Katherine Nabity's Blog, page 186
June 20, 2015
Deal Me In, Week 25 ~ “The Steel Flea”
Hosted by Jay @ Bibliophilopolis
“The Steel Flea” by Nikolai Leskov
Card picked: Eight of Hearts
From: The Enchanted Pilgrim, and Other Stories, translated by David Magarshack
Thoughts: “The Steel Flea” or “The Tale of Cross-eyed Lefty from Tula and the Steel Flea” or “Lefty” or, as it is in my anthology, “The Left-Handed Artificer,” begins with Tsar Alexander I touring Western Europe. The tsar is amazed by the innovative craftsmen he sees during his travels, but his companion, Platov, is unimpressed. Being an incredibly patriotic sort, Platov insists that Russia has better. The only time that Platov might be utterly wrong is when the English craftsmen show the tsar a microscopic, dancing flea automaton. The tsar purchases it for a large amount of money*, but dies before its mysteries are investigated.
Under Tsar Nicholas, Platov again campaigns to prove that Russian craftsmen are better than the English. He is entrusted with the flea and he takes it to the gunsmiths of Tula. The gunsmiths are fine craftsmen, but are lacking on the science end of things. They fit the microscopic flea with horseshoes, each signed nanoscopically by each craftsman**. Unfortunately, these horseshoes are too heavy for the flea and it can no longer dance.
One of the craftsmen, the left-handed one***, is given a trip to England. The English are quite impressed with the “improvement” to the flea and do all they can to convince the left-handed artificer to stay. Lefty loves Russia and, when he makes an important discovery about how the English maintain their guns, he insists to be taken home as quickly as possible. Aboard the ship, he is challenged to a drinking competition, which he cannot refuse****. The left-handed artificer is severely drunk, as is the ship’s captain, when they dock. Lefty has lost his papers and is shuffled from jail to hospital to hospital. When the captain finds him, the left-handed artificer is on his last breath. He gives the captain a message to take to the tsar. What’s the message? Will the tsar listen? Well, keep in mind, this *is* a Russian tale.
* Did the English take advantage of the tsar? Maaaybeee…
** It’s not like anyone at this time has a microscope able to see this scale. The Tsar Nicholas and Platov have to take the craftsmen at their word, which they do. Also, I may not be using nano- appropriately here.
*** His name is forgotten after his untimely death. Is this criticism about how Russia treats its craftsmen? Maaaybeee…
**** Here I will state that probably not all Russians drink, but this isn’t a stereotype that I’ve seen refuted in Russian literature…or in my own experience.
About the Author: Leskov walks a line with this story. On one hand, his main characters are unabashedly and sincerely patriotic. On the other, he’s not shy about pointing out the problematic aspects of Russia in the late 1800s. Leskov is known to be a bit of an experimenter in style and form, but I fear much of that is lost in translation.
Is This Your Card?
I didn’t plan it, but this week’s darw brings us Piff and Mr. Piffles.
June 18, 2015
Review ~ Maps and Legends
Maps and Legends is an essay collection by American author Michael Chabon that was scheduled for official release on May 1, 2008, although some copies shipped two weeks early from various online bookstores. The book is Chabon’s first book-length foray into nonfiction, with 16 essays, some previously published. Several of these essays are defenses of the author’s work in genre literature (such as science fiction, fantasy, and comics), while others are more autobiographical, explaining how the author came to write several of his most popular works. (via Amazon)
Some highlights for me:
Chabon treads on the issue of genre. “Imagine that, sometime about 1950, it had been decided, collectively, informally, a little at a time, but with finality, to proscribe every kind of novel but the nurse romance from the cannon of the future.” And that’s sort of what’s happened when one talks of literary fiction. It’s been decided that serious literature can only be one thing and things that don’t fit the mold (like “genre” novels) aren’t serious. This ignores the fact that many classic authors wrote detective stories and ghost stories and overwrought gothic romances. As a fine-arts-trained comic book reader, Chabon struggled with “literary” versus “genre.” He successfully sidesteps the issue by writing such things as a fine literary novel about comic book creators…
This dovetails with the Thrilling Tales anthology that I’ve been reading that was edited by Michael Chabon. The stories all seem to be investigations into genre by the Literary Establishment. Another essay introduces the notion that some of the things that fans enjoy most are the things in a story that are unmapped. For example, Irene Adler appears in one Sherlock Holmes story. One. Moriarty gets mention in two or three. Yet these two characters are incredibly important to the Holmes fandom. They are who a lot of other fiction is written about. We feel the need to fill in the blank places on the narrative map when we see them.
