Katherine Nabity's Blog, page 212
April 14, 2014
It’s Monday! What am I Reading? (4/14/14)
Hosted by Sheila at Book Journey
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between! This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!
Happy Monday Everyone!
Reading
Last week, I finished The Silver Linings Playbook and listened to The Thief of Always by Clive Barker. I’m not a big consumer of audio books, but occasionally they’re fun to listen to while grinding through MMO content. ;)
This week, I need to finish up the Tesla book and get started on Jeff Guinn’s Glorious (an ARC) and Briar Rose by Jane Yolen (for the Once Upon a Time Challenge).
Arrivals
None? None!
On the Blog
Tuesday: Review of The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick
Thursday: is Thoughtful Thursday
Saturday: The one-eyed Jack bring me “Crossing Into the Empire” by Robert Silverberg for Deal Me In
Work
Formatting Luck for Hire for Create Space. Reading/formatting Physic once Eric is though with his editing pass.
April 13, 2014
Deal Me In, Week 15 ~ “Disillusion”
Hosted by Jay @ Bibliophilopolis
“Disillusion” by Edward Bryant
Card picked: Four of Hearts
From: David Copperfield’s Beyond Imagination
Review: Jack, an investigative reporter, and Ingrid, a fellow journalist and Jack’s lover, are assigned an exposé: the death of magic. Jack throws himself into his work, secretly filming the Great Mandragore’s act and carefully figuring out how each trick is done. Unfortunately, Ingrid is not cut out for this sort of story. Knowing the secrets behind the tricks sends her into a depression and ruins her relationship with Jack. Of course, the assignment isn’t what is seems and Jack’s boss at Real World magazine has ulterior motives.
After about three pages of this story, I had reservations. Characters weren’t acting in ways that people act. I feared this was a flaw in the writing, but in fact, it was a feature. Bryant has a very good reason for Jack and Ingrid being the way they are which isn’t evident until the last act of the story. I do wish there had been a little more background. After Eric Lustbader last week, who gives almost too much story, this tale seemed rushed.
This story deals with an issue I’ve come up against time and time again when reading about magic. Reveals and exposés, do they “kill” magic? For many people, knowing the secret behind a magic trick ruins the illusion for them. This is most of the reason why the “magicians never tell their secrets” rule exists.* This story was written in 1995-ish, before Fox’s Breaking the Magician’s Code series and the ease of rewatching clips of tricks on YouTube, and posited that revealing a magician’s secrets would pretty much ruin him and many people’s sense of wonder. Personally, I’m never disappointed to know the trick of the trick. To some extent, I appreciate magic more after knowing how much work and ingenuity goes into it. And despite reading yet another post on the decline of magic earlier this week, I don’t think audiences are so jaded that they aren’t at least sometimes still amazed.
* Regarding professional secrets, there is an interesting layered aspect to intellectual property rights within the magic community. At the bottom are tricks anyone can buy at a party store; at the top are things like Mr. Copperfield disappearing national monuments.
About the Author: Though fairly prolific, I haven’t read too much of Edward Bryant’s works. I’m mainly familiar with him in relation to Harlan Ellison, with whom Bryant has collaborated.
Is This Your Card?
After finally getting a more magic-driven story and one heavy on a magic “issue,” I’m sad that I don’t have a card trick for the Four of Hearts! Instead, I’m going to leave you with perhaps my favorite trick ever. This is Teller’s take on the classic Miser’s Dream. I suppose it should be titled The Miser’s Dream of Gold(fish).
April 10, 2014
Thoughtful Thursday: What do you do with books that you’ve read?
Hosted by Pamela @ Reading is Fun Again
This Thursday’s question:
What do you do with the books that you have read? Do you keep them? Donate them? Gift them? Return them to the library? Throw them away? Make them into arts & crafts projects? Has this changed during the years? Have you noticed a change in your perspective regarding read books?
