Steve Vernon's Blog, page 6

Halloweeeeen....

I thought I'd post a link to my LiveJournal to give you folks an idea on how a ghost story teller and writer spends his Halloween season.

Here is a link to the first entry.

http://steve-vernon.livejournal.com/2...

More to follow.

For Jersey Devil and poetry fans alike...

I'm pleased and excited to announce that my award-winning epic poem "Barren: A Study in Futility" is now online at ChiZine.

my link

Hope you enjoy the read.

My 52nd birthday...

Read all about my 52nd birthday in my new journal entry.

http://steve-vernon.livejournal.com/2...

Yours in storytelling,


Steve Vernon

Mountain Magic...

I've just heard word that a story of mine has been accepted in the pages of an upcoming Woodland Press anthology - MOUNTAIN MAGIC - SPELLBINDING TALES OF APPALACHIA.

Check it out.

http://grimoireofthemountains.blogspo...

Yours in storytelling,


Steve Vernon

The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet

The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet by Reif Larsen


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book is a very peculiar sort of animal.

I have always been a sucker for annotated novels. They are the original basis for all of those bells and whistles you find on ritzy dvd films. I love finding out what a writer was thinking, where a scene took place, the history of an object that the protagonist is holding - all of that useless interesting trivial back-data.

I dig it.

So looking at this book with its pages of illuminated/annotated story I couldn't wait to take it home.

Well, actually, if you want the truth of it, this book was recommended to me by a bookstore employee - who knew that I dug "illustrated" novels (such as Sherman Alexie's very-cool "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian").

So I was the victim of a drug deal. She waved the needle and I stuck it in my eye.

The book is a very fine read - by spells. It is a little uneven in quite a few spots.

What I loved about it was the way the author wove the backstory into the annotations. There is a whole plotline going on through all of these maps and illustrations and notes - so don't skip them.

I loved his poignant fanciful text. Almost whimsical in spots. Still, the author left a lot to be desired.

The plotline was decidely erratic. This is a road story without much of a road. The protagonist, twelve-year-old cartographer Tecumseh Sparrow Spivet, receives an unexpected phone call from the Smithsonian. So he decides to travel to Washington, DC to accept the award that he has been given.

The bulk of his journey takes place on a freight train, traveling hobo-style. Now I am a sucker for hobo stories, but this one checked out. While the protagonist was traveling by freight train - the bulk of the narrative consists of a journal that he is reading. He might as well have been traveling by Greyhound Bus. It feels a little cheap, a sort of a cop-out, and I felt a little cheated.

Of course, the journal does have a little to do with the story - but very little. It just felt as if the author had this chunk of writing that he wanted to shoehorn into the book to pad things up.

I bought the book in a children's bookstore but I have to wonder whether or not the rambling whimsy of this narrative would hold the attention of all but the most discerning of young readers. I feel this book is more aimed towards grown-ups who are trying to recollect the feeling of how it was to live in a child's imagination.

It was an interesting read that left me wondering - not a bad state for a book to leave me in - but I still have mixed feelings about recommending this.

If you are a fan of old school yarning, tinged with a bit of absurd realism, then you might enjoy this book. If you are more comfortable with a straight-ahead storyline and a plot that makes perfect sense you might want to look elsewhere.

Fans of the movie BIG FISH will most likely enjoy this novel. I dug BIG FISH, so I guess I dig T.S. Spivet - but I still wonder if maybe the author needed to put a little more elbow grease into what was a fine read.

yours in storytelling,

Steve Vernon

View all my reviews >>

Robert Sawyer's Wake

WWW:Wake by Robert J. Sawyer


My rating: 5 of 5 stars


View all my reviews >>

In which I win a poetry contest...

Dear Competitors,Thank you for your fiction and poetry submissions to the 2010 Rannu Fund. We have finally found our winners and honourable mentions in both the fiction and poetry categories.

