Steampunk typewriter

Posted on November 16, 2019 by

I bet you’re wondering about the title for this post. Well, feast your eyes on this:

Poster by Georgia Lange, for NaNoWriMo 2019

Ooh, ooh! Let me give the prototype a test-run! Note that it can clock your typing speed, keep an eye on your verb tenses, and (I’m hoping) let you know when you’ve had a brilliant idea. Jean Lee, I’ll see if I can line one up for you as well.

Ok, putting that dream away for now.

NaNo progress: 16 days of writing, and I should pass the 50K mark sometime tomorrow. I’ll have “won”, but I won’t have finished, so I’ll keep writing until my plane takes off.

Meanwhile, as for Moby-Dick, I’ve hit a snag. Actually, a pleasant one, but I’m in a bind. I’ve been waiting nearly 3 months for a copy of Pullman’s Book of Dust, Vol 2,  and it came yesterday. If it were a copy I’d bought (whether virtual or analog), then I could easily set it aside and wait for a better, less busy moment.

But since it’s an ebook from the NYPL, I can’t, because it’ll disappear from my phone in 12 days, and if I put it back on hold, it’ll be another 3 months before I see it again. Oh, #FirstWorldProblems, why?

Sorry, Ishmael, Ahab, Moby-Dick, Queequeg, Stubb, Starbuck, et al. But don’t worry — it’s “see you later”, not “so long”. I’ll be back in a few days.

NaNo has posted an interview with graphic designer Georgia Lange here. Well worth a read. Turns out, a graphic artist’s process is similar to a writer’s.

Posted in Am reading, Am writing, NaNoWriMo | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Am writing, am reading, am really really busy

Posted on November 12, 2019 by

12 days into November, and I’m on track to finish NaNoWriMo well ahead of the deadline. It’s amazing how much I can accomplish when I have to.

The reason I have to: I start a 2½-week trip on 24 November, which will leave me with no spare time for writing, and probably little for reading.

Which is why, while cranking out the daily NaNo pages, I’m also barreling through Moby-Dick. I passed the 35% point a couple of days ago, and my interest and enjoyment haven’t flagged.

“Moby Dick”, Rockwell Kent, 1930, courtesy FalseArt.com

But I have to admit that I’m flummoxed about what to add to the massive amount of Ahab-and-the-white-whale commentary that’s collected over the past 168 years.

2019 being the 200th anniversary of Melville’s birth, of course the blog-iverse is crammed with readers sharing their first/second/nth experience of reading Ishmael’s ultra-detailed tale. I have nothing to add, except a slight warning to all: don’t let Ishmael’s voice of expertise fool you. He makes up sources and disagrees with experts. You’ll see. This in no way diminishes Ishmael’s believability when it comes to narrating the events aboard the Pequod — he misses nothing, and never hesitates to tell us all.

To end, I send you to a Moby-Dick themed website well worth a lengthy visit: CallMeIshmael.org, where Patrick Shea, composer, musician and teacher based in Brooklyn, has posted commentary and a new song for each chapter of Moby-Dick. Starting in 2008, Shea composed the songs at the rate of about one a day (although it took him much longer to record them for his blog). His comments provide not just a reaction to the novel, but also a genesis-tale for each accompanying song. The songs themselves range through several musical genres, with lyrics printed for us to sing along. (Shea’s song cycle pre-dates the premier of Heggie & Scheer’s opera, Moby-Dick, by just 2 years.)

That’s it for today. I’ll be back in a week with an update.

Posted in Adventure, Am reading, Am writing, NaNoWriMo, Seafaring | Tagged | 8 Comments

Witch Week 2019 ends

Posted on November 6, 2019 by

It’s been a great Witch Week, and many thanks to all who participated. Our theme for next year is …

… No spoilers here! You can read all about it at Calmgrove.

Happy November to all!

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A penny for the guy

Posted on November 5, 2019 by

Engraving by Crispijn van de Passe, ca 1605. Guy Fawkes is 3rd from the right.

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

To wind up Witch Week, we’re exploring a political fantasy by Diana Wynne Jones appropriate to this day of “gunpowder treason and plot“.

Head over to Calmgrove to read our discussion of Cart & Cwidder. If you’ve read it, please join in.

And remember, remember, the 5th of November!

A late 17th or early 18th-century report of the plot, Wikipedia

Posted in Fantasy, Villains, Witch Week | Tagged | 1 Comment

Evil too close to home

Posted on November 4, 2019 by

Police van entering Glasgow’s Barlinnie Prison in April 1955, Glasgow Evening Times (eveningtimes.co.uk)

What’s that police van doing here, you ask?

Well, it’s a subtle reference to the title character in one of Diana Wynne Jones’ fantasy novels, whose villain Jean Lee (from Jean Lee’s World) discusses in detail in today’s Witch Week episode. Wheel yourself over to Calmgrove‘s blog and read what Jean has to say.

But beware: don’t let yourself get captured!

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If ’tis Sunday, ’tis hump day

Posted on November 3, 2019 by

Villains in Shakespeare! Of course there are. But ones fantastical? Oh yes.

16th century woodcut

For today’s Witch Week post, marking the half-way point through our celebration, Sari from The View from Sari’s World, gives us a dose of foul misdeeds. Do these evil-doers seem as happy in their work as the fiends in the woodcut above? You be the judge.

Take a ride through Sari’s post over at Calmgrove, and then let us know who your favorite Shakespearean villains are.

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There’s more than one kind of wolf

Posted on November 2, 2019 by

Today’s Witch Week post, from my WW2019 co-host, Chris at Calmgrove, is all about the despicable and heinous, the selfish and greedy — the altogether dreadful villains of Joan Aiken’s Wolves Chronicles. Whether you know Aiken’s series well, or are just learning about it, you’ll find something fiendishly lupine in Chris’ review.

And then you can join the Ramones and howl at the moon.

Posted in Adventure, Fantasy, Villains, Witch Week | Tagged | Leave a comment