Rants and raves of a great and soon-to-be famous author
I've decided that Blogger doesn't quite have enough functionality for me and have moved the the Movable Type platform. I can do more things with Movable type, like change the order in which my archives appear, allow for scrolling through the individual posts, categorize my entries, and a lot more. So, please, change your favorites, and if you link to me, change the link location. The new location is: http://www.bastique.com/blog
To my friend Joey. This entry is a book review, come back tomorrow.
To everyone else. I started on Elfstones of Shannara right after I finished Sword. The thing that struck me most about Sword was the question, “Why are there no women in this story!” Apparently Terry Brooks heard that question later on, and he mentioned that his first attempt at a sequel was sent back by his editor, with one of the concerns being, "Needs a strong, central, female character."
Elfstones has a strong female character, and although Amberle Eledissil rarely enjoys the point of view in the book, she certainly is central to the story. Very central. The storyline is rather as enjoyable as Sword, and yet altogether different, bringing a radically different enemy to the land of Shannara: Demons who had been trapped beyond a "Forbidding" wall since long before the time of man, were starting to break through as a result of the dying of the magic that created the "Forbidding." Amberle must bring a seed of the magic to germination and is accompanied by Wil Ohlmsford, the grandson of our hero in Sword, Shea.
The writing has dramatically improved since Sword, although I was so intrigued by Brooks' imagination in Sword that I easily overlooked the book's deficiencies. Since I waited a couple of days before posting this, I'm already more than halfway through the third book, Wishsong of Shannara.
Brooks has me hooked.
To get the books:
Amazon links are here: The Elfstones of Shannara, and The Sword of Shannara Trilogy.
I was at a meeting tonight wherein someone mentioned that they didn’t quite do all the goals they set out last year on New Year’s but they had accomplished a few of them.
On the morning of December 31, 2004, my office space was filled with piles of paper, scattered objects, and worse; mildew from the air conditioning unit, food stains, paper stuck to the floor, and minor bodily fluids left by my poor cat Joplin (See My Poor Cat). It was the one part of the house I couldn’t bear to face and caused me to feel nothing but dread every time I thought about cleaning it.
But by last night, I had cleaned it up entirely. I didn’t want to carry that clutter into the New Year with me. Instead I carried a sense of empowerment, and my self-confidence is strong enough to risk listing a set of goals for the year 2005.
I had thoughts about what to do for the last calendar day of the year 2004. First, I can't itemize too much that occurred in the beginning of the year, before I started this blog. What happened in January? I'm sure some important things occurred. But trying to figure out exactly what they were would be quite a chore. I've had four people die this year who were close to me, but I cannot remember Fredley's last name other than it starts with B, and a search on Sun-Sentinel.com yielded little to help me. I'll save my tribute for another date. Then the Roomie, who is reading The Celestine Prophecy, came in and posed an interesting question, “Have you ever seen the word ‘moot’ used in any context besides along with the word ‘point’?” I don't like the word “moot”, and think that people that use it are trying to sound grandiloquent. As it turns out, however, the origin of “moot' is somewhat different than people thought. Since this blog is principally about writing, above everything else, I thought I'd make the year-end post about writing as well. So, without further ado, here are my five most improperly used and annoying words from 2004: 5. moot Although this word has come to be defined as “of no practical importance; irrelevant,” the original meaning of the word was debatable. From Bartleby.com:
The adjective moot is originally a legal term going back to the mid-16th century. It derives from the noun moot, in its sense of a hypothetical case argued as an exercise by law students. Consequently, a moot question is one that is arguable or open to debate. But in the mid-19th century people also began to look at the hypothetical side of moot as its essential meaning, and they started to use the word to mean “of no significance or relevance.” Thus, a moot point, however debatable, is one that has no practical value. A number of critics have objected to this use, but 59 percent of the Usage Panel accepts it in the sentence The nominee himself chastised the White House for failing to do more to support him, but his concerns became moot when a number of Republicans announced that they, too, would oppose the nomination. When using moot one should be sure that the context makes clear which sense is meant.Don't use moot,; especially in the cliché, “moot point”. Instead use irrelevant, inconsequential, unimportant, unnecessary. 4. Ft. Don't use an abbreviation when you only lose one or two character (the period makes three). The forefathers and early mapmakers didn't have computers and couldn't easily change font sizes. There were abbreviations for practically everything. But in modern day English, the only time it is proper to use the abbreviations, Ft., Mt., So., or No., with regard to a city name is when you are dealing with a clear space constraint. The post office abbreviates Fort Lauderdale as FORTLAUDER. They don't even shorten Fort. Fort is a perfectly good word to spell out. There's no reason you should ever abbreviate it. Not even if you do the prompts for WSVN Channel 7 news in Miami. Dumbass idiots. 3. amongst (also unbeknownst) Amongst bears the same literal meaning as among. It's a useless word. 2. notate In English we have the noun, note. From that noun comes the verb, note, which means, “to create a note.” From that verb comes the noun, notation, which has a slightly different connotation than the noun, note, but basically means the same thing. So why did we have to create a whole new verb meaning “to create a notation”? Don't use notate. It's ugly and obsequious, and sounds downright illiterate. Use note, instead. 1. irregardless Just because we hear the word over and over again, doesn't mean we have to add it to the dictionary. I thought people had dumped it from their vocabularies, but it just keeps cropping back up. I wouldn't have included it if I didn't just hear it the other day. I kept my mouth shut when I heard it. I had some respect for the person who said it. In retrospect, I don't know why. The word is regardless. Honest to goodness, use any of these words and most educated people will think you're an idiot. My list will probably be close to the same next year, but at one time Ft. was the number one word. It's dropped to number 4 this year, probably because I'm noticing it less often. Doesn't mean it's not being used as much. It's wrong...irregardless of how much I hear it.
