Katherine Nabity's Blog, page 164
August 6, 2016
Deal Me In, Week 31 ~ “Grandpa Clemens & Angelfish”
Hosted by Jay @ Bibliophilopolis
“Grandpa Clemens & Angelfish” by Joyce Carol Oates
Card picked: Jack of Hearts
From: Wild Nights! Stories about the Last Days of Poe, Dickinson, Twain, James, and Hemingway
Thoughts: Did you know that in his later life Samuel Clemens had a club of honorary granddaughters? They were all girls between 10 and 16 years-old. It was called the Aquarium Club and the girls were “angelfish.” Supposedly, this was all very innocent and well chaperoned; an old man without grandchildren, who liked children, was giving these smart youngsters the opportunity to have a good time. But for us as an audience, it’s maybe a little odd.
Not surprisingly, this is the situation that Joyce Carol Oates uses for this story. Nothing technically improper happens between Clemens and his latest angelfish, but through the use of letters written between aging Clemens and, well, aging Maddy Avery, we’re shown how destructive this situation can be. You see, the Samuel Clemens of this story abruptly severs contact with the girls when they reach age 16.
Lots of themes of aging, obviously. From Clemens’ POV, he is in the twilight of his life and career. He’s having a hard time writing and he’s outlived his wife and his one of his daughters. The angelfish make him feel young. From Maddy’s side, she realizes that she’s more valuable as a girl than as a woman. Maybe only to Grandpa Clemens, but maybe to the wide world as well. As is usual for JCO, this is not a comfortable story at all.
August 3, 2016
July Reading Wrap-Up
You know what? It’s the beginning of August and I’ve tied last year’s number of books read for 10 15 Books of Summer! The number is seven, which means I probably *will* manage 10 books by the beginning of September.
Finished in July
I Lie for Money by Steve Spill (#readMyOwnDamnBooks, #20BooksOfSummer)
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg (#readMyOwnDamnBooks reread)
The Amazing Harry Kellar by Gail Jarrow
Presto! by Penn Jillette (#20BooksOfSummer)
I also cleared 24 short stories from the ones I have bookmarked.
Additions to my Library
The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, 7/11/16, Tor Ebook Club, Free
Notes
Starting to think about what great books that I already own that I want to read for fall. Yes, I’m that person who celebrates when the Halloween candy shows up in stores in August (and should therefore not complain when Christmas decorations aren’t far behind).
August 2, 2016
Review ~ Presto!
This book was provided to me by Simon & Schuster via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Presto!: How I Made Over 100 Pounds Disappear and Other Magical Tales by Penn Jillette
An unconventional weight loss tale from an unconventional personality—Penn Jillette tells how he lost 100 pounds with his trademark outrageous sense of humor and biting social commentary that makes this success story anything but ordinary.
Legendary magician Penn Jillette was approaching his sixtieth birthday. Topping 330 pounds and saddled with a systolic blood pressure reading over 200, he knew he was at a dangerous crossroads: if he wanted to see his small children grow up, he needed to change. And then came Crazy Ray. A former NASA scientist and an unconventional, passionate innovator, Ray Cronise saved Penn Jillette’s life with his wild “potato diet.”
In Presto, Jillette takes us along on his journey from skepticism to the inspiring, life-changing momentum that transformed the magician’s body and mind. He describes the process in hilarious detail, as he performs his Las Vegas show, takes meetings with Hollywood executives, hangs out with his celebrity friends and fellow eccentric performers, all while remaining a dedicated husband and father. Throughout, he weaves in his views on sex, religion, and pop culture, making his story a refreshing, genre-busting account. Outspoken, frank, and bitingly clever, Presto is an incisive, rollicking read. (via Goodreads)
I.
Presto!: How I Made 100 Pounds Disappear and Other Magical Tales is not a diet book. Indeed, in the “Disclaimer” section, Penn Jillette makes it clear: don’t take medical advice from a juggler. Instead, this is a food narrative.
