Katherine Nabity's Blog, page 228

Summer Lovin’ Day 5: Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin On

Today’s Participation Discussion is… Book Shimmies!

Let’s do book shimmies! We made it through the week-long part of the read-a-thon!!! Congratulate yourself and your new bookish friends on their progress so far. Did you get as much read as you wanted to so far? Have you changed your goals for the 24-hr marathon read?

In Progress


In Progress


Done, for now


DONE!

Got off to a good start Monday, reading-wise, but only managed to write 600 words before midnight. Caught up with writing on Tuesday, but a brain-foggy, arthritis flare-up, left me low on the reading page count. Wednesday, I finished Now You See It by Richard Matheson, read my weekly poetry and short story, and got back to Cobweb Bride. Yesterday, I wasn’t much in the mood to work or read.  I reread “The Paladin of the Lost Hour,” read a little bit of Cobweb Bride, then ended up doing some research and otherwise goofing off. Today, I need to get some writing done!

Goals for tomorrow? Finish Cobweb Bride and make more of a dent in CarniePunk. After that? Who knows!

Summer Lovin’ Day 4: Tears on My Pillow

Today’s Participation Discussion is… Share the Feels!

Share a quote from your current read or tell us about a book that really pulled on your heart strings. What was it about that book/quote that made you cry?

Two stories/books immediately come to mind:

The first is a short story, “The Paladin of the Lost Hour” by Harlan Ellison. Say what you will about Ellison, and a lot *has* been said about Harlan Ellison, but the man can write some fine prose. This is the first story in the anthology Angry Candy.

The story is about  two men, one old and one young, one black and one white, and a mystical pocket watch that staves off the apocalypse. It’s a story about friendship and responsibility and legacy and loss, and maybe a little bit about sacrifice.

And it gets me every time. Just to be sure, I reread it last night. Yep, bawling like a baby at the end. It was adapted for TV, for the Twilight Zone update in the 80s, but I can’t remember if I’ve ever seen it. It’s probably on YouTube, but there’s a slight bit of ambiguity to the story I don’t want to lose by watching the episode.

The second is a non-fiction book, 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff. The book is a collection of letters between Hanff, a Manhattanite, and Frank Dole, a bookseller in London.

Over the course of 20 years, a friendship develops between these two very different people over their mutual love of books. They never meet in person. Hanff, a poor writer, nearly manages to scrape together the money to travel to England a couple times, but never gets there. It’s a gut-punch when Helene receives a letter notifying her of Franks death. (She does visit the shop and his family after the publication of the book, her most successful work).

I must say, while doing research for my novel, it’s hard to suddenly come upon the obituary of someone I’m researching. I feel like I’ve gotten to know the person, at least a little, but suddenly their story is over. Generally, death has very poor timing.

Reading Update

Got off to a good start Monday, reading-wise, but only managed to write 600 words before midnight. Caught up with writing on Tuesday, but a brain-foggy, arthritis flare-up, left me low on the reading page count. Yesterday, I finished Now You See It by Ricard Matheson, read my weekly poetry and short story, and got back to Cobweb Bride. And today, so far, I reread “The Paladin of the Lost Hour.” I’m in a tight spot with my writing, so we’ll see how much reading gets done. Part of me needs to remember that this is pretty much still a first draft and it’s okay if it sucks.

Summer Lovin’ Day 3: Page 99 Test

Page 99 Test

Hosted by  ReviewingWonderland

Pick a book you have not yet read, turn to page 99 and read that page. Then you give a synopsis of that page and tell us if, based only on that page, would you want to read this book?

To get the best gist of the Page 99 Test, I went “off list” to pick something that I hadn’t already started reading or wasn’t non-fiction or an anthology. My pick is:

The Spirit Cabinet by Paul Quarrington

Synopsis of page 99:

Dieter, as he finishes teaching (presumably) Jurgen a card trick, points out that people are generally not very intelligent.

The scene shifts to Jurgen doing the card trick his grandmother, a frail, old woman who will humor her grandson. While she does seem to have all her faculties intact, she doesn’t quite seem to see the point of doing the trick. When Jurgen instructs Oma to pick a card, she asks, “Will it be very painful?”

Unfortunately, by the end of the page, Jurgen is already having difficulties remembering the next part of the trick.

Based on pg. 99, would I read this book?

The writing is light and moves along at a good pace. Card tricks, I like. I also like the trio of characters that this page presents: Dieter and Oma as opposite ends of a spectrum with Jurgen in the middle. I would expect this to be the primary set up for the character of Jurgen.

I’d read it!

Summer Lovin’ Day 2: You’re The One That I Want

Today’s Participation Discussion is… Must-Have Summer Reads

Tell us which books are on the top of your must-have summer reads list. They can be books you’ve read and recommend others to read, or books you want to read.

I’m going with favorites that I might pull out on a hot summer day:

  

My first pick is one of my favorite books of all time, Peter S. Beagle’s The Last Unicorn. Seriously, any of Beagle’s books are great choices.

Likewise, I haven’t gone wrong yet with Elmore Leonard. His writing is cinematic and his characters are, well, characters.  I like his Westerns, like Three-Ten to Yuma, best.