Many of these essays are pretty much Chabon talking about stuff he likes. Comics, Sherlock Holmes, Norse mythology, M. R. James. For me, those essays, even ones about things I don’t really care about (like Cormac McCarthy’s The Road), were more interesting than the essays in which Chabon talks autobiographically about writing. I think this is probably more due to me than the quality of the essays. I’d always rather hear about the things someone loves. I’m not implying that Chabon isn’t passionate about being an author, but that’s an issue that is complicated by a great many other things.
Publishing info, my copy: Open Road Integrated Media, Kindle Edition, 2011
Acquired: Amazon
Genre: Non-fiction
June 17, 2015
#ROW80 ~ Wednesday Update, June 17th
There is no failure, only a process that leads me closer to my true bunny nature.
— Bunny Buddhism (@bunnybuddhism) June 16, 2015
Lots of process since Sunday. ;)
Writing
Abbott Project
1000 words daily. – No where near that so far this week. In light of last week’s research, I’ve been tweaking the first 5K. I’ve also become slightly sidetracked by a formatting project and the want to get ahead on my Python class before we vacation next week.
Figure out what images I have that are free, clear, unattached public domain. – No movement.
Daily free write. – Wrote Sunday and Tuesday.
Reading, related to writing
The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage (Abbott Project related) – Still only 35% done. I had book from the library come off of hold and I’ve been reading that.
Or, Linking Rings: William W. Durbin and the Magic and Mystery of America by James David Robenalt (Abbott Project related)
Publishing
Look for new promo options. / Finish the BIG List and evaluate new venues by the 20th when I run my next promo. – Getting stuff all ready for a Lucinda at the Window promo on Saturday.
ROW 80 is a blog hop!
Please, check out how other Round of Words participants are doing with their goals.
June 15, 2015
Summer Reading ~ The Last Unicorn (and Other Stories)
I’m appropriating Mondays for short reviews of my summer reads (I’m behind in reviewing all the books I’d like to review) and my weekly preview.
A Sort of Estella Project Review
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
The unicorn had lived since before memory in a forest where death could touch nothing. Maidens who caught a glimpse of her glory were blessed by enchantment they would never forget. But outside her wondrous realm, dark whispers and rumors carried a message she could not ignore: “Unicorns are gone from the world.”
Aided by a bumbling magician and a indomitable spinster, she set out to learn the truth but she feared even her immortal wisdom meant nothing in a world where a mad king’s curse and terror incarnate lived only to stalk the last unicorn to her doom… (via Goodreads)
This isn’t *quite* summer reading and I hope I’m not out of line… See, I’m the one that recommended The Last Unicorn for the Estella Project. I intended to wait until after June 1st to read it, but May is a hard month for me and I needed a comfort read. And I think I won’t go too far into the story. Instead a few other things:
I own two copies of The Last Unicorn, a nice hard back “deluxe” edition that includes the follow-up novella “Two Hearts” (more on that in a minute) and the trade paperback edition I bought during my first trip to the university bookstore on my first college visit to UNL. That was back in 1993. I had seen The Last Unicorn movie in 1982 and had rewatched it many times on video disc. I knew it was based on a book, but I had never found the book in any library or bookstore. Memorial Union bookstore had one copy. It has a tiny hole that goes through the front cover all the way to page 20, from the unicorn’s forest to the Midnight Carnival. It wasn’t the hardback I read in May, it was this copy that will soon be missing its cover.
But first! I had decided to read all the related stories, and in order. Peter S. Beagle has written two other stories related to The Last Unicorn. One is “The Woman Who Married the Man in the Moon” from the anthology Sleight of Hand. It is one of a promised trio of Schmendrick stories. Schmendrick is my favorite character in The Last Unicorn, more favored than the unicorn and even Molly Grue. Schmendrick is cursed with youth… until he becomes a competent magician. When we meet him in “The Woman Who Married…”, before he’s met the unicorn, he’s already been young for a very long time. He admits that he’s “out of stories to tell myself, out of all the games I know to persuade myself that I am what I pretend to be.” And that’s a line that resonated with me in a way that isn’t comforting for a comfort read…
The second story is “Two Hearts.” It is a more direct sequel to The Last Unicorn. It won awards! And I didn’t read it in the deluxe edition either, but instead in the issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine that I bought when it came out in 2005. The great thing is, if you’ve read The Last Unicorn and you want to spend a little more time with Molly and Schmendrick and Lir and the unicorn too, “Two Hearts” is available online, free and legal! Be warned: bring a handkerchief.
What I’m Reading This Week
It’s What I Do by Lynsay Addario became available yesterday, so that’s what I’ll be reading. Unless I’m distracted by research stuff like I was last week. My Deal Me In read is “The Steel Flea” by Nikolay Leskov, and I probably should start the Best Horror of the Year anthology.
