So for a while I've been thinking about horror/suspense/dark fantasy/thriller/mystery novels that have writers as protagonists, antagonists, or some other sort of significant but nist-less character, and I've decided to try to put together a list of as many I can find.
Off the top of my head, I have:
Lisey's Story by Stephen King
Bag of Bones by Stephen King
Misery by Stephen King
The Shining by Stephen King (noticing a trend here...)
The Hellfire Club by Peter Straub
Small Town by Lawrence Block
Who Made Stevie Crye? by Michael Bishop
Faerie Tale by Raymond E. Feist
The Peter Wimsey novels in which Harriet Vane appears, written by Dorothy L. Sayers
The Tim Underwood books (eg The Throat, Koko) by Peter Straub
I am specifically excluding straight SF, non-dark fantasy, and mainstream works, such as Herovit's World by Barry Malzberg or The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick, and Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon.
Does anyone have any further suggestions?
Monday, August 31, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Mortal catwax:
Reading up on time of death.
Money shot (so to speak): "Involvement of the walls of the seminal vesicles by rigor [mortis] may lead to discharge of seminal fluid at the glans penis."
Yes, this is work-related reading.
Money shot (so to speak): "Involvement of the walls of the seminal vesicles by rigor [mortis] may lead to discharge of seminal fluid at the glans penis."
Yes, this is work-related reading.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Heads on Turntables
Oddly, this is the only video on YouTube tagged "heads on turntables." But it's awesome:
Neurosonics Audiomedical Lab
Neurosonics Audiomedical Lab
strategies in avoidance
Has everybody actually been working lately? I notice a dearth of shiny, squeaky cats in these parts recently.
Me, I'm in that sticky bit of writing the mystery where I know the victims, but I haven't yet sorted out who the killer is. So I'm kind of stalling until the copy-edited manuscript I'm waiting for gets here, while my backbrain works on the stuck part. However, that means not so much catwaxing as actively finding things to do that are not work, because while it's working over the hard bit, my brain refuses to put out on other writing-related topics.
However, in the past seven days, I have:
Climbed a cliff (three routes)
Driven to Maine
Attended a concert
Done a whole bunch of outstanding paperwork
Read a book or two
Cleaned up the pile of returnables (aka the Shrine To Bacchus) on the back porch
Watched a certain amount of ancient television
Brushed the dog (who still needs more brushing)
...and done some laundry.
Now if only I could write more than one sentence today...
Me, I'm in that sticky bit of writing the mystery where I know the victims, but I haven't yet sorted out who the killer is. So I'm kind of stalling until the copy-edited manuscript I'm waiting for gets here, while my backbrain works on the stuck part. However, that means not so much catwaxing as actively finding things to do that are not work, because while it's working over the hard bit, my brain refuses to put out on other writing-related topics.
However, in the past seven days, I have:
Climbed a cliff (three routes)
Driven to Maine
Attended a concert
Done a whole bunch of outstanding paperwork
Read a book or two
Cleaned up the pile of returnables (aka the Shrine To Bacchus) on the back porch
Watched a certain amount of ancient television
Brushed the dog (who still needs more brushing)
...and done some laundry.
Now if only I could write more than one sentence today...
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Nuggets gleaned while catwaxing
While avoiding working on my book by surrounding myself with other people's at a local used bookstore, I came across one of the weakest book blurbs I've seen in my life:
Giant's Bread by Mary Westmacott (aka Agatha Christie)
"A satisfactory novel..." -- The New Yorks Times
Talk about damning with faint praise.
Giant's Bread by Mary Westmacott (aka Agatha Christie)
"A satisfactory novel..." -- The New Yorks Times
Talk about damning with faint praise.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Neurology of Catwaxing
Via a link on my Twitter feed (*ahem cough cough*), an article on the neurological causes of Google/Twitter addiction -- or as they put it, "seeking behaviour". Or as I put it, that thing where you fall down Wikipedia for an hour or two.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Still more circular catwaxing
I was in rare form today. I wrote 1300 words of an entirely different novel (un autre roman) in an attempt to avoid working on either of the two novels or the novella with looming deadlines.