We all have a food narrative: what we eat, when we eat, why we eat, and how we eat. For some, the narrative is short and simple. For others, once health and social conventions get mixed in, it’s a bit more complicated. It’s impossible to read Presto! and not think about my own food narrative.
II.
When I was kid, I bought (or was given) a planner that had a fill in the blank section at the beginning. One of the questions was: “When my family gets together, we _________ .” And I filled in “eat.” Which is a true thing. While my grandparents only lived down the street, any get-together usually involved some sort of food. Fourth of July? Burgers, hot dogs, baked beans, potato salad, chips. Birthdays? Dinner out, cake and ice cream. Christmas? Cookies, cheese & crackers, other assorted nibblies. Random Friday night? Random dessert, or maybe a trip to Taco Bell. Food remains a social thing for me. If I want to spend time with a friend, it’s over lunch or dinner.
I was a skinny kid. That changed when I hit puberty. I stopped running around outside and started spending more time sitting and reading like a good student and a proper adult. My hormones weren’t particularly kind to me either. My family are all big people; I figured that it was fairly inevitable that I would be too. I ate what I thought was a healthy diet (a friend of mine in college boggled at how I seemed to innately balance my meals) and didn’t shirk walking, but my weight gradually increased. It didn’t really bother me, but it also really did.
III.
One of the things that struck me inPresto! is that at his heaviest, Penn Jillette didn’t really feel that he was particularly unhealthy. He was on several blood pressure medications. He was suffering from sleep apnea. He didn’t feel particularly good, but it wasn’t an unlivable state. He had accepted that he was a big guy (he uses a more alliterative blunt term) and that he was playing the hand that genetics had dealt him. That is, until he suffered a serious health crisis. Penn, never one to do things in halfway, decided to take a pretty extreme measure: a diet that included a two week potato fast to jump start his weight loss and reset his sense of taste.
Presto! is written in cable-TV-Penn style, which means it’s solidly NSFW. If you’ve watched Penn & Teller: Bullshit! or ever listened to the Penn’s Sunday School podcast, you know what I mean. Presto! is full of sex, no drugs, rock & roll, and occasionally magic as well as Penn’s crazy diet journey. Some of the stories felt repetitive to me, probably because I do listen to Penn’s Sunday School, which is the only place Penn’s really mentioned his weight loss prior to this book. And, as much as I generally like him, Penn’s bombastic tone wears on me occasionally. I might have put this book down a couple of times, but then I’d come on a chapter where Penn talks about being alive for his kids or how insanely better he feels instead of only existing in a “livable” state. It was those smaller/bigger notions that made Presto! work for me.
IV.
The way I remember it, there was no particular reason why decided to lose weight aside from I had weight to lose. During my last summer in college, I was working full time on my feet and lost about 10lbs. The next semester I took a physiology class and met Eric. In a sort of parallel to Penn and Ray Cronise, Eric wondered, based on what we’d learned in class about metabolism, if I could lose weight by eating a high-protein low-carb diet. This was about five years before the Atkins diet became popular. I lost another 45, down to about 120lbs. My weight loss numbers here are approximate because, like Penn and like so many others, I didn’t really weigh myself at my heaviest. Also let me say here: Eric never asked me to lose weight, never pressured me. It was mostly, to my recollection, an experiment.
Seventeen years later, I don’t eat the same high protein diet and I’ve, of course, gained some of the weight back. Right now, I’m about 133±2 depending on how active I am. I don’t think there’s one right way to change your food narrative or sustain your narrative if health or looks or whatnot gets in the way. I know that I like running around and playing ultimate frisbee. I can’t imagine that would be as fun if I were carrying around an extra 40lbs. I know I also like donuts and beer and having dinner with family and friends. My narrative, like all of our narratives, continues on.
Publishing info, my copy: eARC, Simon & Schuster, Aug. 2, 2016
Acquired: NetGalley
Genre: memoir
August 1, 2016
Magic Monday ~ Review: The Amazing Harry Kellar
I like Mondays. I also like magic. I figured I’d combine the two and make a Monday feature that is truly me: a little bit of magic and a look at the week ahead.