June 14, 2015
Deal Me In, Week 24 ~ “Catskin”
Hosted by Jay @ Bibliophilopolis
“Catskin” by Kelly Link
Card picked: Five of Clubs
From: Thrilling Tales, ed. by Michael Chabon
Thoughts, briefly (sometimes briefly is all I have): I’m generally a fan of Kelly Link. I read “The Specialist’s Hat” as my first Lunar Extra of the year and received an extra gothic surprise. She’s sort of a cross between Ray Bradbury and Shirley Jackson. Her fairy tales are dark gray, often in the form of “Do you see that object you think you know? It is not at all what you think it is…” And that of course leads to very uneasy moments as the world you think you know is slowly upended. In “Catskin,” cats, children, and houses are all tilted as a witch’s child and a witch’s cat (or maybe the dead witch herself), take revenge for her poisoning. Except, it’s not *that* straightforward. There are themes here of growing up and dealing with grief that I haven’t entirly processed yet. This wasn’t a comfortable read, but it was still enjoyable.
#ROW80 ~ Sunday Update, June 14th
Writing
Abbott Project
1000 words daily. – In reality, I’m going to be happy with 5000 a week (Mon-Sun). Right now, I’m a little short of that. On Wednesday, I spiffed up my first scene, adding some aspects that had been missing in its first draft. On Friday, I went down a research hole. I googled one Rev. Franklin A. Thomas, who was the pastor at the First Progressive Spiritualist Church in Omaha in 1915. Turns out, Rev. Thomas was quite a figure in spiritualism at that time, writing several books on the subject including one on his own missionary efforts. I’ve spent the last day and a half reading/skimming two of them. It’s possible that there is more narrative behind his comings and goings from Omaha than is immediately evident. I have to decide what I want to infer and what kind of fictional fun this might lead to. The plan today is to write at least 700 and go from there.
Figure out what images I have that are free, clear, unattached public domain. – No movement.
Daily free write. – Wrote Thurs. Fri. and Sat.
Reading, related to writing
The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage (Abbott Project related) – 35% done.
Or, Linking Rings: William W. Durbin and the Magic and Mystery of America by James David Robenalt (Abbott Project related) – Handed this over to Eric.
This past week I also read in entirety How to Hold Circles for the Developing Mediumship at Home by Franklin A. Thomas.
Publishing
Look for new promo options. / Finish the BIG List and evaluate new venues by the 20th when I run my next promo. – Finished going through the list; I’m now evaluating the new venues and subbing to them where appropriate.
ROW 80 is a blog hop!
Please, check out how other Round of Words participants are doing with their goals.
June 11, 2015
Review ~ Beauty and Chaos
This book was provided to me by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Beauty and Chaos: Slices and Morsels of Tokyo Life by Michael Pronko
Tokyo–City of Contradictions? Yes and no! The largest city in the world teems with chaotic energy and serene, human-scale beauty
Want to know the real city? Writing about Tokyo for over 15 years, essayist and professor Michael Pronko opens up Tokyo life and reveals what’s beneath the gleaming, puzzling exterior of the biggest city in the world.
Whether contemplating Tokyo’s odd-shaped bonsai houses, endless walls of bottles, pachinko parlors, chopstick ballet or the perilous habit of running for trains, the 45 essays in Beauty and Chaos explore Tokyo from inside to reveal the city’s deeper meanings and daily pleasures. In turns comic, philosophic, descriptive and exasperated, Pronko’s essays have been popular with Japanese readers for more than a decade.
Essay Topics Include: Waiting to Blossom–Cherry Tree Maps, The Shout of English T-Shirts, Hanging Menus, Inside the Smallest Places, Standing Libraries (via Goodreads)
At just past the halfway point in Beauty and Chaos, Michael Pronko writes about the elegance of eating with chopsticks, the brief suspension of food that is lacking with knife and fork.
“It allows one to see the near side as well as the far side of the morsel, an entire three-dimensional area.”
Michael Pronko does the same in each of the essays in Beauty and Chaos. Aptly, it is subtitled Slices and Morsels of Tokyo Life. The essays are short, grouped loosely into sections, and each feels like a tasty bite being presented from many angles to the reader.
Pronko is a fifteen year resident of Tokyo. Sometimes these pieces are observations and sometimes they contain theories about the behavior of city natives, but there is always an appreciation of the place and the people that is palpable. He loves the city; he is enthusiastic about it, even some of it’s less pretty aspects.
I also really enjoyed that Beauty and Chaos is about a *city*. It’s sometimes easy for an author to gush about the grand vistas of nature, and harder to grasp what makes a city special and different from other cities. I was reminded very early in my reading that sense of place is important to me in fiction and in nonfiction as well. It should probably be more important in my writing. I should ask myself more often, “What makes *this* place special and worthy of note?”