And then I wrote a blog post detailing the hour-long process of tweaking the first paragraph to get it right.
Not sure how long it's going to take me to top that one.
And then I wrote a blog post detailing the hour-long process of tweaking the first paragraph to get it right.
Not sure how long it's going to take me to top that one.
There are some cats money can't wax. For everything else, there's Wikipedia.
Reading up on 1984 fashion, early eighties movies and the casts thereof: one hour.
The one throwaway sentence you needed the reference for: thirty seconds.
Having a well-waxed cat? Priceless.
The one throwaway sentence you needed the reference for: thirty seconds.
Having a well-waxed cat? Priceless.
Catwaxing stats for today:
-Books Returned to the Library After Reading: 2
-Books Returned to the Library, Partially or Completely Unread: 6
-Hours Spent at the Library: 1
-Books Read at the Library: 1
-Books Borrowed from the Library: 5
-Books Considered but Left Behind: 4 (no, not Lahaye/Jenkins Left Behind)
-Showers Taken: 2
-Personal Blog Posts: 1
-Cats Literally Waxed: 0
I'd like to say that if it hadn't cracked 100 F (40 C) with humidex today I'd have done less waxing. I'd like to say that, but it's a lie. I just would have catwaxed in greater comfort.
-Books Returned to the Library, Partially or Completely Unread: 6
-Hours Spent at the Library: 1
-Books Read at the Library: 1
-Books Borrowed from the Library: 5
-Books Considered but Left Behind: 4 (no, not Lahaye/Jenkins Left Behind)
-Showers Taken: 2
-Personal Blog Posts: 1
-Cats Literally Waxed: 0
I'd like to say that if it hadn't cracked 100 F (40 C) with humidex today I'd have done less waxing. I'd like to say that, but it's a lie. I just would have catwaxed in greater comfort.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Cats waxed to avoid actually posting to this blog about catwaxing:
- Taking pictures of my current knitting project and putting them up on Ravelry. Of course, with appropriate sizing, organization, and all.
- Reorganizing my Ravelry queue, as one does.
- Starting a whole new Facebook photo album.
- Dutifully catching up on my Twitter.
- Rewriting my to do list for this week.
- Tidying my coffee table.
ETA: Jamie wants the knitting pictures, so here are my unfinished Waterfall Socks.
a copular verb in the present tense
Elizabeth Bear (1:01:28 PM): ...does anybody know how Russians punctuate dialogue?
Leah Bobet(1:04:39 PM): I do not, sorry.
Bear (1:05:28 PM): I have learned that Russian lacks a copular verb in the present tense, and so it may be indicated by a dash.
Bear (1:05:39 PM): IE, they have no equivalent of "to be."
Bear (1:06:17 PM): I am a jelly doughnut, then, in Russian becomes I -- jelly doughnut.
Bear (1:06:34 PM): Aha!
Bear (1:07:15 PM): They use a combination of the dashes and the guillemets
Bear (1:07:17 PM): win!
One wonders how one translates "To be or not to be" or "I think, therefor I am," into Russian.
...ooo, here's a webpage on domovoi....
Leah Bobet(1:04:39 PM): I do not, sorry.
Bear (1:05:28 PM): I have learned that Russian lacks a copular verb in the present tense, and so it may be indicated by a dash.
Bear (1:05:39 PM): IE, they have no equivalent of "to be."
Bear (1:06:17 PM): I am a jelly doughnut, then, in Russian becomes I -- jelly doughnut.
Bear (1:06:34 PM): Aha!
Bear (1:07:15 PM): They use a combination of the dashes and the guillemets
Bear (1:07:17 PM): win!
One wonders how one translates "To be or not to be" or "I think, therefor I am," into Russian.
...ooo, here's a webpage on domovoi....
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Internet Archaeology: All the Content, (Almost) None of the Slapfights
I thought I would take a break from obsessively playing an English-language word game of apparently Turkish origin (more on that later) to discuss one of my other recent pastimes, something I like to call Internet Archaeology.