The Amazing Harry Kellar: Great American Magician by Gail Jarrow
Presenting the amazing Harry Kellar! The first magician to receive international fame! The most well-known illusionist at the turn of the twentieth century! The model for the Wizard of Oz! Author Gail Jarrow follows Kellar from a magician’s assistant traveling and performing across the United States during the Civil War to an international superstar with a show of his own, entertaining emperors, kings, and presidents. Jarrow uses Kellar’s own words and images—his amazing four-color promotional posters—to tell his riveting story in this first Kellar biography for young readers. And she reveals the science behind Kellar’s illusions and explores nineteenth-century entertainment and transportation as well as the history of magic, spiritualism, and séances. (via Goodreads)
For a while now I’ve wished that there existed a good, in-depth biography of Harry Kellar. Jim Steinmeyer touches on Kellar in his book on Howard Thurston, but Kellar seems to me to be interesting enough guy to deserve his own biography. Gail Jarrow’s The Amazing Harry Kellar isn’t that biography. It is an over-sized hardback aimed at 8-10 year-olds (according to Amazon). It is a really nicely made book, full-color with a fair amount text and lots of posters. Kellar had great posters. Which I’m assuming might be part of the reason why Jarrow decided to make a kid’s book about a magician that is generally less well known that some of his peers. *cough*Houdini*cough* The information and the writing are good though. Really, it was a joy to read because there was obviously care involved in this books existence.
Publishing info: hardback, Published June 2012 by Calkins Creek
Read: 7/26/16, at Tempe Public Library
Genre: nonfiction
It’s Monday, What Are You Reading?
Still reading The Sisters Brothers, which I think I’ve been calling The Sister Brothers. The S on Sisters is killing me. It’s such an odd book. It sort of meanders, but the chapters are bite-sized so you don’t notice.
Next up: Either Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (which I keep wanting to call Northgranger Abbey) or Summerlong by Peter S. Beagle. Summerlong is an ARC with a pub date a ways in the future, but I’m not sure I can resist much longer.
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading, hosted by Book Date!
July 31, 2016
ROW80 ~ Sunday Update, 7/31: Quirks
Sometimes, you need to figure out what works and go with it, no matter how quirky it might seem.
Example #1: I like Mondays and get a lot done on Mondays. I have a tendency to reorganize on Sunday and come into Monday with optimism provided by a chronological breakpoint and a clean slate. For me, Monday is like having a New Year’s Day that happens every week. Tuesday, in contrast, sucks. Maybe it’s because I’ve worn myself out on Monday. Maybe it’s that there’s no way Tuesday can live up the epic Monday I had. After “failing” Tuesday, the week often goes downhill. Jokingly, Eric suggested that maybe I should have a two day week: rebrand every other day as Sunday followed by another Monday. So, instead of Tuesday, it’s Sunday. Instead of Wednesday, it’s Monday. I haven’t quite decided to go that far, but I have decided to go with a six day week, with a lowered time goal on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. It worked this week. We’ll see how it goes next week.
Example #2: I finished the second rewrite/editing iteration of Horrid Haunting and I started on the third iteration. It’s probably the most I’ve ever rewritten in a week. A key ingredient to getting this done was my background noise. I can’t work in silence, but picking the right noise can be tricky. Sometimes, it’s music. Sometimes, it’s ambient sounds. And sometimes, it’s a TV show or movie. This week it was Sherlock. Now, the problem with Sherlock is that it’s 10 episodes, about 15 hours in total. That wasn’t enough to get me through the week. When I hit the end I of “The Abominable Bride,” I spent about 15 minutes trying to decide what I wanted to watch/listen to next. Again, Eric provided the answer: if Sherlock is what’s working, use Sherlock. So, I’m half way through series two for the second time this week.
The past week’s progress is in blue.
Goals
Writing
One Ahead series
Sorrowful Seamstress – another iteration (goal added)
Horrid Haunting
Decide on subtitle for second story.