Behold what I found in my backyard today. You can click on it for a full-size image.
Tonight, I am full of random disconnected thoughts and can't come up with any sort of essay for my faithful readers. It happens from time to time with people with ADHD who only take 15mg of Adderall in the morning, like myself, after it gets late. It's why I really need to write my blogs in the morning. I finished The Elfstones of Shannara earlier today, and was planning on writing a book review but get my thoughts together to create a full sized blog. But in order to gather the information for the above referenced link, I found the following at the Amazon.com associate's section.
It's been a rough day for me. My poor cat Joplin, who has always had a bit of difficulty where the litterbox was concerned, has of late developed a rather nasty problem with bladder control, bowel control, and difficulty walking on his hind legs. I've been trying to hope it would go away for several weeks now, but it's only become progressively worse.
Hearken back to 2002, when Michael was first arrested—while he was in jail awaiting bond, his 11-year-old dog BJ began to have serious problems. He would go in the house, and rapidly began to deteriorate, not wanting to eat, in pain, weak. I couldn't deal with it, having to work, Michael being in jail, trying to figure out how to keep house. The day after posted bond for Michael in October, we had to run BJ to the Animal Emergency Hospital. We lost him the next day. I've had a hard time forgiving myself for the neglect.
I felt myself falling into the same cycle with my cat, who's now 11-years old, and has been with me for over 10 years, even before Michael and I got together. Finally, my roommate pushed me enough to where I had to take him in, whether I had the money or not.
Now Joplin is not displaying any difficulty eating, and seems to be of a decent demeaner although somewhat frustrated at his inability to move without dragging his legs, but still this was developing into a rather serious problem. I brought him in and faced the Vet's, "You should have brought him in a lot sooner," with a self-effacing teary-eyed, "I know."
Alas, upon x-ray it seems things are not as bad. It doesn't appear to be cancer, like BJ seemed to have. Only a pinched nerve. Apparently, my poor cat cannot feel that he has a full bladder or full bowel until it just comes out. It explains everything—including the difficulty walking. He's got some bloodwork to be done, but we're certain to get him the right treatment as soon as we get the results.
I'm not going to lose another animal to my inability to deal with things. If I have to borrow the money, I'll get whatever needs to be done, done.
Today's Horoscope from Astrodienst: Favorable results Your energies are high, you feel good, and you believe that you can do twice as much work as usual, which you probably can.
This time is also favorable for most business activity, for your actions are blessed with insight that helps you succeed in business where others might fail. For the same reason, this is a good time for making decisions. You have a very clear sense of yourself and your needs, so that you can make decisions according to your best interests, in the largest and most enlightened sense of the phrase. If you must take chances or do something that you can't foresee the outcome of, this is as good a time as any. Your optimism now creates a positive energy that will attract favorable results from your gamble. Besides, you have the sense at this time to avoid any real risky ventures.
This is based on Mars Trine Jupiter, not my sun sign. Yesterday, strangly enough, the Sun was conjunction Sun, something that is supposed to happen on your birthday. 
I think it has something to do with the fact that this was a leap year.
Yes, today was my birthday...and a nice birthday it was. Nobody made a big deal, I had a nice date for dinner with someone I met online. We ate at Galanga, a lovely Japanese-Thai restaurant in the heart of Wilton Manors. I had a Miso Soup and a Sashimi 9-peice appetizer. Simply Delicious.