I probably hold on to books longer than I should. There are very few that I’ll ever read again, but, you know, I *might.*
Back when I was in college, I generally engaged in a book sell-off at the end of every semester. These were mostly textbooks, but also some personal books. In December, it was usually because I needed extra money for Christmas and spring semester. In the spring, it was because I didn’t want to haul everything from my dorm to where I was spending the summer. After nearly fifteen years in the same apartment, my books are fulfilling their Manifest Destiny: complete take-over of my living space.
In 2006, in an effort to cull my collection and gain more books that I wanted, I joined PaperBackSwap. According to my profile I’ve sent 147 books and received 106. Wow. That’s…more than I expected. Unfortunately, PBS doesn’t accept ARCs and I’ve started to acquire a few of those. My plan is to volunteer them for Dewey’s Readathon, and if they’re not chosen as prizes, I’ll take them to my local used bookstore/charity store.
That only leaves some of the used mass-market paperbacks that are in really poor shape. I’m gentle with my books, but in many cases, I might be the third or fourth owner. They’re not in good enough shape to give away (certainly not through PBS), but I feel weird about throwing out books or using them in a crafty way.
[Edit: I didn't even mention that my default for read books is keeping them!]
April 8, 2014
Review ~ Houdini: The Handcuff King
Harry Houdini mesmerized a generation of Americans when he was alive, and continues to do so 80 years after his death. This is a “snapshot” of Houdini’s life, centering on one of his most famous jumps. As Houdini prepares for a death-defying leap into the icy Charles River in Boston, biographer Jason Lutes and artist Nick Bertozzi reveal Houdini’s life and influence: from the anti-Semitism Houdini fought all his life, to the adulation of the American public; from his hounding by the press, to his loving relationship with his wife Bess; from his egoism to his insecurity; from his public persona — to the secret behind his most amazing trick! And it’s all in graphic form, so it’s fresh, original, and unlike anything previously published about this most fascinating of American showmen. (via Goodreads)
Quick read last week; quick review this week. I can’t do a better job summarizing than the above. The storytelling is good and I appreciated the attempt at making Houdini flawed. Like Nikola Tesla, the world wants to make Harry Houdini an uber-hero. This is never the case with anyone, no matter how famous and lauded. Lutes also did a good job showing the some of the behind-the-scenes people involved in the act and the Houdini publicity machine. (Working entirely on one’s own is another aspect of hero-ization.) The art was good, especially illustrating the underwater parts of the stunt. An enjoyable read.
Publisher: Hyperion
Publication date: April 1st 2007
Genre: Graphic novel, biography
Why did I choose to read this book? Interest in magic and therefore Houdini
April 7, 2014
It’s Monday! What am I Reading? (4/7/14)
Hosted by Sheila at Book Journey
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between! This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!
Happy Monday Everyone!
Reading
What am I reading this week? That is a very good question. Instead of finishing anything last week, I seem to have started several new books. This was due in part to #24in48, which was a heck of a lot of fun, even if I did only read on Saturday. I’m about a third of the way through Magic and Mystery (see below), which I started for research purposes, and halfway through The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick.
Arrivals
Picked up three magic-/spiritualism-related books from Paperback Swap. I put in a bid for David Abbott’s Book of Mystery on eBay last week as well, but, alas, it was sniped during the last few seconds.
On the Blog
Tuesday: Review of Houdini: The Handcuff King by Jason Lutes (Writer), Nick Bertozzi (Illustrator)
Saturday: “Disillusion” by Edward Bryant for Deal Me In
Work
Working on my Abbott project this week. Starting a new draft based on a slightly different plot.
We released Luck for Hire last week. It’s still on promo sale until this evening. We’re hoping to clear 300 copies downloaded by the end of the day!
April 5, 2014
Deal Me In, Week 14 ~ “16 Mins.”