Purchase This Book: Beauty and Chaos is available from Amazon and Smashwords
Publishing info, my copy: Raked Grave Press 2014, kindle edition
Acquired: Provided by the author
Genre: non-fiction
June 10, 2015
#ROW80 ~ Wednesday Update, June 10th
Writing
Abbott Project
1000 words daily. – 116 on Sunday (ended up being mostly a research day), 1012 on Monday, 1014 on Tuesday. So far, so good.
Figure out what images I have that are free, clear, unattached public domain. – No movement.
Research (The goal here should be not spending ALL my time on the research.) – It’s tough when I have newspapers of the period…
Daily free write. – Wrote Sun. Mon. and Tues.
Reading, related to writing
The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage (Abbott Project related)
Or, Linking Rings: William W. Durbin and the Magic and Mystery of America by James David Robenalt (Abbott Project related) – Read a few pages Monday.
Publishing
Look for new promo options. / Finish the BIG List and evaluate new venues by the 20th when I run my next promo. – Still working on it.
ROW 80 is a blog hop!
Please, check out how other Round of Words participants are doing with their goals.
June 8, 2015
Summer Reading ~ Citizen
I’m appropriating Mondays for short reviews of my summer reads (I’m behind in reviewing all the books I’d like to review) and for my weekly preview.
What I Read Last Week
Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
Claudia Rankine’s bold new book recounts mounting racial aggressions in ongoing encounters in twenty-first-century daily life and in the media. Some of these encounters are slights, seeming slips of the tongue, and some are intentional offensives in the classroom, at the supermarket, at home, on the tennis court with Serena Williams and the soccer field with Zinedine Zidane, online, on TV–everywhere, all the time. The accumulative stresses come to bear on a person’s ability to speak, perform, and stay alive. Our addressability is tied to the state of our belonging, Rankine argues, as are our assumptions and expectations of citizenship. In essay, image, and poetry, Citizen is a powerful testament to the individual and collective effects of racism in our contemporary, often named “post-race” society. (via Goodreads)
On my list as part of the Estella Project and due to a discussion about poetry recently at the Socratic Salon. (The Socratic Salon also has a discussion of Citizen, which I hadn’t read until this morning.)
This is hard for me to “review” because I feel like I’m just some white girl blathering on about something she knows nothing about. Which is pretty much true. But Citizen did shift my paradigm. I was struggling to wrap my head around the notion of accumulation until I came up with this: I tried to imagine what it would be like to go around wearing a sandwich board sign listing every attribute I have and belief I hold that someone could be prejudiced against. And I was born wearing that sign and I don’t ever get to take it off. What would it be like to live with those automatic negative judgements being made against me *everyday* by *everyone*? I don’t get the benefit of doubt. Part of me feels cowardly for not having to wear that sign and another part of me is extremely thankful.
What I’m Reading This Week
From my gothic list (fiction): The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
From my Abbott Project list (nonfiction): The Linking Rings by James David Robenalt
Shorts: “Next Gen Species – The Chip” by Jason Cole and “Catskin” by Kelly Link
Although I suspect that this list will be interrupted by It’s What I Do by Lynsay Addario becoming available at the library.
June 7, 2015
ROW 80 ~ Sunday Update, June 7th
Kind of been in a brain fog since Wednesday. I blame hormones or maybe the weather which has been cool and rainy, odd for early June in Phoenix. Whatever the case, I hope I haven’t made any serious mistakes over the last few days…
I’ve been spinning my wheels on In Need of Luck. Eric suggested a change of plan last night, and I had been considering broaching the subject myself. I’m putting Luck on the back burner and switching to the Abbott Project for the next 3-4 weeks.
Writing
Abbott Project
Added 6/7 – 1000 words daily.
Added 6/7 – Figure out what images I have that are free, clear, unattached public domain.
Research – The goal here should be not spending ALL my time on the research.
Daily free write. – Wrote Weds, Thurs, Sat.
Finish In Need of Luck – I’m not going to say never, but probably won’t happen in June.
Scene rewrites for PHYSICa. – Same as above.
Reading, related to writing
The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage (Abbott Project related)
Or, Linking Rings: William W. Durbin and the Magic and Mystery of America by James David Robenalt (Abbott Project related) – Both are on my summer reading list and Abbott related. I’m leaning toward Linking Rings, atm. Haven’t started either.
Publishing
Look for new promo options. – Finish the BIG List and evaluate new venues by the 20th when I run my next promo.
ROW 80 is a blog hop!
Please, check out how other Round of Words participants are doing with their goals.