I made it another year. There was a time I'd never make it 30 and here I am at 38, and somewhat healthy, at least I believe I am. Tomorrow morning is a doctor's visit. It also means I've been doing this Blog for 6 months. One of my earliest blog entries was entitled 37½. It doesn't seem so long ago. Gosh, time is moving pretty quickly.
I never read Sword of Shannara as a kid. I knew about it. But I was pretty picky about the books I read and I think I was only into Tolkein at the time, along with a few other novels. I don’t remember what I was reading at 13, to be honest. Sword of Shannara just seemed too much for me.
But I’ve since read Brooks other series, like the The Word and the Void Trilogy books and Magic Kingdom of Landover books, and I like Terry Brooks. Besides, Michael has been asking me for Terry Brooks’ later novels from the Shannara series. When I saw the first three books in the Shannara series came in a compendium, the Sword of Shannara Trilogy, I decided to go ahead and buy it.
No doubt there were flaws in writing that Brooks possessed in 1977 when he wrote Sword, like the switching point of view issues and the hanging loose ends—things that he learned how to change in later writings. But in spite of it, Brooks drew me into Sword of Shannara and his characters with little difficulty. The plot is slightly derivative, but I knew when I read it this was Brooks’ first successful novel and was prepared to maintain an open mind when I read it. I was thoroughly enchanted.
I have now indeed been drawn into the Shannara series and will not stop until I’ve read them all.
Amazon links are here: Sword of Shannara, and The Sword of Shannara Trilogy.
I'm resting up and trying to get through the holiday season without too much depression. I need a full-time job. It looks like I'm going to be heading down to the Florida Job office tomorrow and get some help. Maybe my HIV or ADHD can get me in a door for someone looking for a tax break. They won't be sorry. My Persian cat, Joplin, is suffering from some really nasty lower body problems. He has no bladder or bowel control anymore and he drags himself across the floor, because his back legs don't seem to be working properly. I mentioned this problem at a meeting tonight and someone is going to give me the number for a Pet Help Center that will take care of whatever poor Jops needs without charging me. Thank goodness, because I can't afford a huge vet bill. I have a lot to be grateful for, and I have to keep remembering that I have blessings in this world, no matter how bothersome my problems may seem. I'll be working soon, I'm certain, and able to pay the mortgage and my other bills without difficulty. Special thanks to Mom. I love you.
If you haven’t heard this tune, read the words once:
”The Christmas Shoes”
It was almost Christmas time, there I stood in another line
Tryin' to buy that last gift or two, not really in the Christmas mood
Standing right in front of me was a little boy waiting anxiously
Pacing 'round like little boys do
And in his hands he held a pair of shoes
His clothes were worn and old, he was dirty from head to toe
And when it came his time to pay
I couldn't believe what I heard him say
Chorus:
Sir, I want to buy these shoes for my Mama, please
It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size
Could you hurry, sir, Daddy says there's not much time
You see she's been sick for quite a while
And I know these shoes would make her smile
And I want her to look beautiful if Mama meets Jesus tonight
He counted pennies for what seemed like years
Then the cashier said, "Son, there's not enough here"
He searched his pockets frantically
Then he turned and he looked at me
He said Mama made Christmas good at our house
Though most years she just did without
Tell me Sir, what am I going to do,
Somehow I've got to buy her these Christmas shoes
So I laid the money down, I just had to help him out
I'll never forget the look on his face when he said
Mama's gonna look so great
Sir, I want to buy these shoes for my Mama, please
It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size
Could you hurry, sir, Daddy says there's not much time
You see she's been sick for quite a while
And I know these shoes would make her smile
And I want her to look beautiful if Mama meets Jesus tonight
Bridge:
I knew I'd caught a glimpse of heaven's love
As he thanked me and ran out
I knew that God had sent that little boy
To remind me just what Christmas is all about
While I wouldn’t recommend Hidden Warrior as a read-alone, it certainly is a fantastic follow-up to the first book of the Tamir Trilogy, The Bone Doll’s Twin. I read the book in only a few days. I’m eagerly anticipating the third novel, which Lynn Flewelling, on her website, says:
Due to circumstances beyond Lynn's control, the book has been delayed. Expect a 2005 release date. Lynn greatly appreciates all reader mail, and still does her best to reply, but due to time constraints, can no longer respond to "When's the next book out?" queries. Please watch this site or join the excellent, lively "Flewelling" newsgroup at yahoo.com. For now, the answer is, "Sometime in late 2005."Sounds like another George R. R. Martin situation in the works (see his comments about his book, A Feast for Crows)
It seems that fantasy authors think they can just leave their readers hanging without taking care of things. They get big and they forget about us.