3rd Iteration (goal added) – started
Edit pass
Draft third story.
Publishing
Website
Change the header to be a SSI. Improve accessibility and validate.
Fix /images /img
Should I set up a One Ahead page? Cart before horse?
Change blog links to drive traffic to website.
Personal Growth
Courses at Code Academy:
Learn SQL – four sections. 2/4
SQL: Table Transformation – four sections
SQL: Analyzing Business Metrics – two sections
July 26, 2016
#24in48 ~ Update 4 & Wrap Up
For some reason, the 24 in 48 never goes well for me. Time-wise, I only read for 12 hours, but I did finish all 24 stories that I had chosen!
My top five from the weekend:
“Monkey King, Faerie Queen” by Zen Cho
“Multo” by Samuel Marzioli
“All Souls Proceed” by KJ Kabza
“The Tomato Thief” by Ursula Vernon
“If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love” by Rachel Swirsky
The top two are by authors I was completely unfamiliar with!
Here are the last six I read:
19 – “The Dead Smile” by Francis Marion Crawford
Genre: horror
Quote:
“I know that something will prevent it and keep us apart.”
“Nothing shall!”
“Nothing?”
“Nothing human,” said Gabriel Ockram, as she drew him down to her.
Comment: I saw where this story was going pretty early on, but the ride was still good, creepy fun. With the “dead smile” turning up on so many visages, this would make a great tele-play.
20 – “A Beautiful Memory” by Shannon Peavey
Genre: fantasy
Quote: One bird was ripening on the vine, nearly ready to be cut—the first one she’d ever planted.
Comment: I liked this story, but I don’t have a lot to say about it. It does have one scene not for the squeamish. (I am not squeamish.)
21 – “The Last Séance” by Leona Preston
Genre: fantasy
Quote: There it was again, the familiar twinkle in my companion’s eye, ever present when he was confident he had the better of me.
Comment: With the Houdini and Doyle friendship getting press lately, this was a nicely done piece of flash fiction.
22 – “If You See Him on the Road” by KJ Kabza
Genre: science fiction
Quote: “Myth and folklore is the only way forward now, Jin. For history and physics both.”
Comment: Great look at what sorts of beliefs might crop up in a generational space travel. Much different than the earlier Kabza story (not surprising).
23 – “Pocosin” by Ursula Vernon
Genre: fantasy
Quote: “Don’t try to tell me you’re dying,” she said grimly. “I won’t believe it. Not from a possum.”
Comment: My second Kabza story on the list was followed by my second Vernon story on the list. Ursula Vernon might become my go-to when I need a little fantasy.
24 – “Til Death Do Us” by Tyler Miller
Genre: horror
Quote: (didn’t have one)
Comment: Sadly, the readathon ended on a low note. I nearly chucked this story early on due to an easily google-able misunderstanding, but it was short and I wasn’t going to give up on the 24th story. (For the record…)
July 25, 2016
ROW80 ~ Week 3 Update, 7/24…er, 7/25
This is late due to the readathon over the weekend. After the last of the short stories, I was done with blogging/social media for the weekend.
Last week…
On Monday, I rewrote the first scene of One Ahead: The Case of the Horrid Haunting (title subject to change). It was a scene that, in the first draft, Eric called boring. After rewriting it once, I decided I actually needed to burn it to the ground and start over. That was Tuesday into Wednesday. I am a horribly indecisive rewriter. I can sit paralyzed for hours over changing a sentence. That I moved on and finished rewriting two other chapters is a win. That I didn’t spend the amount of time I said I was going to on writing is not.
I’d like to finish the second draft this week. I have a substantial change in mind for one of the plot points, so that may be an ambitious goal. But if I put in the hours…
This week, I also have set up for VOTS Fall League and Chris is coming into town at some point.
The past week’s progress is in blue.
Goals
Writing
One Ahead series
Decide on subtitle for second story.
Rewrite/finish second draft of The Horrid Haunting. Rewrote Ch. 1-3
Edit pass on second story.