Hosted by Jay @ Bibliophilopolis
“16 Mins.” by Eric Lustbader
Card picked: Two of Hearts
From: David Copperfield’s Beyond Imagination
Review: Finally, a story with a magician! My hope with these Copperfield-edited anthologies was that there’d be stories with magician characters. This is the 9th from the anthologies that I’ve read, the second penned by Eric Lustbader, and, finally, a magician!
The 16 Mins of the title is a reference to Andy Warhol’s fifteen minutes of fame quote. The narrator (do I ever learn her name? *skims story* I don’t think I do) is a young woman with a very special talent. She can make things disappear, briefly, and reappear somewhere else. She takes a no-name magician under her wing and recreates him as Randy Gold, the world’s greatest escape artist since Houdini. Unfortunately, Lustbader gives meaning to “fame monster.”
The narrative is laid out pretty simply. I liked that Lustbader held back the exact method of Randy’s signature escape until the end of the story; it gave it a “how *are* they doing it” aspect. The narrator compares herself with Henry Higgins (or rather Rex Harrison) in My Fair Lady, but really she’s the one with the really sucky, abusive past. Randy, formerly Ralph, was just a mediocre magician that was resign to that life.
Is This Your Card?
I’m on a roll picking stories with associated card tricks!
April 4, 2014
#24in48 Readathon
Hosted by Rachel @ A Home Between Pages
The #24in48 readathon will run from 12:01am on Saturday, April 5th until 11:59pm on April 6th. 24 hours of reading in 48 total hours – whether that means 12 hours each day or 8 hours on Saturday and 16 on Sunday or however it best shakes out for you.
Tweet using the hashtag #24in48
I shouldn’t be doing a readathon. I should be writing. But there are so many things I still need to read as research. *cough* Yeah, that’s the ticket!
The plan this weekend is to read. And other duties. ;) Obviously, I’m not going to get to everything on this list.
Research Reading List
Online articles:
Excerpts from House of Mystery: The Magic Science of David P. Abbott, Volume One
Chapter 7 – Mediumistic Fortune Telling
Chapter 8 – Anna Eva Fay-type Question Reading
Chapter 10 – An Improved Billet Test
Addenda
The Wonder Girl
Articles in Genii
Joseffy article, Oct 2011, pg. 26-27
Joseffy article, Nov 2011. pg. 32-33
Linking Ring article, Jul. 1983, pg 85-87
Finish Bangs Sisters article, Oct 2005, pg. 95-97
Davenport Bros./Vox Motus article, April 2012, pg. 78-85
Jim Steinmeyer’s Card Trick Aug 2011.
Abbott’s “Extracts from My Own Program” in The Sphinx, Vol. 6 No. 1, March 15, 1907
From personal library
River City Empire by Orville D. Menard
Facts, Frauds, and Phantasms by Georgess McHargue
Magic and Mystery: The Incredible Psychic Investigations of Houdini and Dunninger
Other Reading
Work on Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age by W. Bernard Carlson
Work on The Magician’s Study by Tobias Seamon
For Deal Me In, I’ll be reading “16 Mins.” by Eric Lustbader
April 1, 2014
Review ~ Dolores Claiborne
For thirty years, folks on Little Tall Island have been waiting to find out just what happened on the eerie dark day Dolores Claiborne’s husband died — the day of the total eclipse. Now, the police want to know what happened yesterday when her rich, bedridden employer died suddenly in her care. With no choice but to talk, Dolores gives her compelling confession…of the strange and terrible links forged by hidden intimacies…of the fierceness of a mother’s love and its dreadful consequences…of the silent rage that can turn a woman’s heart to hate. When Dolores Claiborne is accused of murder, it’s only the beginning of the bad news. For what comes after that is something only Stephen King could imagine…as he rips open the darkest secrets and the most damning sins of men and women in an ingrown Maine town and takes you on a trip below its straitlaced surface. (via Goodreads)
I’m not a huge Stephen King fan, but there are things that I think he does very well. I like his shorter works, and I think his stories are better with a small-ish cast of characters. And, maybe surprisingly, I think his less supernatural stories are better. The dark side of human nature provides ripe enough meat for King, really.