Oh, remember where I talked about how the artwork for Bone Doll’s Twin’s cover dramatically resembled the cover for Bradley’s Lady of Avalon? Turns out they were the same artist, John Jude Palencar. This doesn’t explain, however, the similarity between Hidden Warrior and another Marion Zimmer Bradley title, The Mists of Avalon. Granted, the horse is in the opposite direction and the sword is pointing a different direction, but considering the earlier similarity, I’m getting more and more suspicious. Just look:
Bizarre, isn’t it?
As far as the book is concerned, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Flewelling’s characters remain well-rounded and sympathetic, even the “bad guys” remaining not quite completely bad. Tobin/Tamir continues to grow as he has discovered that he is a she; yet Flewelling persists in allowing us to think of him as a “he” the same as those around Tobin perceive him.
Hidden Warrior should be a welcome addition to any fantasy library.
Buy it here: Hidden Warrior (Tamir Trilogy, Book 2)
This newspaper article was just so awesome, I had to reprint it here. You can find the original also at this website: The St. Petersburg Times.
The latest movies from Netflix came, and one of them is one I’ve been anxious to see. Saved! was a really enjoying film, and quite a pleasant parody of Christian youth today. Hypocrisy would have been an apropos title as well; however, I must say, the directors weren’t too hard on the Way of Life.
I live in a neighborhood wherein a large proportion of the residents attend a local megachurch called Calvary Chapel. Check out their flashy, professionally done website. Jesus for the short attention spanned.
The multiple fish symbols on these soccer mothers’ Dodge Caravans are just a little bit much; with the tiny fish indicate their children are believers too. Wait till they grow up, then see if Mom and Dad still have the full amount of little fishies on the back of their van.
And they send their kids to that same Calvary Chapel to go to school, because the public school system here in Florida is simply a mess. Not that I blame them. If I had kids I’d probably work hard to put them in private school just as well. I just wouldn’t send them to a particularly Christian private school.
I don’t think second-generation Christians turn out quite as well as first-generation. The older son of the husband next door is not a friendly guy. He listens to Christan rock and is around twenty-one or twenty-two years old, and he kind of cringes when the roomie or I are outside within view, pretending not to notice the queers over here. But I can feel his eyes on me when I’m not looking.
His father on the other hand, despite the “Choose Life” license tag and likely conservative leanings is somewhat neighborly, and the stepmother is downright pleasant to be around. She sometimes even asks about “when Michael is returning from his trip abroad.” She realizes that I only go see him, but he doesn’t come see me—but she doesn’t ask any more questions. I imagine I’ll mention the truth at some point, but today it doesn’t matter. Michael will be back regardless in about ten months.
I guess the point I’m trying to make is that some people who profess to be Christian actually act like Christians, usually the ones that find Christ later in life it seems. But some of these kids that are raised a certain way, forget all about the “Love Thy Neighbor” part and only want to concentrate on how Satan is working in other people’s lives. I’m not saying it happens to everyone.
But kids need an opportunity to grow up understanding the world before they can decide for themselves. Everything I’ve ever read about Jesus Christ and his message says that each man and woman has come to his or her own understanding. You may find it in the Bible, but there’s a lot more out there than just what some priests decided in 325 AD by order of the Roman Emperor.
But that’s another day’s topic.
I'm not sure if these things really work, but at least it might say something. I got it forwarded to me and you're bound to get it by email at some point. I certainly do hope the president comes to his senses and ends the war soon. Anyway, I'm posting it here, because I don't really have the energy to come up with something original. Still bummed about my cousin.
During "Not One Damn Dime Day" please don't spend money. Not one damn dime for gasoline. Not one damn dime for necessities or for impulse purchases. Not one damn dime for anything for 24 hours.
On "Not One Damn Dime Day," please boycott Wal-Mart, K-Mart and Target. Please don't go to the mall or the local convenience store. Please don't buy any fast food (or any groceries at all for that matter).
For 24 hours, please do what you can to shut the retail economy down. The object is simple. Remind the people in power that the war in Iraq is immoral and illegal; that they are responsible for starting it and that it is their responsibility to stop it.