**Please note that all judging was done blind; names, bios, e-mails, etc. were stripped from all entries prior to judging.**

Fiction Winner:
"Foretold" by Barbara Gordon

Fiction Honourable Mentions:
"Little Escher" by Robert Borski
"A Swarm of Shadows" by Francine Lewis

Fiction Judges: Don Bassingthwaite, Nick Stokes, Sandra Kasturi

Poetry Winner:
"Barren - A Chronicle in Futility" by Steve Vernon

Poetry Honourable Mentions:
"A Good Catch" by Colleen Anderson
"Manifesting Universes" by Francine Lewis

Poetry Judges: Gemma Files, Helen Marshall, Sandra Kasturi

We would also like to note the entries that made it onto one or more judges' shortlists:

Fiction:
"Freedom's Just Another Word" by Colleen Anderson
"Water of Life" by F.J. Bergmann
"Bat Story" by Michael Colangelo
"Book of Kishon" by Ivan Faute
"Gentle Awakening" by Maybelle Leung
"The Official" by Eric Sandler
"Simulove Industries, Model #69" by Myna Wallin

Poetry:
"Nephology" by F.J. Bergmann
"Overtures" by F.J. Bergmann
"Polterguest" by Robert Borski
"Yeti-Nessie: A Cryptid Love Story" by Robert Borski
"Persephone Depressed" by Adrienne J. Odasso
"For the Reverend Adelir Anton de Carli" by Matt Schumacher
"From a Little-Known Collection Entitled 'Legends of Spiders & Water'" by Matt Schumacher

Thank you all for participating in this competition, and I hope you will all enter again next year--check the website for details in the fall.

PLEASE NOTE that for next year's competition, the Rannu Fund Awards will be sponsored in part by ChiZine Publications.

And thank you for your patience as the judges got through the entries. (And thanks again to the judges!!)

Congratulations, all.

Sandra Kasturi

Winning first place in the poetry section was both a thrill and an honour and the prize money will definitely pay a few bills.

The poem is an epic recounting of the 1820 presidentially-commissioned hunt for the Jersey Devil.

An excerpt from the five page poem will be posted on the Rannu website.

In the fall the entire poem will appear, online, in the pages of Chi-Zine.

Yours in storytelling,


Steve Vernon

In which I learn how to write...

The next time you find yourself stuck on what to write next have a peek at Douglas Clegg's absolutely-free 20 TIPS FOR WRITERS!


http://www.scribd.com/doc/31244122/20...

yours in storytelling,

Steve Vernon

in which I attend a Robert Sawyer reading...

So there I was last night at a reading by Rob Sawyer to help promote "Watch", the second book in his WWW series at the Halifax Public Library.

I got there early and bought a copy of the first book "Wake" from the booksale table at the back. I always try to make it a point to buy a book from any writer whose reading I attend. I know where they're coming from and we're all in this boat together - you know what I'm saying?

So I sat there and read the first 4 chapters in the fifteen minutes or so before the reading began.

Afterwards, during the Q&A session I decided I wanted to say something about the book I had bought. I was thinking that if I could somehow draw attention to the bookseller at the back that it might help Rob sell a few more copies.

I stuck my hand up and said "Rob, I bought this book and have been reading it and I'm here to tell you that this is a fast read. I mean, this fucking book gallops!"

What can I tell you? I just opened my mouth and the words fell out.

That'll make a great blurb on his next book, I figure.

The bookseller afterwards told me that my comment was the highlight of his night.

The first Robert Sawyer I've ever read. Definitely won't be my last. This fucking book gallops!

yours in storytelling,

Steve Vernon

Who would have thought...

Who would have thought that a tube of silicon sealant could have done such a fine job on sealing up a kitchen window that is supposed to open up every now and then?

Who would have thought that it would have been so very hard to cut the hardened silicone away to free the window?

Who would have thought that so much of the critical rubber gasket goop could have been cut away throughout the entire silicone-cutting away part of the process?

Oh my brothers and sisters, I make Red Green look like an absolute expert.

yours in storytelling,

Steve Vernon