Speaking on the cinema, Jaws was pretty much the first summer blockbuster, based on Peter Benchley’s bestseller. Ultimate beach read, anyone?

I get into work funks during the summer. I blame the heat and a yearning for the summer vacations of my youth. Natalie Goldberg’s books on writing get the writing heart pumping again. Writing Down the Bones is for authors of every sort.

The Dark Water

The Dark Water by David Pirie

In a literary tour de force worthy of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself, author David Pirie brings his rich familiarity with both the Doyle biography and the Sherlock Holmes canon to a mystifying Victorian tale of vengeance and villainy. The howling man on the heath, a gothic asylum, the walking dead, the legendary witch of Dunwich-perils lurk in every turn of the page throughout this ingenious pastiche, as increasingly bizarre encounters challenge the deductive powers of young Doyle and his mentor, the pioneering criminal investigator Dr. Joseph Bell. (via Goodreads)

I did not finish this book. At 30%, I had not found much of anything lurking in the pages. I also have not read Pirie’s first two Arthur Conan Doyle books. I have watched Murder Rooms, the series created by David Pirie based somewhat on the novels. Murder Rooms is a good show, fairly well-paced and full of nods to the real Arthur Conan Doyle’s history and fictional works. The show offers many nice parallels to a Sherlock Holmes story. I was expecting the same of this novel.

The Dark Water starts after what was, presumably, the cliffhanger ending of the previous book. Doyle wakes after being poisoned, locked in cottage, his tormenter the man who murdered his lady-love Elsbeth. Doyle’s escape should be fraught with tension. Instead, he just, kind of, does. He meets up with his mentor Dr. Bell and then another 20% of book goes by with not much happening.

The Doyle character isn’t a particularly interesting narrator.  Honestly, he’s a bit dull. Watson is a dull narrator too, but he’s not narrating his own stories. Although he’s our first-person narrator, Watson gives the foreground to Holmes. Dr. Bell isn’t the dynamic figure that Holmes is and this isn’t Bell’s story. If a first person POV is used, shouldn’t that character either have the most unique voice in the story, or get out of the way?

It could be that this a good book, and it takes a while to get going. I picked it up and put it down several times before I got to 30%, but it never caught on with me.

Genre: Mystery

Why did I choose to read this book? Like Sherlock Holmes

Did I finish this book? (If not, why?) No. It’s amount of tension never varied. Doyle’s wasn’t an interesting voice.

Format: Kindle ebook

Procurement: NetGalley

Summer Lovin’ Day 1: Class Orientation

Woo. I’m not getting started until past midnight PST.

Today’s Participation discussion is all about getting to know each other.

Tell us a little bit about yourself – Where are you from? What got you reading? What’s your favorite genre? What are your goals for this read-a-thon?

I’m reading in the toasty state of Arizona. Toast, in Arizona, only requires bread and pavement. I can’t complain though. I’m originally from Nebraska and, after 13 years living in Tempe, AZ, I’ve found that dislike midwestern winters more than southwestern summers.

My grandfather and mother were readers and they passed the love on to me. I like a lot of different genres, but mysteries are probably my favorites, though not necessarily formula mysteries. Lately, I’ve also been doing research for the book I’m writing, a historical fiction based around a magician and spiritualism debunker who lived in Omaha, NE in the early 20th century. Therefore, I’ve been enjoying many books about/featuring magic and magicians.  I blog mostly to keep track of what I read and what I might learn about writing craft. I’ve found that I enjoy writing about books much more than I do writing about writing.

My goal for the week is pretty meager: 600 pages. I’m in the midst of a first (second?) draft of my novel, and I intend to add a good 5000 words to my manuscript this week. I love reading, but the writing needs to get done too. Here’s my reading fodder:

Or, you know, whatever might strikes my fancy. I’m a moody reader.

Summer Lovin’ Readathon

The big brains here at Read-a-thon Central came up with a week long read-a-thon, outfitted with daily author features, daily giveaways, daily challenges, and a final 24 hour Grease Lightnin’ round! What is this fantabulous read-a-thon called you ask?! Summer Lovin’!

It might be that I cannot resist a readathon. I wasn’t planning on doing a one in July since I need to make good progress on my novel and we’ll be out of town later in the month for ComicCon. But, Summer Lovin’ got me with the 24-hour Grease Lightning round. I haven’t been able to do Dewey’s Readathon for a year and a half. So, readathon, here I come!

Goals

600 pages. I intend to add 5000 words to my WIP this week as well, so I that night be a stretch goal, even with a 24-hour RAT on Saturday.

Reading Fodder

And probably a bunch of random research stuff.

Progress

What Else in June

Other Stuff Read

I’ve been doing a bad job of keeping up with my short stories and poems, or at least documenting them. In the land of poetry, I’ve been reading a Carl Sandburg collection that will get reviewed eventually. Also making poor progress on ARCs due to reading for research. Been reading about séances and spirit photography.

Writing Work

Started posting writing updates on Fridays. Don’t know whether that will continue, but for the moment I’m in a documenting mood.