I had seen the movie years previous to picking up Dolores Claiborne in a pretty crappy paperback copy from the library’s sale corner. I was interested in seeing how King laid out this story. I had no idea that the book was a continuous first person narrative by Dolores herself. No chapter breaks! It’s a mild literary stunt, but King pulls it off. The dialect didn’t bug me either.
The plot, while low on supernatural elements, is dark and a bit unnerving. It’s a solid book and I liked it more than I thought I would. Gerald’s Game is a semi-related and I’ll probably check it out soon.
Publisher: Signet
Publication date: December 1993
Genre: Horror
Why did I choose to read this book? Just in the mood for some Stephen King.
March 31, 2014
It’s Monday! What am I Reading? (3/31/14) & What Else in March
Hosted by Sheila at Book Journey
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between! This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!
Happy Monday Everyone!
Reading
Still working on Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age by W. Bernard Carlson. It’s good. I’m gulping down big chunks of it, but I ended up doing a read-through of Luck for Hire last week and didn’t do much other reading. Going to try to finish The Magician’s Study by Tobias Seamon as well.
Arrivals
ARC from NetGalley, ARC from Edelweiss. Two Amazon freebies. I’m a sucker for seances and magicians at the moment (surprising no one at all).
On the Blog
Tuesday: Review of Dolores Claiborne
Saturday: For Deal Me In, I’ll be reading “16 Mins.” by Eric Lustbader
Work
Today I’ll fo the final formatting on Luck for Hire and then it’s off to KDP with it! (Still offering copies to anyone interested, but probably not after today.) Then, I start a rewrite on Pas de Chat. (I think that’s next up in my queue.)
What Else in March
Writing Work
Model Species was made available for free on Kindle! It took some doing, but Eric figured out how to make that happen. We also released the premium edition of Divine Fire, including the extra short story “The Blunder Games.”
We did some rereading/editing on Pas de Chat and decided that it really wasn’t up to snuff. I’ll give it a rewrite and then we’ll see where we are. We’ve also been putting a final polish on Luck for Hire and Eric has started another read-through on Physic.
Other Life Stuff
I don’t even know where March went. Been playing a lot of disc and watching a lot of basketball.
March 30, 2014
Once Upon a Time VIII – Update #1
“The Tattoo” by Bonnie Jo Campbell, from Shadow Show: All-new stories in celebration of Ray Bradbury
This is an investigation of Bradbury’s “The Illustrated Man”: Where would such tattoos come from? What would it be like to have a tattoo that tells stories on your skin?
Gerald MacGregor, new inheritor of his father’s ball-bearing empire, is a fanciful man. He dreams of going to Mars, despite his poor eyesight. He asks his accountant to marry him, even though he’s only known Sylvia for a few months. After seeing a tattooed woman in a carnival side show, a woman with tattoos that play out scenes from adventure stories, he pays a fortune to get a tattoo of his own. MacGregor becomes addicted to the beauty of his tattoo’s images and ignores what bothers Sylvie the most. The stories never have happy endings.
“So what if some of the stories don’t exactly end happily? I just wish we could watch together, to experience the adventures together, the good and the bad.”
MacGregor finds his own happy ending, but of course, it’s the only kind of ending MacGregor sees.
Regarding my magician history/folklore thoughts:
I’m becoming familiar with the Aarne–Thompson tale type index, a dizzying list of motifs found in folklore. Luckily, it’s available online at various places. Identity and recognition tests might be a good place to start.
Also, looked at mention of one of the earliest “magicians,” Simon Magnus. As mentioned in the Bible:
Acts 8:9 – A man named Simon lived there, who for some time has astounded the Samaritans with his magic. He claimed that he was someone great.
Obviously, Simon was not concerned with defining his awesomeness in relation to anyone else.