Simply put, Internet Archaeology is the practice of reading through old message board entries and archived blog posts, as well as anything else that offers information going more than a month or two into the past -- Amazon reviews, websites that are no longer up to date, and so on. But to be a proper Internet Archaeologist, something else is required: mindfulness. It isn't enough to read these archives; you must be aware that what you are reading is old, and thus that any potentially-contentious issues that you might encounter are likewise in the past. This can be a tremendously liberating realization.
Because you are reading something months or even years after it was originally posted, you can approach it with the emotional detachment you might bring to a book or to a magazine article. You may still get upset, but you will be less likely to find yourself dragged into the swirling vortex of internet drama simply because very few people want to be that person who resurrected an ancient flame war. And because you're less likely to hit "reply" and post something in the heat of the moment, you can take that energy and channel it into more productive areas, such as writing a cogent essay rebutting the position at length, going to the gym, or organizing your notebooks alphabetically by manufacturer.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I think somebody just said something stupid on UseNet.
Simply put, Internet Archaeology is the practice of reading through old message board entries and archived blog posts, as well as anything else that offers information going more than a month or two into the past -- Amazon reviews, websites that are no longer up to date, and so on. But to be a proper Internet Archaeologist, something else is required: mindfulness. It isn't enough to read these archives; you must be aware that what you are reading is old, and thus that any potentially-contentious issues that you might encounter are likewise in the past. This can be a tremendously liberating realization.
Because you are reading something months or even years after it was originally posted, you can approach it with the emotional detachment you might bring to a book or to a magazine article. You may still get upset, but you will be less likely to find yourself dragged into the swirling vortex of internet drama simply because very few people want to be that person who resurrected an ancient flame war. And because you're less likely to hit "reply" and post something in the heat of the moment, you can take that energy and channel it into more productive areas, such as writing a cogent essay rebutting the position at length, going to the gym, or organizing your notebooks alphabetically by manufacturer.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I think somebody just said something stupid on UseNet.
towards an exegesis of catwaxing...
First off, I think we need to define our terms. There are two commonly used phrases to indicate unproductive work around writing: "catwaxing" (or "cat waxing") and "cat-vacuuming."
While both of these terms are etymologically similar ("I can't write right now: I have to vacuum my cat") and both indicate displacement activity ("any work but the work we should be doing" [Monette, 2005]), there are some differences in how each is used. Generally, in this author's experience, cat-vacuuming is the work one feels one must do in order to get ready to write--the washing of dishes, walking of dogs, sorting of pencils, scrubbing of the bathroom grout--whereas catwaxing is more properly reserved for the work one does in place of writing, which one can somehow justify as writing-related.
In exemplia, catwaxing behaviors may include blogging, drawing maps, rearranging post-it notes stuck to the wall of the den in a more pleasing pattern while claiming to be "working on one's outline," and so forth. With the advent of Twitter and the #wip hashtag [Lake, 2009] the actual act of working on one's novel can be subsumed into catwaxing activity.
The worm Ourbourous has turned full circle. The cat waxes itself.
While both of these terms are etymologically similar ("I can't write right now: I have to vacuum my cat") and both indicate displacement activity ("any work but the work we should be doing" [Monette, 2005]), there are some differences in how each is used. Generally, in this author's experience, cat-vacuuming is the work one feels one must do in order to get ready to write--the washing of dishes, walking of dogs, sorting of pencils, scrubbing of the bathroom grout--whereas catwaxing is more properly reserved for the work one does in place of writing, which one can somehow justify as writing-related.
In exemplia, catwaxing behaviors may include blogging, drawing maps, rearranging post-it notes stuck to the wall of the den in a more pleasing pattern while claiming to be "working on one's outline," and so forth. With the advent of Twitter and the #wip hashtag [Lake, 2009] the actual act of working on one's novel can be subsumed into catwaxing activity.
The worm Ourbourous has turned full circle. The cat waxes itself.
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