Query-wise:

# of submissions for Luck for Hire: 8

# of responses: 8 – including one submission from January and one assumed rejected.

# of submissions for Model Species: 0

# of responses: 0 – Model Species is pretty much all home, as it were.

Other Life Stuff

I’m not a big fan of summer. It’s bright. It’s hot. Frisbee leagues are over; Wednesday disc gets moved to mornings, which means it gets cancelled a lot. Generally any schedule I have totally goes out the window.  I’ve been trying to ride that wave and work when I’m awake and not worry about if I’m awake at 3am.

Computer got infected a couple weeks back. Eric had been meaning to upgrade my machine to Windows 7. Alas, a mistake lead to some file loss, but nothing important.

Books Obtained

The Poet and Dream Girl: The Love Letters of Lilian Steichen and Carl Sandburg
The Blue Blazes by Chuck Wendig – Won this during the Wicked Wildfire Readathon. Thanks Pabkins @ My Shelf Confessions!
Also purchased the September ’99 issue of Magic magazine. Not only did it have an article by Jim Steinmeyer about Joseffy, but Carl Sandburg’s 1907 appreciation of the same.

Other Books I Want to Read

At Goodreads:

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
A History of Ghosts: The True Story of Séances, Mediums, Ghosts, and Ghostbusters by Peter H. Aykroyd

At the Greater Phoenix Digital Library:

The Spiritualist by Megan Chance
Ghosts at Christmas by Darren W. Ritson

At Open Library:

Shirley Jackson by Lenemaja Friedman
Mickelsson’s Ghosts by John Gardner
The New Girl by Sally Mitchell
–where love begins by Helga Sandburg
The Book of the Damned by Charles Fort

Saturday Cinema ~ Ghost Stories as Mysteries

While I don’t believe in ghosts, I do love a good ghost story. In particular, I like ghost stories that are mysteries at heart, and the spirits are pieces of the puzzle to be solved. Ghost in this sort of story may be scary, but usually don’t really wish harm upon the living, aside from seeing justice done. I was tempted to call these “old-fashioned” ghost stories, but what’s fashion for my culture isn’t fashion in another. While revenant stories seem new-fangled to me, the kaidan that are the basis of much of J-horror are old-fashioned in Japanese culture. J-horror sensibility has been prevalent in 2000s, so I was surprised to find a “good old-fashioned” ghost story from 2011.

The Awakening (2011) – Directed by Nick Murphy; Starring Rebecca Hall, Dominic West, Isaac Hempstead Wright, and Imelda Staunton.

I came across this movie this movie while doing research on mediums and spiritualist debunkers. The main character, Florence Cathcart (Rebecca Hall), is a debunker. The first ten minutes of the film are on-line, a scene that includes Cathcart exposing a medium. It definitely endeared the film to me. A “professional” ghost hunter, she is asked to investigate the death of a boy at a country boarding school. He reportedly died of fear, sacred to death by the resident ghost. There is of course more than meets the eye to the boarding house and Cathcart’s motives for ghost busting. I was a little worried when she breaks out the 1920s version of  EMF meters and the like, but those things aren’t what the movie is about.

The Awakening was written by director Nick Murphy and Stephen Volk, the writer behind the totally gonzo Gothic (1986), the more recent the UK series Afterlife (about a psychology professor investigating a medium), and half-dozen other ghost-related projects. Clearly, he has an interest in this type of story. The plot spools out a decent pace, providing a good number of chills and twists. The production is lovely, as you’d expect from BBC Films, and the actors are top-notch. I find that I really like Rebecca Hall in just about any role (which makes me all the more disappointed in Iron Man 3–Mayra Hansen was a character with not much to do). The Awakening is a solid ghost mystery and definitely a pleasant surprise.

—###—

Five more of my favorite ghost mysteries (that mostly fit the criteria):

The Changling (1980)
Lady in White (1988)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Stir of Echos (1999)
The Others (2001)

Adventures of the Writerly Writer ~ Too Full of Words

I had planned to triumphantly announce that I’d reached the 10K mark on this draft.

Nope. Didn’t happen this week.

Eric finished his rewrite/edit of his current novel, Physic, and I gave it a reread. I’m…*wait for it*…not a fast reader, so it took me the better part of the week to read through the ~100K words. I must say, Eric’s rewrite really pulled some story elements together. It’s very cool to see things falling into place as a book gets written.

I tried to work on both projects on Monday-Wednesday, but my brain got just too full of words. It happens sometimes. I finished reading this morning and ended up puttering around with a new WordPress background this afternoon. Occasionally, I need a visual arts break. Voilà! My blog now sports a background with David P. Abbott and Joseffy, the historical hooks into my current writing project. I still don’t have a new title and have been referring to it in my head (to the embarrassment of all involved) as Dave & Joe’s Spiritualist Adventure.

I did add over 3000 word to my draft this week, but I made a bit of a wrong turn during the latest chapter. I’ll need to be corrected before I move on. Currently, I seem to have this rolling writing/revising system going on.  I rewrite/revise the last 400-600 hundred words I wrote, which seems to reap an addition 200 words, then I move on to write 400-600 more words. Repeat.

So far, so good.