Draft third story.
Publishing
Website (no progress)
Change the header to be a SSI. Improve accessibility and validate.
update subpages
Fix /images /img
Update “Other Works” page.
Should I set up a One Ahead page? Cart before horse?
Change blog links to drive traffic to website.
Personal Growth
Courses at Code Academy:
Learn SQL – four sections. 1/4
SQL: Table Transformation – four sections
SQL: Analyzing Business Metrics – two sections
July 24, 2016
#24in48 ~ Update 3
18 stories
9:31 hours
Quick update on the past six stories:
13 – “Monkey King, Faerie Queen” by Zen Cho
Genre: mythological mash-up
Quote: You don’t know who Sun Wukong is? You’re kidding! You haven’t heard of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, the one who is Mindful of Emptiness, the Exquisite and Most Satisfactory Prince of Monkeys, defier of gods and Buddhas alike, scorner of other people’s dignity and personal inspiration to little monkeys everywhere?
Comment: The most fun I’ve had all weekend.
14 – “Ghoulbird” by Claude Seignolle
Genre: horror
Quote: ‘What a pity that this fabled Ghoulbird of yours is only a legend; otherwise, I would have listened to its song and applauded with enthusiasm!’
Comment: But, of course, the ghoulbird isn’t just a legend. Best not confuse a harbinger with the doom it announces.
15 – “The Tomato Thief” by Ursula Vernon
Genre: fantasy
Quote: …obviously if you had unholy powers, you’d want to use them on your tomatoes.
Comment: Considering how much I’ve always liked Ursula Vernon’s art, I’m surprised I haven’t read that much of her fiction. This is a Southwester fairy tale with tendrils into other stories. I dig it.
17 – “Lich-House” by Warren Ellis
Genre: science fiction
Quote: The house watched, and managed, the smallest parts of its anthropic usage. It made the occupant feel like her house liked her: that her house could feel and think.
Comment: Eh, wasn’t feeling this story of a smart house and its “aggressively non-networked intruder.”
16 – “Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers” by Alyssa Wong
Genre: horror
Quote: They’re never as strong as they think they are.
18 – “Magdala Amygdala” by Lucy A. Snyder
Genre: horror
Quote: The truth is, unless you’ve been living in some isolated Tibetan monastery, you’ve already been exposed to Polymorphic Viral Gastroencephalitis.
Comment: I haven’t cared too much for the last three stories in this group and two of the last three (#16 & #18) suffer the same problem. The news has been filled with lots of ugliness lately; I find no catharsis in serial killers and zombies.
#24in48 ~ Update #2
12 stories
6:18 hours
At about noon yesterday, a was slammed by a combination of cramps and an RA flare-up. I struggled through story #11 and called it day reading-wise. So, once again, I’m not going to make it to 24 hours of reading. But I still have a few good hours left in me as long as I stay clear-headed. I’ll probably forego further updates until Tuesday.
7 – “Cassandra” by Ken Liu
Genre: speculative fiction, superhero
Quote: “Wouldn’t it be better,” I plead, “to kill the man long before he got on the plane rather than having to rescue the plane as it plunges toward the ground?”
Comment: What if the difference between a superhero and a supervillain is *when* they decide to take action.
8 – “If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love” by Rachel Swirsky
Genre: …
Quote: I would astonish everyone assembled, the biologists and the paleontologists and the geneticists, the reporters and the rubberneckers and the music aficionados, all those people who—–deceived by the helix-and-fossil trappings of cloned dinosaurs––believed that they lived in a science fictional world when really they lived in a world of magic where anything was possible.
