overlapping events and characters. We start and end with misguided Quasar, a member of a Tokyo doomsday cult who helps perpetrate a sarin nerve-gas attack -- yet who is not entirely unsympathetic. Through the other stories, we experience themes of reincarnation, chance, artificial intelligence, and quantum physics.
Ghostwritten is definitely on my list to re-read.
Other Notables: Palimpsest by Catherynne Valente, Folktales of China edited by Wolfram Eberhard, Soul of a People: The WPA Writers’ Project Uncovers Depression America by David A. Taylor
Still Reading: Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Trial of Flowers by Jay Lake, and Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
What did you read in 2009?
Still so much left to read!
Thursday, December 31, 2009
(dr)Ink Gorilla: 5 Things I Drank.
Continuing from the previous post, (and with all the similar caveats), here are 5 memorable drinks I enjoyed in 2009.
Blood and Sand Cocktail (Absinthe Brasserie and Bar in San Francisco)
Likely named for the Rudolph Valentino movie about bullfighters, this drink is one of my favorites, though with Scotch as its base spirit, it's an unusual one. Scotch, Orange Juice, Cherry Heering, Sweet Vermouth.
This was my birthday cocktail this year, and we had a fabulous meal at Absinthe following our drinks.
For those adventurous souls who'd like to try it out, here's the recipe.
Likely named for the Rudolph Valentino movie about bullfighters, this drink is one of my favorites, though with Scotch as its base spirit, it's an unusual one. Scotch, Orange Juice, Cherry Heering, Sweet Vermouth.
This was my birthday cocktail this year, and we had a fabulous meal at Absinthe following our drinks.
For those adventurous souls who'd like to try it out, here's the recipe.
Fernet Cocktail (for Mixology Mondays)
This is a cocktail of my own devising, my entry into Mixology Mondays "Amaro" theme a few months back. I don't include it here so much for the taste and enjoyment of the cocktail (my feelings are still mixed on using Fernet Branca as an ingredient) but for the process of developing it. I had a blast choosing ingredients, juggling proportions, and in general playing alchemist to find the perfect concoction.
This is a cocktail of my own devising, my entry into Mixology Mondays "Amaro" theme a few months back. I don't include it here so much for the taste and enjoyment of the cocktail (my feelings are still mixed on using Fernet Branca as an ingredient) but for the process of developing it. I had a blast choosing ingredients, juggling proportions, and in general playing alchemist to find the perfect concoction.
Octomore Whisky from Bruichladdich
Thanks to being a member of a very active whisky-tasting club, I have had the privilege of trying a range of spirits this year, with an emphasis on single-malt scotch. Octomore is billed as one of the peatiest, smokiest beasts around, and it does not fail to deliver. I'm a big fan of the Islay malts, with their strong peat and smoke components, so it was love at first sip with this one.
Sazerac Rye 18-year old
Named as the world's top whisky by renowned whisky authority Jim Murray (beating out Ardbeg Supernova for the top spot, no less!) this is super smooth stuff, with the pleasant notes of peppery sharpness you expect from rye. Rye seems to be making a comeback -- for many years it's been eclipsed by its cousin bourbon.
Named as the world's top whisky by renowned whisky authority Jim Murray (beating out Ardbeg Supernova for the top spot, no less!) this is super smooth stuff, with the pleasant notes of peppery sharpness you expect from rye. Rye seems to be making a comeback -- for many years it's been eclipsed by its cousin bourbon.
Sazerac Cocktail (Rob Roy, Seattle)
I wish that Anu and Zane Apte's Rob Roy in Seattle was in my neighborhood. In Seattle over the weekend for a class, I slipped into Rob Roy late on a Sunday night and was immediately made right at home by Anu's warm welcome. She mixed me a Sazerac, a classic New Orleans cocktail that's hard to find, and even harder to find done right. Anu's Sazerac was mellow, spicy, and redolent of New Orleans' old-world charm. Believe me, I was sorely tempted to stay at Rob Roy until closing and then just head right for the airport for my 5 a.m. flight.
A Few more for the Road:
Ardbeg Supernova (Scotch), Zubrowka-Champagne Cocktail (from our Uzbeki Feast, thanks Chuck!), Vesper Martinis (for our Casino Royale-themed holiday party).
I wish that Anu and Zane Apte's Rob Roy in Seattle was in my neighborhood. In Seattle over the weekend for a class, I slipped into Rob Roy late on a Sunday night and was immediately made right at home by Anu's warm welcome. She mixed me a Sazerac, a classic New Orleans cocktail that's hard to find, and even harder to find done right. Anu's Sazerac was mellow, spicy, and redolent of New Orleans' old-world charm. Believe me, I was sorely tempted to stay at Rob Roy until closing and then just head right for the airport for my 5 a.m. flight.
A Few more for the Road:
Ardbeg Supernova (Scotch), Zubrowka-Champagne Cocktail (from our Uzbeki Feast, thanks Chuck!), Vesper Martinis (for our Casino Royale-themed holiday party).
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