Blake Charlton's Blog, page 9
March 29, 2010
How Doctors Speak
"Blake," you say to me, as you are often apt to do these days, "I can't understand a single fucking thing my doctor says."
I can sympathize.
"And it gets worse when two of you guys are talking to each other. Hard enough to understand one white coat but then another of you walks in the room. That happens, and you start talking something that sounds like Ancient Greek humping a can of alphabet soup: this patient presents with AMS, scleral injection, and hyperalimentation likely secondary to...
March 22, 2010
Writer on the Verge: Saladin Ahmed
One of the pleasures of a literary convention is a chance to discover new talent. At last autumn's World Fantasy Convention, I had the good luck to be seated next to Saladin Ahmed (web LJ FB) at a writerly dinner. We struck up a conversation and, as writers always do, belly ached about our respective projects. It so happened that we shared a common interest in the exploration of the medieval Muslim world within the fantasy genre. Saladin had already published several stories in a...
March 19, 2010
Spellwright's Lost Invocation
This crosspost appeared originally at The Mad Hatter's Bookshelf.
N.B. If you're in the bay area, consider joining me at Kepler's Books and Magazines in Menlo Park, at 7:15PM for an introduction by Dr. Abraham Verghese, a reading and signing of the of the book, a afterward a few pints at the BBC, a pub across the way.
The inspiration for Spellwright came to me in a rush; it began with a moment of sharp pain but then evolved into a flight of ideas that felt…almost incandescent. As origin...
March 17, 2010
News Post: A French Translation of Spellwright
Nota Bene: This Friday, March 19th 7:15pm I will read and sign Spellwright at my hometown bookstore: Kepler's Books & Magazines. If you're in the area, please come say hi and/or join me for a pint afterward.
Between high school and college, I spent a summer in Moroccan Atlas Mountains, splitting my time between two host families in the cities of Meknes and Fez. The country was beautiful, the cities ancient and majestic, the people friendly if sometimes given to swindling a naïve tourist...
March 16, 2010
Guest Post: Mytusmage on Language & Magic
The following was originally a comment on my last post by Mythusmage. Who guards a corner of the internets known as Mythusmage Opines. I've annotated with remarks distinguished by brackets () CAPITALS and a pirate voice. I'm not going to spellcheck it, because pirates don't fucking spellcheck. Arrrr.
(I BE BLOGGING BOUT YON MG READING WITH NARRY A MENTION OF THAT COVE MYTHUSMAGE.)
Note how Blake neglects to mention the marvelous, magical, mythusmage (hi there).
I got there late (AYE), didn't...
March 15, 2010
News Post: Mysterious Galaxy!
Yesterday, I had a privilege of ending my jaunt around Southern California with a reading at Mysterious Galaxy (web facebook twitter) in San Diego. They invited me down after the lovely co-owner, Maryelizabeth Hart kindly reviewed Spellwright. See facebook for the pictures.
But back to the point: This store is a gem!
The staff booksellers were warm, knowledgeable, and snarky snide charming. In particular, I traded jibes with Patrick Heffernan, a witty fellow who has promised to take my hair...
March 13, 2010
News Post: Southern California Tour so far
The first official event of book tour starts tomorrow with a reading a Mysterious Galaxy. Stop by if you're in town. I came down to LA a few days earlier to stay with my sister and play super uncle to the Cutest Niece Ever. Sister is an inspiring therapist at a school for the disabled. She had asked me to come and read to her class and talk about coping with a disability. Somehow, when I was on the plane flight down, my audience grew from her class to a school-wide assembly. Public speaking a...
March 10, 2010
Medical Dreams & Nightmares
As mentioned earlier, both my parents are psychoanalysts. Maybe that's one reason why I am preoccupied by dreams, my own and those of others. Those who've read Spellwright won't be surprised; dreams and the discovery of their meanings figure prominently in the plot. But, not to worry, I don't go in for aggressive analysis of dreams.
In my opinion, most dreams, like most stories, don't require analysis; they require retelling.
If a friend has a humorous or frightening dream, it's often the...
March 5, 2010
News Post: Brent Weeks at World Fantasy, The Infocom Game
Hotel Bar
You are standing in the primordial soup of the World Fantasy Convention 2009 bar. Exits are north and west. The bar is dimly lit. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
There are fantasy authors here.
>Look at primordial soup.
It is strongly alcoholic.
>Look at fantasy authors.
They are strongly alcoholic.
>Which fantasy authors are there?
I don't understand that.
>Talk to fantasy authors.
They're talking to each other.
>Join fantasy authors.
I don't understand that.
>Introduce self to fantasy...
February 28, 2010
In Praise of Audio Fiction
[The following crosspost appeared (or will soon appear) at Tor.com]
The inspiration for this post came to me when convincing an actor friend to record an excerpt of my novel Spellwright. We did everything we could to make sure the result was lovingly, if not professionally, produced. It might not win any awards, but it's still free and (hopefully) fun. If curious, have at the embedded vid below.
I relish nothing so much as listening to a good book. So when working on this sample, I got to...