Comment: This story has been a firebrand in the Sad Puppies/SJW debate. And…I sort of agree with the Puppies. WAIT! That doesn’t mean that this isn’t an excellent story. It’s one that’s going to stick with me. I won’t say a lot about it because it’s short and the link is right up there. It literally took me 6 minutes to read it, so check it out. But it’s also not really science fiction or fantasy. It’s sort of an extended literary prose poem. If you’re going to give awards for genre, give awards to genre… (And I won’t get into the ghetto-ization that genre causes and why giving a genre award probably doesn’t lead to wider readership…)
9 – “The Shell of Sense” by Olivia Howard Dunbar
Genre: horror, sort of
Quote: Then, for this was my first experience of the shadow-folded transition, the odd alteration of my emotions bewildered me.
Comment: Once I thought about writing a story about a ghost left watching as everyone else’s live continues. I would have been 100 year too late to the concept. Lovely prose.
10 – “The Priory Church” by James Collins
Genre: horror
Quote: (brain fog set in…)
Comment: Really enjoyed how different the voice of pompous Peverell was in comparison to the frame story.
11 – “Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight” by Aliette de Bodard
Genre: science fiction
Quote: Mem-implants always went from parent to child. They were a family’s riches and fortune; the continued advice of the ancestors, dispensed from beyond the grave.
Comment: But what is your parent is an important scientist? And you’re…not. Would those memories be wasted?
12 – “Listen” by Karin Tidbeck
Genre: science fiction
Quote: In the moment they spoke, they were completely understandable. But as soon as they fell silent, any memory of what they had said disappeared.
Comment: Both of the stories on my list from Tor.com have music as a part of them. Also an interesting synergy between this story and “Candy Girl.” Both have characters who wish desperately (and foolishly?) to integrate into another culture.
July 23, 2016
#24in48 ~ Update 1
6 stories
3:08 hours
My stories have been relatively short thus far.
1 – “Multo” by Samuel Marzioli
Genre: horror
Quote: The past is never gone, only forgotten.
Comment: “Multo” begins with the above quote, a salawikain, a Tagalog proverb. The narrator of this story is contacted by his old neighbor who asks, do you remember the multo—the ghost? The narrator certainly does. This was my first story of the readathon, which I read at 10pm. Ever think there might be something in the shadows, the “idling dark” as Marzioli puts it, that causes you to maybe leave a dark room a little faster than is reasonable for an adult? Ever have sleep paralysis? All of that with a supernatural tinge.
2 – “Osiana” by Jay Lake and Ruth Nestvold
Genre: fantasy
Quote: Her choices were to be taller than the post, or be turned out to some guard company to be shagged to death.
Comment: Osiana has a novel solution to being short. This warrior woman doesn’t let it get in her way.
3 – “Pigeons from Hell” by Robert E. Howard
Genre: horror
Quote: They say the pigeons are the souls of the Blassenvilles, let out of hell at sunset.
Comment: I don’t think I’ve really read any Robert E. Howard. I was a little worried, when I realized that this story takes place in the South and involves characters from the West Indies that it might be wincingly racist, as some of Howards contemporaries can be *cough*Lovecraft*cough*. It wasn’t. I was fairly surprised by this haunted house story.
4 – “All Souls Proceed” by KJ Kabza
Genre: magical realism? sure
Quote: Hello, I say to the bike, but of course bikes don’t talk. It rolls on past me, stiffly, in non-acknowledgment.
Comment: This is just a beautiful gem of flash fiction. I won’t say much. Just go read it.
5 – “Terminal” by Lavie Tidhar
Genre: science fiction
Quote: For the past is a world one cannot return to, and the future is a world none has seen. (Kind of an interesting contrast to the quote from “Multo.”)
Comment: In the near future, people are paying for the privilege of taking a one-way trip to Mars, everyone in their own “jalopy”—what a great use of a word for tiny, questionable space crafts. Some of these travelers, like Mei with bone cancer, won’t make it to Mars, but maybe its a better future than can be hoped for.
6 – “Candy Girl” by Chikodili Emelumadu
Genre: I’m going to go with magical realism again. Contemporary fantasy? I don’t know…
Quote: “That foolish man,” Ozulu says. “Does he not know the gods are tricky?”
Comment: Gini has been cursed by Paul, her ex and an ingratiating douche. She’s becoming the thing he likes most: chocolate.