"Not One Damn Dime Day" is to remind them, too, that they work for the people of the United States of America, not for the international corporations and K Street lobbyists who represent the corporations and funnel cash into American politics. Not One Damn Dime Day" is about supporting the troops. The politicians put the troops in harm's way. Now 1,200 brave young Americans and (some estimate) 100,000 Iraqis have died. The politicians owe our troops a plan -- a way to come home.
There's no rally to attend. No marching to do. No left or right wing agenda to rant about. On "Not One Damn Dime Day" you take action by doing nothing. You open your mouth by keeping your wallet closed. For 24 hours, nothing gets spent, not one damn dime, to remind our religious leaders and our politicians of their moral responsibility to end the war in Iraq and give America back to the people.
My cousin, Craig died this morning. He would have been 45 years old on New Year’s Day.
He’s a hard one to talk about, because we were never close, like I am with my other cousins. He drank, regularly and heavily, for most of his life. He died in his sleep, after suffering from cancer that spread from his liver and further out.
The family found out a few weeks ago he didn’t have long to live, so we kind of expected it. Still, I’m feeling a bit numb about it.
The Craig I remember was an older cousin, when we were kids—the loud instigator at Thanksgiving dinners, the butt and teller of jokes all at the same time. I never wanted to be around him, because I always felt like I was going to be on the receiving end of his jibes.
I don’t know when he began to fall by the wayside, I’m sure he started drinking young—but despite the fact that I went to high school in the area that my mother’s family lived, I didn’t hear too much about his trials and tribulations. There were things that just weren’t talked about in my family.
He was the first of my cousins to be married, and first to have a child. But he broke up with his wife early on, and his son was not very much a part of our family get-togethers in subsequent years, even when Craig endeavored to make an appearance.
His death can easily be an example of the demons of alcohol and drug abuse, easily because the liver problems he suffered and brain damage and ultimate cancer were directly due to his drinking problem. But it stinks that it happened all the same. At least I can take from it a stronger conviction that I never want to repeat the same self-abusive patterns that led to his death.
Okay, this is something that I found on Annabel's Blog and thought I would do the same. Sounds like a swell way to get to know people, plus it will give me fodder for future posts. Follow the directions. Even if it's your first time here. Any response to the questions should be done as a comment to the blog:
Since Annabel is helping out with Pete's blog, I thought I should add her to my recommended blogging list. She's a very well-spoken writer and quite prolific, and like Tammi, she's a Texan.
And her blog can be seen here: Story of My Life
You all know how much I love Michael, because I tell you how much I love Michael. He sent me a Christmas card, with a lovely (but unprintable)
note inside as well as delicate flattened flowers. And this year I have to remember to send a Christmas card to him. Today.
But as with everything in life, there should be no surprise that opinions and points of view are many varied, even when it comes to prison life. Through Prison Pete, and the letters from Michael herein, you’ve seen one side of the life—that of the lonely prisoner, grudgingly serving out his time and paying his debt to society. From Tammi in Texas, you get the trials and tribulations of an ex-con, trying to find love, balance and acceptance from the world around her. Here on my blog, you get to hear the anger, sadness, and joys of the sometimes loyal, sometimes inconsolable partner-on-the-outside, biding his time in the best way he knows how.
Now I present for your reading pleasure everything else inside, written by “CO Mom”, life and times of a sympathetic but hardened female correctional officer. CO Mom hasn’t posted anything for a few weeks, but what she has posted is interesting and provocative. Her byline is, “I have an opinion. Maybe you want hear it, if not get lost!”
Be brave, take a read!
When the topic of gay characters in fantasy writing came up, someone on Carol Berg’s email list recommended I read Lynn Flewelling. Since the topic was “homosexuality in fantasy,” I didn’t jump out and by any Flewelling novels right away. Besides, I had a few novels to go through before I got there.
But I ran out of books in November, and had to find something to read, and Flewelling’s name came up on my Amazon recommended reading list, for the umpteenth time. I was a tad bit hesitant the first time I saw The Bone Doll’s Twin come up, because the cover looked way too much like Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Lady of Avalon.
I don’t know if anyone noticed this but me.
But this time I bought it—along with a few other novels (including the second book in the trilogy—see upcoming post), and it was the first novel in this shipment that I started to read.
I was swept into the story right away. The Kingdom of Skala has a prophecy that states that so long as a daughter of the royal line rules, the kingdom will never be subjugated. But the current ruler is a son, who has no desire in restoring the female line; and female heirs begin to die of mysterious causes. His younger sister, content not to rule, is giving birth to twins, and certain wizards, based on an oracular vision, arrive during the birth to ensure that the female babe survives until she is old enough to rule.
Separated at Birth?
